Ray Smallwoods
Raymond "Ray" Smallwoods (c. 1949[1] – 11 July 1994) was a Northern Ireland politician and sometime leader of the Ulster Democratic Party. A leading member of John McMichael's South Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Smallwoods later served as a leading adviser to the UDA's Inner Council. He was killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) outside his Lisburn home.
Ulster Defence Association
Smallwoods was a native of
On 16 January 1981, Smallwoods participated in an attack on the
Inner Council
During his time in prison, Smallwoods, who was described by other inmates as a deep-thinking introvert who struggled with being apart from his family for so long, spent a long time contemplating the UDA's weaknesses and considering other strategies, including political ones.[8] Following his release from prison in 1990, Smallwoods found the UDA to be greatly changed, with his ally McMichael dead and Andy Tyrie removed as leader and replaced by an Inner Council. Smallwoods was promptly attached to this body as an adviser and played a leading role in shaping UDA strategy over the next few years as a result.[9] At the time, Smallwoods was still advocating continued armed struggle by the UDA, arguing that their role was to ensure that the British government did not agree to a united Ireland, and was advising in the Inner Council in favour of the UDA's ongoing bombing campaign.[10] He also argued that the IRA's structure had changed to become subordinate to Sinn Féin and, as such, advocated a strategy of targeting Sinn Féin members, who were more vulnerable to assassination. Smallwoods' strategy was influenced by the "shopping list" idea of John McMichael.[11] Amongst those to be killed as a result of this strategy were Sinn Féin activists Tommy Casey,[12] Councillor Eddie Fullerton[13] and Thomas Donaghy,[14] as well as Robert Shaw, the father of an SF worker but not himself a member.[15]
During early 1992, Smallwoods, and others close to him in the Inner Council, held a series of meetings with
Nonetheless, Magee remained in regular contact with Smallwoods, whom he believed to be one of the main moderates on the Inner Council.
Political involvement
As well as his role with the Inner Council, Smallwoods was also made the public spokesman for the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) following his release from prison.[21] He became party chairman in the early 1990s and around this time also became liaison officer for the UDA to the Combined Loyalist Military Command.[22] During the early 1990s, Smallwoods was in regular contact with the Progressive Unionist Party's Gusty Spence and took part in the so-called "kitchen cabinets" held in Spence's home in which leading loyalist politicians and paramilitaries met to discuss possible strategies for peace.[23]
Smallwoods was noted for his strong working class loyalist approach to Northern Irish politics, which was distinct from the more middle class
Death
As UDP chair, Smallwoods became a prominent figure as the UDA moved towards a ceasefire and emerged as an articulate voice of loyalist politics.[25] Smallwoods, however, was not to see these developments as he was killed by the IRA in Lisburn on 11 July 1994.[26] The attack, which occurred in the garden of his house on Lisburn's Donard Drive, was witnessed by his wife Linda.[5][27][28]
Smallwoods' killing was one of a series of attacks by the IRA during the middle of 1994 in which top loyalists and other opponents, such as Martin Cahill, were targeted before the movement went on ceasefire.[29] Smallwoods' killing, as well as the killings of Joe Bratty and Raymond Elder twenty days later, were claimed at the time to be in revenge for the Loughinisland massacre.[30] The attack was condemned by his Progressive Unionist colleague David Ervine as a "totally cynical exercise" given Smallwoods' work towards peace.[18] For their part, the IRA stated that Smallwoods had actually been involved in directing UDA terror.[31] For the UDA, Smallwoods was a double loss as he was both an important director of their campaign of violence and also, increasingly, a moderating influence, who was seeking to move the UDA away from violence.[32] His funeral was held on 14 July, where Reynolds and Reid were amongst the mourners[32] whilst his pallbearers included Democratic Unionist Party politicians Peter Robinson and Sammy Wilson.[33]
The loyalists decided not to retaliate for Smallwoods' assassination and instead, on 15 July, released a statement that had been drafted by Smallwoods shortly before his murder in which the CLMC said it would go on ceasefire if the IRA did so.[34] He was succeeded as leader of the UDP by Gary McMichael, the son of John McMichael.[35]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Peter Taylor, Loyalists, London: Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 168
- ^ a b c H. McDonald & J. Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004, pp. 116–118
- ^ Ian S. Wood, Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, p. 119
- ^ Gary McMichael, Ulster Voice: In Search of Common Ground in Northern Ireland, Niwot Colorado: Roberts Rinehart, 1999, pp. 56–57
- ^ a b David Lister & Hugh Jordan, Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and 'C' Company, Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2004, p. 221
- ^ Murray, Raymond (1990). The SAS in Ireland. Mercier Press. p.263
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 118
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 162
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 161–162
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 164–166
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 174–175
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 186
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 192
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 200
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 240
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 229–230
- ^ a b McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 230
- ^ a b Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald, UVF, Dublin: Poolbeg, 1997, p. 312
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 231
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 257
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 173–174
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 189–190
- ^ a b Roy Garland, Gusty Spence, Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2001, p. 279
- ^ a b Wood, Crimes of Loyalty, p. 188
- ^ Lister & Jordan, Mad Dog, p. 222
- ^ A Draft Chronology of the Conflict – 1994
- ^ McMichael, Ulster Voice, p. 56
- ^ David McKittrick et al, Lost Lives, Mainstream Publishing, 2008, p. 1369
- ^ Brian Feeney, Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years, Dublin: O'Brien Press, 2002, pp. 406–407
- ^ Taylor, Loyalists, p. 231
- ^ Cusack & McDonald, UVF, p. 313
- ^ a b McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 268
- ^ Sydney Elliott & William D. Flackes, Conflict in Northern Ireland: An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 1999, p. 226
- ^ Brendan O'Brien, The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin, 1985 to Today, Syracuse University Press, 1993, p. 314
- ^ Wood, Crimes of Loyalty, p. 189