1971 Scottish soldiers' killings

The 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings took place in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. On 10 March 1971, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot dead three off-duty British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers. The soldiers were from Scotland and two were teenage brothers. They were lured from a pub in Belfast where they had been drinking, driven to a remote location and shot by the roadside. Three British soldiers had been killed before this, but all had been killed during rioting.

1971 Scottish soldiers' murders
Part of The Troubles
Squire's Hill, north Belfast, the area of the murders
LocationWhite Brae, North Belfast, Northern Ireland
Coordinates54°38′6.46″N 5°59′35.9″W
Date10 March 1971
TargetBritish Army personnel
Attack type
Shooting
Deaths3
PerpetratorsProvisional IRA

The deaths led to public mourning and protests against the IRA. Pressure to act spurred a political crisis for the Northern Ireland Government, which led to the resignation of James Chichester-Clark as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. The British Army raised the minimum age needed to serve in Northern Ireland to 18 in response to this incident. In 2010, a memorial was dedicated to the three soldiers near the site of their deaths.

Three IRA members were later named as being responsible, one of whom was a former British soldier.

Background

British troops had been deployed to Northern Ireland in 1969 as part of Operation Banner, in response to the growing conflict following 1969 Northern Ireland riots. The British Army had become involved in the disturbances culminating in the Falls Curfew of July 1970.[1][2] The Provisional Irish Republican Army was formed in December 1969 after a split in the IRA. After the split, the Provisional IRA planned for an "all-out offensive action against the British occupation".[3] Provisional IRA Chief of Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin decided they would "escalate, escalate and escalate" until the British agreed to withdraw.[4] The IRA Army Council sanctioned offensive operations against the British Army at the beginning of 1971. Robert Curtis was the first British soldier shot and killed by the Provisional IRA, on 6 February 1971,[5][6] and two more soldiers were killed over the following month during rioting.[7]

Killings

Brothers John and Joseph McCaig from Ayr and Dougald McCaughey from Glasgow in Scotland (ages 17, 18 and 23) were privates serving with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, stationed at Girdwood Barracks, beside Crumlin Road Prison in north Belfast.[8] On 10 March 1971, the three soldiers had been granted an afternoon pass which allowed them to leave their base. McCaughey's younger brother was serving in the same unit but was on duty and unable to join them. The three soldiers were off-duty, unarmed and in civilian clothes. They were drinking in "Mooney's", a Belfast city centre pub in Cornmarket, one of the safer areas of the city for soldiers at this stage of the conflict. One report said that the three soldiers were lured into a car by republican women who promised them a party.[7] The three were taken to the White Brae, Squire's Hill, off the Ligoniel Road in north Belfast. There they were shot dead by Provisional IRA members; two of them in the back of the head and the other in the chest.[9][10]

John McCaig, Dougald McCaughey, and Joseph McCaig, the three killed Scottish soldiers

The inquest in August 1971 was not able to establish the exact sequence of events. It was established that all three were shot at very close range, probably in a line. All had been drinking, and Joseph was found to be severely intoxicated. The jury was told that the three were probably shot whilst relieving themselves beside the road. The coroner commented: "You may think that this was not only murder, but one of the vilest crimes ever heard of in living memory".[7] The bodies were heaped on top of each other with two beer glasses lying nearby.[11] After failing to return to their barracks by 18:30 the three were listed as AWOL. Their bodies were found by children at 21:30.[5][7][10]

Aftermath

The day after the killings, British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling made a statement in the House of Commons in which he informed the house that security arrangements for off-duty soldiers were being reviewed and suggested that the aim of the killers was to provoke the security forces into reprisals. He said:

The battle now joined against the terrorists will be fought with the utmost vigour and determination. It is a battle against a small minority of armed and ruthless men whose strength lies not so much in their numbers as in their wickedness.[12]

Belfast Cenotaph, focus of the public mourning in Belfast

The funerals were held in Scotland with John and Joseph McCaig buried together in Ayr.[10] Their older brother, serving with the Royal Marines in Singapore, was flown home for the service. That day, 20,000 people attended rallies in Belfast and Carrickfergus. In Belfast, the cenotaph at City Hall was the focus of the mourning with 10,000 people attending, including workers from factories in a gathering that stopped the traffic in the city centre. Many wept openly. The Reverend Ian Paisley led the mourners in laying dozens of wreaths. The crowd observed a two-minute silence and sang a hymn and the British national anthem.[7]

Days later, in retaliation, a bomb planted by loyalists destroyed Squire's Hill Tavern at Ligoniel near where the bodies of the soldiers had been found. The owner denied rumours the soldiers had been drinking in the pub prior to their deaths.[13]

The deaths led to a crisis for the Government of Northern Ireland with calls for increased security measures. Ian Paisley demanded the Government's resignation, saying "We can no longer tolerate your weakness. You must go before the whole land is deluged with the blood of innocent men and women."[11] On 12 March, 4,000 loyalist shipyard workers took to the streets of Belfast to demand internment.[14] The Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark flew to London to request more troops, and when the numbers were less than what he wanted, he resigned.[15] On 23 March, Brian Faulkner was elected Ulster Unionist Party leader and was appointed Prime Minister the same day.[16]

The British Army raised the minimum age for serving in Northern Ireland to 18 in response to outrage over the death of 17-year-old McCaig.[17][18]

Perpetrators

No one has been convicted of the killings. The Daily Mirror reported in November 2007 that three Provisional IRA members were responsible for the deaths: Martin Meehan (died 2007), who was questioned over the killings but never charged; Patrick McAdorey, who was suspected of killing another soldier in August 1971, hours before he himself was killed in a gun battle;[19] and a third unnamed man. The case of the three soldiers is one of those being re-examined by the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Historical Enquiries Team.[20]

In 2020, a BBC Spotlight investigation made allegations that Paddy O'Kane (died 2009) was one of those involved in the killings. He had been a member of the Parachute Regiment from 1957 to 1964. O'Kane had been drinking with the soldiers before they were shot, and afterwards he spoke openly about his role in the killings.[21]

Memorial

The mother of the two McCaig brothers visited the site of their deaths in May 1972. She expressed a wish to leave a monument to her sons but was advised that it might well be damaged by vandals. She later said that she was touched by the wreaths and flowers that had been left at the spot.[7]

In 2010 the Royal British Legion Oldpark/Cavehill branch in Belfast raised money from the sale of badges to erect a memorial to the men.[22] On 28 May 2010, a memorial stone was placed at the site of the killings on Squire's Hill by the families and former regimental colleagues of the three soldiers. The next day a 15-foot obelisk incorporating carved images of the deceased was dedicated to the soldiers at nearby Ballysillan Avenue. A service of remembrance with regimental drums and colours was then held at Ballysillan leisure centre attended by around 1000 people including Lord Mayor of Belfast Naomi Long and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds.[23][24]

The memorial at White Brae, Ligoniel, that marks the place of the killings has been vandalised several times since 2011.[25][26]

See also

References
  1. English, Richard (2004). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. London: Pan Macmillan. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-330-49388-8. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  2. "A Chronology of the Conflict – July 1970". CAIN Web Service. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  3. MacStiofáin, Seán (1979). Memoirs of a Revolutionary. Daly City: Free Ireland Book Club. p. 146.
  4. O'Brien, Brendan (1995). The Long War – The IRA and Sinn Féin. Dublin: O'Brien Press. p. 166. ISBN 0-86278-359-3.
  5. English, Richard (2004). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. London: Pan Macmillan. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-330-49388-8. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  6. Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 89–91. ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.
  7. Lost Lives. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. 2008. pp. 70–72. ISBN 978-1-84018-504-1.
  8. "Malcolm Sutton An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland". CAIN Web Service. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  9. Geraghty, Tony (2000). The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 40. ISBN 0-8018-6456-9. Retrieved 6 March 2011. royal highland fusiliers belfast 1971.
  10. Maggie Barry (9 March 2007). "'I told them to go out and pull a bird...but the girls led them to killers". Daily Mirror. London. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  11. "Northern Ireland: An Appalling Crime". Time Magazine. US. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  12. "BRITISH SOLDIERS, NORTHERN IRELAND (MURDER) HC Deb 11 March 1971 vol 813 cc597-605". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 11 March 1971. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  13. Belfast Telegraph, 15 March 1971.
  14. Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). The troubles: Ireland's ordeal, 1966–1996, and the search for peace. New York City: Palgrave. p. 143. ISBN 0-312-29418-2. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  15. White, Robert William (2006). Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: the life and politics of an Irish revolutionary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 166. ISBN 0-312-29418-2. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  16. Walker, Graham (2004). A history of the Ulster Unionist Party. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-7190-6108-3.
  17. "Extracts from 'Brits Speak Out', compiled by John Lindsay (1998)". CAIN Web Service. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  18. "Defence Estimate. 1971–72 (Army), Vote A House of Commons Debate 11 March 1971 vol 813 cc671-742". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 11 March 1971. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  19. Lost Lives. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. 2008. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-1-84018-504-1.
  20. "Cold Case Cops Probing 'Honeytrap Outrage". Sunday Life. Belfast. 1 August 2006. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  21. "Para turned IRA man Paddy O'Kane 'central to murders'". BBC News. 25 February 2020. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  22. "Memorial To Murdered Scottish Soldiers Sought". Northern Ireland: 4NI.co.uk. 30 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  23. "Poignant tribute to murdered soldiers". The Newsletter. Northern Ireland. 30 May 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  24. "Three Scottish Soldiers Memorial". CAIN Web Service. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  25. "Memorial to murdered Scottish soldiers 'vandalised for fifth time'". BBC. 12 December 2012. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  26. "Memorial to three Scottish soldiers attacked in north Belfast". BBC. 9 June 2014. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
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