1972 Aldershot bombing

Last updated

1972 Aldershot bombing
Part of the Troubles
Location Aldershot Garrison
Date22 February 1972
12:15 pm (GMT)
Target 16th Parachute Brigade
Attack type
 Car bomb
Deaths7 (1 military chaplain, 6 civilians)
Injured19
Perpetrator Official IRA
AssailantNoel Jenkinson
MotiveRevenge for Bloody Sunday [1]

The 1972 Aldershot bombing was a car bomb attack by the Official Irish Republican Army on 22 February 1972 in Aldershot, England. The bomb targeted the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Brigade and was claimed as a revenge attack for Bloody Sunday. Six civilian staff and a Catholic military chaplain were killed and 19 were wounded. It was the Official IRA's largest attack in Great Britain during "the Troubles" and one of its last major actions before it declared a permanent ceasefire in May 1972. Official IRA member Noel Jenkinson was convicted and imprisoned for his part in the bombing.

Contents

Background

The 1969 Northern Ireland riots marked the beginning of the conflict known as the Troubles. To maintain law and order in Northern Ireland the British Army was deployed on to its streets in rioting hot-spots such as Derry and Belfast to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In December 1969 the Irish Republican Army split into two factions – the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. Both factions' retaliation against the British Army during the Falls Curfew in Belfast resulted in paramilitary campaigns against the British state's forces commencing.

On 30 January 1972, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment shot 28 unarmed civilians during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry. Fourteen people died, including teenagers. This incident became known as Bloody Sunday and dramatically increased recruitment to the two IRAs. [2]

The bombing

The target of the Official IRA bomb was the headquarters of the 16th Parachute Brigade, [3] elements of which had been involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings. Despite warnings, the 'open' garrison meant there was no security or controlled access to the camp.

A hired Ford Cortina car containing a 280 pounds (130 kg) time bomb [1] was left in the car park, deliberately positioned outside the officer's mess. [3] The bomb exploded at 12:40 pm [4] on 22 February, destroying the officer's mess and wrecking several nearby Army office buildings.

The soldiers who were the intended targets were not present, as the regiment itself was stationed abroad and most staff officers were in their offices rather than the mess. Nonetheless, seven civilian staff were killed [5] –five female staff who were leaving the premises, a gardener, and Father Gerard Weston, a Roman Catholic priest from the Royal Army Chaplains' Department. [4] Nineteen people were also wounded by the explosion. [1] Aside from the priest Weston (38), the others who died during the attack were the gardener John Haslar (58), and civilians working in the Mess at the time, Jill Mansfield (34), Thelma Bosley (44), Margaret Grant (32), Sheri Munton (20) and Joan Lunn (39). [6]

On 23 February, the Official IRA issued a statement claiming that it had carried out the attack in revenge for Bloody Sunday. It added: "Any civilian casualties would be very much regretted as our target was the officers responsible for the Derry outrages". [1] The Official IRA also said that the bombing would be the first of many such attacks on the headquarters of British Army regiments serving in Northern Ireland. [3]

Aftermath

As the bomb had mostly killed civilians, the Official IRA received harsh and widespread criticism. [1] On 29 May 1972, the Official IRA's leadership called a ceasefire [7] and stated that it would only launch future attacks in self-defence. The Aldershot bombing was believed to have been one of the factors that led to this decision.

In November 1972, Noel Jenkinson 42 a transport manager, was convicted for his part in the terrorist bombing and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the presiding judge Sir Sebag Shaw recommending that he serve at least 30 years. Finbar Kissane 32 and Michael Duignan 28 [8] were both convicted of complicity and sentenced to prison terms of 2 years and 2.5 years respectively. [9] [10] [11]

Jenkinson a Protestant, originally from Loughcrew County Meath and a father of four, had been a trade unionist in London. [12] He had also been a member of the Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unity [13] and Clann na hÉireann, an association sympathetic to the Official IRA. The evidence relating to Jenkinson was initially linked to his fraudulent hire (with Kissane) of a Ford Cortina car that was then used in the fatal bombing leading to the subsequent discovery of a case of gelignite found in his garden shed, as publicised at the time. [14] [15] [16] The trial in Winchester Crown Court lasted 21 days.

In the following years, the larger and more militant Provisional IRA continued its campaign and began to attack military and commercial targets in England.

Jenkinson died in HMP Leicester in 1976 at the age of 46, with heart failure cited as the cause of death. [12] He had been just transferred from HMP Wormwood Scrubs and had written an article expressing support for the Provisional IRA. He was buried at Dean's Grange Cemetery Dublin. [17] [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloody Sunday (1972)</span> Mass shooting in Derry, Northern Ireland

Bloody Sunday, or the Bogside Massacre, was a massacre on 30 January 1972 when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. Other protesters were injured by shrapnel, rubber bullets, or batons, two were run down by British Army vehicles, and some were beaten. All of those shot were Catholics. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) to protest against imprisonment without trial. The soldiers were from the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, the same battalion implicated in the Ballymurphy massacre several months before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Troubles</span> 1960s–1990s conflict in Northern Ireland

The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Official Irish Republican Army</span> Former Irish republican paramilitary group

The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA. Each continued to call itself simply "the IRA" and rejected the other's legitimacy.

Bloody Friday is the name given to the bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 21 July 1972, during the Troubles. At least twenty bombs exploded in the space of eighty minutes, most within a half-hour period. Most of them were car bombs and most targeted infrastructure, especially the transport network. Nine people were killed: five civilians, two British soldiers, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservist, and an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member, while 130 were injured. The IRA said it sent telephoned warnings at least thirty minutes before each explosion and said that the security forces wilfully ignored some of the warnings for their own ends. The security forces said that was not the case and said they were overstretched by the sheer number of bombs and bomb warnings, some of which were hoaxes.

The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile are popular tourist attractions. The Bogside is a majority Catholic/Irish republican area, and shares a border with the Protestant/Ulster loyalist enclave of the Fountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Derry</span> 1969–1972 no-go area in Northern Ireland

Free Derry was a self-declared autonomous Irish nationalist area of Derry, Northern Ireland that existed between 1969 and 1972 during the Troubles. It emerged during the Northern Ireland civil rights movement, which sought to end discrimination against the Irish Catholic/nationalist minority by the Protestant/unionist government. The civil rights movement highlighted the sectarianism and police brutality of the overwhelmingly Protestant police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1970 to 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Banner</span> 1969–2007 British military operation in Northern Ireland during the Troubles

Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. This involved counter-insurgency and supporting the police in carrying out internal security duties such as guarding key points, mounting checkpoints and patrols, carrying out raids and searches, riot control and bomb disposal. More than 300,000 soldiers served in Operation Banner. At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, about 21,000 British troops were deployed, most of them from Great Britain. As part of the operation, a new locally-recruited regiment was also formed: the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldershot Garrison</span> Military installation in Hampshire, England

Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the village of Aldershot, with the objective of establishing a permanent training camp for the Army. Over time, this camp grew into a military town and continues to be used by the Army to the present day. It is home to the headquarters of the Army's Regional Command, and it is also the administrative base for the 101st Logistic Brigade. The garrison plays host to around 70 military units and organisations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Donaghy</span> Bloody Sunday victim (1954–1972)

Gerard V. Donaghy, sometimes transcribed as Gerald Donaghey, was a native of the Bogside, Derry who was killed by members of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday in Derry, Northern Ireland.

Events during the year 1972 in Northern Ireland.

Father Gerard Edward Weston was a British Roman Catholic priest and military chaplain.

The city of Derry, Northern Ireland, was severely affected by the Troubles. The conflict is widely considered to have begun in the city, with many regarding the Battle of the Bogside in 1969 as the beginning of the Troubles. The Bloody Sunday incident of 1972 occurred in Derry, in the Bogside area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissident Irish republican campaign</span> 1998–present insurgency in Northern Ireland by republicans opposed to the Good Friday Agreement

The dissident Irish republican campaign began at the end of the Troubles, a 30-year political conflict in Northern Ireland. Since the Provisional Irish Republican Army called a ceasefire and ended its campaign in 1997, breakaway groups opposed to the ceasefire and to the peace agreements have continued a low-level armed campaign against the security forces in Northern Ireland. The main paramilitaries involved are the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and formerly Óglaigh na hÉireann. They have targeted the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the British Army in gun and bomb attacks as well as with mortars and rockets. They have also carried out bombings that are meant to cause disruption. However, their campaign has not been as intensive as the Provisional IRA's, and political support for groups such as the Real IRA is "tending towards zero".

The Derry Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland, and its surroundings during the Troubles. The Derry Brigade was one of the most active groups in the IRA.

On 22 August 1972 a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican paramilitary group, detonated prematurely at a customs office in Newry. Three IRA members killed six civilians and themselves in the explosion. The event was one of the bloodiest of 1972, the deadliest year of the Troubles.

This is a timeline of actions by the Official Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican & Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of a Guerrilla campaign against the British Army & Royal Ulster Constabulary and internal Irish Republican feuds with the Provisional IRA & Irish National Liberation Army from the early 1970s - to the mid-1970s during the most violent phase of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), in 1990 and 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burning of the British Embassy in Dublin</span> Property attack by Official IRA members in 1972

The burning of the British Embassyin Dublin happened on 2 February 1972 at 39 Merrion Square. This occurred during demonstrations outside the chancery by a very large and angry crowd, following the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry on 30 January 1972, when the British Army's Parachute Regiment shot dead 14 unarmed Catholic civilians during a civil rights demonstration.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Northern Ireland: Now, Bloody Tuesday" Time (6 March 1972)
  2. ↑ Bowcott, Owen (15 June 2010). "The legacy of the Bloody Sunday killings". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 BBC – On This Day
  4. 1 2 Woollacott, Martin (23 February 2009). "From the archives: IRA kills 7 in raid on Paras' English base". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  5. ↑ CAIN – Sutton Index of Deaths – 22 February 1972
  6. ↑ Murray, Douglas (22 February 2012). "The forgotten victims of the Troubles". The Spectator . Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  7. ↑ CAIN – Chronology of the Conflict – May 1972
  8. ↑ "The sawn-off shotgun found on Michael Francis Duignan when he was stopped on the street by Sgt Thomas Laidlaw of Mitcham Police when patrolling his section with a constable. Duignan was found guilty of having a firearm without certificate. Duignan had set off from his home in Amity Grove, Raynes Park, to dump ammunition, guns and IRA literature in the River Wandle". Alamy. PA Media. 14 November 1972. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  9. ↑ archive.org (1973). Rosc Catha. Vol. 1, July/Aug 1973. England: Clann na hÉireann. p. 4.
  10. ↑ "The Aldershot Bombing 1972 • The Parachute Regimental Association". The Parachute Regimental Association. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Results for 'murder' | Between 1st May 1972 and 31st May 1972 | British Newspaper Archive" . Retrieved 15 December 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. 1 2 Sinn Féin, Dún Laoghaire branch (9 October 2015). "Noel Jenkisindon". Facebook. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  13. ↑ "Notes on the evolution of the B&ICO" (PDF). marxists.org. Sam Richards. 21 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Gelegnite bombs found in the garage of Noel Jenkinson, 42, of Muswell Hill, north London". Alamy. PA Media. 14 November 1972. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  15. ↑ Jordan, Hugh (14 October 2011). Milestones in Murder: Defining Moments in Ulster's Terror War. Random House. p. 39. ISBN   978-1-78057-374-8.
  16. 1 2 Healy, Mick (11 December 2022). "Wrongful imprisonment of an Irish communist". Socialist Voice. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Hepworth, Jack (15 September 2021). 'The Age-Old Struggle': Irish republicanism from the Battle of the Bogside to the Belfast Agreement, 1969-1998. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-1-80085-759-9.

51°15′18″N0°46′12″W / 51.2549°N 0.7701°W / 51.2549; -0.7701

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.