November 1975: Guinness Book of World Records
November 1975: Guinness Book of World Records
Thatcher visits Northern Ireland
November 1975 saw Margaret Thatcher visit Northern Ireland. During the same month, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was released. The movie centres around a Korean War veteran and criminal who pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse. I can’t help but feel that this was a sign of things to come from the IRA against Margaret Thatcher…
Political Developments in November 1975
November 1975 began with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees announcing that anyone convicted of terrorist crimes committed after 1 March 1976 would not be accorded special category status.
On the 6th of November, the siege at the house in Monasterevin, County Kildare, where Tiede Herrema, then a Dutch industrialist, was being held hostage, ended with his safe release.
A vote at the Constitutional Convention endorsed a UUUC report on the 7th of November. The Convention voted by 42 to 31 to submit a draft report to the Secretary of State. The report recommended a return to the 'majority rule' system of government for Northern Ireland by adding a series of all-party committees to scrutinise the work of departments. The Report was published on the 20th of November 1975.
On the 12th of November, Merlyn Rees announced the closure of the remaining incident centres that had been set up under the arrangements for the IRA truce.
British Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher paid a visit to Northern Ireland on the 14th of November.
From the 17th of November, over a few days Merlyn Rees held meetings with local political parties to discuss possible ways forward.
The Northern Ireland Office published the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Report on the 20th of November. The Report was debated in the House of Commons on the 12th of January 1976. The UUUC later published a pamphlet entitled 'A Guide to the Convention Report'.
Shootings & Other Murders in November 1975
02/11/75 - A British soldier was injured in an INLA ambush in Armagh, County Armagh.
03/11/75 - The IRA shot dead Republican Clubs member James Fogarty (22) at his home, Rock Grove, Ballymurphy, Belfast. This killing was part of the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA.
05/11/75 - Civilian Stanley Irwin (26) was shot at his farm, Carrowbeg, Banbury, County Tyrone.
06/11/75 - UDR soldier John Bell (59) was shot dead by the IRA, while driving home from work, Ballymoyer, near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh.
09/11/75 - The IRA shot OIRA volunteer John Kelly (19) dead as he walked along Ponsonby Avenue, New Lodge, Belfast. OIRA/(P)IRA feud.
10/11/75 - UDR soldier Joseph Nesbitt (53) was shot dead by an IRA sniper outside Gough British Army Base, Carramoyle, near Keady, County Armagh.
11/11/75 - The Provisional IRA shot dead Official IRA volunteer Comgall Casey (18), a Republican Clubs member, and his relative, John McAllister (19), in separate attacks in Belfast as part of the ongoing Provisional IRA/Official IRA feud.
11/11/75 - The PIRA shot dead OIRA Volunteer John Brown (25) at his home in Cooke Place, Belfast. Part of the PIRA/OIRA feud.
11/11/75 - The OIRA shot dead civilian Owen McVeigh (28) who they mistook as a member of the PIRA along the Lower Falls, Belfast. Part of the PIRA/OIRA feud.
12/11/75 - The OIRA shot dead civilian and Chairman of the Falls Road Taxi Association Michael Duggan (32) for his links to the PIRA in Hawthorne, Belfast. Part of the PIRA/OIRA feud.
15/11/75 - During a disturbance involving members of the UDA and UVF at the Park Bar in Tiger's Bay, Belfast, Protestant civilian Thomas Haddock (51) was shot dead. The fracas was part of an ongoing feud between the UDA and the UVF.
22/11/75 - British Army soldiers James Duncan (19), Peter McDonald (19) and Michael Sampson (20) were killed and one soldier was wounded when the PIRA attacked a watchtower in Drummuckavall, Crossmaglen, South Armagh.
25/11/75 - RUC officers, Samuel Clarke (35) and Patrick Maxwell (36) were killed when their mobile patrol was caught in an IRA sniper ambush in Clonavaddy, near Ballygawley, County Tyrone. In a separate incident a UDR soldier, Robert Stott (22), was shot dead by the IRA outside his home in The Fountain area of Derry.
25/11/75 - Francis Crossan (34), a Catholic civilian, was found dead with his throat cut in the Shankill area of Belfast. Members of the UVF gang known as the “Shankill Butchers” were responsible for the killing. The gang was named for its late-night kidnapping, torture and murder (by throat slashing) of random Catholic civilians in Belfast.
27/11/75 - Ross McWhirter (50), who had publicly criticised IRA violence, was shot dead by the IRA at his home in Village Road, Enfield, London. McWhirter was a founder of the Guinness Book of World Records and had offered a £50,000 reward for the capture of the IRA members responsible for the bombings in London.
29/11/75 - The UVF shot dead one of its members, Archibald Waller (23), in a car on Downing Street, Belfast. Internal dispute.
30/11/75 - The UVF shot dead one of its members, Noel Shaw (19), in a car on Nixon Street, Belfast. Internal dispute.
Bombings in November 1975
03/11/75 - Three people were injured including solicitor, Richard Charnley, when a bomb placed under his car exploded at Connaught Square, London.
10/11/75 - The 'incident centre' in Derry was blown up in a bomb attack carried out by the IRA. The IRA in the city was opposed to the truce.
12/11/75 - Civilian John Batey (59) was killed, with another 15 injured, when an IRA unit threw a bomb into Scott's Restaurant, Mount Street, Mayfair, London.
14/11/75 - Catholic civilian Thomas McNamee (55) died almost one year after being injured in a Loyalist bomb attack in Crossmaglen.
16/11/75 - Whilst on patrol, RUC officer Joseph Clements (48) was killed in a land mine attack, near Sixmilecross, County Tyrone.
18/11/75 - Civilians Audrey Edgson (45) and Theodore Williams (49) were killed and 23 were injured when members of the IRA threw a bomb into Walton's Restaurant in Walton Street, Chelsea, London. The IRA unit that carried out this attack was also responsible for the Caterham, Hilton Hotel, Green Park and Scott's Oyster bombings in recent weeks.
21/11/75 - British soldier Simon Francis (29) was killed by an IRA booby-trap bomb hidden in an abandoned rifle close to a crashed car, Carrive, near Forkill, County Armagh.
29/11/75 - The UDA bombed Dublin Airport, killing civilian staff member John Hayes (38) and injuring 10 other people.
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Some recommended reading based on research for this instalment.
The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997 by Gary McGladdery.
