Declan Arthurs (28 October 1965 – 8 May 1987) was a

Volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

in the

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, fa ...

's (IRA), East Tyrone Brigade in the mid-1980s.

Early life

Declan Arthurs was born in Galbally,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

on 28 October 1965. He was one of six children, and the fourth of Paddy and Amelia Arthurs. Declan worked on the family farm learning how to drive

diggers The Diggers were a group of religious and political dissidents in England, associated with agrarian socialism. Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard, amongst many others, were known as True Levellers in 1649, in reference to their split from ...

. He worked as an agricultural contractor for the farm. He had one young daughter.

IRA Volunteer

Declan Arthurs joined the East Tyrone Brigade of the

in 1982 in the wake of

Martin Hurson Edward Martin Hurson (13 September 1956 – 13 July 1981) was an Irish Republican Hunger Striker and a Volunteer in the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Background Martin Hurson, from Cappagh, County Tyro ...

's death on the

1981 Irish Hunger Strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special C ...

. Hurson was also from Galbally like Arthurs, and Arthurs and his friends looked up to Hurson. At the time he joined so did other young men from the same area, like Tony Gormley, Eugene Kelly, Seamus Donnelly and

Martin McCaughey Gerard Patrick Martin McCaughey (24 February 1967 – 9 October 1990) was a Sinn Féin councillor and Volunteer (Irish republican), volunteer in the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade, East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army ...

. Over a year and a half year period in the mid-1980s the East Tyrone Brigade attacked and bombed RUC barracks and stations in Ballygawley,

Tynan Tynan (PlaceNamesNI - Tynan
) is a

, The Birches,

Coalisland Coalisland () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with a population of 5,682 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. Four miles from Lough Neagh, it was formerly a centre for coal mining. History Origins In the late ...

, Dungannon,

Carrickmore Carrickmore () is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East, the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and the Roman Catholic Parish of Termonmaguirc between Cookstown, Dungannon and Omagh. ...

and Castlederg. They bombed hotels and other businesses in

Kildress Kildress () is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of Cookstown in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. There are two churches in the area. One is St. Patrick's Church of Ireland and the other is St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Killeenan. St ...

Ballyronan Ballyronan () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on the north western shore of Lough Neagh. The village is from Magherafelt and from Cookstown. It is situated within Mid-Ulster District. History The village ...

, Dungannon and Cookstown Arthurs took part in two of the IRA's biggest attacks of the 1980s. At the Attack on Ballygawley barracks in December 1985 and then the Attack on RUC Birches barracks in August 1986, Arthurs was a key member of the team who drove a digger past a security fence, stopped it outside the barracks, lit a fuse, ran to safety and wrecked the barracks with a 200lb bomb in the JCB Digger.

Death

Arthurs was killed along with seven other IRA Volunteers who were ambushed by the SAS during the

Loughgall Ambush The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in the vil ...

. Before the SAS fired he lit the 40-second fuse on the bomb and it destroyed most of the station, injuring a British soldier inside. The Loughgall ambush was planned to be a carbon copy attack of the bombing of The Birches barracks and the IRA expected no resistance. One of the photos of the aftermath of the ambush shows that Arthurs died with the Zippo lighter he used to light the fuse still in his hand. Amelia Arthurs, Declan's mother, said of the ambush in an interview with journalist

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

, "He was mowed down. He could have been taken prisoner. They knew that the "boys" were coming and they lay in wait. The SAS never gave them a chance. Declan died for his country and I'm very proud of him. He was caught up in a war and he died." Declan Arthurs is buried in St John's Cemetery, Galbally beside IRA Volunteer Seamus Donnelly who also died in the Loughgall ambush.Tirghra I nDil Chuimhne - Ireland's Patriot Dead pp.286

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthurs, Declan 1965 births 1987 deaths Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Irish republicans People from County Tyrone People killed by security forces during The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Provisional Irish Republican Army members

Early life

IRA Volunteer

Death

See also

References