Sam McAughtry (24 March 1921 – 28 March 2014) was an Irish / British writer, broadcaster and

raconteur A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

Biography

Early life

Samuel Jamison McAughtry was born at 130 Cosgrave Street,

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 Kingdo ...

, Ireland, on 24 March 1921, approximately six weeks before the country's partition. He was the son of Marriot McAughtry, a fireman, and Elizabeth Condit. He was brought up in the

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

Tiger's Bay The Shore Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs through north Belfast and Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Nor ...

area of

and was educated at St Barnabas'.

Formative years

He left school at 14 and during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. On leaving the armed forces, in 1946 he applied to join the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

, sitting his entrance exam at the

Union Theological College ''This page is about a college in Northern Ireland. For institutions with similar names, see Union Theological Seminary and Union School of Theology'' , mottoeng = ''“Buy the truth and sell it not”'' (taken from Proverbs 23:23) , establi ...

, Belfast, he used as the topic for his essay town life versus country life alluding to rural life in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

from where he'd recently returned and with particular emphasis on how young women were involved in the making of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

by crushing grapes with their bare feet. Having successfully passed the entrance exam his ambition was to become a plain clothes detective, however during his interview with a senior officer it was pointed out to him that his initial posting would be to a rural area, where among his main duties he was to expect to have to help the local farmers fill in their agricultural census in order to record the makeup of their farm. Unimpressed with the prospect he decided not to join the police. He undertook a career as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, ironically carrying out the correlation of agricultural census papers from rural areas, before becoming a full-time writer.

Later life

Describing himself as a '' hybrid unionist'' McAughtry was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representative and a member of the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. William Walker stoo ...

. Using this political platform he stood unsuccessfully for elections as a non-sectarian socialist. McAughtry was a founding member of the

Peace Train Organisation The Peace Train Organisation was a campaign group set up in 1989 in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in response to the repeated bombing of the Dublin to Belfast railway line (see Enterprise (train)) by the Provisional IRA.

, which protested against the bombing of the Dublin–Belfast railway line and in which he undertook the role of chairman. He made many contributions to radio and television programmes, giving his memories of life in Belfast as well as political analysis during the troubles. He was also a regular columnist in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''. McAughtry was elected a member of the

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

, the Irish senate, in 1996 by the Industrial and Commercial Panel in which he replaced the late Seán Fallon Others from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

such as Gordon Wilson,

Maurice Hayes Maurice Hayes (8 July 1927 – 23 December 2017) was an Ireland, Irish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of the 21st and 22nd Seanad Éireann, Seanads. Hayes was Nominated members of Seanad Éireann, nominated by the Taoisea ...

, John Robb, Sam Kyle,

Seamus Mallon Seamus Frederick Mallon (; 17 August 1936 – 24 January 2020) was an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001 and Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979 to 2 ...

and

Bríd Rodgers Bríd Rodgers (; born 20 February 1935) in Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland, is an Irish nationalist former politician. Although born and brought up in a Gaeltacht area in the west of County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, she was politi ...

were

nominated by the Taoiseach A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

. He was introduced on 28 February 1996, welcomed as a rare northern

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

representative, and made his first contribution in response in which he stated:

Death

McAughtry died on 28 March 2014. He was survived by his three daughters, Elaine, Marion and Angela, and by his wife, Phyllis.

Works

*''The Sinking of The Kenbane Head'' (1977), an autobiography *''Play It Again Sam'' (1978) *''Blind Spot'' (1979) *''Sam McAughtry's Belfast'' (1981), a collection of sketches *''McAughtry's War'' (1985), autobiography and

autobiographical fiction An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

*''Hillman Street High Roller'' (1994), autobiography and autobiographical fiction *''Down in the Free State'' (1987), a travel book *''Belfast Stories'' (1993) *''Touch and Go'' (1993), a novel *''On the outside looking in, A Memoir'' (2003) * "A Wistful Eye on Titanic" (2012) A review of the 2012 novel 'A Wistful Eye - The Tragedy of a Titanic Shipwright' written by his cousin DJ Kelly (Denise Beddows).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAughtry, Sam 1921 births 2014 deaths Members of the 20th Seanad Independent members of Seanad Éireann Writers from Belfast Male writers from Northern Ireland Trade unionists from Belfast