Michael Joseph Murray, also known as Squire Murray, was a

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 ...

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 ...

, later named as an organiser of 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 ...

, which killed 21 people on 21 November 1974.

Personal life

Murray was born in

Donnycarney Donnycarney () is a Northside suburb in the city of Dublin, Ireland, in the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. It is mostly residential, around from the centre of Dublin. Dublin GAA's home stadium, Parnell Park, is located here. Location ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

and was educated at Scoil Mhuire, Marino. He ran a pub in Kilbeggan and he joined the IRA in the early 1950s. He was a father of six.

Republican activities

Prior to coming to work in England, Murray had a short spell in prison in Dublin for selling Easter lilies when he was a teenager. This was illegal at the time in the Republic of Ireland as proceeds went to the IRA.Chris, Mullin, ''Error of Judgement'' 3rd Edition, Poolbeg Press, pp. 153-54. Murray worked in Birmingham as a labourer at a forgings and press factory, while living in Watt Road,

Erdington Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...

. He was generally known in the community as "Big Mick". Murray's involvement in the 21 November 1974 bombing of the ''Mulberry Bush'' and the ''Tavern in the Town'' included choosing the targets and making the bombs. He transported the bombs to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

city centre before handing them to the planters. He made the telephone warning using the codename ''Double X''. The two bombings resulted in the deaths of 21 people - mostly young people. A total of 182 were injured, many seriously. Murray later reportedly told Paddy Hill and Johnny Walker that the phone boxes to be used had been vandalised, requiring the finding of another, some distance away.Chris, Mullin, ''Error of Judgement'' 3rd Edition, Poolbeg Press, pp. 153-54. He was charged with explosives offenses jointly with Michael Sheehan and James Kelly (aka Woods). All three were tried as part of the same trial that convicted 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 ...

. The Lord Bridge of Harwich was the presiding judge at the trial of the

, who were accused of bombings in

in November 1974. In prison he was active in the

blanket protest The blanket protest was part of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners held in the Maze prison (also known as "Long Kesh") in Northern Ireland. The ...

campaign. On release he was excluded from England and worked as a driver for '' An Phoblacht'' while resuming IRA activities. He stayed loyal to the Provisionals following the

Real IRA The Real Irish Republican Army, or Real IRA (RIRA), is a dissident Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a United Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members, who rejected the ...

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

, but remained a hardliner within the organisation, strongly opposing

decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to: Infrastructure * Decommissioned offshore * Decommissioned highway * Greenfield status of former industrial sites * Nuclear decommi ...

. Many years later Murray placed a notice in An Phoblacht in memoriam to James McDade, who killed himself accidentally whilst planting a bomb in the Coventry telephone exchange just prior to the Birmingham pub bombings. He signed off as Mick from West Midlands Command of the IRA. Following his death in 1999, he was buried in

Clonmellon Clonmellon (, but also attested to originally have been ''Cluain Miolain'') is a small village officially in County Westmeath although on the border with County Meath, Ireland. It is situated on the N52 road between Kells in County Meath and De ...

, County Westmeath.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Mick 1930s births 1999 deaths History of Birmingham, West Midlands Irish republicans imprisoned on charges of terrorism People from County Dublin Provisional Irish Republican Army members Year of birth uncertain