Volunteer (Ulster loyalist)

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Volunteer, abbreviated Vol., is a title used by a number of Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisations to describe their members.

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Background

The first loyalist paramilitary group to emerge in the period of the Troubles was the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), which first appeared in 1966, led by Gusty Spence. The UVF saw itself as the direct continuation of the Ulster Volunteers of 1913 (which was also called the UVF), formed to resist Irish Home Rule.

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.

Ulster Volunteer Force Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. It emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British soldier. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is classified as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and United States.

Gusty Spence Ulster loyalist

Augustus Andrew "Gusty" 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.

Modern usage in loyalism

The term is used by the modern UVF. [1] It is also used by its youth wing, the Young Citizen Volunteers. Likewise, the Ulster Defence Association [2] and Red Hand Commando [3] refer to their members as volunteers. It is also found in the names of similar paramilitary groups like the Loyalist Volunteer Force, Orange Volunteers and now-defunct Ulster Protestant Volunteers.

Young Citizen Volunteers (1972)

The Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland, or Young Citizen Volunteers (YCV) for short, was an Irish civic organisation founded in Belfast in 1912. It was established to bridge the gap for 18 to 25 year olds between membership of youth organisations—such as the Boys' Brigade and Boy Scouts—and the period of responsible adulthood. Another impetus for its creation was the failure of the British government to extend the legislation for the Territorial Force—introduced in 1908—to Ireland. It was hoped that the War Office would absorb the YCV into the Territorial Force, however such offers were dismissed. Not until the outbreak of World War I did the YCV—by then a battalion of the UVF—become part of the British Army as the 14th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.

Ulster Defence Association Paramilitary and terrorist group

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 twenty four 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; it used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government outlawed the "UFF" in November 1973, but the UDA itself was not proscribed as a terrorist group until August 1992.

Red Hand Commando Ulster loyalist paramilitary group

The Red Hand Commando (RHC) is a small secretive Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Its aim was to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and to maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. The Red Hand Commando killed 13 people during The Troubles, 12 civilians and one of its own members. However, it is known to have carried out assassinations and to have allowed other loyalist groupings to claim these in their name. It is named after the Red Hand of Ulster, and is unique among loyalist paramilitaries for its use of an Irish language motto, Lamh Dearg Abu, meaning 'red hand to victory'.

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Ulster Protestant Volunteers was a loyalist and fundamentalist Christian paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. They were active between 1966 and 1969 and closely linked to the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), established by Ian Paisley and Noel Doherty in 1966.

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Bayardo Bar attack

The Bayardo Bar attack took place on 13 August 1975 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), led by Brendan McFarlane, launched a bombing and shooting attack on a pub on Aberdeen Street, in the loyalist Shankill area. IRA members claimed the pub was targeted because it was frequented by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Four Protestant civilians and one UVF member were killed, while more than fifty were injured.

Brian Robinson (loyalist) British loyalist

Brian Robinson was a loyalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland and member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) who was witnessed murdering a Catholic civilian. His death at the hands of an undercover British Army unit is one of the few from the alleged shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland to have involved a loyalist victim.

Robert Seymour (loyalist) Northern Irish loyalist

Robert Seymour was a Northern Irish loyalist and a leading member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He served as the paramilitary organisation's East Belfast commander before being shot dead by the Provisional IRA in an alley behind his video shop in Woodstock Road, east Belfast. His killing was in retaliation for the UVF bombing of a nationalist pub in which three Catholics died.

Trevor King British Ulster loyalist; Ulster Volunteer Force commander

James Trevor King, also known as "Kingso", was a British Ulster loyalist and a senior member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He was commander of the UVF's "B" Company, 1st Belfast Battalion, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel. On 16 June 1994, he was one of three UVF men gunned down by the Irish National Liberation Army as he stood on the corner of Spier's Place and the Shankill Road in West Belfast, close to the UVF headquarters. His companion Colin Craig was killed on the spot, and David Hamilton, who was seriously wounded, died the next day in hospital. King was also badly injured; he lived for three weeks on a life-support machine before making the decision himself to turn it off.

The Orange Volunteers (OV) was a loyalist vigilante group with a paramilitary structure active in Northern Ireland during the early 1970s. It took its name from the Orange Order, from which it drew the bulk of its membership.

The Rose & Crown Bar bombing was a bomb attack carried out against a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast. The attack was carried out by the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) just less than two weeks before the start of the Ulster Workers' Council strike of May 1974 which brought down the Sunningdale power sharing agreement and just 15 days before the UVF carried out the Dublin and Monaghan bombings which killed 34 and injured 300 people, the highest casualty rate in a single day during The Troubles in either Ireland or Britain.

On 5 April 1975 Irish republican paramilitary members killed a UDA volunteer and four Protestant civilians in a gun and bomb attack at the Mountainview Tavern on the Shankill Road - the heart of loyalist Belfast. The attack was claimed by the Republican Action Force believed to be a covername used by Provisional IRA (IRA) volunteers. Earlier in the day, two Catholic civilians were killed in a bomb attack in a Belfast pub carried out by the Protestant Action Force a name used by the Ulster Volunteer Force to claim some attacks. An elderly Catholic man was shot later the same night by loyalists bringing the death toll to eight for the day.

On 2 October 1975, the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out a wave of shootings and bombings across Northern Ireland. Six of the attacks left 12 people dead and around 45 people injured. There was also an attack in a small village in County Down called Killyleagh. There were five attacks in and around Belfast which left people dead. A bomb which exploded in Coleraine left four UVF Volunteers dead. There were also several other smaller bombs planted around Northern Ireland but other than causing damage they didn't kill or injure anyone.

The 1975 Conway's Bar attack was a failed gun and bomb attack by the Loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) paramilitary group. On 13 March 1975 a unit from the UVF's Belfast Brigade attempted to bomb the Catholic-owned Peter Conway's bar on the Shore Road in Greencastle, Belfast. The bomb exploded prematurely, killing a Catholic civilian woman and one of the UVF bombers.

The Imperial Hotel bombing was a no-warning car bombing carried out by the Ulster Loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on the Imperial Hotel situated along the Cliftonville Road close to the Antrim Road in Belfast.

Crumlin Road Prison bombing

On the 24 November 1991 the Provisional IRA (IRA) exploded a home made bomb along the Crumlin Road inside of the Crumlin Road Prison in the Ulster Loyalist wing of the prison killing two Loyalist prisoners, one from the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) and one from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). This came at the height of a debate on the issues of desegregation between Loyalist and Irish Republican prisoners.

Devenish Arms attack 1991

On 22 December 1991, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) of the Ulster Defence Association shot dead a Catholic civilian and badly injured an eight-year-old boy and two men in the Devenish Arms pub in Belfast, Ireland.

References

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