Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
14th January
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Wednesday 14 January 1970
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers began to patrol the Falls Road area of Belfast for the first time since August 1969
Sunday 14 January 1973
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed in Derry by a booby-trap bomb attached to their car by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
A third RUC officer was killed in a land mine attack near Cappagh, County Tyrone.
Monday 14 January 1974
Sunningdale; Ulster Workers’ Council Strike
Wednesday 14 February 1979
There was a meeting between Roy Mason, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and M. O’Kennedy, then Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs in London. [ Political developments. ]
Tuesday 14 January 1986
Tom King, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said that the forthcoming Westminster by-elections, brought about in protest to the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA), would not change the government’s support for the Agreement.
Monday 14 January 1991
Tom King, then Secretary of State for Defence, paid a visit to Northern Ireland.
Friday 14 January 1994
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), stated in an Irish Times (a Dublin based newspaper) article that he could not move without clarification of the Downing Street Declaration (DSD).
John Major, then British Prime Minister, told John Hume, then leader of the SDLP, that the DSD spoke for itself.
Sunday 14 January 1996
Sinn Féin (SF) again stated that it thought the idea of a new elected assembly at Stormont was a “non-runner”.
Tuesday 14 January 1997
The Lord Chancellor’s office was criticised for refusing to answer a parliamentary question about whether or not Lord Carswell, then Northern Ireland Chief Justice, was a member of the Orange Order or the Free Masons.
Nora Owen, then Justice Minister in the Republic of Ireland, ordered that James Corry should be released from custody.
[Corry had been arrested following an extradition request by a court in Germany on matters related to the bombing at the British Army barracks in Osnabreuck, Germany, on 28 June 1996.]
Wednesday 14 January 1998
A uniformed Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer was shot in the chest at close range by a female member of the British Army who was travelling in plain clothes in an unmarked vehicle.
At approximately 1.15am an RUC patrol spotted two cars being driven in a suspicious manner in a Catholic area of north Belfast. The two cars drove off and the RUC patrol gave chase. One of the cars crashed at the junction of Crumlin Road and Antrim Road. As the RUC officer approached the vehicle he was shot and seriously injured.
Sinn Féin (SF) described the incident as sinister.
The funeral took place in Belfast of Terence (Terry) Enwright (28), a Catholic civilian, who was shot dead by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Thousands of people of different ages and different religious backgrounds stood along the funeral route.
Thursday 14 January 1999
Shots were fired at an Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in west Belfast. Four men were arrested in a follow-up operation. The attack was believed to have been carried out by the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA).
Three Russian-manufactured heavy machine guns were found on farmland at Blackstaff, five miles from Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, and were believed to be part of the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) arsenal.
Monday 14 January 2002
Increased security measures were put in place in north Belfast by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the British Army (BA).
The move followed death threats made by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) against Catholic teachers, and other Catholic employees of all schools, which was made on Friday 11 January 2002. The threat was extended to include Catholic postal workers following the killing of Danny McColgan on 12 January 2002.
Frank Bunting, then northern Secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) and Chairman of the Teachers’ Council, was interviewed on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio Ulster and called for the immediate lifting of the threats.
The PSNI arrested two men in connection with the killing of McColgan (12 January 2002).
[The two were released without charge on Tuesday 15 January 2002.]
Martin McGuinness (SF), then Education Minister, held a meeting with representatives of teaching unions and education officials to discuss what he called the “unacceptable” threat against Catholic teachers and school staff. David Cargo, then Chief Executive of the Belfast Education and Library Board, and Donal Flanagan, then Chief Executive of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, also attended the meeting. David Trimble (UUP), then First Minister, and Mark Durkan (SDLP), then Deputy First Minister, called for a lifting of the threats against Catholic teachers and Catholic postal workers.
See Deaths & Events 12th January for more details
The two ministers described the killing of Daniel McColgan as horrific and said it had disgusted all right-thinking people. During a debate at the Northern Ireland Assembly a minute’s silence was observed by then Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Postal deliveries throughout Northern Ireland were suspended as a mark of respect to McColgan. Postal workers in Derry took part in a silent march into the city centre to protest at the killing. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), called for a general half-day stoppage on Friday 18 January 2002 in protest at continuing attacks on workers. It also asked workers to observe a two-minute silence at midday on Tuesday 15 January 2002 to coincide with McColgan’s funeral. The union said the silence would be in memory of all workers and security force members murdered during the past 30 years.
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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.
10 People lost their lives on the 14th January between 1973 – 1993
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14 January 1973
Henry Sandford, (34)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed in land mine attack on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol, Aghnagar, near Ballygawley, County Tyrone.
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14 January 1973
David Dorsett, (37)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed by booby trap bomb attached to Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol car, Harbour Square, Derry.
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14 January 1973
Mervyn Wilson, (23)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed by booby trap bomb attached to Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol car, Harbour Square, Derry
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14 January 1974
Andrew Jordan, (41)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Found shot in field, Carrowdore, near Newtownards, County Down
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14 January 1976
Samuel Millar, (71)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Beaten to death at his farm, off Derrynoid Road, near Draperstown, County Derry. His body found, on information supplied to the British authorities, in disused quarry, Carmean, near Moneymore, County Derry, on 21 September 1977. He was a witness to a robbery.
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14 January 1977
James Greer, (27)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb attached to his car outside his parents’ home, Innishrush, near Portglenone, County Derry.
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14 January 1981
Lindsay McDougall, (36)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Died six days after being shot while on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) foot patrol, Great Victoria Street, Belfast
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14 January 1986
Leo Scullion, (55)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Nightwatchman. Found shot at his workplace, Working Men’s Club, Ligoniel, Belfast
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14 January 1992
David Boyd, (41)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot outside his home, Coronation Park, Dundonald, Belfast. Alleged informer.
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14 January 1993
Anthony Butler, (40)
Catholic
Status: ex-Irish Republican Army (xIRA),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Former republican prisoner. Shot while in friend’s home, Agra Street, Ballynafeigh, Belfast.
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Belfast Child 