Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde
Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde | |
---|---|
Born | Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland | 29 August 1957
Died | 2 December 1984 Kesh, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland | (aged 27)
Allegiance | Provisional Irish Republican Army |
Years of service | – 1984 |
Battles/wars | The Troubles |
Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde (Irish: [mˠək ˈɟɪl̪ˠə ˈvʲɾʲiːdʲə] 29 August 1957 – 2 December 1984), English Tony or Anthony MacBride (also misspelled McBride), was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer from Desertmartin, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.[1] He was shot dead by the British Army in 1984 whilst engaged in an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary.[2][3]
Background
Mac Giolla Bhrighde was the eldest son of Frank and Nora MacBride.[1] He had two sisters, Marie and Patricia and three brothers, Damian, Lughaidh and Oistín.
The MacBride family moved from their South Londonderry home to the Knock Road,
The MacBride family later moved to Killowen Street, which is located in a predominantly loyalist area of east Belfast. The family home was subjected to a number of attacks from loyalists. The attacks came in the form of window breaking and an attempted bombing but culminated in 1972 with the shooting of Mac Giolla Bhrighde and his father Frank.[1]
In May 1972, two loyalist gunmen called to the MacBride family's door and Nora MacBride, who was carrying a baby at the time, went to answer the door. The men duped Mrs. MacBride into opening the door by stating that they were looking for Frank, a building contractor, and were seeking work. When the door was opened the gunmen then saw Frank coming down the narrow hallway to see who was at the door. They opened fire shooting Frank in the shoulder, hand and thighs, then Antoine came out from a side room to protect his father and was shot in the leg. Frank MacBride was hit by 12 bullets and never recovered from the attack, dying 17 months later.[4][5][6]
Irish Army
Immediately after the shooting the family moved to Newtownards, County Down, and in the mid-1970s Mac Giolla Bhrighde left Northern Ireland to join the Irish Army in the Republic of Ireland. The McBride family then moved again, this time returning to their native County Londonderry. Mac Giolla Bhrighde served in the Irish Army for less than a year before being court-martialed for desertion and was dishonourably discharged.[6]
Paramilitary activities
After dismissal from the Irish Army, Mac Giolla Bhrighde joined the South Derry Brigade of the IRA, and was active in rural areas of County Londonderry. In 1979 he was stopped by Royal Ulster Constabulary officers near Magherafelt while in possession of a rifle, and was detained at Strabane police station, being subsequently imprisoned for three years.[6]
He was noted for his hard line militarism in the early 1980s, and supported a strategy of forming full-time IRA guerrilla units or flying columns based in the Republic, which would carry out four or five large-scale attacks across the border into Northern Ireland a year, retreating back across the border into the Republic of Ireland after each attack, to deny British Forces the chance for fully engaging them. This strategy was espoused by the militant
Norwegian link
After his release from prison Mac Giolla Bhrighde, who had made a number of friends and contacts in
Kesh ambush and death
After returning from a trip to Norway, in the early hours of Sunday morning on 2 December 1984 Mac Giolla Bhrighde and
Conflicting accounts of his death
According to the republican sources, when he approached the car two
The British Army officially listed Slater as a member of the Parachute Regiment, however, an obituary appeared in the SAS magazine, Mars & Minerva, stating that Slater was a member of 7 Troop (Free Fall) 'B' Squadron of the SAS.[13]
Memorial
In 2002 a controversy occurred when a memorial to Mac Giolla Bhrighde, Fleming and
Legacy
The Republican Sinn Féin party branch in Glenade, County Leitrim is known as the Kieran Fleming/Tony McBride Cumann after Kieran Fleming and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde.[17]
See also
- The Troubles in Kesh
References
- ^ ISBN 0-9542946-0-2.
- ^ CAIN. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ Tony Geraghty (26 February 2000). "She said too much". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2007. [dead link]
- ^ Shane Mac Thomáis (2 December 2004). "Four Derry Volunteers killed in action – Remembering the Past". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ Impartial Reporter. 21 March 2002. Archived from the originalon 28 September 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0-85342-991-X.
- ISBN 0-14-101041-X.
- ISBN 0-00-653155-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-552-14276-X.
- ISBN 0-552-14582-3.
- ISBN 0-316-64303-3.
- ^ The SAS in Ireland, p. 276.
- ^ Mars & Minerva, Special Air Service Regimental Journal Magazine, Issue 7, Volume 2 1995
- ^ Aileen McGurk (22 July 2002). "Northern News". The Irish Emigrant. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
- ^ Rosie Cowan (20 July 2002). "Republicans make conciliatory move over IRA memorial". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
- ^ "Family's relief at plans to remove IRA monument". Impartial Reporter. 25 July 2002. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
- ^ "Letitia Branley". SAOIRSE Irish Freedom. October 1999. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2007.