Ulster Clubs

Last updated

The Ulster Clubs was the name given to a network of Unionist organisations founded in Northern Ireland in November 1985. Emerging from an earlier group based in Portadown, the Ulster Clubs briefly mobilised wide support across Northern Ireland and sought to coordinate opposition to the development of closer relations between the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The group's motto was "hope for the best and prepare for the worst". [1]

Contents

Origins

The movement had its origins in the Portadown Action Committee, a group established in the County Armagh town during the middle of 1985 to oppose plans to reroute the traditional 12 July Orange Order parades away from nationalist areas of the town. [2] This group was reconstituted as a wider umbrella movement, the United Ulster Loyalist Front (UULF) not long after the Twelfth. [2] Leadership of the group rested with Alan Wright, a member of the Salvation Army, whose policeman father had been murdered by the Irish National Liberation Army in 1979. [3]

The UULF was given the support of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) with South Belfast Brigade chief and UDA deputy leader John McMichael being appointed to the group's coordinating committee. [2] Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in November 1985 by Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald, the UULF organised a rally in Belfast in opposition to the agreement. Those in attendance dressed in combat clothes with dark glasses and slouch hats, indicating the support the group had secured from the UDA as well as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). [2]

Development

After an initial flurry of activity, the UULF, which was a loose alliance at best, ground to a halt. However, the movement was given a new lease of life when a meeting was held at the Ulster Hall on 1 November at which the formation of a more formalised arrangement, the Ulster Clubs, was announced. A network of clubs was to be established across Northern Ireland with the aim, according to Ian S. Wood, of working to uphold "equal citizenship" and "fight the erosion of their Protestant heritage". [2] Before long 88 clubs had been established, with around 20,000 members listed as having joined. [4] The new name was chosen in homage to a similarly titled network established by Edward Carson during the crisis surrounding the Government of Ireland Act 1914. [5]

Wright hoped that the Ulster Clubs could organise a widespread campaign of civil disobedience that would make Northern Ireland ungovernable and endorsed such initiatives as the mass resignation of Unionist MPs and a Day of Action held on 3 March 1986, which featured mass protest marches and strike action. [6] Individual members of the Ulster Clubs also became involved in Peter Robinson's ill-fated attempt to launch an "invasion" of southern Ireland on 7 August 1986, when he led a group of supporters into Clontibret in County Monaghan. [7] Andrew Park of Lisburn was deputy leader and took up the reins of the movement when Alan Wright was hospitalised and took over as leader when he resigned. Andrew Park later became deputy leader of the Progressive Unionist Party.

Relationship to paramilitarism

John McMichael was enthusiastic about this development and urged support for the new movement, reasoning that if, as many loyalists suspected, a widespread confrontation was going to follow the agreement, then people who would not normally have joined paramilitary groups could be mobilised through the Ulster Clubs. [2] The clubs also attracted a hardcore of evangelicals, mainly from County Armagh, who were veterans of the Ulster Protestant Volunteers and who saw the Ulster Clubs as a basis for a new armed group. [8] Orange Order leader Joel Patton, who later came to prominence during the Drumcree conflict, felt that the Ulster Clubs, which he helped to establish, could effectively take the place of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), a group he felt had been pitted against the unionist community as a result of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. [4] Wright echoed Patton's sentiments and even hinted that he would be prepared to fight the RUC and the British Army to destroy the Anglo-Irish Agreement. [9]

The clubs also played a role in the formation of Ulster Resistance in late 1986, fusing with elements of the "Third Force" grouping promoted by Ian Paisley. [10] In November 1986, Alan Wright spoke at the Ulster Hall rally that launched Ulster Resistance, although there were many within the Ulster Clubs who advised him against closely allying himself with Paisley, given that in the past the Democratic Unionist Party leader had worked with loyalist paramilitaries only to distance himself from them when it became politically expedient. [11] Under Andrew Park's leadership this relationship radically changed with the forming of the ULMC (Ulster Loyalist Military Command) in which the Ulster Clubs played an integral part.

Ulster nationalism

The Ulster Clubs also became influenced by the ideas of Ulster nationalism as an alternative to unionism, given that many saw the Anglo-Irish Agreement as a 'sell-out' by the Government of the state to which they claimed loyalty. Hugh Ross was a member of and developed his Ulster Independence Movement from within the Ulster Clubs, whilst the Ulster Movement for Self-Determination also emerged from within the clubs. [12] The Treasurer of the Ulster Clubs, Colin Abernethy, who was connected to Ulster nationalism, was killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army while travelling to work on 9 September 1988. [13] Abernethy was a close friend of Andrew Park who became leader shortly after his murder. The Ulster Clubs also published a document advocating the establishment of a "Dominion of Ulster" within the British Commonwealth penned by future Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble. [4]

Decline

In 1988 the British government began to move against the Ulster Clubs, punishing a number of members for various offences under the Public Order Act 1986, [3] whilst by that time leadership of the anti-Anglo-Irish Campaign had been secured by Paisley and Jim Molyneaux. In October 1988 Wright was imprisoned for refusing to pay fines for traffic offences and public order transgressions, claiming that he was doing so as part of his protest against the agreement. [3] By this point membership had fallen to an estimated 12,000. [3]

Wright resigned from the leadership in 1989, claiming that he hoped to undertake study at Bible College and, under new leadership of Andrew Park their policy changed radically to one advocating complete integration with the rest of the United Kingdom and a commitment to direct rule as the norm. [3] By the 1990s the Ulster Clubs had all but disappeared. [14] The group no longer exists.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyalist Volunteer Force</span> Former Ulster loyalist paramilitary group

The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. Most of its members came from the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade, which Wright had commanded. In a two-year period from August 1996, the LVF waged a paramilitary campaign in opposition to Irish republicanism and the Northern Ireland peace process. During this time it killed at least 14 people in gun and bomb attacks, almost all of them Catholic civilians killed at random. The LVF called off its campaign in August 1998 and decommissioned some of its weapons, but in the early 2000s a loyalist feud led to several killings. Since then, the LVF has been largely inactive, but its members are believed to have been involved in rioting and organized crime. In 2015, the security forces stated that the LVF "exists only as a criminal group" in Mid-Ulster and Antrim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Paisley</span> Northern Irish politician and religious leader (1926–2014)

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown</span> British politician (born 1948)

Robert Thomas William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, Christian singer and retired Free Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland. As a politician, he represented South Antrim and Mid Ulster as their Member of Parliament (MP), representing Mid Ulster from 1983 to 1997; then South Antrim between 2000 and 2001, and then again from 2005 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Allister</span> Politician

James Hugh Allister is a British Unionist politician and barrister in Northern Ireland. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) political party in 2007, leading the party since its formation. Allister has served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim since 2011, and is the TUV’s only representative in the Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster loyalism</span> Pro-UK political ideology in Northern Ireland

Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism, loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions, while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them. The term 'loyalism' is usually associated with paramilitarism.

Hugh Ross is an Ulster nationalist politician, Presbyterian minister and member of the Orange Order, who was previously the leader of the now defunct Ulster Independence Movement (UIM).

The Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee (ULCCC) was set up in 1974 in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the Ulster Workers Council Strike, to facilitate meetings and policy coordination between the Ulster Workers Council, loyalist paramilitary groups, and the political representatives of Ulster loyalism.

Gary McMichael is a Northern Ireland community activist, and retired politician. He was the leader of the short-lived Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) during the Northern Ireland peace process, and was instrumental in organizing the Loyalist ceasefire in the Troubles in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gusty Spence</span> Ulster loyalist (1933–2011)

Augustus Andrew Spence was a leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and a leading loyalist politician in Northern Ireland. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Resistance</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement

Ulster Resistance (UR), or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM), is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland in November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McKeague</span> Northern Irish loyalist (1930–1982)

John Dunlop McKeague was a Northern Irish loyalist and one of the founding members of the paramilitary group the Red Hand Commando in 1970. A number of authors on the Troubles in Northern Ireland have accused McKeague, a homosexual paederast, of involvement in the Kincora Boys' Home scandal but he was never convicted. He was shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in Belfast in January 1982.

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.

Alex Kerr was a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. Kerr was a brigadier in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)'s South Belfast Brigade. He is no longer active in loyalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Mitchell (loyalist)</span> Northern Ireland loyalist (1940–2006)

William Mitchell was a Northern Ireland loyalist, community activist and member of the Progressive Unionist Party. Mitchell was a leading member of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and served a life sentence for his part in a double murder. He later abandoned his UVF membership and took up cross-community work.

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.

Down Orange Welfare was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary vigilante group active in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Operating in rural areas of County Down, the group faded after failing to win support away from larger groups such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Jameson (loyalist)</span>

Richard Jameson, was a Northern Irish businessman and loyalist, who served as the leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force's (UVF) Mid-Ulster Brigade. He was killed outside his Portadown home during a feud with the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the breakaway organisation founded by former Mid-Ulster UVF commander Billy Wright after he and the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade were officially stood down by the Brigade Staff in August 1996.

Jackie Mahood is a Northern Irish former loyalist activist with both the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Progressive Unionist Party (PUP). He later split from these groups and became associated with the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), founded in 1996 by Billy Wright.

The Clontibret invasion was an incursion by Ulster loyalists into the small Monaghan village of Clontibret, in the Republic of Ireland, on 7 August 1986. After crossing the border the loyalists proceeded to vandalise many buildings in the village and attacked two police officers before being dispersed by the Garda Síochána. The incident occurred in the context of unionist opposition to the recently signed Anglo-Irish Agreement.

References

  1. ↑ Arthur Aughey, Under Siege: Ulster Unionism and the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Blackstaff Press, 1989, p. 74
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wood, p. 84
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1003, Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 326
  4. 1 2 3 Taylor, p. 180
  5. ↑ Taylor, p. 179
  6. ↑ Wood, p. 87
  7. ↑ Moloney, p. 307
  8. ↑ Steve Bruce, Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 240
  9. ↑ Moloney, p. 312
  10. ↑ Wood, p. 133
  11. ↑ Taylor, p. 185
  12. ↑ Ulster Nation FAQs
  13. ↑ Colin Abernethy obituary
  14. ↑ Abstracts on Organisations – 'U'
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.