Bayardo Bar attack facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bayardo Bar attack |
|
|---|---|
| Part of The Troubles | |
Memorial to the victims of the attack on the site of the Bayardo Bar
|
|
| Location | Bayardo Bar Aberdeen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Coordinates | 54°36′14″N 5°56′53″W / 54.604008°N 5.948119°W |
| Date | 13 August 1975 |
|
Attack type
|
shooting, bombing |
| Deaths | 5 (4 Protestant civilians, 1 Ulster Volunteer Force member) |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
50+ |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade |
The Bayardo Bar attack happened on 13 August 1975 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A group from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacked a pub on Aberdeen Street. This area, called Shankill, was known for its loyalist community. The IRA said they targeted the pub because members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) often went there. Four ordinary people and one UVF member were killed. More than fifty people were hurt.
Journalists Alan Murray and Peter Taylor said this attack was revenge. It happened after the Miami Showband massacre. This was when members of a popular band were killed by the UVF about two weeks earlier.
Brendan McFarlane, Peter "Skeet" Hamilton, and Seamus Clarke were IRA members. They were found guilty of the Bayardo attack and sent to prison for life.
Contents
What Was Happening Before?
By 1975, the conflict in Northern Ireland, known as "the Troubles", had been going on for over six years. On 10 February 1975, the Provisional IRA and the British government agreed to a ceasefire. They started talking to each other. The IRA promised to stop attacking British security forces. In return, the security forces mostly stopped their raids.
However, not everyone agreed with this truce. Some IRA members didn't want to stop fighting. Some British commanders also didn't like stopping their operations against the IRA. During this time, the security forces gathered more information about the IRA.
Attacks between different groups increased during the ceasefire. This truce officially lasted until early 1976. Ulster loyalists were worried the British government might abandon them. They feared being forced into a united Ireland. So, they attacked Irish Catholics and nationalists more often. They hoped this would make the IRA fight back and end the truce.
The IRA was told not to fight the security forces. Because of this, some IRA units focused on fighting loyalists instead. The break from regular fighting also caused some problems within the IRA. Some members started carrying out revenge attacks, sometimes without permission from their leaders.
In the early hours of 31 July 1975, the popular Miami Showband was driving back to Dublin. They had just finished a concert. Near Newry, they were stopped by Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gunmen. These gunmen were dressed in British Army uniforms. Some of them were also soldiers from the Ulster Defence Regiment.
The gunmen told the band members to stand facing a ditch. While one gunman took their names, two others hid a bomb under the driver's seat of their minibus. But the bomb went off too early. The two men hiding it were killed instantly. The remaining gunmen then shot the five band members. Three band members died, and two were injured. Journalists Peter Taylor and Alan Murray said the Bayardo attack was revenge for this terrible event.
The Attack on the Bayardo Bar
The Bayardo Bar was very busy on Wednesday, 13 August 1975. It was full of people of all ages. Just before closing time, a stolen green Audi car stopped outside. Inside were three IRA members from the Belfast Brigade. The car was driven by their leader, Brendan "Bik" McFarlane. He was 24 years old.
Two other IRA members, Seamus Clarke and Peter "Skeet" Hamilton, got out. They walked towards the pub's side entrance. One of them immediately started shooting with an Armalite rifle. He instantly killed William Gracey (63), the doorman, and his brother-in-law Samuel Gunning (55). They had been talking outside.
The other IRA member then went inside the pub. People were drinking and singing. At the entrance, he dropped a bag with a ten-pound bomb inside. Both men quickly ran back to the waiting car. Customers panicked and ran to the toilets for safety. The bomb then exploded. It caused a part of the old building to collapse on them.
The bodies of Joanne McDowell (29) and UVF member Hugh Harris (21) were later found under the fallen bricks. Linda Boyle, a seventeen-year-old, was pulled out alive. But she died from her injuries in the hospital on 21 August. More than 50 people were hurt in the attack.
A newspaper, the Belfast Telegraph, later reported something else. As the IRA group drove away, they fired into a crowd of women and children. These people were waiting at a taxi stand. Luckily, no one was killed there. Within 20 minutes of the explosion, the IRA group was caught. Their car was stopped at a police roadblock. The rifle used to kill William Gracey and Samuel Gunning was found in the car. Empty bullet cases and fingerprints of the three IRA men were also found.
The IRA did not say they were responsible at first. However, IRA members later said they attacked the Bayardo because it was a pub where UVF members met. They claimed UVF members planned attacks against nationalists there. Some sources also said the UVF's Belfast leaders often drank in the pub. It was very close to their headquarters.
Revenge Attacks
Loyalists, especially the UVF, responded with more attacks against Catholics. Two days later, a loyalist car bomb exploded on the Falls Road. It went off without warning and hurt 35 people. On 22 August, the UVF attacked McGleenan's Bar in Armagh. This attack was very similar to the Bayardo attack. One gunman shot people while another planted a bomb. The explosion caused the building to fall down. Three Catholic people were killed, and many more were injured. That same night, another bomb destroyed a Catholic-owned pub in Blackwatertown. No one was hurt in that attack.
The IRA, sometimes using the name "Republican Action Force," responded to these loyalist attacks. The months after the Bayardo attack were filled with many revenge attacks from both sides. Some imprisoned republicans, like Gerry Adams and Brendan Hughes, felt very sad about this. Brendan Hughes said that these attacks between groups were "destroying the whole struggle."
Who Was Found Guilty?
In May 1976, Brendan McFarlane, Seamus Clarke, and Peter Hamilton were found guilty. They were tried in a special court without a jury. They were sentenced to life in Maze Prison for the Bayardo murders.
Inside Maze Prison, McFarlane became a leader among the IRA prisoners. In 1983, he led the Maze Prison escape. This was a huge breakout where 38 republican prisoners escaped, including Clarke and Hamilton. McFarlane and Clarke then went into hiding. Hamilton was caught right outside the prison.
McFarlane has never talked about the killings. The IRA leaders never encouraged him to, as the attack was seen as being "purely sectarian" (meaning, against a specific group). However, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams told a journalist that McFarlane "hadn't a single, sectarian bone in his body."
Peter "Skeet" Hamilton passed away from cancer in Dundalk on 25 February 2011. He was 57 years old.
The Bayardo Somme Association has called the Bayardo attack "a forgotten atrocity." This group built a memorial for the victims where the Bayardo Bar used to stand. The large steel monument is part of the original building. It has the names and pictures of the five people who were killed. It also shows photos of the pub from before and after the bombing.
See also
- Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1970-1979)
