Jim Anderson (loyalist)

Last updated

Jim Anderson
Born Belfast, Northern Ireland
Allegiance Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
RankMajor General
UnitB Company, 2nd Battalion, West Belfast Brigade
Conflict The Troubles

Jim Anderson is a loyalist paramilitary leader from Northern Ireland, who from April to December 1972, was the acting leader of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) while its commander and the founder of the organisation, Charles Harding Smith was in jail on remand for gun-running. Upon the latter's return, Anderson, together with Harding Smith, was joint chairman of the UDA until he stood down in the spring of 1973. In the battle between Harding Smith and East Belfast brigadier, Tommy Herron for the succession to the leadership, a compromise candidate, Andy Tyrie, was appointed as chairman.

Contents

UDA formation

Anderson, a Protestant glazier from the Crumlin Road area of Belfast, was an early member of a loyalist vigilante group, the Woodvale Defence Association (WDA). Anderson's base of operation was the mid-Shankill, which runs parallel to the Crumlin Road, where he garnered a reputation as a good organiser and worked closely with Billy Hull. [1] : 19  Anderson was present at the September 1971 meeting where the Woodvale Defence Association merged with other vigilante groups to form the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). At this meeting Hull was chosen as chairman of the new group with Alan Moon of the lower Shankill vice-chairman; although before long Anderson replaced Moon in this role. [1] : 20  Moon, who had become reluctant to be involved in vigilantism since the group's formation, willingly stepped aside and ended his association with the UDA soon afterwards. [2] : 50  The structure of this new movement soon took shape with a thirteen-man Security Council established in January 1972 as a reaction to a Provisional IRA bomb the previous month at the Balmoral furniture showroom on the Shankill which killed four people including two infants. Anderson was one of the members of this Council. [1] : 22 

Leadership

In April 1972, the organisation's leader, Charles Harding Smith and leading UDA member John White were arrested in London for gun-trafficking. [3] : 103  A temporary de facto leadership assumed control and Anderson became the acting chairman of the UDA. [3] : 103  Under his command, the UDA was structured along British Army lines into battalions, companies, platoons and sections. [3] : 103  The organisation drew more members, becoming the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Unlike its principal rival, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the UDA was legal. Anderson's own rank in the organisation was Major General; he served in its B Company, 2nd Battalion, West Belfast Brigade. [1] : 25 

At the end of May 1972, Davy Fogel, leader of B Company and Harding Smith's second-in-command, erected the first UDA roadblocks and street barricades, making Woodvale, the area under Fogel's command, a no-go area. This was done with Anderson's approval and enthusiastic support. [4] The operation attracted a great deal of media and press coverage, resulting in much publicity for the UDA. [4] Anderson had been one of a number of leading UDA figures to discuss a settlement of the issue with British Army representatives on the ground, where amongst the offers made was the possibility of joint UDA-Army patrols on the Shankill. [1] : 29  That summer the UDA marched through the streets of central Belfast in a massive demonstration of strength.

Anderson was part of a deputation from the "United Loyalist Council", an umbrella loyalist group comprising the UDA, Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW), members of the Orange Order, and led by the chairman of Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, William Craig, who met with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw at Stormont on 19 December 1972.

Internal power struggle

In December 1972, Harding Smith and White were acquitted and returned to Belfast. Immediately after their return, a fierce power struggle ensued after Harding Smith declared to his associates: "I'm the boss. I take orders from no one". [1] : 34  Fogel was promptly ousted from the B Company command, while the formidable East Belfast brigadier, Tommy Herron, appeared on the scene to challenge Harding Smith's leadership. Anderson became joint chairman of the UDA with Harding Smith. [3] : 114  The struggle that ensued between Harding Smith and Herron overshadowed the Inner Council and during the height of the feud Anderson often had to call a register at its meetings, so poor were the turnouts. [1] : 33  Herron and Anderson became linked and the East Belfast brigadier took to styling himself as deputy leader to Anderson, whom he treated as sole chairman. [1] : 38 

By spring 1973, however, Fogel had already returned to his native England, and Anderson decided to stand down. [3] : 114  He publicly announced his resignation as joint chairman in March 1973, in part because he was a fairly law-abiding individual who sat uneasily with violently chaotic figures like Harding Smith and Herron. It had been Anderson who had been one of the main thinkers behind the UDA's motto "Law Before Violence" although this was ditched shortly after his resignation in favour of "Quis separabit". [1] : 64  As a compromise candidate between the rival factions of Harding Smith and Herron, Andy Tyrie, commander of West Belfast Brigade's A Company, was chosen as the UDA's chairman. He would soon become the UDA's Supreme Commander, a position he held until an attempted car bombing brought about his retirement in March 1988. [3] : 200 

Subsequent activity

Anderson retained his UDA membership but no longer took an active role in the organisation. Notwithstanding this, however, he was still viewed by the Provisional IRA as a legitimate target. On 19 November 1974, as Anderson was in his glazier's shop with Billy Hull (who had also scaled back his active involvement in the UDA despite retaining his membership), an IRA gunman entered and shot both men several times. Neither man was killed in the attack. [1] : 90  A call to the BBC initially led to the attack being described as the work of Ulster Young Militants, the youth wing of the UDA, but this proved to be a hoax and the attack was later shown to have been carried out by Provisional IRA members from Ardoyne. [2] : 102 

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Defence Association</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of the participants of the Troubles. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism, particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1970s, uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government proscribed the UFF as a terrorist group in November 1973, but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.

A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups during and after the ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles broke out in 1969. The feuds have frequently involved problems between and within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as well as, later, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackie McDonald</span> Northern Irish loyalist (born 1947)

John "Jackie" McDonald is a Northern Irish loyalist and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association (UDA) brigadier for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie in 1988, following John McMichael's killing by the Provisional IRA in December 1987. He is also a member of the organisation's Inner Council and the spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), the UDA's political advisory body.

William Hull was a loyalist activist in Northern Ireland. Hull was a leading figure in political, paramilitary and trade union circles during the early years of the Troubles. He is most remembered for being the leader of the Loyalist Association of Workers, a loyalist trade union-styled movement that briefly enjoyed a mass membership before fading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Herron</span> British loyalist

Tommy Herron was a Northern Ireland loyalist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) until his death in a fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast, one of its two earliest strongholds. From 1972, he was the organisation's vice-chairman and most prominent spokesperson, and was the first person to receive a salary from the UDA.

Andrew Tyrie is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader who served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during much of its early history. He took the place of Tommy Herron in 1973 when the latter was killed, and led the organisation until March 1988 when an attempt on his life forced him to resign from his command.

Charles Harding Smith was a loyalist leader in Northern Ireland and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). An important figure in the Belfast-based "defence associations" that formed the basis of the UDA on its formation in 1971, Smith later became embroiled in feuds with other UDA leaders and was eventually driven out of Northern Ireland by his opponents.

H. David "Davy" Payne was a senior Northern Irish loyalist and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during the Troubles, serving as brigadier of the North Belfast Brigade. He was first in command of the Shankill Road brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), which was the "cover name" of the militant branch of the UDA. The group was responsible for a series of abductions and killings of mostly Catholic civilians in the early 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Craig (loyalist)</span> Northern Irish loyalist (1941-1988)

James Pratt Craig was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary during The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the latter half of the 20th century, who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), and a command member of its Inner Council. He also ran a criminal large-scale protection racket from the West Belfast Shankill Road area, where he resided. Described by journalist David McKittrick as "Belfast's foremost paramilitary extortionist", Craig allegedly colluded at times with the enemies of the UDA, Irish Republican groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), providing them with information on key loyalists which led to their subsequent murders. Aside from controlling rackets and extorting protection money from a variety of businesses, it was claimed that Craig also participated in paramilitary murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Lyttle</span>

Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle, was a high-ranking Ulster loyalist during the period of religious-political conflict in Northern Ireland known as "the Troubles". A member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) – the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland – he first held the rank of lieutenant colonel and later was made a brigadier. He served as the UDA's spokesman as well as the leader of the organisation's West Belfast Brigade from 1975 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1990. According to journalists Henry McDonald and Brian Rowan, and the Pat Finucane Centre, he became a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Special Branch informer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodvale Defence Association</span>

The Woodvale Defence Association (WDA) was an Ulster loyalist vigilante group in the Woodvale district of Belfast, an area immediately to the north of the Shankill Road.

William McQuiston, also known as "Twister", is an Ulster loyalist, who was a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Leader of the organisation's A Company, Highfield, West Belfast Brigade, McQuiston spent more than 12 years in HM Prison Maze outside Lisburn for possession of weapons. He is now a community activist, often working with former members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in West Belfast's troubled interface areas where adjoining loyalist and republican communities occasionally clash.

David "Davy" Fogel, also known as "Big Dave", was a former loyalist and a leading member of the loyalist vigilante Woodvale Defence Association (WDA) which later merged with other groups becoming the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Born in London, Fogel was a former British soldier who had served in Northern Ireland before marrying a local Belfast woman and settling down with his family in Woodvale, Belfast.

Samuel McCormick was a Northern Irish loyalist who served from 1973 until the 1980s as the brigadier for the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) East Belfast Brigade. He had taken over the command following the shooting death of its former leader Tommy Herron.

William Elliot was a former Northern Irish loyalist who served as brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) East Belfast Brigade in the 1980s.

The UDA West Belfast Brigade is the section of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), based in the western quarter of Belfast, in the Greater Shankill area. Initially a battalion, the West Belfast Brigade emerged from the local "defence associations" active in the Shankill at the beginning of the Troubles and became the first section to be officially designated as a separate entity within the wider UDA structure. During the 1970s and 1980s the West Belfast Brigade was involved in a series of killings as well as establishing a significant presence as an outlet for racketeering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Elliott</span> Northern Irish loyalist activist

Ernest "Ernie" Elliott, nicknamed "Duke", was a Northern Irish loyalist activist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during its early days. Unusually for the generally right-wing UDA, Elliott expressed admiration for socialism and communism, and frequently quoted the words of Che Guevara and Karl Marx. Elliott was eventually killed by a fellow UDA member following a drunken brawl, although his death was variously blamed on republicans and a rival faction within the UDA.

Samuel Smyth was a Northern Irish loyalist activist. A founder member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) he was the early public face of the movement as the organisation's spokesman, and he later became involved in the group's attempts to politicise. He was assassinated by the Provisional IRA as part of the Troubles. Author Steve Bruce described Smyth as the "sometime editor of the Ulster Militant and a loose cannon who enjoyed an exciting and erratic relationship with the UDA".

Hester Rogers is a Northern Irish former loyalist activist and writer who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) political wing during the period of religious-political conflict known as the Troubles. She headed the UDA's women's department and ran the public relations and administration section at the organisation's headquarters in Gawn Street, off the Newtownards Road. An outspoken critic of strip searching female prisoners, she was a founder and activist for "Justice For Lifers", an organisation which advocated prison reform in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UDA South Belfast Brigade</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary group

The UDA South Belfast Brigade is the section of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), based in the southern quarter of Belfast, as well as in surrounding areas. Initially a battalion, the South Belfast Brigade emerged from the local "defence associations" active in the city at the beginning of the Troubles. It subsequently emerged as the largest of the UDA's six brigades and expanded to cover an area much wider than its initial South Belfast borders.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim (2004). The UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. Dublin: Penguin Ireland.
  2. 1 2 Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, Oxford University Press, 1992
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
  4. 1 2 Wood, Ian S. (2006). Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA. Edinburgh University Press. p.8
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.