Ernest "Ernie" Elliott (1943/1944 – 6 December 1972), nicknamed "Duke", was a Northern Irish loyalist activist and a leading member of the
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
(UDA) during its early days. Unusually for the generally right-wing UDA, Elliott expressed admiration for socialism and
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
. Elliott was eventually killed by a fellow UDA member following a drunken brawl, although his death was variously blamed on republicans and a rival faction within the UDA.
Woodvale Defence Association
A native of Leopold Street close to the
Crumlin Road
The Crumlin Road is a main road in north-west Belfast, Northern Ireland. The road runs from north of Belfast City Centre for about four miles to the outskirts of the city. It also forms part of the longer A52 road which leads out of Belfast to t ...
in the Woodvale area,David McKittrick et al, ''Lost Lives'', Mainstream Publishing, 2008, p. 300 a district of
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
adjacent to the
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 ...
, Elliott was involved in the formation of the vigilante group the Woodvale Defence Association (WDA) in early 1971. He was appointed as lieutenant to the WDA's deputy leader Davy Fogel, a close drinking buddy. Elliott, a short but stockily built man, was a notorious "hard man" on the Shankill who was used to meting out physical violence.
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 ...
, ''Loyalists'', Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 101 He became commander of the WDA (which retained an independent existence for a time despite its incorporation into the UDA) in 1972 while Charles Harding Smith was detained in London on
gun-running
Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small arm ...
charges, holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Marxism
At the time the leader of the
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign ...
(UVF)
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew Spence (28 June 1933 . ''
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged ...
members in
Crumlin Road Gaol
HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since 1996 it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland. It is colloquially known as ' ...
. Spence's ideas were rejected by many within the UVF but some who had been in prison with him took the ideas on board. Some of these Shankill UVF men were friends of Elliott and when they discussed their ideas with him he became impressed. Before long Elliott had become enamoured of
Marxism
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
and sought to apply its theories to the "loyalist struggle".Dillon, Martin, ''The Trigger Men'', Mainstream Publishing, 2003, p. 180. In fact Elliott and Davy Fogel had held meetings with the Official Irish Republican Army in both
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
and Belfast in an attempt to seek common ground and explore the possibility of reaching what Fogel described as "a working-class accommodation with our Catholic neighbours". They also met representatives of the
British and Irish Communist Organisation
The British and Irish Communist Organisation (B&ICO) was a small group based in London, Belfast, Cork, and Dublin. Its leader was Brendan Clifford. The group produced a number of pamphlets and regular publications, including ''The Irish Comm ...
which at the time was going through a strongly anti-
republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
and pro- unionist phase.
Elliott became somewhat notorious in the UDA for expressing the notion that Protestants and Catholics were both equal victims of oppression and that the working class elements of the communities had more in common with each other than their respective middle classes. However, despite his avowed conversion to Marxism, Elliott remained active in the UDA's campaign of sectarian murder and after his death was identified as having taken part in the torture of Patrick Devaney, a Catholic former
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
soldier who was brutally killed on 30 August 1972. His professed views were also not shared by many of his fellow WDA members, with 1 May 1972 issue of ''WDA News'' including an article that featured far right calls for
racial purity
The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...
.
Fall from grace
Some of his underlings took to his new ideas but for most within the arch-conservative UDA, including the leadership, Elliott's flirtation with Marxism was dangerously subversive. The British Intelligence Corps, which considered the UDA no threat to their interests, were also deeply worried by Elliott's new interests. In particular they feared the possibility of a relationship developing between elements of the UDA and the Official IRA.
As a consequence, the military authorities decided that it was imperative to remove Elliott and so they enlisted loyalist veteran and British agent William McGrath to lead a whispering campaign designed at blackening Elliott's name.Dillon, ''The Trigger Men'', p. 181Charles Harding Smith returned to Belfast in December 1972 and was informed by his allies in the WDA that in his absence the UDA in West Belfast had become closely involved in racketeering. They added that not only had Elliott done nothing to stop this crime wave, but that he had also reaped financial benefits from activities such as hijacking trucks carrying alcohol and selling the goods in
shebeen
A shebeen ( ga, síbín) was originally an illicit bar or club where excisable alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, the ...
s. Harding Smith called a meeting of Shankill commanders, inviting all but Elliott, ordering a cleaning up of UDA activities. Those present, many of whom had themselves been involved in the crimes, all placed the blame on Elliott.
Death
On 7 December 1972 a car was found abandoned near the Village area of the
Donegall Road
The Donegall Road is a residential area and road traffic thoroughfare that runs from Shaftesbury Square on what was once called the " Golden Mile" to the Falls Road in west Belfast. The road is bisected by the Westlink – M1 motorway. The lar ...
with a cardboard box in the back. Police and the army were called to the scene where they initially treated it as a bomb, carrying out a controlled explosion. However, when the box was finally removed from the car it was found to contain not a bomb but rather a corpse, which was soon identified as that of Elliott.Dillon, ''The Trigger Men'', p. 182 He had been blasted in the face with a shotgun.
Another UDA member, who was not identified, was discovered in Ainsworth Avenue on the Woodvale Road with serious injuries and under questioning revealed a story of Elliott's death. He claimed that he and Elliott had been drinking in the UDA clubs of the Shankill Road and had then driven in their official WDA car to
Sandy Row
Sandy Row () is a large inner city estate in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lends its name to the surrounding residential community, which is predominantly Protestant working-class. The Sandy Row area had a population of 2,153 in 2001; in ...
to continue drinking. According to his testimony they had taken a short cut past the lower Falls Road where they had been stopped by a
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 ...
roadblock. The republicans recognised Elliott and separated the two men, beating up Elliott's companion but shooting the WDA leader dead.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) rejected the story and publicly declared it had no faith in the testimony. They claimed that no UDA member would ever drive along the Falls to get to Sandy Row and added that the Provisionals would never have killed one member and let another off with a beating. The police added that they believed Elliott had actually been killed on the Shankill and that his companion had been released after being assaulted with instructions to relay the story he had told them. Within days Joseph Kelly, 47, and James Joseph Reynolds, 16, both Catholic civilians, had been killed by the East Belfast UDA in revenge for the killing of Elliott, after the eastern leadership claimed to have accepted the IRA story as truth.
A further story was circulated that Elliott had been killed for being a member of the Ulster Citizens Army, a purported Marxism-supporting loyalist paramilitary group which had been up concocted by the British Intelligence Corps in an ultimately successful attempt to strangle at birth the UVF's move to the left. In fact, Elliott's death had been the result of a drunken brawl that ended in gunfire. Elliott, a notoriously heavy drinker, had gone to Sandy Row to get a gun that he had loaned to a local UDA member. According to witnesses, the heavily inebriated Elliott entered the UDA club in the area and began waving a gun around. A patron of the club grabbed the weapon and punched Elliott with the fight spilling outside. An unidentified Sandy Row UDA man pointed a shotgun at Elliott outside but the weapon went off and hit Elliott. The gunman fled to England soon afterwards only to return in 1983, reportedly remorseful, and confessed his part in the killing. Despite this, no convictions were made after the case against this man and two associates collapsed.
Elliott was 28 years old at the time of his death.
His funeral a few days after his killing was a big event on the Shankill. His coffin was removed from his Leopold Street home draped in a UDA flag, his badges of rank and his Orange Order sash, with shots fired by a guard of honour and thousands of uniformed UDA members marching with the coffin down the Shankill Road. The UDA members, dressed in khaki combat jackets, marched as far Royal Avenue in Belfast city centre. Elliott is commemorated by a mural on Ohio Street off the Woodvale/Upper Shankill roads.CAIN A Directory of Murals – Album 29 cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2016.