Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
1st November
Friday 1 November 1968
November 1973 The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) began what was to be a 43 day ceasefire.
Thursday 1 November 1973
Jamie Flanagan replaced Graham Shillington as the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Flanagan was the first Catholic to hold this post.
Tuesday 1 November 1977
Timothy Creasey, then a Lieutenant-General, took over from David House and the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Army in Northern Ireland.
Thursday 1 November 1979
The Irish security forces seized a quantity of arms at Dublin docks which were believed to have originated in the United States of America (USA) and to be bound for the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The shipment totalled 156 weapons and included the M-60 machine gun and were worth an estimated £500,000. Jack Lynch, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), stated that he believed that the conflict in Northern Ireland continued to be “as intractable as at any stage in the last ten years”.
Thursday 1 November 1984
The Report of the unofficial Kilbrandon Committee was published. The Committee was established by the British Irish Association and consisted of politicians and academics. The Report was seen as a response to the New Ireland Forum Report. The Kilbrandon Report recommended that Northern Ireland should be governed by a five member Executive and that one of the members should be an Irish government minister.
Saturday 1 November 1986
James Molyneaux, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), attended an Orange Order rally in Glasgow, Scotland. At the rally the Unionist leaders launched the start of a campaign in Britain against the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).
Sunday 1 November 1987
A ship, the Eksund, was searched off the French coast and was found to be carrying 150 tons of arms bound for the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
[It later emerged that this shipment was one of four consignments of arms which originated in Libya. The other three shipments were believed to have been obtained by the IRA.]
Monday 1 November 1993
John Major, then British Prime Minister, told John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), that the proposals contained in the Hume-Adams Initiative were “not the right way to proceed”. In reply to another member of the House of Commons Major said that to “sit down and talk with Mr Adams and the Provisional IRA … would turn my stomach”. [It was revealed on 28 November 1993 that the British government had a channel of communication with the Republican movement for three years and had been in regular contact since February.]
Tuesday 1 November 1994
Bill Clinton, then President of the United States of America (USA), announced that the US government would increase its contribution to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) from $20 million to $30 million per year over the next two years. Clinton also announced that he intended to call a conference on trade and investment in Ireland to be held in Philadelphia in the spring of 1995.
Wednesday 1 November 1995
David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), had a meeting with Bill Clinton, then President of the United States of America (USA), in Washington. Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), said that the talks between SF and the British government had failed.
Monday 1 November 1999
Ed Moloney, then Northern editor of the Sunday Tribune (a Dublin based newspaper), was named Journalist of the Year in the annual ESB National Media Awards for “defending the highest journalistic standards”. Moloney had won a long-running legal battle against handing over interview notes to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Wednesday 1 November 2000
Mark Quail (26), a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), was shot dead in front of his girlfriend at their flat in Ballyronan Park, Rathcoole, in north Belfast. The shooting was believed to have been carried out by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in retaliation for the killing on Tuesday of the Loyalist politician Tommy English by the rival UVF. The killing was part of a feud between the UDA and the UVF and brought to seven the number of men killed since August.
Thursday 1 November 2001
Loyalist paramilitaries carried out a ‘punishment’ beating attack on a man in Bangor, County Down, at approximately 10.35pm (2235GMT). The man was seriously injured in the attack. British Army technical officers were called to deal with a “crude explosive device” that had initially been left in a community centre in north Belfast. Children had moved the device to Roseleigh Street before their parents raised the alarm.
[It is believed that Loyalists left the device.]
Pauline Armitage, then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), announced that she would not be voting for her party leader David Trimble to be re-elected as First Minister on Friday 2 November 2001. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said that John Reid, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, should call fresh Assembly elections if David Trimble, then leader of the UUP, does not get re-elected as First Minister. David Trimble, then leader of the UUP, together with two UUP colleagues, joined with members of the ‘Loyalist Commission’ to hold a joint meeting with Jane Kennedy, then Security Minister at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).
[The Loyalist Commission is comprised of representatives of three Loyalist paramilitary groups – the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), and the Red Hand Commando (RHC) – and Protestant church and community representatives from north Belfast. Members of the UUP help set up the new group.]
The meeting was to discuss the situation in Glenbryn, Ardoyne, north Belfast, where Loyalist residents are blockading the Holy Cross Girls’ Primary School.
[To date this year Loyalist paramilitaries have carried out five sectarian murders and over 200 pipe-bomb attacks.]
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Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles
Today is the anniversary of the death of the following people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die
– Thomas Campbell
To the innocent on the list – Your memory will live forever
– To the Paramilitaries –
There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for.
5 People lost their lives on the 1st November between 1971 – 2000
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01 November 1971
Stanley Corry, (28)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while investigating burglary, Avoca Shopping Centre, Andersonstown, Belfast.
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01 November 1971
William Russell, (31)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while investigating burglary, Avoca Shopping Centre, Andersonstown, Belfast.
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01 November 1973
Daniel Carson, (28)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Shot as he left his workplace, Dayton Street, Shankill, Belfast.
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01 November 1973
Francis McNelis, (65)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Killed when car bomb exploded outside Avenue Bar, Union Street, Belfast. He was a passer-by at the time of the incident.
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01 November 2000
Mark Quail, (26)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Shot at his home, Ballyronan Park, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey, County Antrim. Ulster Defence Association (UDA) / Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) feud.
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