Appendix I Timeline of Some Important Events in Northern Ireland's History
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Appendix I Timeline of Some Important Events in Northern Ireland's History 1886, 1893 Horne Rule Bills are proposed in the British Parliament. Both are defeated amidst strong hostility from Ulster Unionists. 1912 A third Horne Rule Bill is proposed and passed, and goes on the statute books in 1914. An amendment is proposed to temporarily exclude the nine counties of Ulster. This is eventually pushed back to the six counties which currently make up Northern Ireland. Counties Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan, all of which have significant Protestant populations, are sacrificed in order to create what is considered to be a governable state with a two-thirds Protestant majority. 1913 In January, Unionist leaders Edward Carson and Sir James Craig, later to become the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, found the Ulster Volunteer Force in order to resist, if necessary, the imposition of horne rule. In response the Irish Volunteers are founded in November to support home rule. The implementation of the Horne Rule Bill is suspended during the First World War. Nationalists are divided on the issue of whether or not the Irish should fight on the side of the British, an issue which results in a split into John Redmond's National Volunteers and Eoin MacNeill's Irish Volunteers. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) join forces with MacNeill. May 1915 The IRB start plans for a military uprising, to take place at Easter in Dublin. 180 Appendix I 181 April 1916 The 1916 Easter Rising lasts just five days. Those leaders who did not die in the fighting are later executed. 1920 Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, parliaments are established in Dublin and Belfast with powers of local self-government. Ireland is partitioned along the six county border, with the possibility of the future unification of Ireland if both parliaments agree to it. 1921 Mter years of violence which pitted the IRA against the British army and the special police force known as the Black and Tans, Eamon de Valera's govern ment sends a delegation to London for a conference with the British. Faced with the ultimatum of 'war within three days' issued by British Prime Minister Lloyd George, the Irish delegation sign a treaty on 6 December 1921 which confers dominion status on the Irish Free State and provides for a border com mission to consider the status of the 'temporary' six county boundary. Conflict over the Treaty results in a split in the IRA into anti- and pro-Treaty factions. A bitter civil war is ultimately won by the pro-Treaty faction. 1922 The Border Commission which was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act meets for the first time. The status quo prevails, and the boundary remains more or less as it was originally drawn in 1920. 1923 Local boundaries within Northern Ireland are redrawn. Gerrymandering is rife. Before partition, Nationalists won control of 26 councils (Farrell 1980: 25). After the 1924 elections, Nationalists control just two (Farrell 1980: 84-5). December 1948 The Dilil pass a bill declaring Ireland to be a Republic. 1949 In February, a general election is held in Northern Ireland. The Anti-Partition League contest the elections and do well. However, there is still no universal 182 The Irish Language in Northern Ireland suffrage in Northern Ireland. Voting rights are restricted to ratepayers, and with the so-called 'company vote', company directors could exercise up to six votes, depending on the rateable valuation of the company (Farrell 1980: 85). In May, the London government passes the Ireland Bill, clause 1(1) of which effectively strengthens the union with Britain. 1955 The IRA launch the most serious physical force campaign against the northern state since partition. Known as the 'border campaign', it is a largely military offensive which will last over five years. Internment and arrests break the campaign by 1960, and it is officially called off in 1962. 1963 Terence O'Neill is chosen to succeed Lord Brookeborough as Northern Ireland's Prime Minister. He institutes a number of reforms designed to include more Catholics in the running of the state, but they are not far-reaching enough for most Nationalists. 1966 The Ulster Volunteer Force, named for the UVF of the 1912-22 period, initiate an assassination campaign against Catholics. On 27 May, John Scullion is shot on Clonard Street in west Belfast, and later dies from his wounds. On 26 June, three Catholics are shot as they leave a bar on the Shankill Road. One of the men, Peter Ward, dies. 1967 The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) adopts a programme which includes 'one man [sic], one vote in local elections; no gerrymandering of constituency boundaries, fair distribution of local council houses, the repeal of the Special Powers Act, the disbanding of the B Specials, and a formal complaints procedure against local authorities' (Lee 1989: 420). (Formed in October 1920 as part of the Ulster Special Constabulary, the B Specials were a part-time, armed, 100 per cent Protestant police force. Known for their brutality and sectarianism, they were especially hated and feared by Catholics.) 1968 The first of the civil rights marches, from Coalisland to Dungannon in County Tyrone, is held in August to protest at discrimination in housing. Another march, scheduled for Derry in October, is blocked when the Minister for Home Affairs prohibits all marches. When the organizers defy the order there is a confrontation between the RUC and marchers. The police brutality and riots Appendix I 183 which follow are televised worldwide. Civil rights marches and protests con tinue to be held throughout October and November. On 22 November, O'Neill announces further reforms to try to calm the situation, but they do not include universal suffrage, a key demand of the civil rights campaigners. 1969 A month-long moratorium on marches is called by the Derry Citizens Action Conunittee for January. People's Democracy do not heed the moratorium, how ever, and organize a four-day march from Belfast to Derry starting on I January. The marchers are met with harassment by Loyalists along the route, and are attacked in an organized ambush at Burntollet Bridge, near Claudy, on 4 January. The RUe. who had been accompanying the march, do little or nothing to stop the attack by around 200 Loyalists wielding bottles, stones, cudgels and iron bars. It was later discovered that off-duty members of the B Specials were among the attackers. When the march finally enters Derry there is further confrontation, and riots ensue between the RUC and youths from the Catholic Bogside district. O'Neill announces a conunission of inquiry into the Derry disturbances, and in an attempt to resecure his position, calls a snap general election for February. While he wins a majority, O'Neill's authority is seriously undermined. April 1969 Universal suffrage is finally conceded by a 28 to 22 vote. One of O'Neill's Ministers, Major James Chichester-Clarke, resigns in protest. In the same month there is a series of explosions at electricity and water installations. They are attributed to the IRA, but it is later discovered that the bombs were planted by the UVF in an attempt to destablize O'Neill's administration and end the programme of reforms (Bew and Gillespie 1993: 14). On 28 April, O'Neill resigns and is succeeded by Chichester-Clarke. Following the resignation, radical Unionist Ian Paisley wins a by-election for the Bannside seat, signalling a further shift away from reformist and towards more extremist politics. July 1969 Samuel Devenney, considered to be the first victim of the Troubles, dies on 16 July as the result of a beating by police which took place in his Derry home on 19 April (Bew and Gillespie 1993: 16-17). During the summer marching sea son, there are serious riots throughout Northern Ireland. August and September 1969 3,500 families are driven from their homes in Belfast, 3,000 of them Catholic. That same number again would be driven from their homes over the next four years (Lee 1989: 429). 10,000 British troops are dispatched to the North, arriv ing in Derry on 14 August and in Belfast on 15 August. Catholics are relieved to see them, seeing them as protectors. 184 The Irish Language in Northern Ireland 1970 In January, the Republican movement splits after a conference in Dublin. The smaller faction, who favour a return to a military strategy, call themselves the Provisional Army Council, nicknamed the 'Provos' or 'Provies'. The larger Official IRA adopt a Marxist ideology and continue to favour political par ticipation. The split precipitates a violent feud in the North in which many people die. Although initially smaller, the Provisionals build up their support and ultimately are more successful at obtaining arms than the Officials. July 1970 The British army institute a 36-hour curfew in the Catholic Falls Road area of west Belfast to facilitate arms searches. It proves to be a turning point in Catholic attitudes towards the army. Five lives are lost during the curfew, and membership of the IRA mushrooms. Meanwhile, the British government brings in series of reforms designed to address the issues originally raised by the civil rights campaigners. 1971 In 1971 alone, the British army search 17,262 houses (Lee 1989: 433). The searches involve the destruction of Catholic homes in armed midnight raids. Floorboards are pulled up, cupboards emptied, soft furniture cut open, holes knocked into the walls, and private papers read in an effort to uncover hidden arms. Between November 1971 and January 1972 only 47 of the 1,183 houses searched produce arms (Lee 1989: 433).