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Gary McMichael
Gary McMichael (born 1969) is a Northern Ireland community activist, and retired politician. He was the leader of the short-lived Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) during the Northern Ireland peace process, and was instrumental in organizing the Loyalist ceasefire in the Troubles in 1994. Early years McMichael is the eldest son of the John McMichael, a former leader of the Loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA). He left school in his native Lisburn in 1985, and began working with the civil service, although he subsequently also worked as a youth worker and an insurance salesman. He became involved in local protests against the Anglo-Irish Agreement soon after it was signed. McMichael joined the Lisburn Club, the local branch of the pan- unionist Ulster Clubs movement that his father had helped to establish, and for a while served as chairman of this branch. John McMichael was killed on 22 December 1987 and Gary McMichael was informed by police when his name was read ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lisburn
Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with the arrival of French Huguenots in the 18th century, the town developed as a global centre of the linen industry. In 2002, as part of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee celebrations, the predominantly unionist borough was granted city status alongside the largely nationalist town of Newry. With a population of 45,370 in the 2011 Census. Lisburn was the third-largest city in Northern Ireland. In the 2016 reform of local government in Northern Ireland Lisburn was joined with the greater part of Castlereagh to form the Lisburn City and Castlereagh District. Name The town was originally known as ''Lisnagarvy'' (also spelt ''Lisnagarvey'' or ''Lisnagarvagh'') after the townland in which it formed. This is derived . In the records, the nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derry City Council
Derry City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Dhoire; Ulster-Scots: ''Derry Cittie Cooncil'') was the local government authority for the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. It merged with Strabane District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Derry and Strabane District Council. The council provided services to nearly 108,000 people, making it the third-largest of the then 26 district councils in Northern Ireland by population. The council was made up of 30 councillors, elected every four years from five electoral areas and held its meetings in The Guildhall. The mayor for the final 2014–2015 term was Brenda Stevenson of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, with Gary Middleton of the Democratic Unionist Party serving as deputy mayor. History Londonderry City Council became Derry City Council in 1984 when it changed the name of the district it governed. The city itself retained the name "Londonderry". (See Derry/Londonderry name dispute.) Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe English (loyalist)
Joe English is a former Ulster loyalist activist. English was a leading figure in both the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) and was instrumental in the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process. He is a native of the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, ''UDA - Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror'', Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 217 English is a member of the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Early years English had been a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) since the early days of the Troubles. He first came to prominence in the 1980s when he was involved in writing ''Common Sense'', a UDA policy document that supported a form of power-sharing with Catholics. He was an opponent of Davy Payne, the UDA's North Belfast brigadier and an unpopular figure with many members due to allegations of racketeering and involvement in the death of John McMichael.McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', p. 160 He served as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Smith (loyalist)
William Smith (sometimes erroneously spelt Smyth) (26 January 1954William Smith, ''Inside Man, Loyalists of Long Kesh – The Untold Story'', 2014, p. 19 – 8 June 2016) was a Northern Irish loyalist, paramilitary, and politician. He had been involved in Ulster loyalism in various capacities for at least forty years. Early life Smith was born in Mountjoy Street on Belfast's Shankill Road into a poor Ulster Protestant family, the son of shipyard worker Charles William Smith and his wife Isobel. He had three older sisters, Margaret, Elizabeth and Nan (the latter dying in infancy before he was born), a younger brother Gordon and a younger sister Jean. There was rumoured Native American ancestry in his family; therefore in his youth he acquired the lifelong nickname "Plum" after ''The Beano'' character Little Plum.Peter Taylor, ''Loyalists'', Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 45 He was raised in a working class home where his parents sent him to Sunday school and taught him to respect the law. Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew Spence (28 June 1933 . '' (CAIN). Retrieved 5 April 2011. – 25 September 2011) was a leader of the paramilitary (UVF) and a leading loyalist in |
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC), for a time it described itself as "the only left of centre unionist party" in Northern Ireland, with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast. Since the Ulster Democratic Party's dissolution in 2001, the PUP has been the sole party in Northern Ireland representing paramilitary loyalism. Party leaders History The party was founded by Hugh Smyth in the mid-1970s as the "Independent Unionist Group". In 1977, two prominent members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, David Overend and Jim McDonald, joined. Overend subsequently wrote many of the group's policy documents, incorporating much of the NILP's platform.Aaron Edwards, ''A history of the Northern Irel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Adams (loyalist)
David Adams (born c. 1953) is a Northern Irish loyalist activist and former politician. He was instrumental in bringing about the loyalist ceasefire of 1994 and played a leading role in the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process. Emergence in politics A native of Lisburn, Adams was a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) although he did not hold any position of importance within the movement and was never imprisoned. From early on, Adams was much more involved in the political side of loyalism rather than the paramilitary side. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the UDA, Adams was grammar school educated and gained a reputation as an articulate speaker.McDonald & Cusack, ''UDA'', p. 269 Adams, who lived near the Maze Prison and served as a community worker in the area, joined the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) after being encouraged to do so by Ray Smallwoods. Towards ceasefire Adams was, along with Gary McMichael, involved in negotiations between the UDP and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John White (loyalist)
John White (born 1950) is a former leading loyalist in Northern Ireland. He was sometimes known by the nickname 'Coco'. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP). Always a close ally of Johnny Adair, White was run out of Northern Ireland when Adair fell from grace and is no longer involved in loyalist activism. Early years Born in Belfast, White was one of eight children, two of whom had died in infancy, whose father was permanently disabled as a result of wartime injuries. The family had initially lived on the mainly nationalist Ballymurphy area of the Springfield Road, Belfast but had left upon the outbreak of the Troubles to move to the Old Lodge Road area of the lower Shankill.Wood, p. 6 White has claimed that although his house "wasn't a loyalist one" his father "hated Catholics" and was bitter abou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shankill Road
The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast and is lined, to an extent, by shops. The residents live in the many streets which branch off the main road. The area along the Shankill Road forms part of the Court district electoral area. In Ulster-Scots it is known as either ''Auld Kirk Gate'' ("Old Church Way"), or as ''Auld Kirk Raa'' ("Old Church Road"). In Irish, it is known as "" ("the road of the old church"). History The first Shankill residents lived at the bottom of what is now known as Glencairn: a small settlement of ancient people inhabited a ring fort, built where the Ballygomartin and Forth rivers meet. A settlement around the point at which the Shankill Road becomes the Woodvale Road, at the junction with Cambrai Street, was known as Shankill from the Irish ''Seanchi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combined Loyalist Military Command
The Combined Loyalist Military Command is an umbrella body for loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s, recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee. Bringing together the leaderships of the Ulster Defence Association, the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando, the CLMC sought to ensure that the groups would work towards the same goals. The group was made up of a number of 'Liaison Officers' who were senior figures from the paramilitary groups themselves, as well as from the Ulster Democratic Party and the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party. The UDP was made up of representatives from UDA and the PUP was made up of representatives from both the RHC and UVF. 1991 Ceasefire The CLMC first tested the idea of a ceasefire in 1991 when it called a halt to all action from 29 April to 4 July of that year. The only breach of the 10-week ceasefire was the killing by the Ulster Freedom Fighters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate United Ireland, Irish reunification and bring about an independent, socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the army of the all-island Irish Republic and as the sole legitimate successor to the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was List of designated terrorist groups, designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Republic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymie Elder
Raymond Elder (1962 – 31 July 1994) was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and a prominent figure within the Ulster Defence Association's South Belfast Brigade. Suspected by security forces of playing a role in numerous killings, including the Sean Graham shooting, he was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army on the Ormeau Road in 1994. Early life A native of Belfast, Elder grew up in the Annadale Flats, an Ulster loyalist area in South Belfast close to the Ormeau Road. Although some individual districts in the Ormeau Road were divided along sectarian lines there were no peace lines, several mixed streets and the main road was frequented by both Protestants and Catholics. As such, Elder knew many Catholics and in his youth was involved in sectarian bullying and street fights before he graduated to UDA membership. He was nicknamed "Snowy" on account of his blond hair. Ulster Defence Association Elder was the right-hand man of Joe Bratty, the officer in command of the UDA' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_(9191426648).jpg "Click for more on -> Shankill Road")
