Victoria station and Paddington station bombings

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Victoria and Paddington Station bombings
Part of The Troubles
Inside Victoria Railway Station SW1 - geograph.org.uk - 1312488.jpg
Inside London Victoria railway station
Location London Victoria station, London Paddington station, London, England
Date18 February 1991
Paddington station 4:20am
Victoria Station 7:40am GMT (GMT)
Target British Rail stations
Attack type
 Time bomb
Deaths1
Non-fatal injuries
38
Perpetrator Provisional Irish Republican Army

On the 18 February 1991 the Provisional IRA (PIRA) exploded two bombs at London mainline stations, one at Victoria station and the other at Paddington station, killing one person and injuring 38 other people all at Victoria station. [1] It was the IRA's second major attack in London in February 1991 after the Downing Street mortar attack eleven days earlier which was an attempt to wipe out the British War cabinet and the British prime minister John Major. [2] It was also the first IRA attack on civilians since the 1983 Harrods bombing, marking a strategic change in their bombing campaign. [3]

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

London Victoria station London Underground and railway station

Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street, the main line station is a terminus of the Brighton main line to Gatwick Airport and Brighton and the Chatham main line to Ramsgate and Dover via Chatham. From the main lines, trains can connect to the Catford Loop Line, Dartford Loop Line, and the Oxted line to East Grinstead and Uckfield. Southern operates most commuter and regional services to south London, Sussex and parts of east Surrey, while Southeastern operates trains to south east London and Kent. Gatwick Express trains run direct to Gatwick. The Underground station is on the Circle and District lines between Sloane Square and St. James's Park, and the Victoria line between Pimlico and Green Park. The area around the station is an important interchange for other forms of transport: a local bus station is in the forecourt and Victoria Coach Station is nearby.

London Paddington station London railway station

Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the main line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Contents

Background

The IRA had stepped up their campaign against British military, economic and transport targets outside of Northern Ireland in the late 1980s. In May 1988 they killed three members of the RAF in attacks in the Netherlands. [4] On the 13 July 1988, nine British soldiers were injured when the IRA detonated two bombs at a British military barracks in Duisburg, Germany. On 1 August 1988 the first Provisional IRA bomb on the UK mainland in four years was set off by a timer device at the British Army base at the Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, North London. The two storey building containing the single men's quarters was completely destroyed. One soldier, Lance Corporal Michael Robbins, was killed, and nine others were injured. [5] In September 1989 eleven Royal Marines were killed and 22 others injured when the IRA bombed their barracks in Deal, Kent, England. [6] On 18 November 1989 two British soldiers were wounded when an IRA car bomb exploded at a British Army barracks in Colchester, England. On 20 February 1990 the IRA bombed a British military recruitment office in Leicester, England, where two people were injured in the attack. Five days later on 25 February 1990, another recruitment office was bombed, this time in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Less than three weeks before the Lichfield attack 16 May 1990 the IRA detonated another bomb under a military minibus in London, killing Sergeant Charles Chapman, and injuring four other soldiers. After this attack the IRA released a statement which read While the British government persists in its continued occupation of the north of Ireland the IRA will persist in attacking the British government and its forces in England, [7] On 30 July 1990 the IRA detonated a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing massive damage but no injuries. [8] Ten days later they killed Tory MP Ian Gow [8]

Northern Ireland Part of the United Kingdom lying in the north-east of the island of Ireland, created 1921

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments".

Royal Air Force Aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.

Duisburg Place in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Duisburg is a city of about 500,000 inhabitants in Germany’s Rhineland, at the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr. In medieval times, it was a member of the powerful Hanseatic League, and later became a major centre of iron, steel, and chemicals. For this reason, it was heavily bombed in World War II. Today it boasts the world's largest inland port, with 21 docks and 40 kilometres of wharf. The city supports a large Turkish community.

Previous Republican bombings

On 26 February 1884, at Victoria station, an explosion occurred in the cloak-room of the Brighton side injuring seven staff members, as part of the Fenian dynamite campaign. [9]

The Fenian dynamite campaign was a bombing campaign orchestrated by Irish republicans against the British Empire, between the years 1881 and 1885. The campaign was associated with Fenianism; that is to say the Irish revolutionary organisations which aimed to establish an independent Irish Republic; such as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Fenian Brotherhood, Clan na Gael and the United Irishmen of America. The campaign, led by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa and other Irishmen exiled in the United States, was a form of asymmetrical warfare and targeted infrastructure, government, military and police targets in Great Britain. The campaign led to the establishment of secret police group Special Branch.

On 8 September 1973, a Provisional IRA bomb exploded at the ticket office in Victoria station, injuring five people. [10]

The bombings

The Paddington bomb went off at 4:20am, it was much smaller than the second bomb at Victoria and was designed to make sure the security services would take the Victoria bomb seriously and not as a hoax. There were no deaths or injuries at Paddington but the roof was badly damaged.

Some time before 7:00 am, a caller with an Irish accent said: "We are the Irish Republican Army. Bombs to go off in all mainline stations in 45 minutes." [11] The Victoria station bomb, which was hidden in a rubbish bin inside the station, went off at 7:40 am. Despite a 45-minute warning and the Paddington bomb three hours before, the security services were slow to act. The bomb killed one person instantly and injured 38 others from flying glass and other debris. [12] This was the worst attack suffered by civilians in England by the IRA since the 1983 Harrods bombing which killed three policemen, three civilians and injured 50 people. [13] All London's rail terminals were closed, disrupting the journeys of almost half a million commuters and bringing chaos to London, which was the IRA's intended goal. There was also a hoax call made to Heathrow, causing the airport's closure. [14]

That night the Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for the bombings but blamed the British police for the casualties. A statement from the Provisional IRA GHQ said: "The cynical decision of senior security personnel not to evacuate railway stations named in secondary warnings, even three hours after the warning device had exploded at Paddington in the early hours of this morning was directly responsible for the casualties at Victoria." The statement went on, "All future warnings should be acted upon." [15] The main purpose of the bombings in the overall IRA strategy was to keep pressure up on John Major, his Government and to make sure he acted on the Irish Troubles.

John Major former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Sir John Major is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He served as Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Thatcher Government from 1989 to 1990, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Since the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013, Major has been the oldest living former Prime Minister.

The Troubles Ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland

The Troubles was an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century. 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 primarily took place in Northern Ireland, at times the violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.

Police defended the decision not to close all stations after receiving warning that bombs had been planted. Commander George Churchill-Coleman, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad, said that dozens of hoax calls were received every day. "It is very easy with hindsight to be critical." [16] Churchill-Coleman also said that the bomb was "quite deliberately intended to maim and kill." [17]

A year later, a French TV crew interviewed an IRA Commander who said he spoke on behalf of the IRA's GHQ Staff, several other IRA Volunteers were interviewed as part of an Active Service Unit (ASU) (armed with AR-15's, heavy machine guns, a revolver and an RPG-7). The commander of the unit said about the Victoria station bombing that warnings were given by telephone naming nine railroad stations in London and that a 50-minute warning was given. He went on to say that the attack was not aimed at hurting anybody but to disrupt the British transport system. [18]

Aftermath

The Home Secretary, Kenneth Baker, visited Victoria station after the bomb and said "The concourse of Victoria is covered in blood. This is the act of murderous criminals." The Queen, and other officials, also sent their condolences to the victims. [14]

This bombing would mark the IRA's shift to targeting civilian areas following the July 1990 London Stock Exchange bombing - something they had not done since the 1983 Harrods bombing. It was also the first IRA attack on the London transport system since 1976. The IRA kept bombing targets in England for the remainder of the year - dozens of bombs went off in the run up to Christmas 1991. A number of incendiary devices ignited at The Discount Furniture Store, Habitat, The World of Leather, The Reject Shop and Tottenham Court Road causing damage to property but no injuries on 1 December 1991. An incendiary device ignited at Littlewoods, Oxford Street, London W1 on 2 December. There were further attacks throughout the month but no injuries. [19]

Almost a year later, in February 1992 a bomb went off at London Bridge station, injuring 30 people. [20] In April 1992 a large bomb went off at the Baltic Exchange killing three people and causing £800 million worth of damage, £200 million more than the total damaged caused by the 10,000 explosions that had occurred during the Troubles in Northern Ireland up to that point. [21] A bomb went off in Manchester city centre in December 1992, injuring over 60 people. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Troubles in Ardoyne lists incidents during the Troubles in the Ardoyne district of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Caterham Arms pub bombing

On 27 August 1975 a Provisional IRA bomb exploded without warning at the Caterham Arms public house in Caterham, Surrey, England. There were no fatalities but 33 people were injured, some severely. Two off-duty soldiers lost their legs as a result of the bombing.

On 18 November 1975 an Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit nicknamed the Balcombe Street Gang without warning threw a bomb into Walton's Restaurant in Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London, killing two people and injuring almost two dozen others.

The 1987 Rheindahlen bombing was a car bomb attack on 23 March 1987 at JHQ Rheindahlen military barracks, the British Army headquarters in West Germany, injuring thirty-one. The large 300 lb (140 kg) car bomb exploded near the visitors officers' mess of the barracks. The Provisional IRA later stated it had carried out the bombing. It was the start of the IRA's campaign on mainland Europe from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Although British soldiers were targeted, most of the injured were actually German officers and their wives.

The 1994 Heathrow mortar attacks were a series of homemade mortar bomb attacks targeted at Heathrow Airport carried out by the Provisional IRA. Over a five-day period, Heathrow was targeted three times by the IRA, which fired 12 mortar rounds. Heathrow was a symbolic target due to its importance to the United Kingdom's economy, and much disruption was caused when areas of the airport were closed over the period due to the IRA attacks. The gravity of the incident was heightened by the fact that Queen Elizabeth II was being flown back to Heathrow by the RAF on 10 March.

1975 Piccadilly bombing

On Thursday 9 October 1975, a bomb attack just outside Green Park Underground station in the City of Westminster, London, left one man dead and injured 20 others. The attack was carried out by volunteers from the Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang. The attack occurred during a period of heightened activity by the IRA in England and in particular London & surrounding areas, since the Caterham Arms pub bombing two months earlier in August 1975.

The Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang was a Provisional IRA Active Service Unit who carried out a bombing campaign in England in the mid 1970s. All of their attacks happened in London and surrounding areas like Surrey. Between October 1974 and December 1975 they carried out approximately 40 bomb and gun attacks in and around London, sometimes attacking the same targets twice. The unit would sometimes carry out two or more attacks in one day; on the 27 January 1975 they placed seven time bombs in London. On 25 November 1974, they carried out three bomb attacks in the centre of London injuring 20 people. They were eventually caught during the Balcombe Street Siege in December 1975 thus ending their 15-month bombing campaign in England. They have been described as "the most violent, ruthless and highly-trained unit ever sent to Britain by the Provisional IRA".

On 17 June 1974 the Provisional IRA bombed the British Houses of Parliament causing extensive damage and injuring eleven people.

Lichfield gun attack

The Lichfield gun attack was an ambush carried out by the Provisional IRA (PIRA) on 1st June 1990 against three off-duty British soldiers who were waiting at Lichfield City railway station in Staffordshire. The attack resulted in one soldier being killed and two others badly wounded. On the same day a British Army major was killed by the IRA in a gun attack outside his house in Dortmund, Germany.

1992 London Bridge bombing

On Friday 28 February 1992, the Provisional IRA (PIRA) exploded a bomb inside London Bridge station during the morning rush hour, causing extensive damage and wounding 29 people. A day later, a device exploded at the Crown Prosecution Service in London, injuring a further two people.

Inglis Barracks bombing

The Inglis Barracks bombing was a bomb attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) on 1 August 1988 on a British Army barracks called Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, London. The attack killed one soldier from the Royal Engineers, injured nine more and destroyed large parts of the barracks. It was the first IRA attack in England since the 1984 Brighton Bombing.

The Harrow School bombing happened on 24 October 1974, when the Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang bombed Peterborough Cottage, a three-storey former caretaker's house in the grounds of Harrow School. A warning was given and there were no deaths or injuries.

1974 London pillar box bombings IRA bombings

On 25 and 27 November 1974 a London-based Provisional IRA unit placed several bombs in pillar boxes and one in a hedge behind a pillar box. This was a new tactic used by the IRA in England, although a similar tactic had been used in Northern Ireland during The Troubles several times previously. 40 people were wounded from five explosions in several districts.

Roy Walsh was a former Provisional IRA volunteer. He was convicted for his part in the PIRA's 1973 Old Bailey bombing which injured over 200 people and one person died from a heart attack due to the bombing.

The following is a timeline of Northern Irish conflict actions which took place in the Republic of Ireland between 1969 and 1998. It includes Ulster Volunteer Force bombings such as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in May 1974, and other Loyalist bombings, the last of which was in 1997. These attacks killed dozens of people. Actions by Irish Republicans include deadly bombings, prison escapes, kidnappings, and gun battles between the Gardaí (police) and the Irish Defence Forces against Republican gunmen from the Irish National Liberation Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and a socialist-revolutionary group, Saor Éire. These attacks killed a number of civilians, police, soldiers, and Republican terrorists.

Chelsea Barracks bombing 1981 IRA bomb in London

The Chelsea Barracks bombing was a remote controlled nail bomb attack carried out by a London-based Active Service Unit of the Provisional IRA on 10 October 1981. The bomb targeted a bus carrying British Army soldiers just outside Chelsea Barracks. The blast killed two civilians and injured 40 people.

The Clive Barracks bombing was a bomb attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 20 February 1989 on a British Army barracks called Clive Barracks at Ternhill, Shropshire. The attack injured two soldiers from the Parachute Regiment, and destroyed a large part of the barracks.

Red Lion Pub bombing

The Red Lion Pub bombing was a bomb attack that happened on 2 November 1971, when a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA's Belfast Brigade exploded in the Red Lion pub in Belfast which killed three people and injured about 30 others.

On 17 December 1974, the Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street active service unit planted three time bombs at telephone exchanges around London. The bombs exploded in quick succession of each other killing one civilian and injuring five others and one London police officer.

References

  1. ↑ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  2. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1991". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  3. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/19/world/2-rail-terminals-in-central-london-hit-by-ira-bombs.html
  4. ↑ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  5. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1988". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  6. ↑ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  7. ↑ "Minister Says London Being Subjected To IRA Terror Campaign". www.apnewsarchive.com.
  8. 1 2 Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1990". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  9. ↑ "Dynamite outrage at Victoria Station". The Times. London. 27 February 1884. p. 10.
  10. ↑ "Provisional I R A actions Part One (1969–1975)". Memorial at Peninsula (Royal Green Jackets). Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  11. ↑ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/02/18/One-killed-40-wounded-in-suspected-IRA-attack/9583666853200/
  12. ↑ Campbell, Duncan; Correspondent, Crime (19 February 1991). "Man killed, 38 hurt, as IRA switches target to stations" – via The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  14. 1 2 https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1991/feb/19/northernireland.duncancampbell
  15. ↑ http://journaltimes.com/news/national/ira-bombs-kill-one-disrupt-london/article_220286f8-0220-5cfe-bd90-8ea74884fbf1.html
  16. ↑ Times, William E. Schmidt, Special To The New York (19 February 1991). "2 RAIL TERMINALS IN CENTRAL LONDON HIT BY I.R.A. BOMBS" – via NYTimes.com.
  17. ↑ https://www.deseretnews.com/article/147693/BLAST-AT-LONDONS-VICTORIA-STATION-KILLS-1-INJURES-37.html
  18. ↑ Murcha MacSeain (21 October 2012). "The IRA Speak (Full Version)" – via YouTube.
  19. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1991". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  20. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1992". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  21. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1992". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  22. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1992". cain.ulst.ac.uk.

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