1973 in Northern Ireland

Centuries:	20th ; 21st ;
Decades:	1950s ; 1960s ; 1970s ; 1980s ; 1990s ;
See also:	1973 in the United Kingdom ; 1973 in Ireland ; Other events of 1973 ; List of years in Northern Ireland ;

Last updated November 20, 2024

Incumbents

Secretary of State - Francis Pym

Events

8 March – Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum (the "Border Poll"): 98.9% of those voting in the province want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Turnout is 58.7%, although less than 1% for Catholics.^[1]
20 March – A UK government White Paper on Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals, proposes the re-establishment of an Assembly elected by proportional representation, with a possible All-Ireland council.
2 April – Special Powers Act 1922 is replaced by the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act ^[2] abolishing the death penalty for murder in Northern Ireland and establishing the Diplock courts.
28 June – Northern Ireland Assembly election.^[2]
18 July – The office of Governor of Northern Ireland, at this time held by The Lord Grey of Naunton, is abolished under Section 32 of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act.^[3] The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a UK cabinet office created in 1972, takes over the functions of the Governor on 20 December 1973 under Letters patent.
31 July – Militant protesters of Ian Paisley disrupt the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
28 August (12:01 AM) – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb blows up the monument to the Rev. George Walker (died 1690) on Derry city walls.^[4]
1 November – James Flanagan, first and only Roman Catholic Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, replaces Graham Shillington.
9 December – The Sunningdale Agreement is signed by British Prime Minister Edward Heath, Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave, Brian Faulkner, Gerry Fitt and Oliver Napier.

Arts and literature

Sport

Football

Irish League

Winners: Crusaders

Irish Cup

Winners: Glentoran 3 – 2 Linfield

Births

26 January – Brendan Rodgers, footballer and manager.
2 March – Peter Hutton, footballer.
17 March – David McCann, professional road bicycle racer.
16 July – Juliet Turner, singer.
20 August – Stephen Nolan, radio and television presenter.
12 November – Chris Walker, footballer.

Full date unknown

Philip McGuigan, Sinn Féin councillor and former MLA.

Deaths

19 January – Max Adrian, actor (born 1903).
8 April – E. R. Dodds, classical scholar (born 1893).
9 April – Warren Lewis, soldier and historian, brother of C. S. Lewis (born 1895).
21 May – Eugene O'Callaghan, Bishop of Clogher 1943–1969 (born 1888).
22 May – Harry Baird, footballer (born 1913).
18 August – Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Ulster Unionist Party MP, third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (born 1888).
15 September – Tommy Herron, prominent member of the Ulster Defence Association.
Paddy Wilson, SDLP politician (born 1933).

Related Research Articles

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland that is variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of Ireland in several areas under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. The Republic of Ireland also has a consultative role on non-devolved governmental matters through the British–Irish Governmental Conference (BIIG).

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland, it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles, during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).

Limavady is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying 17 miles (27 km) east of Derry and 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 11,279 people at the 2021 Census. In the 40 years between 1971 and 2011, Limavady's population nearly doubled. Limavady is within Causeway Coast and Glens Borough.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore order during the Troubles, resulting in the introduction of direct rule. It was abolished under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It was created as a separate legal entity on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The new autonomous Northern Ireland was formed from six of the nine counties of Ulster: four counties with unionist majorities – Antrim, Armagh, Down, and Londonderry – and two counties with slight Irish nationalist majorities – Fermanagh and Tyrone – in the 1918 General Election. The remaining three Ulster counties with larger nationalist majorities were not included. In large part unionists, at least in the north-east, supported its creation while nationalists were opposed.

Unionism in Ireland is a political tradition that professes loyalty to the crown of the United Kingdom and to the union it represents with England, Scotland and Wales. The overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestant minority, unionism mobilised in the decades following Catholic Emancipation in 1829 to oppose restoration of a separate Irish parliament. Since Partition in 1921, as Ulster unionism its goal has been to retain Northern Ireland as a devolved region within the United Kingdom and to resist the prospect of an all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, which concluded three decades of political violence, unionists have shared office with Irish nationalists in a reformed Northern Ireland Assembly. As of February 2024, they no longer do so as the larger faction: they serve in an executive with an Irish republican First Minister.

Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick,, was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive of the short-lived Northern Ireland Executive during the first half of 1974.

The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed by the British and Irish government in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973. Unionist opposition, violence and a general strike caused the collapse of the agreement in May 1974.

The governor of Northern Ireland was the principal officer and representative in Northern Ireland of the British monarch. The office was established on 9 December 1922 and abolished on 18 July 1973.

Events in the year 1973 in Ireland.

The Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC) was established in Northern Ireland in April 1966 as the governing body of the loyalist Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV). It coordinated parades, counter-demonstrations, and paramilitary activities to maintain the status quo of the government, led a campaign against the reforms of Terence O'Neill and stymied the civil rights movement.

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) (Irish: Cumann Cearta Sibhialta Thuaisceart Éireann) was an organisation that campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in Belfast on 9 April 1967, the civil rights campaign attempted to achieve reform by publicising, documenting, and lobbying for an end to discrimination against Catholics in areas such as elections (which were subject to gerrymandering and property requirements), discrimination in employment, in public housing and abuses of the Special Powers Act.

Events during the year 1972 in Northern Ireland.

Events during the year 1968 in Northern Ireland.

Events during the year 1966 in Northern Ireland.

Events during the year 1957 in Northern Ireland.

Events during the year 1933 in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)</span> Legislature of Northern Ireland 1973–1974

The Northern Ireland Assembly was a legislative assembly set up by the Government of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1973 to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland with the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive made up of unionists and nationalists. It was dissolved in March 1975.

References

↑ "Northern Ireland votes for union". On This Day. BBC News. 9 March 1973. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
1 2 "Larkspirit Irish History". Larkspirit. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009.
↑ Moody, Theodore William; John, Francis (1976). A New History of Ireland. ISBN 978-0-19-821745-9.
↑ "Siege hero Walker felled in midnight blast". Derry Journal . 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

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[1] "Northern Ireland votes for union". On This Day. BBC News. 9 March 1973. Retrieved 19 June 2012.

[LS-2] 1 2 "Larkspirit Irish History". Larkspirit. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009.

[3] Moody, Theodore William; John, Francis (1976). A New History of Ireland. ISBN 978-0-19-821745-9.

[4] "Siege hero Walker felled in midnight blast". Derry Journal . 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

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