One of the most talented actors of his generation, Ewan McGregor, was born in March 1971. This would also be the month when the troubles in Northern Ireland would have devastating effects on families across the water in Scotland.
March 1971 began with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's first meeting at Stormont. The headquarters and regional offices of the NIHE were to be the target of numerous paramilitary attacks during the Troubles.
Just 6 days into March we, unfortunately, had another death. The British Army killed William Halligan after being shot during street disturbances on Balaclava Street, on the Lower Falls in Belfast. On this fateful day, many reports were suggesting that the sniper fire was unnecessary, given the threat level from youths in the area.
At the time, there wasn’t just tension between Catholics, loyalists and the British Army. On the 8th of March, members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) engaged in a gun battle with members of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). One man was killed. The feud between the two wings of the IRA had been developing ever since the Republic movement split on 11 January 1970.
The man killed was Charles Hughes (26), who was shot by the OIRA while leaving a house on Leeson Street in the Lower Falls of Belfast. In response, the Provisional IRA shot and seriously injured an Official IRA volunteer.
On the 10th of March, there were further deaths in Northern Ireland. Brothers John (17) and Joseph McCaig (18) from Ayr and Dougald McCaughey (23) from Glasgow, were privates serving with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, stationed at Girdwood Barracks, beside Crumlin Road Prison in north Belfast. That day, the three soldiers had been granted an afternoon pass which allowed them to leave their base. McCaughey's younger brother was serving in the same unit but was on duty and unable to join them. The three soldiers were off-duty, unarmed and in civilian clothes.
They were drinking in "Mooney's", a Belfast city centre pub in Cornmarket, one of the safer areas of the city for soldiers at this stage of the conflict. One report said that the three soldiers were lured into a car by republican women who promised them a party. The three were then taken to the White Brae, Squire's Hill, off the Ligoniel Road in North Belfast. There they were shot dead by Provisional IRA members; two of them in the back of the head and the other in the chest.
The inquest in August 1971 was not able to establish the exact sequence of events. It was established that all three were shot at very close range, probably in a line. All had been drinking, and Joseph was found to be severely intoxicated. The jury was told that the three were probably shot whilst relieving themselves beside the road.
The coroner commented;
"You may think that this was not only murder, but one of the vilest crimes ever heard of in living memory".
The bodies were heaped on top of each other with two beer glasses lying nearby. After failing to return to their barracks by 18:30, the three were listed as AWOL before their bodies were found by children at 21:30.
Days later, in retaliation, a bomb planted by loyalists destroyed Squire's Hill Tavern at Ligoniel near where the bodies of the soldiers had been found. The owner denied rumours the soldiers had been drinking in the pub before their deaths. This was in addition to 4,000 loyalist shipyard workers taking to the streets to demand the mass internment of Irish republicans. There was widespread condemnation of the killings and increased pressure on Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, to take a tougher line on security in the region. Ian Paisley demanded the Government's resignation, saying;
"We can no longer tolerate your weakness. You must go before the whole land is deluged with the blood of innocent men and women."
On the 16th of March, James Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, went to London for a meeting with Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, about the security situation in Northern Ireland. An additional 1,300 troops were later sent to the region, a response which was considered inadequate by Unionists. Just 4 days later, James Chichester-Clark resigned as Northern Ireland's Prime Minister in protest at what he viewed as a limited security response by the British government.
Following Chichester-Clark’s resignation, Brian Faulkner became Northern Ireland's Prime Minister after defeating William Craig in a Unionist Party leadership election.
March ended with speculation that the UVF were responsible for a bomb exploding at St Malachy’s College on the Antrim Road in Belfast.
Some recommended ready based on research for this instalment of the newsletter.
Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children Who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles by David McKittrick.
The Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein by Peter Taylor.
The Irish War by Tony Geraghty.
Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA by Richard English.
UVF: The Endgame by Jim Cusack.