Manus Canning

Last updated

Manus Canning (died 16 March 2018) was an Irish republican politician and paramilitary.

Born in Derry, Canning spent time in Gweedore practising the Irish language before working in London for a few years in the late 1940s. [1] [2] He had returned to Derry by April 1951, when he secretly attached the flag of Ireland to the top of Walker's Pillar in the city. [3] He joined the Irish Republican Army's Derry Unit, which successfully raided the Ebrington Barracks of the British Army. As a result of this experience, Canning was sent to England in 1953, [4] where he, Cathal Goulding and Seán Mac Stíofáin raided the British Officers Training Corps School, obtaining a significant amount of weaponry. However, the three were caught when their vehicle was stopped in London. They received prison sentences of eight years each, [5] which they spent at Wormwood Scrubs. [6]

While in prison, Canning stood for Sinn Féin in Londonderry at the 1955 general election, taking 35.5% of the vote. [7] He stood again in 1959, when the party attempted a public campaign on his behalf, [8] but he took only 27% of the vote. [7] He also taught Mac Stíofáin to speak Irish. [9] On release, he was sent by the IRA to Germany and Austria to source ammunition for future attacks. [10]

In 1960, Canning moved to New York City to work for a publishing company. [6] At the request of the IRA, he and Vincent Conlon assumed the leadership of Clan na Gael in the hope of raising additional funds for the IRA, although this had little immediate effect. [11]

While in New York, Canning spent time with Brendan Behan, [6] and in 1964 met Naoko, the couple later marrying and moving back to Derry. [12] He died in the city in March 2018. [13]

Related Research Articles

Provisional Irish Republican Army Irish republican paramilitary group, 1969–2005

The Irish Republican Army, also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent, socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the army of the all-island Irish Republic and as the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected.

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 its 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.

Brendan Behan Irish poet and writer (1923-1964)

Brendan Francis Aidan Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist playwright, and Irish Republican activist who wrote in both English and Irish. He was named by Irish Central as one of the greatest Irish writers of all time.

Anthony Magan was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

The border campaign was a guerrilla warfare campaign carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against targets in Northern Ireland, with the aim of overthrowing British rule there and creating a united Ireland. It was also referred to as the "resistance campaign" by some Irish republican activists. The campaign was a military failure, but for some of its members was justified as it kept the IRA engaged for another generation.

Dáithí Ó Conaill Irish republican politician and military leader (1938–1991)

Dáithí Ó Conaill was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council of the Provisional IRA, and vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA, from its founding in 1986 until his death in 1991. He is credited with introducing the car bomb to Northern Ireland.

Cathal Goulding

Cathal Goulding was Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and the Official IRA.

Sinn Féin is the name of an Irish political party founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It subsequently became a focus for various forms of Irish nationalism, especially Irish republicanism. After the Easter Rising in 1916, it grew in membership, with a reorganisation at its Ard Fheis in 1917. Its split in 1922 in response to the Anglo-Irish Treaty which led to the Irish Civil War and saw the origins of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the two parties which have since dominated Irish politics. Another split in the remaining Sinn Féin organisation in the early years of the Troubles in 1970 led to the Sinn Féin of today, which is a republican, left-wing nationalist and secular party.

The Northern campaign was a series of attacks by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) Northern Command between September 1942 and December 1944 against the security forces in Northern Ireland. The action taken by the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland governments as a result of these attacks shattered the IRA and resulted in the former being free from IRA activity by the end of World War II.

Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde, English Tony or Anthony MacBride, was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer from Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He was shot dead by the British Army in 1984 whilst engaged in an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Jimmy Steele was born in Belfast, Ireland and was one of the most prominent Irish Republican Army (IRA) men in Belfast after the Irish Civil War. Steele was an Irish republican who spent most of his life in jail as a result of his activities with the IRA.

Kieran Fleming

Kieran or Ciarán Fleming, was a volunteer in the 4th Battalion, Derry Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from the Waterside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. He died while attempting to escape after a confrontation with British troops in 1984.

Seán McCool Irish Republican

Seán McCool was a prominent Irish Republican and a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army. Imprisoned on numerous occasions, both North and South of the border, he embarked on a number of hunger strikes in order to secure release. During the 1930s, McCool was one of the few socialists to remain in the IRA after the Republican Congress's decision to split. He stood as a candidate for the Irish Republican party Clann na Poblachta before leaving them as a result of their decision to go into government with Fine Gael.

Seán Mac Stíofáin

Seán Mac Stíofáin was an English-born chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, a position he held between 1969 and 1972.

Larry Grogan was an Irish republican activist.

1973 Londonderry City Council election

The 1973 Londonderry City Council election took place on 30 May 1973 to elect members of Londonderry City Council in Northern Ireland. This was on the same day as other Northern Irish local elections. The campaign was significant in that, following changes to the election process and districts, Irish nationalist parties were able to take control of the council for the first time.

Bombings of Kings Cross and Euston stations IRA bombings targetting railway stations

The King's Cross station and Euston station bombings were two bombing attacks on 10 September 1973 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) that targeted two mainline railway stations in central London. The blasts wounded 13 civilians, some of whom were seriously injured, and also caused large-scale but superficial damage. This was a second wave of bombing attacks launched by the IRA in England in 1973 after the Old Bailey car bombing earlier in the year which had killed one and injured around 200 civilians.

Patrick "Paddy" MacGrath was born into an old Dublin republican family and took part in the 1916 Rising, as did two of his brothers. He was sent to Frongoch Internment Camp after the 1916 Rising and served his time there. He was a senior member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), hunger striker, IRA Director of Operations and Training during its major bombing/sabotage in England and was the first of six IRA men executed by the Irish Government between 1940–1944. After participating in the Easter Rebellion, MacGrath remained in the IRA, rising in rank and becoming a major leader within the organisation.

Irish Revolutionary Forces (IRF) was a short-lived Irish republican paramilitary organisation in Cork in the 1960s.

References

  1. ↑ Cal McCrystal, "Divided together. Always", The Observer , 24 May 1998
  2. ↑ Seán Mac Stíofáin, Revolutionary in Ireland, p. 3
  3. ↑ Brian Lacy, Siege city: the story of Derry and Londonderry, p. 243
  4. ↑ Martin Dillon, The Enemy Within, p. 58
  5. ↑ Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA
  6. 1 2 3 E. H. Mikhail, Brendan Behan: Interviews and Recollections, pp. 167-168
  7. 1 2 F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970, p. 685
  8. ↑ "S.F. launches campaign in Derry", Irish Times , 7 October 1959
  9. ↑ "Protests follow arrest of Mac Stiofain", Irish Times , 20 November 1972
  10. ↑ "IRA leaders' release alarmed Macmillan", Irish Independent , 28 April 2000
  11. ↑ Matt Treacy, The IRA 1956–69: Rethinking the Republic, p. 113
  12. ↑ "A day with Daisy", Larchwood Care, 22 July 2015
  13. ↑ "Sad passing of Derry republican Manus Canning". Derry Journal. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
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.