Michael Gaughan (Irish republican)
Michael Gaughan | |
---|---|
Provisional IRA | |
Years of service | c. 1969–1974 |
Battles/wars | The Troubles |
Michael Gaughan (5 October 1949 – 3 June 1974 to die while on hunger strike in the 20th century.
Background
Gaughan, the eldest of six children, was born in Ballina, County Mayo, in 1949. Gaughan grew up at Healy Terrace and was educated at St Muredach's College, Ballina, and after finishing his schooling, he emigrated from Ireland to England in search of work.[3][4]
Whilst in
Gaughan was initially imprisoned at
On 31 March 1974, Gaughan and fellow Mayoman Frank Stagg, joined the ongoing hunger strike by future Sinn Féin Member of the Legislative Assembly Gerry Kelly, Paul Holme, Hugh Feeney, sisters Dolours and Marian Price and others to obtain political status and to be transferred to a jail in Ireland.[9]
The prisoners' primary demand was the right to political status – a de facto prisoner of war status – which would result in the remaining demands being met:[2][7][10][11][12]
- The right to wear their own clothes
- A guarantee that they would not be returned to solitary confinement
- The right to educational facilities and not engage in penal labour
- The setting of a reasonable date for a transfer to an Irish prison
On 10 April 1974 Gaughan and Stagg were both transferred to the prison hospital for observation; force-feeding began two weeks later.[13]
Force-feeding and death
British policy at this time was to force feed hunger strikers.[14] According to the National Hunger Strike Commemoration Committee, "six to eight guards would restrain the prisoner and drag him or her by the hair to the top of the bed, where they would stretch the prisoner's neck over the metal rail, force a block between his or her teeth and then pass a feeding tube, which extended down the throat, through a hole in the block."[8]
After visiting Gaughan in jail, his brother John described his condition: "His throat had been badly cut by force feeding and his teeth loosened. His eyes were sunken, his cheeks hollow and his mouth was gaping open. He weighed about six stone."[6]
During his hunger strike, his weight dropped from 160 lb to 84 lb
The cause of his death was disputed. The British government stated that he died of pneumonia; the Gaughan family stated that he died after prison doctors injured him fatally when food lodged in a lung punctured by a force-feeding tube.[2][15][16]
Gaughan's death caused controversy in English medical circles, as some forms of treatment can be classed as assault if given without the express permission of the patient.[7]
The timing of his death came just one week after the British Government had capitulated to the demands of the loyalist Ulster Workers' Council strike.[7] After Gaughan's death, the British government's policy of force-feeding ended, and the remaining hunger strikers were given assurances that they would be repatriated to Irish prisons. However, these promises were reneged on by the British government.[15][17][18]
Funeral
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Ballina_St_Murdack_Cathedral.jpg/220px-Ballina_St_Murdack_Cathedral.jpg)
Gaughan's body was initially removed from London and on Friday, 7 June, and on Saturday, 8 June 1974, over 3,000 mourners lined the streets of Kilburn and marched behind his coffin, which was flanked by an IRA honour guard, to a Requiem Mass held in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[6][19][20]
On Saturday, his body was transported to
Ballina
His coffin was draped in the same
The funeral embarrassed the anti-republican
Final message and commemoration
Michael Gaughan left a final message:
I die proudly for my country and in the hope that my death will be sufficient to obtain the demands of my comrades. Let there be no bitterness on my behalf, but a determination to achieve the New Ireland for which I gladly die. My loyalty and confidence is to the IRA and let those of you who are left carry on the work and finish the fight.[28][6]
His death is referenced in the song Take me Home to Mayo, also known as The Ballad of Michael Gaughan, composed by Seamus Robinson and performed and recorded by many Irish musicians including
There are annual lectures and commemorations in honour of Gaughan, Stagg (who survived in 1974 but died during a 1976 hunger strike) and Sean McNeela (a Ballycroy IRA man who died on hunger strike in Dublin in 1940) at the republican plot in Ballina by both Republican Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin, which includes a march from the Humbert monument in Ballina to Leigue Cemetery. The Republican Sinn Féin cumann in Mayo is named the McNeela-Gaughan-Stagg Cumann.[23][32][33][34][35]
On 12 February 2006, a
References
- ISBN 0-9542946-0-2.
- ^ a b c d e "Waiting for the Explosion". Time. 17 June 1974. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
- ^ "30th Anniversary of death of Michael Gaughan". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0-9542946-0-2p.142
- ISBN 978 0 7165 31425.
- ^ Aengus O Snodaigh. "Take me home to Mayo – 25th anniversary of Michael Gaughan's death". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0-00-653155-5.
- ^ a b TP O'Hara. "History – The Hunger strikes". Irelands OWN. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ McGlynn, Pat (3 June 2015). "The deaths of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
- ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.
- ^ SHANE Mac THOMÁIS. "Michael Gaughan – Remembering the Past". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ "Frank Stagg". A History of Ireland in Song. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ Flynn, Barry, Pawns in the Game,The Collins Press, Cork, 2011, ISBN 9781848891166 pg153
- ^ "JURIST - Forum: Guantanamo and Medical Ethics". 15 June 2006. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006.
- ^ a b "The Granting of Special Category Status, 1972". Lark Spirit. Archived from the original on 2 April 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ Kate McCabe. "No less courage". Critical Moment. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ "Waiting for the Explosion - TIME". 22 December 2008. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008.
- ISBN 0198299079, pg.81
- ^ "work of Raymond Jackson". British Cartoon Archive. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ "Kilburn Funeral". British Cartoon Archive. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ISBN 0-86278-836-6.
- ^ a b John Buckley. "The man with three graves" (PDF). Gwangju News. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ Irelands Own. Archived from the originalon 11 April 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ "Tribute to Jackie Clarke". Saoirse Irish Freedom. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ISBN 978-1-84018-504-1
- ^ SHANE Mac THOMÁIS. "Frank Stagg dies on hunger strike – Remembering the Past". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ Behind Closed Doors: Cabinet Confidential. RTÉ, 2 January 2007
- ^ Flynn pg154
- ^ "Take me home to Mayo (The Ballad of Michael Gaughan)". Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2006.
- ISBN 9781856491037– via Google Books.
- ^ 'Collection of Irish Song Lyrics. Take Me Home To Mayo'. O'Shaughnessy Irish Songs, undated. Retrieved 16 December 2023
- ^ "Gaughan Remembered". An Phoblacht. 22 June 2000. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ^ TINA GAUGHAN FOOTS. "Solidarity From Gaughan Family". Saoirse Irish Freedom. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ^ "Mayo hunger strikers honoured in Ballina". Saoirse Irish Freedom. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ^ "GAUGHAN COMMEMORATION". Western People. 25 August 2004. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ^ "Belfast launch of Hunger Strike events". An Phoblacht. 9 February 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
- ^ "Joe Brolly unveils Ballina mural in memory of IRA hunger striker". Western People. 20 August 2020.