On 25 and 27 November 1974 the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA) placed several bombs in

pillar box A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cyprus, India, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, New Z ...

es and one in a hedge behind a pillar box. This was a new tactic used by the IRA in England, although a similar tactic had been used in Northern Ireland during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

several times previously. 40 people were wounded from five explosions in several districts.

Background

The IRA began their bombing campaign of England in early 1973 when they bombed the Old Bailey courthouse, the seat of justice in Britain, they used a car bomb to attack it which injured over 200 people, caused extensive damage and one person died from a heart attack. 1974 was to be the IRA's most deadly year in England with close to 50 people being killed and with around 500 being injured. The year started with the

M62 coach bombing The M62 coach bombing, sometimes referred to as the M62 Massacre, occurred on 4 February 1974 on the M62 motorway in northern England, when a 25-pound (11 kg) Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb hidden inside the luggage locker ...

a military coach which had soldiers and their families on it. Nine soldiers were killed and three civilians with just under 40 being injured, many seriously. The IRA had been bombing targets in and around the London area since October 1974 including, the Guildford pub bombings on 5 October and the

Woolwich pub bombing The Woolwich pub bombing was an attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Woolwich, a district of London in the United Kingdom, as part of The Troubles. Echoing similar attacks in Guildford the previous month, a bomb made of 6 lb o ...

on 7 November. Seven people were killed from these two bombings alone (5 British military personnel & 2 civilians) and almost 100 people were injured. On 21 November the

Birmingham pub bombings The Birmingham pub bombings were carried out on 21 November 1974, when bombs exploded in two public houses in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others. The Provisional Irish Republican Army never officially admitted respo ...

killed 21 and injured close to 200. The Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 (PTA 1974) was passed through parliament quickly to give the police special powers in dealing with the IRA and similar groups. The powers gave the police powers to hold people in custody for up to seven days without charge. There was a strong desire to respond to what was perceived as "the greatest threat o the countrysince the end of the Second World War." Six men who were wrongly convicted of the bombings was a group known the

Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the C ...

who spent 17 years in English jails until their convictions were overturned in 1991. The PTA 1974 was also used to convict other innocent people like

Judith Ward The M62 coach bombing, sometimes referred to as the M62 Massacre, occurred on 4 February 1974 on the M62 motorway in northern England, when a 25-pound (11 kg) Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb hidden inside the luggage locker ...

of the

and it was also used to convict the eleven members of the

Guildford Four and Maguire Seven The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were the collective names of two groups whose convictions in English courts in 1975 and 1976 for the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974 were eventually quashed after long campaigns for justice. The Guil ...

of the Guildford bombings. All these convictions were also overturned in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Bombings

The IRA decided to send a message of defiance to the government over the PTA and to show that the IRA was very much still operational in England. They created bombs concealed in packets small enough to fit in a standard-sized pillar post box. On 25 November 1974 the IRA planted bombs inside pillar boxes in various places around London. They made three small

gelignite Gelignite (), also known as blasting gelatin or simply "jelly", is an explosive material consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or guncotton) dissolved in either nitroglycerine or nitroglycol and mixed with wood pulp and salt ...

laden bombs with pocket watch timing devices. The first bomb on Caledonian Road, nearby King's Cross and

Pentonville Road Pentonville Road is a road in Central London that runs west to east from Kings Cross to City Road at The Angel, Islington. The road is part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone. The roa ...

, went off at 5:50 pm that injured two people. Ten minutes later a second bomb went off outside Piccadilly Circus at 6:00 pm. This was the worst bomb of the day as it injured 16 people. The last bomb detonated near Metropole Cinema, just outside

London Victoria station Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a London station group, central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, London, Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after ...

, and went off at 6:50 pm, injuring another 2 people. This brought the total injured to 20 for the day. The Metropolitan Police called in the army bomb squad to check all pillar boxes in the W1 and N1 postal areas. In addition, false alarms throughout other places in London caused traffic chaos. The next day, many nervous post workers in central London refused to open boxes in fear that there could be a bomb. Two days later on 27 November, a twin bomb attack near the National Army Museum on

Tite Street Tite Street is a street in Chelsea, London, England, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, just north of the River Thames. It was laid out from 1877 by the Metropolitan Board of Works, giving access to the Chelsea Embankment. Hist ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

occurred – again time bombs inside pillar boxes. The first bomb was small and designed to lure security services to the scene before a much larger bomb went off 21 minutes later in a hedge close by. The second explosion injured 20 people including an explosives officer, six policemen and two ambulancemen. Investigations showed that the second bomb had 3 to 5 lb of gelignite and 200 nails incorporated to make a claymore-type device. The second bomb was aimed to kill those on the scene.

Aftermath

The secondary 'come-on' bomb in Chelsea, the first time it was deployed in London, forced the Metropolitan Police to make changes to responses to explosions. It required all police officers attending an explosion to carry out an immediate search around the scene and cordon the area off to ensure there would be no second bomb.

Sources

CAIN project

References

{{The Troubles, state=collapsed Explosions in 1974 Explosions in England November 1974 events in the United Kingdom 1974 crimes in the United Kingdom Car and truck bombings in London Provisional IRA bombings in London Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1974