Jame Brown | Belfast Child

Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles

22^nd September

Monday 22 September 1975

There was a series of bomb attacks on towns across Northern Ireland. [The Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility for some of the attacks thus putting further strain on the truce. Many commentators considered that the truce was effectively over by this time.]

Friday 22 September 1978

Roy Mason, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Airey Neave, then Conservative Party spokesperson on Northern Ireland, issued statements rebuffing call in Britain for a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.

Monday 24 September 1984

Oliver Napier resigned as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI). His successor was John Cushnahan

Friday 22 September 1989 Deal Bombing

See Deal Bombing

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a bomb in Deal Barracks (‘The Depot’), Kent, England, which killed ten musicans who were part of the staff band of the Royal Marines .

[Another Royal Marines musican died on 18 October 1989 from wounds received in the bombing.] The explosion occured at 8.22am in the concert hall on Canada Road which formed part of the Royal Marines’ School of Music.

Sunday 22 September 1991

About 50 Republican prisoners rioted in Crumlin Road Jail, Belfast, and tried to barricade off part of the prison. [The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said that the disturbances by Republican and Loyalist prisoners was part of a deliberate campaign to force the prison authorities to introduce segregation.]

Wednesday 22 September 1993

David Trimble, then a Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP, criticised the Hume-Adams Initiative as: “misconceived and bound to fail”.

Thursday 22 September 1994

A man (18) had a leg broken during a paramilitary ‘punishment’ attack in Derry.

[It was thought that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was responsible for beating the man.]

John Major, then British Prime Minister, who was on a visit to Pretoria, said that there would be no amnesty for paramilitary prisoners. Patrick Mayhew, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the opening of a further six cross-border roads. Semtex explosives together with detonators were found following a search at Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire, England. Al Gore, then United States Vice-President, had a meeting with a delegation of Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) members in Washington.

Friday 22 September 1995

Loyalists clashed with Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers following a decision to reroute an Orange Order parade in Downpatrick, County Down. David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), proposed the establishment of a new Northern Ireland assembly. The proposal was made to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC).

Tuesday 22 September 1998

David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), travelled to Dublin for a meeting with Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister). The main item on the agenda was the issue of the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. There was growing tension in recent days over this issue. Trimble supported a call by Ahern for the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to set out a timetable for decommissioning. Later Trimble said that he wanted to know when the IRA would decommission and stated: “we want to see it begin in a credible way”.

Wednesday 22 September 1999

David Wright had a meeting with Adam Ingram, then Security Minister at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO). Wright discussed concerns over the circumstances of the shooting dead of his son Billy Wright in the Maze prison on 27 December 1997.

Friday 22 September 2000

Dissident Republican paramilitaries fired an ‘anti-tank rocket’ at the headquarters of MI6, the British intelligence agency, in London. The attack caused damage to the building but no injuries. The “real” Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible.

Saturday 22 September 2001

Assembly Restored John Reid, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, restored devolved powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly at midnight. There were sectarian clashes in the Tiger’s Bay / North Queen Street area of Belfast. During the disturbances two blast bombs were thrown. There were no injuries.

There was a meeting of the party officers of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Following the meeting David Trimble, then leader of the UUP, said that his party would table a motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly to exclude Sinn Féin (SF) ministers from the Executive. Trimble also announced that if the motion failed the UUP would withdraw its ministers from the Executive.

[This move would effectively bring down the power-sharing government. The UUP secured enough signatures to table the motion on 2 October 2001.]

Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles

Today is the anniversary of the follow people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland

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.

17 People lost their lives on the 22nd September between 1972 – 1989

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22 September 1972
William Matthews, (47)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Found stabbed to death, beside Ballygomartin River, off Glencairn Road, Glencairn, Belfast.

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22 September 1972

Stewart Gardiner, (23) nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Drummuckavall, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh.

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22 September 1973
Jame Brown, (26)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Found shot, Foyle Road, Derry. Alleged informer.

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22 September 1974

William McCully, (58)

Protestant
Status: ex-Prison Officer (xPO),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot at his home, Hillmount Gardens, Finaghy, Belfast.

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22 September 1975

Margaret Hale, (33)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Died two weeks after being injured during gun and bomb attack on McCann’s Bar, Ballyhagan, near Loughgall, County Armagh. She was wounded on 4 September 1975

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22 September 1985
Martin Patten, (18) nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot while returning to Ebrington British Army (BA) base, walking along Limavady Road, Waterside, Derry.

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22 September 1989