THE THIRD of the resolutely determined IRA Volunteers to join the H-Block hunger strike for political status was twenty-four-year-old Raymond McCreesh, from Camlough in South Armagh: a quiet, shy and good-humoured republican, who although captured at the early age of nineteen, along with two other Volunteers in a British army ambush, had already almost three years active republican involvement behind him.
During those years he had established himself as one of the most dedicated and invaluable republican activists in that part of the six counties to which the Brits themselves have – half-fearfully, half-respectfully – given the name ‘bandit country’ and which has become a living legend in republican circles, during the present war, for the courage and resourcefulness of its Volunteers: the border land of South Armagh.
Raymond’s resolve to hunger strike to the death, to secure the prisoners’ five demands was indicated in a smuggled-out letter written by Paddy Quinn, an H-Block blanket man – who was later to embark on hunger strike himself – who was captured along with Raymond and who received the same fourteen year sentence: “I wrote Raymie a couple of letters before he went to the prison hospital. He wrote back and according to the letter he was in great spirits and very determined. A sign of that determination was the way he finished off by saying: Ta seans ann go mbeidh me abhaile rombat a chara’ which means: There is a chance that I’ll be home before you, my friend!”
Captured in June 1976, and sentenced in March 1977, when he refused to recognise the court, Raymond would have been due for release in about two years’ time had he not embarked on his principled protest for political status, which led him, ultimately, to hunger strike.
FAMILY
Raymond Peter McCreesh, the seventh in a family of eight children, was born in a small semi-detached house at St. Malachy’s Park, Camlough – where the family still live – on February 25th, 1957.
The McCreeshes, a nationalist family in a staunchly nationalist area, have been rooted in South Armagh for seven generations, and both Raymond’s parents – James aged 65, a retired local council worker, and Susan (whose maiden name is Quigley), aged 60 – come from the nearby townland of Dorsey.
Raymond was a quiet but very lively person, very good-natured and – like other members of his family – extremely witty. Not the sort of person who would push himself forward if he was in a crowd, and indeed often rather a shy person in his personal relationships until he got to know a person well. Nevertheless, in his republican capacity he was known as a capable, dedicated and totally committed Volunteer who could show leadership and aggression where necessary.
Among both his family and his republican associates, Raymond was renowned for his laughter and for “always having a wee smile on him”. His sense of humour remained even during his four-year incarceration in the H-Blocks, as well as during his hunger strike where he continued to insist that he was “just fine.”
SCHOOL
Raymond went first to Camlough primary school, and then to St. Coleman’s college in Newry. It was at St. Coleman’s that Raymond met Danny McGuinness, also from Camlough, and the two became steadfast friends. They later became republican comrades, and Danny too then a nineteen-year-old student who had just completed his ‘A’ levels was captured along with Raymond and Paddy Quinn, and is now in the H-Blocks.
At school, Raymond’s strongest interest was in Irish language and Irish history, and he read widely in those subjects. His understanding of Irish history led him to a fervently nationalist outlook, and he was regarded as a ‘hothead’ in his history classes, and as being generally “very conscious of his Irishness”.
He was also a sportsman, and played under-sixteen and Minor football for Carrickcruppin Gaelic football club as well as taking a keen interest in the local youth club where he played basketball and pool, and was regarded a good snooker player.
When he was fourteen years old, Raymond got a weekend job working on a milk round through the South Armagh border area, around Mullaghbawn and Dromintee. Later on, after leaving his job in Lisburn, he worked full-time on the milk round, where he would always stop and chat to customers. He became a great favourite amongst them and many enquired about him long after he left the round.
RESISTANCE
During the early ‘seventies, the South Armagh border area was the stamping ground of the British army’s Parachute regiment, operating out of Bessbrook camp less than two miles from Raymond’s home. Stories of their widespread brutality and harassment of local people abound, and built-up then a degree of resentment and resistance amongst most of the nationalist population that is seen to this day.
The SAS terror regiment began operating in this area in large numbers too, in a vain attempt to counter republican successes, and the high level of assassinations of local people on both sides of the South Armagh border, notably three members of the Reavey family in 1975, was believed locally to have been the work both of the SAS, and of UDR and RUC members holding dual membership with ‘illegal’ loyalist paramilitary organisations.
Given this scenario and Raymond’s understanding of Irish history, it is small wonder that he became involved in the republican struggle.
JOINED
He first of all joined na Fianna Eireann early in 1973 and towards the end of that year joined the Irish Republican Army’s 1st Battalion, South Armagh.
Even before joining the IRA, and despite his very young age, Raymond – with remarkable awareness and maturity – became one of the first Volunteers in the South Armagh area to adopt a very low, security conscious, republican profile.
He rarely drank, but if occasionally in a pub he would not discuss either politics or his own activities, and he rarely attended demonstrations or indeed anything which would have brought him to the attention of the enemy.
It was because of this remarkable self-discipline and discretion that during his years of intense republican involvement Raymond was never once arrested or even held for screening in the North, and only twice held briefly in the South.
Consequently, Raymond was never obliged to go ‘on the run’, continuing to live at home until the evening of his capture, and always careful not to cause his family any concern or alarm.
Fitted in with his republican activities Raymond would relax by going to dances or by going to watch football matches at weekends.
WORK
After leaving school he spent a year at Newry technical college studying fabrication engineering, and afterwards got a job at Gambler Simms (Steel) Ltd. in Lisburn. He had a conscientious approach to his craft but was obliged to leave after a year because of a fear of assassination.
Each day he travelled to work from Newry, in a bus along with four or five mates who had got jobs there too from the technical college, but the prevailing high level of sectarian assassinations, and the suspicion justifiably felt of the predominantly loyalist work-force at Gambler Simms, made Raymond, and many other nationalist workers, decide that travelling such a regular route through loyalist country side was simply too risky.
So, after leaving the Lisburn factory, Raymond began to work full-time as a milk roundsman, an occupation which would greatly have increased his knowledge of the surrounding countryside, as well as enabling him to observe the movements of British army patrols and any other untoward activity in the area.
ACTIVITY
Republican activity in that area during those years consisted largely of landmine attacks and ambushes on enemy patrols.
Raymond had the reputation of a republican who was very keen to suggest and take part in operations, almost invariably working in his own, extremely tight, active service unit, though occasionally, when requested – as he frequently was – assisting other units in neighbouring areas with specific operations. He would always carefully consider the pros and cons of any operation, and would never panic or lose his nerve.
In undertaking the hunger strike, Raymond gave the matter the same careful consideration he would have expended on a military operation, he undertook nothing either a rush, or for bluff.
CAPTURE
The operation which led to the capture of Raymond, his boyhood friend, Danny McGuiness, and Patrick Quinn, took place on June 25th, 1976.
An active service unit comprising these three and a fourth Volunteer arrived in a commandeered car at a farmyard in the town land of Sturgan a mile from Camlough – at about 9.25 p.m.
Their objective was to ambush a covert Brit observation post which they had located opposite the Mountain House Inn, on the main Newry – Newtonhamilton Road, half-a-mile away. They were not aware, however, that another covert British observation post, on a steep hillside half-a-mile away, had already spotted the four masked, uniformed and armed Volunteers, clearly visible below them, and that radioed helicopter reinforcements were already closing in.
As the fourth Volunteer drove the commandeered car down the road to the agreed ambush point, to act as a lure for the Brits, the other three moved down the hedgeline of the fields, into position. The fourth Volunteer, however, as he returned, as arranged, to rejoin his comrades, spotted the British Paratroopers on the hillside closing in on his unsuspecting friends and, although armed only with a short range Stengun, opened fire to warn the others.
Immediately, the Brits opened fire with SLRs and light machine-guns, churning up the ground around the Volunteers with hundreds of rounds, firing indiscriminately into the nearby farmhouse and two vehicles parked outside, and killing a grazing cow!
The fourth Volunteer was struck by three bullets, in the leg, arm and chest, but managed to crawl away and to elude the massive follow up search, escaping safely – though seriously injured – the following day.
Raymond and Paddy Quinn ran zig-zag across open fields to a nearby house, under fire all this time, intending to commandeer a car. Unfortunately, the car belonging to the occupants of the house was parked at a neighbour’s house several hundred yards away. Even then the pair might have escaped but that they delayed several minutes waiting for their comrade, Danny McGuinness, who however had got separated from them and had taken cover in a disused quarry outhouse (where he was captured in a follow-up operation the next day).
The house in which Raymond and Paddy took cover was immediately besieged by berserk Paratroopers who riddled the house with bullets. Even when the two Volunteers surrendered, after the arrival of a local priest, and came out through the front door with their hands up, the Paras opened fire again and the Pair were forced to retreat back into the house.
On the arrival of the RUC, the two Volunteers again surrendered and were taken to Bessbrook barracks where they were questioned and beaten for three days before being charged.
REMARKABLE
One remarkable aspect of the British ambush concerns the role of Lance-Corporal David Jones, a member of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute regiment. According to Brit statements at the trial it was he who first opened up on the IRA active service unit from the hillside.
Nine months later, on March 16th, 1977 two IRA Volunteers encountered two Paratroopers (at the time seconded to the SAS) in a field outside Maghera in South Derry. In the ensuing gun battle, one SAS man was shot dead, and one IRA Volunteer was captured. The Volunteer’s name was Francis Hughes, the dead Brit was Lance-Corporal David Jones of the Parachute regiment.
In the eighteen months before going on hunger strike together neither Raymond McCreesh or Francis Hughes were aware of what would seem to have been an ironic but supremely fitting example of republican solidarity!
After nine months remand in Crumlin Road jail, Raymond was tried and convicted in March 1977, of attempting to kill Brits, possession of a Garand rifle and ammunition, and IRA membership. He received a fourteen-year sentence, and lesser concurrent sentences, after refusing to recognise the court.
In the H-Blocks he immediately joined the blanket protest, and so determined was his resistance to criminalisation that he refused to take his monthly visits for four years, right up until he informed his family of his decision to go on hunger strike on February 15th, this year. He also refused to send out monthly letters, writing only smuggled ‘communications’ to his family and friends.
The only member of his family to see him at all during those four years in Long Kesh two or three times – was his brother, Fr. Brian McCreesh, who occasionally says Mass in the H-Blocks.
HUNGER STRIKE
Like Francis Hughes, Raymond volunteered for the earlier hunger strike, and, when he was not chosen among the first seven, took part in the four-day hunger strike by thirty republicans until the hunger strike ended on December 18th, last year.
Speaking to his brother, Malachy, shortly after Bobby Sands death, Raymond said what a great loss had been felt by the other hunger strikers, but it had made them more determined than ever.
And still managing to keep his spirits up, when told of his brother, Fr. Brian, campaigning for him on rally platforms, Raymond joked: “He’ll probably get excommunicated for it.”
To Britain’s eternal shame, the sombre half-prediction made by Raymond to his friend Paddy Quinn – Ta seans ann go mbeid me abhaile rombat – became a grim reality. Bhi se. Raymond died at 2.11 a.m. on Thursday May 21st, 1981, after 61 days on hunger strike.
Lord Louis Mountbatten ‘abused children trafficked to his Mullaghmore estate’.
Fresh claims of British royal child abuse contained in new book
Lord Louis Mountbatten and his estate at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo
By Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent
May 16, 2025 at 6:00am BST
Lord Mountbatten abused children at his Mullaghmore estate, a new book reports.
Fresh claims have been made that the British royal, who was killed by the IRA, was involved in an MI5-linked paedophile ring involving children trafficked from Kincora Boys’ Home.
The details are contained in a new book by Belfast based investigative journalist Chris Moore.
In ‘Kincora, Britain’s Shame’, Mr Moore presents fresh information about the sexual depravities carried out by a nest of paedophile predators with links to a host of organisations including the loyalist paramilitary groups, the Orange Order, MI5, MI6 and the British royal family,
The book alleges that Mountbatten was involved in the sexual abuse of five children.
Three of his alleged victims have spoken to Mr Moore about their horrific experience, including rape, alleged to have been carried out by Mountbatten at his former residence at Classiebawn at Mullaghmore in Co Sligo.
Two of the child victims were resident at the notorious Kincora Boys’ Home in east Belfast.
The claims were dismissed by a Historical Institution Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, which took place between 2014-2016.
Mountbatten, a former Royal Navy officer, was a great uncle of the current British monarch, King Charles with the pair said to be close.
Mountbatten and three other people were killed, including two children, by an IRA bomb that exploded on a boat at Mullaghmore in August 1979.
In the years since his death, allegations about his alleged sexual deviancy have been reported.
It has previously emerged that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) held files on the royal and include a report from American writer Elizabeth de la Poer Beresford.
Also known as Baroness Decies, who was close to former Queen Elizabeth and her grandmother Queen Mary, she told the FBI that in those circles Mountbatten and his wife, Edwina, were ‘considered persons of extremely low morals’.
She also told US authorities that Mountbatten ‘was known to be a homosexual with a perversion for young boys’.
In the past several witnesses have come forward to say they were sexually abused by Mountbatten at his Mullaghmore residence.
The new book suggests some victims were trafficked from Kincora to a hotel in Co Fermanagh before being collected by members of Mountbatten’s security team and taken on to Mullaghmore where they were abused.
One senior Kincora staff member is said to have taken pictures of naked boys which were then shown to potential “clients”.
In 2022 a former resident of Kincora Boys Home, Arthur Smyth, launched legal action over claims he was abused by Mountbatten.
Speaking to the Irish News, Mr Moore questioned the role of British intelligence agencies in the Mountbatten affair.
“If you were to look up the beginnings of the British secret services, it was in 1909, and one of their principle aims when they were established at that time was to protect the monarchy and the family of the monarch.”
And he asked: “Does that still apply today when they are looking at the royal family?
“Are the Mountbatten allegations of five boys, are they known to MI5 and are they protecting a member of the royal family?”
It is the highest level of support for reunification in a Six County poll on record, and is also the first time a poll has shown the demand for reunification to be higher in the north than the south.
The Amárach Research poll for the European Movement Ireland found 67% in the north and 62% in the south now support a United Ireland within the EU.
Opposition in the North to reunification within the EU was also at a record low of 27%, although still higher than in the 26 Counties, where it measured just 16%.
The data was collected between March 26-28 and has a margin of error of 2.5%.
Speaking in Dublin, Sinn Féin Senator Murphy said the poll “confirms what we are hearing more and more from communities across the north – people want change, and they want a future back in the European Union”.
He added: “These figures reflect a growing understanding that the cost of Brexit – economically, politically, and socially – has been detrimental for the north of Ireland.”
He said the poll pointed to the opportunities offered by reunification.
“The north of Ireland has been held back for too long by partition. But there is another way – one that sees the reunification of our island, the restoration of our full place in the EU, and the unleashing of our untapped potential as part of an all-Ireland economy.
“A new Ireland is not just possible – it is already being imagined and increasingly supported by the people. The Irish government must now take up its responsibilities under the Good Friday Agreement, step forward, and begin the necessary planning.
“That means convening a Citizens’ Assembly and preparing for constitutional change in a way that is inclusive, respectful and forward-looking.
“This is a time of opportunity. Let us rise to meet it – together, democratically, and with the shared ambition of building a new Ireland that is united, prosperous and within the EU.”
Direct Rule British Minister Fleur Anderson recently suggested that such an opinion poll could be enough to trigger a referendum on unity, honouring a key element of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement However, there are still no signs of of moves recognising the national rights of those living under British rule
Twelve years since a constitutional convention in Dublin voted overwhelmingly in favour, and nine years since Fine Gael said it would hold a referendum to make the necessary changes to the constitution, voting rights in Presidential elections are still being denied to those living north of the border.
Last month, Aontú introduced a bill to allow Irish citizens living in the Six Counties to vote in Irish presidential elections.
That was followed by a vote in the Stormont Assembly to support a motion calling for Irish Presidential voting rights for Irish citizens living in the north.
A majority of MLAs backed Sinn Féin’s motion calling for all Irish citizens throughout the island to be entitled to vote in Irish presidential elections.
The motion, which required a simple majority, was carried by 46 to 25, with support coming from Sinn Féin and SDLP representatives, alongside 13 Alliance MLAs and People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll. It was opposed by the DUP, who argued any change to the law could not be implemented before the election due in 2032.
Sinn Féin deputy leader and the North’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, has now written to Taoiseach Micheál Martin urging him to take action.
“It is a glaring anomaly that an Irish citizen living in the north can stand for election as President of Ireland, can be elected as President of Ireland but cannot vote to elect the President of Ireland,” said Ms O’Neill.
“The Assembly decisively voted in support of the right of citizens in the north to vote for the President of Ireland.
“The office of the President of Ireland is held in the highest regard and respect in Ireland, among the Irish diaspora and across the world. That regard and respect has a particular significance and immediacy for Irish citizens in the north who have historically been denied participation in the life of their own nation by the historic and undemocratic injustice of partition.”
She also welcomed the comments by Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, after he indicated he was ‘supportive’ of the move.
Pearse Doherty, the Sinn Féin Finance Minister in the 26 Counties, said it is now “incumbent” on the Dublin government to act and give a clear timeline on when they will hold a referendum to make the necessary changes to the constitution, and noted there was no mention of extending voting rights in the most recent Programme for Government.
“That impasse cannot be allowed to continue. We should not be facing into a presidential election later this year where citizens in the North are again excluded. This must be the last time it ever happens.
“The government has a constitutional duty to uphold the citizenship rights of everybody born on the island of Ireland. This is about equality, recognition and democratic participation.
“So the time for excuses is over. The government must give a timeline and set a date for the referendum, and finally act on the 12-year-old commitment to extend voting rights in presidential elections to citizens in the North.”
Seán MacDiarmada (L) and James Connolly (R). NLI Public Domain
Editor’s Note: The 1916 Easter Rising took place over the course of five days in Dublin and forever changed the course of Irish history. Writer and historian Dermot McEvoy produced 16 profiles of the Irish Rebel leaders who were executed and who, gradually, have come to be seen as heroes.
Between May 3 and 14, 1916, 15 leaders of the Rising were court-martialed by the British Army under General John Maxwell and convicted. IrishCentral looks at the leaders from James Connolly to Joseph Mary Plunkett and shares their stories.
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On May 11, 1916, there were no executions, but there were two significant developments.
In Dublin, according to the Irish Times, “The following results of trials, by Field General Court-martial, were announced at the Headquarters, Irish Command, Dublin: Sentenced to death, and sentence commuted to penal servitude by the General Officer, Commander-in-Chief, Éamon de Valera, penal servitude for life.
”Across the Irish Sea, there were fireworks in the House of Commons, courtesy of John Dillon, MP of the Irish Parliamentary Party, who stood up to lambast the British over their secret court-martial and executions:
“I say I am proud of their courage, and, if you were not so dense and so stupid, as some of you English people are, you would have had these men fighting for you, and they are men worth having. … ours is a fighting race … The fact of the matter is that what is poisoning the mind of Ireland, and rapidly poisoning it, is the secrecy of these trials and the continuance of these executions … enthusiasm and leadership.
“[The rebels showed] conduct beyond reproach as fighting men. I admit they were wrong; I know they were wrong, but they fought a clean fight, and they fought with superb bravery and skill, and no act of savagery or act against the usual customs of war that I know of has been brought home to any leader or any organized body of insurgents.
“[…] I do most earnestly appeal to the Prime Minister to stop these executions … it is not murderers who are being executed; it is insurgents who have fought a clean fight, a brave fight, however misguided, and it would be a damned good thing for you if your soldiers were able to put up as good a fight as did these men in Dublin—three thousand men against twenty thousand with machine-guns and artillery [Heckled and responds] … we have attempted to bring the masses of the Irish people into harmony with you, in this great effort at reconciliation—I say, we are entitled to every assistance from the Members of this House and this Government.”
The Last Two
Although Dillon’s words may have saved the lives of some rebels sentenced to death, they were too late for two of the most prominent leaders, James Connolly and Seán MacDiarmada. Their fates had been already determined because both had been signatories of the Proclamation and Prime Minister Asquith had already signed off on their shootings: “There are two other persons who are under sentence of death—a sentence which has been confirmed by the General [Maxwell]—both of whom signed the Proclamation and took an active part…in the actual rebellion in Dublin…in these two cases, the extreme penalty must be paid.”
The executions of Connolly and MacDiarmada would constitute a clean sweep of those who had put their names to Ireland’s Declaration of Independence.
The Court-martials of James Connolly (Prisoner #90) and Seán MacDiarmada (Prisoner #91) at Richmond Barracks, May 9, 1916 – the two faced the same charges:
CHARGE: 1. Did an act to wit did take part in an armed rebellion and in the waging of war against His Majesty the King, such act being of such a nature as to be calculated to be prejudicial to the Defence to the Realm and being done with the intention and for the purpose of assisting the enemy”
2. “Did attempt to cause dissatisfaction among the civilian population of His Majesty”
PLEA: Not Guilty (both charges)
(The members of the court and witnesses were duly sworn in)
VERDICT: Guilty. Death (first charge): Not guilty (second charge)
2
James Connolly.
Epilogue
May 12 marked the last day, for now, of the execution of rebel leaders. In the space of nine days, the British had shot 15 insurgents—but they were not done yet. They still had one more to go—Sir Roger Casement, who would be hanged in London on August 3.
After the execution of the seven signatories of the Proclamation, the theme of “blood seeping from under a closed door” becomes prevalent among the Irish people. The British, in making their point that they would not stand for any more insurrection in Ireland, woke up the deep nationalism that dwells in every Irishman’s heart. The shootings guaranteed that Ireland would be a bloodbath for the next six years.
The only clear reason that can be given for any of the remaining non-signatory executions is revenge. Willie Pearse had basically nothing to do with the planning of the Rising and only held the rank of Staff Captain in the Irish Volunteers (the same rank as Michael Collins). The only reason he was shot was because he was the brother of Padraig.
John MacBride was also a revenge killing. He was shot because he had been a consistent thorn in the side of the British for over 20 years, going all the way back to the Boer War. He only joined the battle on Easter Monday when he accidentally ran into the Volunteers assembling on St. Stephen’s Green when he was on his way to his brother’s wedding reception. Also, the garrison at Jacob’s Biscuit Factory saw less action than almost any other outpost, so the order of execution had nothing to do with British casualties.
The execution of Seán Heuston was certainly a revenge shooting. It seemed that the British were embarrassed that he had out-soldiered them at the Mendicity Institution.
Con Colbert’s death is one of the oddest in that he wasn’t even in charge of the garrison at Marrowbone Lane.
Ned Daly, by all accounts, both Irish and English, did a brilliant military job at the Four Courts and environs. He caused many casualties among the British, but he and his men fought a clean fight. His biggest sin may have been that he was Thomas Clarke’s brother-in-law.
Micheál O’Hanrahan was the titular second-in-command at Jacob’s, but Major John MacBride was really in charge militarily. Also, this was one of the quietest outposts during Easter Week.
Thomas Kent in Cork was defending himself and his family from an onslaught by the RIC in Cork. He was not even active on Easter Monday as Cork remained quiet.
Michael Mallin was in charge of a small force at the College of Surgeons and St. Stephen’s Green but was not spectacularly successful as a military commander.
Roger Casement’s execution by rope was also a revenge killing because of what he symbolized—the utter hypocrisy of the British Empire. He had revealed them for what they were—exploiters of other people’s treasures.
What most of these men had in common is that they were known by the Special Branch detectives of the G-Division, the Intelligence Division, of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. All were picked out because they were known for their activities in the Irish Volunteers. This fact was not lost on Michael Collins. When Collins returned to Dublin from imprisonment in Wales, he made two things his top priorities: 1) Intelligence gathering; and 2) putting together an Active Service Unit—the Squad, AKA, “The Twelve Apostles”—to take care of Intelligence matters. This eventually led to Bloody Sunday 1920 when Collins’ Squad executed 14 British Secret Service agents in one morning. In the end, Collins’ intelligence-gathering was superior to that of the British Empire.
General Maxwell’s brag—“I am going to ensure that there will be no treason whispered for 100 years”—had turned into a match and with that match, he would light the fuse which would blast Britain out of most of Ireland after 700 years.
*Dermot McEvoy is the author of “The 13th Apostle: A Novel of Michael Collins and the Irish Uprising” and “Irish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Ireland.” He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com and you can follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook here.
*Originally published in 2016, updated in May 2025.
THE SECOND republican to join the H-Block hunger-strike for political status – a fortnight after Bobby Sands – was twenty-five-year-old Francis Hughes, from Bellaghy in South Derry: a determined, committed and totally fearless IRA Volunteer who organised a spectacularly successful series of military operations before his capture, and was once described by the RUC as their ‘most wanted man’ in the North.
Eluding for several years the relentless efforts of the British army, UDR and RUC to track him down, Francis operated boldly throughout parts of Tyrone and north and south Antrim, but particularly in his native South Derry, with a combination of brilliant organisation and extreme daring – until his capture after a shoot-out with the SAS – which earned him widespread popular renown, and won general support for the republican cause, as well as giving him an undisputed reputation as a natural-born soldier and leader.
ROOTED
Francis Hughes was born on February 28th, 1956, the youngest son amongst ten children, into a staunchly republican family which has been solidly rooted, for most of this century, in the townland of Tamlaghtduff, or Scribe Road, as it is otherwise called.
His parents who married in 1939, are Patrick Joseph Hughes, aged 72, a retired small cattle farmer born in the neighbouring town land of Ballymacpeake, and Margaret, aged 68, whose maiden name is McElwee, and who was born in Tamlaghtduff.
A quarter-of-a-mile away from the Hughes’ bungalow, on the other side of the Scribe Road is the home of Thomas and Benedict McElwee – first cousins of Francis. Benedict is currently serving a sentence in the H-Blocks. Thomas – the eldest – embarked on hunger strike on June 8th, and died sixty-two days later on August 8th.
In Tamlaghtduff, as throughout the rest of Bellaghy, sympathy as well as active support for the republican cause runs at a very high level, a fact testified to by the approximately twenty prisoners-of-war from around Bellaghy alone.
Francis was an extremely popular person, both to his family and to his republican colleagues and supporters.
His father recalls that as a boy he was always whistling, joking and singing: a trait which he carried over into his arduous and perilous days as a republican, when he was able to transmit his enthusiasm and optimism both to Volunteers under his command and to Sympathisers who offered them – at great personal risk, food and shelter
It was qualities like these, of uncomplaining tirelessness, of consideration for the morale of those around him, and his ruling wish to lead by example, that have made Francis Hughes one of the most outstanding Irish revolutionary soldiers this war has produced and a man who was enormously respected in his native countryside.
BOY
As a boy, Francis went first to St. Mary’s primary school in Bellaghy, and from there to Clady intermediate school three miles away.
He enjoyed school and was a fairly good student whose favourite subjects were history and woodwork. He was not particularly interested in sport, but was very much a lively, outdoor person, who enjoyed messing around on bikes, and later on, in cars.
He enjoyed dancing and regularly went to ceilidh as a young man, even while ‘on the run’, although after ‘wanted’ posters of him appeared his opportunities became less frequent.
His parents recall that Francis was always extremely helpful around the house, and that he was a “good tractor man”.
DECORATOR
Leaving school at sixteen, Francis got a job with his sister Vera’s husband, as an apprentice painter and decorator, completing his apprenticeship shortly before ‘going on the run’.
In later days, Francis would often do a spot of decorating for the people whose house he was staying in
On one occasion, shortly after the ‘wanted’ posters of him had been posted up all over South Derry, Francis was painting window frames at the front of the house he was staying in when two jeep-loads of British soldiers drove past. While the other occupants of the house froze in apprehension, Francis waved and smiled at the curious Brits as they passed by, and continued painting.
It was such utter fearlessness, and the ability to brazen his way through, that saved him time and time again during his relatively long career as an active service Volunteer.
On one such occasion, when stopped along with two other Volunteers as they crossed a field, Francis told a Brit patrol that they didn’t feel safe walking the roads, as the IRA were so active in the area. The Brits allowed the trio to walk on, but after a few yards Francis ran back to the enemy patrol to scrounge a cigarette and a match from one of the British soldiers.
A turning point for Francis, in terms of his personal involvement in the struggle, occurred at the age of seventeen, when he and a friend were stopped by British soldiers at Ardboe, in County Tyrone, as they returned from a dance one night.
The pair were taken out of their car and so badly kicked that Francis was bed-ridden for several days. Rejecting advice to make a complaint to the RUC, Francis said it would be a waste of time, but pledged instead to get even with those who had done it, “or with their friends.”
Notwithstanding such a bitter personal experience of British thuggery, and the mental and physical scars it left, Francis’ subsequent involvement in the Irish Republican Army was not based on a motive of revenge but on a clear and abiding belief in his country’s right to national freedom.
INVOLVEMENT
During the early part of ‘the troubles’, the ‘Officials’ were relatively strong in the South Derry area and Francis’ first involvement was with them.
However, disillusioned, as were many others, with the ‘Sticks’ unilateral ceasefire in 1972, he left to set up and command an ‘independent’ military unit in the Bellaghy area. About the end of 1973 the entire unit – including Francis – was formally recruited into the IRA.
Francis’ involvement brought him increasingly to the attention of the British army and RUC and he was regularly held for a few hours in Magherafelt barracks and stopped on the road by British patrols; and on one occasion he was held for two days at Ballykelly camp.
As the 1975 IRA/British army truce came to an end Francis, fearing his imminent arrest, went ‘on the run’. From that time on, he led a life perpetually on the move, often moving on foot up to twenty miles during one night then sleeping during the day – either in fields and ditches or in safe houses; a soldierly sight in his black beret and combat uniform, and openly carrying his rifle, a handgun and several grenades as well as food rations.
The enemy reacted with up to fifty early morning raids on Francis’ home, and raids on the homes of those suspected of harbouring him. Often, houses would be staked out for days on end in the hope of capturing Francis. Often, it was only his sheer nerve and courage which saved him. One night, Francis was followed to a ‘safe house’ and looked out to see the Brits surrounding the place and closing in. Without hesitating, the uniformed Francis stepped outside the door, clutching his rifle, and in the darkness crept gradually through their lines, occasionally mumbling a few short words to British soldiers he passed, who, on seeing the shadowy uniformed figure, mistook him for one of themselves.
On numerous occasions, Francis and his comrades were stopped at checkpoints along the country roads while moving weapons from one locality to another but always calmly talked their way through. Once, a UDR soldier actually recognised Francis and his fellow Volunteers in a car but, fully aware that Francis would not be taken without a shoot-out, he waved their car on.
ACTIVE
The years before Francis’ capture were extremely active ones in the South Derry and surrounding areas with the commercial centres of towns and villages like Bellaghy, Maghera, Toome, Magherafelt and Castledawson being blitzed by car bombs on several occasions, and numerous shooting attacks being carried out as well.
Among the Volunteers under his command Francis had a reputation of being a strict disciplinarian and perfectionist who could not tolerate people taking their republican duties less seriously, and selflessly, than was necessary. He also, however, inspired fellow Volunteers by his example and by always being in the thick of things, and he thrived on pressure.
During one night-time operation, a weapon was missing and Francis gave away his own weapon to another Volunteer, taking only a torch himself which he used to its maximum effect by shining it at an oncoming enemy vehicle, which had its headlights off, to enable the other Volunteers to direct their fire.
Francis’ good-humoured audacity also showed itself in his republican activity. At the height of his ‘notoriety’ he would set up road-blocks, hoping to lure the Brits into an ambush (which by hard experience they learned to avoid), or he would ring up the Brits and give them his whereabouts!
Such joking, however, did not extend only to the enemy. One day, lying out in the fields, he spied one of his uncles cycling down a country road. Taking careful aim with his rifle he shot away the bike’s rear wheel. His uncle ran alarmed, into a nearby house shouting that loyalists had just tried to assassinate him!
BATTLE
The determination of the British army and RUC to capture Francis Hughes came to a head in April 1977. In that month, on Good Friday, a car containing three IRA Volunteers was overtaken and flagged down on the Moneymore Road at Dunronan, in County Derry, by a carload of RUC men.
The Volunteers attempted to make a U-turn but their car got stuck in a ditch as the armed RUC men approached. Jumping from the car, the Volunteers opened fire, killing two RUC men and injuring another before driving off. A hundred yards further up the road a second gun battle ensued but the Volunteers escaped safely.
Subsequently, the RUC issued a ‘wanted’ poster of Francis Hughes and two fellow republicans, Dominic McGlinchey and Ian Milne, in which Francis was named as the ‘most wanted man’ in the North.
When his eventual capture came, it was just as he had always said it would be: “I’ll get a few of them before they get me.”
STAKE-OUT
At 8.00 p.m. on March 16th, 1978, two SAS soldiers took up a stake-out position opposite a farm, on the south side of the Ronaghan road, about two miles west of Maghera, in the townland of Ballyknock.
At 9.15 p.m. they saw two men in military uniform and carrying rifles, walking in single file along the hedgeline of the field towards them. Using their ‘night sights’ in the darkness, the SAS men observed the military behaviour of the two on-comers and having challenged them, heard the men mumble a few words to each other in Irish accents and assumed that the pair were UDR soldiers.
One of the pair, in fact, was Francis Hughes, the other a fellow Volunteer, and with only a second’s hesitation both Volunteers cocked their rifles and opened fire. One SAS man fell fatally wounded but the other – though shot in the stomach – managed to fire a long burst from his sterling sub-machine gun at the retreating figures, and to make radio contact with his base.
Within three minutes, nearby Brit patrols were on the scene and the area was entirely sealed off. The following morning hundreds of Brits took part in a massive search operation.
Fifteen hours after the shooting, at around 12.15 p.m. the next day, they found Francis Hughes sitting in the middle of a gorse bush in a field three hundred yards away, bleeding profusely from a bullet wound which had shattered his left thigh. As he was taken away on a stretcher he yelled defiantly, through his considerable pain: “Up the Provies”.
His comrade, though also wounded, slightly, managed to evade the dragnet and to escape.
SURVIVED
How he survived the night of the shooting, possibly the coldest night of that year, bears eloquent testimony to Francis’ grim determination to evade capture. After being shot, he dragged himself – unable to walk – across the Ronaghan road and across two fields without a sound, before burying himself in a thick clump of gorse bushes.
At one point, en-route, Francis fell down a sharp drop between fields, and his left leg – the muscle and bone completely disintegrated – came up over his shoulder; but Francis worked it carefully down before continuing to crawl on his way. In his hiding place, he lay through the night, motionless and soundless, till his capture.
When he was found, unable to move through the cold, pain and stiffness, Francis, knowing that both Brits and RUC were on instructions to shoot him on sight, gave his name as Eamonn Laverty and his address as Letterkenny, County Donegal.
Francis was taken to Magherafelt hospital and from there to Musgrave Park military hospital in Belfast, and it was only then that his true identity was revealed. He spent ten months in Musgrave Park where his leg was operated on, reducing his thigh bone by an inch-and-a-half and leaving him dependent on a crutch to walk.
CASTLEREAGH
On Wednesday, January 24th, 1979, Francis was taken from Musgrave Park hospital to Castlereagh interrogation centre where he spent six days before being charged on January 29th. For more than four days Francis refused food and drink, fearing that it might have been drugged to make him talk.
His behaviour in Castlereagh was typical of the fiercely determined and courageous republican Volunteer that he was. His frustrated interrogators later described him as “totally uncooperative”.
Nevertheless, at his trial in Belfast in February 1980, after a year on remand in Crumlin Road jail, Francis was found ‘guilty’ on all charges.
He received a life sentence for killing the SAS soldier, and fourteen years for attempting to kill the other SAS man. He also received fifty-five years on three other charges.
H-BLOCK
In the H-Blocks, Francis immediately went on the protest for political status and, despite the severe disability of his wounded leg, displayed the same courage and determination that had been his hallmark before his capture.
And, just as always wanting to be in the thick of things and wanting to shoulder responsibility for other political prisoners as he had earlier looked after the morale of fellow Volunteers, Francis was one of those to volunteer for the hunger strike which began on October 27th, 1980. He was not one of the first seven hunger strikers selected but was among the thirty men who joined the hunger strike in its closing stages as Sean McKenna’s condition became critical.
That utter selflessness and courage came to its tragic conclusion on Tuesday, May 12th, when Francis died at 5.43 p.m. after fifty-nine days on hunger strike.
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