A Chronology of the Conflict - 1971

1971

January 1971

Sunday 10 January 1971
Members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out an early form of 'punishment attack' by tarring and feathering four men who were accused of criminal activities in Catholic areas of Belfast. ['Punishment beatings', and 'punishment shootings' (were people were shot in the knee or elsewhere on the body with intent to wound but not kill) were to become a continuous feature of the conflict in Northern Ireland and were used by both Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups.]

Wednesday 13 January 1971
Riots began in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast.

Friday 15 January 1971
Riots broke out in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

Sunday 17 January 1971
At an Ard Fheis (party conference) in Dublin the Official Sinn Féin ended the 65 year abstentionist policy and agreed that any elected representative could take their seat at the Dáil, Stormont or Westminster parliaments. It was this issue that caused the split between the Official and Provisional movement in Republicanism.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) exploded a bomb at the Daniel O'Connell monument at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

Monday 18 January 1971
James Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, attended a meeting in London with Reginald Maudling, then British Home Secretary.

Wednesday 20 January 1971
It was announced that an independent commissioner would decide on the boundaries of the new district council areas.

Saturday 23 January 1971
There were riots in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.

Monday 25 January 1971
The 170 delegates of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) called for the resignation of James Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister.

Wednesday 27 January 1971
The body of a man who had been shot dead was found in Belfast.

[ NAI Records – January 1971. ]

February 1971

Wednesday 3 February 1971
There were a series of house searches by the British Army (BA) in Catholic areas of Belfast. Serious rioting and gun battles took place during the searches. [The unrest was to continue for a number of days.]

Thursday 4 February 1971
Vernon Erskine-Crum, a Lieutenant-General, became General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Army (BA) in Northern Ireland.
[ Law Order. ]

Saturday 6 February 1971
First Soldier Killed
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot and killed Gunner Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to die during the current conflict.
Bernard Watt (28), a Catholic civilian, was shot and killed by the British Army (BA) during street disturbances in Ardoyne, Belfast.
James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, was shot and killed by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast.
There was serious rioting and gun battles in the early hours of the morning in the Ardoyne, New Lodge Road, and Ballymurphy areas of Belfast.
There was also rioting in Derry and a number of commercial premises in the city centre were damaged.

Monday 8 February 1971
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) exploded a bomb at the statue of Wolf Tone in St Stephen's Green, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

Tuesday 9 February 1971
Five men, two of them British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) engineers, the others construction workers, were killed near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain, County Tyrone in a landmine attack carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). [It was believed that a British Army (BA) mobile patrol, which had been visiting the site, was the intended target.]

Saturday 13 February 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

Monday 15 February 1971
A British soldier died seven days after being mortally wounded in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) attack.

Thursday 25 February 1971
The Housing Executive (Northern Ireland) Act became law. The Act provided for the establishment for a central authority for public sector housing in Northern Ireland and to also oversee the provision of grants for improvement to the private sector.
James Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, held a meeting with William Conway, then Catholic Cardinal of Ireland; the first such meeting between men holding these offices since 1921.

Friday 26 February 1971
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers, Cecil Patterson (45) and Robert Buckley (30), were shot and killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) while on a mobile patrol in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

Sunday 28 February 1971
A British soldier died in Derry as a result of inhaling chemicals from fire extinguisers that were used to put out a fire inside the vehicle he was travelling in. The vehicle had been attacked with petrol bombs.

[ NAI Records – February 1971. ]

March 1971

Tuesday 2 March 1971
Harry Tuzo, then a Lieutenant-General, replaced Vernon Erskine-Crum who had been appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Army (BA) in Northern Ireland on 4 February 1971, but who had suffered a heart attack. [Erskine-Crum died on 17 March 1971.]

Thursday 4 March 1971
The first meeting of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive was held at Stormont. [The headquarters and regional offices of the NIHE were to be the target of paramilitary attacks on many occasions during 'the Troubles'.]

Saturday 6 March 1971
A Catholic man was shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast.

Monday 8 March 1971
Members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) engaged in a gun battle with members of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). One man was killed. The feud between the two wings of the IRA had been developing ever since the Republic movement split on 11 January 1970.

Wednesday 10 March 1971
Dougald McCaughey (23), Joseph McCaig (18) and John McCaig (17), all three members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers (a regiment of the British Army; BA), were killed by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The soldiers were off-duty and lured from a pub where they had been drinking. Their bodies were found at Squire's Hill, in the Ligoniel area of Belfast. [There was widespread condemnation of the killings and increased pressure on Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, to take a tougher line on security in the region.]

Friday 12 March 1971
Thousands of Belfast shipyard workers took part in a march demanding the introduction of Internment for members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Tuesday 16 March 1971
James Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, went to London for a meeting with Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, about the security situation in Northern Ireland. [An additional 1,300 troops were later sent to the region, a response which was considered inadequate by Unionists. On 20 March 1971 Chichester-Clark resigned partly because of the lack of a British response.]
[ Law Order, Internment. ]

Wednesday 17 March 1971
Vernon Erskine-Crum, who had been appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Army in Northern Ireland on 4 February 1971, died as a result of heart disease.

Saturday 20 March 1971
James Chichester-Clark resigned as Northern Ireland Prime Minister in protest at what he viewed as a limited security response by the British government.

Tuesday 23 March 1971
Faulkner Became Prime Minister
Brian Faulkner succeeds as Northern Ireland Prime Minister after defeating William Craig in a Unionist Party leadership election. [Faulkner's tenure of office was to prove very short.]
The Local Government Boundaries (Northern Ireland) Act became law. The Act provided for the appointment of a Boundaries Commissioner to recommend the boundaries and names of district council and ward areas.

Thursday 25 March 1971
James Callaghan, then shadow Home Secretary, spoke at a rally of the Northern Ireland labour movement but rejected calls for the Labour Party to open membership to those living in Northern Ireland.

Saturday 27 March 1971
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) held its first Annual Conference in the Ulster Hall in Belfast. The APNI was launched on 21 April 1970.

[ NAI Records – March 1971. ]

April 1971

Tuesday 6 April 1971
During a debate at Westminster on Northern Ireland, Harold Wilson, then leader of the Labour Party, claimed that a draft Bill for the imposition of direct rule existed.

Saturday 10 April 1971
The Republican commemorations held in Belfast of the Easter Rising (in 1916 in Dublin) provided an opportunity to gauge public support for the two wings of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The march organised by the Official movement appeared only to attract half the level of support as that organised by the Provisionals.

Sunday 25 April 1971
Cenus
The Northern Ireland census was held. [Various reports based on the census were published over the next few years. The total population was enumerated at 1,519,640. A large number of people (142,500) refused to state their religious denomination. This meant that the percentage of Catholics recorded as 31.4% (477,921) was a minimum figure. Statistical estimates of the probable size of the Catholic population put the figure at 36.8% (559,800), (see Compton and Power, 1986).]

[ NAI Records – April 1971. ]

May 1971

Saturday 8 May 1971
A woman was killed in an incident in Belfast.

Wednesday 12 May 1971
[ Law Order; Political Developments. ]

Thursday 13 May 1971
The decision to appoint a Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland was announced.

Saturday 15 May 1971
William 'Billy' Reid, an IRA member, was shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast. [According to 'Lost Lives' Reid was the person who fired the shot which killed Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to be killed in 'the Troubles', on 6 February 1971. Reid is reported as having been killed on Curtis Street near the centre of Belfast.]

Saturday 22 May 1971
A British soldier was killed by members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) in Belfast.

Tuesday 25 May 1971
A British soldier was killed in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attack on the joint Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) / British Army (BA) base on the Springfield Road in Belfast.

Monday 24 May 1971
There was more violence in Belfast which was to continue sporadically throughout the summer.

[ NAI Records – May 1971. ]

June 1971

Friday 4 June 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

Tuesday 8 June 1971
Harry Tuzo, then General Officer Commanding the British Army (BA), said that a permanent military solution to the conflict could not be achieved.

Friday 11 June 1971
[ Law Order. ]

Sunday 13 June 1971
In defiance of a government ban, 2,000 members of the Orange Order attempted to march through the mainly Catholic town of Dungiven, County Londonderry. Around 500 RUC officers and 650 British Army (BA) soldiers were on duty in the town. A cordon had been set up by soldiers at a bridge over the River Roe. Orangemen in regalia fought with soldiers and threw stones, bottles, and other missiles. Three people were arrested including Rev. William McCrea, a Free Presbyterian minister. The trouble lasted for approximately two hours. [The following day Brian Faulkner, then NI Prime Minister, issued a statement, "I totally condem all those who influenced this crowd to assemble for a parade they knew to be illegal" (the statement did not mention the name of the Orange Order). ]

Friday 18 June 1971
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Nationalist Members of Parliament (MPs) refuse to attend the state opening of Stormont.

Wednesday 22 June 1971
A system of committees to oversee control of key government departments was proposed by Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister. This system was seen as a way of providing a role for opposition parties at Stormont. [The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) initially welcomed the proposal but events were to result in the withdrawal of the SDLP from Stormont.]
[ Political Developments. ]

Friday 25 June 1971
[ Law Order. ]

[ NAI Records – June 1971. ]

July 1971

Tuesday 6 July 1971
A member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) was killed in a premature explosion in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland.

Thursday 8 July 1971
Two Men Killed by British Soldiers
Seamus Cusack (28), a Catholic civilian, was shot and mortally wounded by a British soldier during street disturbances at Abbey Park, in the Bogside area of Derry. The shooting happened at approximately 1.00am and Cusack died in Letterkenny Hospital at approximately 1.40am. [The British Army later claimed that Cusack had been armed with a rifle but local witnesses denied this.] The death of Cusack led to further disturbances in the Bogside and at approximately 3.15pm Desmond Beattie (19), a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by British soldiers at Lecky Road. Again the circumstances of the shooting were disputed.
[The British Army later claimed that Beattie was about to throw a nail bomb when he was shot; local people insisted he was unarmed at the time of his killing.]
The rioting in Derry intensified following the two deaths.
[The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) withdrew from Stormont on 16 July 1971 because no official inquiry was announced into the killings. An unofficial Inquiry was chaired by Lord Gifford (QC), an English barrister, and assisted by Paul O'Dwyer, an American lawyer, and Albie Sachs, a South African lawyer. The Inquiry was held at the Guildhall, Derry, but the British Army (BA) and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) refused to participate. The Report of the Inquiry was published in August 1971.]

Sunday 11 July 1971
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a number of bombs in the centre of Belfast injuring a number of people. [A number of commentators saw these bombs as an attempt to increase tension and confrontations between the two main communities.]

Monday 12 July 1971
A British soldier was shot dead in Belfast. The main Orange Order parades across Northern Ireland passed off relatively peacefully.

Wednesday 14 July 1971
A British soldier was shot dead in Belfast.

Thursday 15 July 1971
[ Internment. ]

Friday 16 July 1971
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) withdrew from Stormont because no inquiry had been announced into the shooting dead of Seamus Cusack and Desmond Beattie in Derry on 8 July 1971.
[ Political Developments; Law Order; Victims. ]

Wednesday 21 July 1971
[ Internment. ]

Friday 23 July 1971
The British Army (BA) carried out early morning raids across Northern Ireland and arrested 48 people.

Saturday 24 July 1971
A nine-year old boy was killed when a British Army vehicle skidded and mounted the pavement striking the boy. The incident happened on Westland Street, Bogside, Derry. [An internal report of the incident was written by the RUC on 5 August 1971.]
[ Victims. ]

[ NAI Records – July 1971. ]

August 1971

Tuesday 3 August 1971
Official Sinn Féin (OSF) was registered as a political part in Dublin.
[ Law Order; Policing. ]

Wednesday 4 August 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

Thursday 5 August 1971
There was a debate at Westminster on the situation in Northern Ireland. Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, met with Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, and Harry Tuzo, then General Officer Commanding the British Army (BA), in London to discuss the security situation.
[ Political Developments. ]

Saturday 7 August 1971
A Catholic man was shot dead by a British soldier in Belfast.

Sunday 8 August 1971
A British soldier was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast.

Monday 9 August 1971
Internment, 17 People Killed
In a series of raids across Northern Ireland, 342 people were arrested and taken to makeshift camps as Internment was re-introduced in Northern Ireland. There was an immediate upsurge of violence and 17 people were killed during the next 48 hours. Of these 10 were Catholic civilians who were shot dead by the British Army (BA).
Hugh Mullan (38) was the first Catholic priest to be killed in the conflict when he was shot dead by the British Army as he was giving the last rites to a wounded man.
Winston Donnell (22) became the first Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) solider to die in 'the Troubles' when he was shot by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Clady, County Tyrone.
[There were more arrests in the following days and months. Internment was to continue until 5 December 1975. During that time 1,981 people were detained; 1,874 were Catholic / Republican, while 107 were Protestant / Loyalist. Internment had been proposed by Unionist politicians as the solution to the security situation in Northern Ireland but was to lead to a very high level of violence over the next few years and to increased support for the IRA. Even members of the security forces remarked on the drawbacks of internment.]
      [ Internment. ]

Tuesday 10 August 1971
During the 9 August 1971 and the early hours of the 10 August Northern Ireland experienced the worst violence since August 1969. [Over the following days thousands of people (estimated at 7,000), the majority of them Catholics, were forced to flee their homes. Many Catholic 'refugees' moved to the Republic of Ireland, and have never returned to Northern Ireland.]

Wednesday 11 August 1971
Four people were shot dead in separate incidents in Belfast, three of them by the British Army (BA), as violence continued following the introduction of Internment.

Thursday 12 August 1971
A Protestant man died two days after being shot by a British soldier.

Friday 13 August 1971
A Catholic man was shot dead by the British Army in Derry.

Saturday 14 August 1971
A British soldier was killed by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) in Belfast.

Sunday 15 August 1971
Campaign of Civil Disobedience
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announced that it was starting a campaign of civil disobedience in response to the introduction of Internment. The SDLP also withdrew their representatives from a number of public bodies.

Monday 16 August 1971
Over 8,000 workers went on strike in Derry in protest at Internment. Joe Cahill, then Chief of Staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), held a press conference during which he claimed that only 30 IRA men had been interned.

Wednesday 18 August 1971
Eamon Lafferty (20), a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), was shot dead by the British Army (BA) during a gun battle in the Creggan area of Derry.
Eamon McDevitt (24), a Catholic civilian who was deaf and dumb, was shot dead by the British Army in Strabane, County Tyrone.
      [ Internment. ]

Thursday 19 August 1971
James O'Hagan (16), then a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), was shot and fatally wounded in the Waterside area of Derry. He had been with other IRA members and it was claimed at that time that the shooting was accidental. (As Sutton's Index of Deaths does not include accidental shootings, this killing is not listed in the database.) [In 2019 Shane Paul O'Doherty, a former member of the IRA, published a detailed blog item which claimed that O'Hagan had been deliberately shot following an argument. See: The Irish Peace Process, blog item, 18 November 2019.]
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was accused of political bias by the then British Minister of Defence, Lord Carrington. [This was the first of many direct and indirect attempts by successive British governments to influence the way the media reported the conflict in Northern Ireland.]
[ Political Developments; Internment. ]

Friday 20 August 1971
The Northern Ireland Government published a white paper entitled 'A Record of Constructive Change', (Cmd. 558). [The Command Paper set out the Northern Ireland Government's reponse to criticism that it had failed to meet its commitments under the 'Downing Street Declaration' of 19 August 1969.] A man died nine days after being mortally wounded in Belfast.
      [ Internment. ]

Sunday 22 August 1971
Approximately 130 non-Unionist councillors announced their withdrawal from participation on district councils across Northern Ireland in protest against Internment.

Monday 23 August 1971
A British soldier was killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast.
      [ Internment. ]

Wednesday 25 August 1971
Henry Beggs (23), a Protestant civilian, was killed when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) planted a bomb at the Northern Ireland Electricity Service office on the Malone Road in Belfast.
Gerry Fitt, then Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), held a meeting with representatives of the United Nations at which he presented a number of allegations of brutality by the security forces in Northern Ireland.

Thursday 26 August 1971
[ Internment. ]

Friday 27 August 1971
A British soldier was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in south Armagh.

Sunday 29 August 1971
A Catholic man died 16 days after being shot by the British Army in Belfast.

Tuesday 31 August 1971
An inquiry into allegations of brutality by the security forces against those interned without trial was announced. [The report of the inquiry, the Compton Report was published on 16 November 1971.] A British soldier died one day after being mortally wounded in Belfast.

n.d. August 1971
[ Internment. ]

[ NAI Records – August 1971. ]

September 1971

(?) September 1971
A number of Loyalist Defence Associations came together and formed the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). [The UDA was to quickly become the largest of the Loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. The smaller Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), which was responsible for many sectarian killings, was considered a cover name for the UDA. Indeed the UDA was a legal organisation between 1971 and 11 August 1992 when it was finally proscribed.]

Wednesday 1 September 1971
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a series of bombs across Northern Ireland injuring a number of people.

Thursday 2 September 1971
There were further Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombs across the region including one in Belfast which wrecked the headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The explosions resulted in further injuries to a number of people.
[ Political Developments. ]

Friday 3 September 1971
A baby girl and an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier were killed in separate shooting incidents.
      [ Political Developments. ]

Saturday 4 September 1971
A British soldier was killed by members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) in Newry.

Sunday 5 September 1971
The Army Council of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) proposed the idea of a nine county Ulster Assembly (Dáil Uladh) in a set of constitutional proposals which were reported in Republican News on 11 September 1971. The Assembly was to be one of four regional Assemblies covering the whole of any future united Ireland. The fact that the Ulster Assembly would have a Unionist majority was considered as meeting Unionist concerns over being "swamped" in any new Republic.

Monday 6 September 1971
A 14 year old girl was shot dead by a British soldier in Derry.

Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, met with Jack Lynch, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), at Chequers in England to discuss the situation in Northern Ireland.
William Craig and Ian Paisley spoke at a rally at Victoria Park in Belfast before a crowd of approximately 20,000 people. They called for the establishment of a 'third force' to defend 'Ulster'. [This was taken to mean the establishment of a paramilitary force in addition to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army.]

Tuesday 7 September 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

Wednesday 8 September 1971
Harold Wilson, then leader of the Labour Party, announced details of a plan for a united Ireland.

Wednesday 9 September 1971
A British soldier was killed trying to defuse a bomb near Lisburn.

Sunday 12 September 1971
A statement on Internment, violence and the ill-treatment of detainees was released by the William Conway, then Catholic Cardinal of Ireland, and six Bishops. In a statement Cardinal Conway asked, 'Who wanted to bomb one million Protestants into a United Ireland?'

Monday 13 September 1971
Two Loyalists, James Finlay (31) and John Thompson (21), were mortally injured when the bomb they were preparing exploded prematurely in a house in Bann Street, Belfast. Finlay died on 21 September 1971, and Thompson died on 12 October 1971.
Details of victim;

Tuesday 14 September 1971
Two British soldiers, Martin Carroll (23) and John Rudman (21) were killed in separate shooting incidents in Derry and Edendork, near Coalisland, County Tyrone. Another soldier was seriously injured during the incident in Derry which took place at the Army base in the old Essex factory. [A Catholic civilian was shot dead in the early hours of the next morning from the same Army base.]

Wednesday 15 September 1971
A Catholic civilian, William McGreanery (43), was shot dead by a British soldier in the early hours of the morning as he made his way home. McGreanery was at the junction of Westland Street and Lone Moor Road when he was shot by a soldier in a sanger in the Army base in the old Essex factory. The soldier who shot him made a statement at the time stating he had fired at a man aiming a rifle at his post. Friends and eyewitnesses said that Mr. McGreanery was unarmed when he was shot.
[On 20 June 2010 a Historical Enquires Team (HET) report into the shooting concluded that: "It is the view of the HET that he was not pointing a rifle at the soldier at the time. He was not involved with any paramilitary organisation, he was not carrying a firearm of any description, and he posed no threat to the soldiers at the observation post." What was also revealed during the HET investigation was that the soldier shot dead on 14 September 1971 had two close relatives also serving in Derry at that time. One of them was in the same Army base in the old Essex factory and the other in Drumahoe just outside the city.]
A British soldier died one day after being shot in Belfast.

Thursday 16 September 1971
A number of Unionists resigned over the proposed tripartite talks involving Northern Ireland, Britain, and the Republic of Ireland.
The body of a man was found in Belfast; he had been shot.

Friday 17 September 1971
A British soldier was shot dead in Belfast.

Saturday 18 September 1971
A Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer was shot dead in Strabane, County Tyrone.

Thursday 23 September 1971
Two members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) were killed in a premature bomb explosion.
[ Law Order. ]

Sunday 26 September 1971
David Bleakley resigned as Minister of Community Relations in protest over the introduction of Internment and the lack of any new political initiatives by the Northern Ireland government.
[ Political Developments. ]

Monday 27 September 1971
There was a series of tripartite talks, over two days, involving the prime ministers of Northern Ireland, Britain, and the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland, which took place at Chequers, England.
[ Political Developments. ]

Tuesday 28 September 1971
Tripartite talks continued at Chequers, England.
[ Political Developments. ]

Wednesday 29 September 1971
Two Protestant civilians, Alexander Andrews (60) and Ernest Bates (38), were killed in an explosion at the Four Step Inn on the Shankill Road in Belfast, no group claimed responsibility but it was believed to be the responsibility of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
      [ Political Developments. ]

Thursday 30 September 1971
Ian Paisley and Desmond Boal launched the [Ulster] Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

[ NAI Records – September 1971. ]

October 1971

Friday 1 October 1971
A British soldier was killed in Belfast.

Saturday 2 October 1971
A member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was killed in a premature bomb explosion.

Sunday 3 October 1971
A man was shot dead during an attack by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on a British Army (BA) foot patrol.

Monday 4 October 1971
A British soldier was killed when the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) carried out a bomb attack on a British Army (BA) observation post in Belfast..

Tuesday 5 October 1971
A new sitting of the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont began. However the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was absent due to its continuing protest against Internment. The SDLP met in an alternative assembly at Strabane town hall.

Thursday 7 October 1971
Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, met with Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, and the British Cabinet. The meeting was held in London. An additional 1,500 British Army troops were sent to Northern Ireland.

Saturday 9 October 1971
A woman was killed when Loyalist paramilitaries planted a bomb in a pub in Belfast.

Monday 11 October 1971
A British soldier died two weeks after being shot by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Derry.
      [ Internment. ]

Friday 15 October 1971
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast.

Saturday 16 October 1971
A British soldier was killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Derry.

Sunday 17 October 1971
A British soldier was killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast. Another soldier died two days after he was mortally wounded. A Catholic man was shot dead by the British Army in Belfast.

It was estimated that approximately 16,000 households were withholding rent and rates for council houses as part of the campaign of civil disobedience organised by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The campaign was in protest against Internment and had begun on 15 August 1971.

Tuesday 19 October 1971
A group of five Northern Ireland Members of Parliament (MPs) began a 48 hour hunger strike against Internment. The protest took place near to 10 Downing Street in London. Among those taking part were John Hume, Austin Currie, and Bernadette Devlin.

Wednesday 20 October 1971
Edward Kennedy, then a Senator in the United States Congress, called for a withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland and all-party negotiations to establish a United Ireland.

Monday 22 October 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

Saturday 23 October 1971
Two female members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Maura Meehan (30) and Dorothy Maguire (19), were shot dead by the British Army (BA) in the Lower Falls area of Belfast. The two women had been travelling the area warning people of British Army raids on houses. [The two women were the first members of Cumann na mBan to die in the conflict.]
Three Catholic civilians, Sean Ruddy (28), James McLaughlin (26) and Robert Anderson (26), were shot dead by the British Army during an attempted robbery in Newry, County Down.

Sunday 24 October 1971
A member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was shot dead by undercover Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers during a bomb attack in Belfast.

Ruairi O'Brady, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), addressed a SF Ard Fheis in Dublin and said that the North of Ireland must be made ungovernable as first step in achieving a united Ireland.

Monday 25 October 1971
A man died two days after being shot during an Irish Republican Army (IRA) attack on the British Army (BA) in Belfast.

Tuesday 26 October 1971
A man was found shot dead in Belfast.

An Assembly, attended only by Nationalist politicians, and acting as an alternative to Stormont, met in Dungiven Castle. [The Assembly only ever met on two occasions.]

Wednesday 27 October 1971
David Tilbury (29) and Angus Stevens (18), both members of the British Army (BA), were killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during an attack on their observation post in Rosemount, Derry.
Ronald Dodds (34), a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, was shot dead by the IRA near Toome, County Antrim.
David Powell (22), a member of the British Army, was killed by a landmine planted by the IRA at Kinawley, County Fermanagh.
A man was found shot dead in Dublin in an apparent internal Saor Eire dispute.

Gerard Newe, was appointed as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Department at Stormont. He was the first Catholic to serve in any Northern Ireland government since 1920 and was appointed by Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister. Newe was appointed to try to improve community relations.

Thursday 28 October 1971
A man was shot and mortally wounded, as he stood at the front door of his house, by a British soldier.

Friday 29 October 1971
A Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer was killed in a bomb attack in Belfast.

Saturday 30 October 1971
A British soldier was killed in a bomb attack in Belfast.

Sunday 31 October 1971
A man died two days after being mortally wounded by a British soldier
A British soldier died three days after being mortally wounded by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast.
A man was found shot dead in Belfast.

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a bomb at the Post Office Tower in London. [At the time part of the tower was open to members of the public and was a London tourist attraction. The public area was closed following the attack and did not reopen.]

n.d. October 1971
[ Internment. ]

n.d. October 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

[ NAI Records – October 1971. ]

November 1971

Monday 1 November 1971
Stanley Corry (28) and William Russell (31), both members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), were shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Andersonstown area of Belfast.

Tuesday 2 November 1971
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded two bombs on the Ormeau Road in Belfast, one at a drapery shop and the other at the Red Lion bar, and killed three Protestant civilians; John Cochrane (67), Mary gemmell (55) and William Jordan (31).

Thursday 4 November 1971
British soldiers shot dead a man in Belfast.
A British soldier died seven weeks after being mortally wounded in Belfast.

Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, went to London for a meeting with Harold Wilson, then leader of the Labour Party, and James Callaghan, then shadow British Home Secretary.

Saturday 6 November 1971
Kathleen Thompson (47), a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by British soldiers as she stood in her garden in Rathlin Drive in the Creggan area of Derry. [An inquest held in 1972 returned an open verdict. In 2013 the Attorney General for Northern Ireland ordered a new inquest which began in 2018 but was then adjourned and later resumed in 2021. On 29 June 2022 the new inquest ruled that the soldier was unjustified in firing the fatal shots. The coroner, Mrs Justice Sandra Crawford, said: "I cannot be satisfied that Soldier D held an honest belief he was under fire". Members of the Thompson family welcomed the finding and, "the acknowledgement that our mother was a totally innocent civilian whose killing was never properly investigated at the time". (Source: BBC NI News item.)]

Sunday 7 November 1971
An off duty British soldier was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in an attack in Lurgan, County Armagh. Another soldier was injured in the same attack.

Tuesday 9 November 1971
A British soldier was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Derry.

Thursday 11 November 1971
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast. [One of the officers was a Catholic and was the first Catholic member of the RUC to be killed during the conflict.]

Friday 12 November 1971
A Dutch seaman (name believed to be WEL Rena) was shot dead by Republican paramilitaries in Belfast. He had left his ship to go to a dentist on the Grosvenor Road. He was in the waiting room of the dentist's surgery when he was shot and was probably mistaken for an off-duty British soldier. (He was from Heemskerk, Netherlands.)

It was announced that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was to be given automatic weapons to protect police stations.

Tuesday 16 November 1971
Compton Report Published
The report of the Compton inquiry was published. Report of the enquiry into allegations against the security forces of physical brutality in Northern Ireland arising out of events on the 9th August, 1971. (November 1971; Cmnd. 4832). The report acknowledged that there had been ill-treatment of internees (what was termed 'in-depth interrogation') but rejected claims of systematic brutality or torture.

Thursday 18 November 1971
A British soldier was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast.

Monday 22 November 1971
A member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was killed in a premature bomb explosion in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Monday 24 November 1971
A woman was killed when members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out an attack on British soldiers in Strabane, County Tyrone.
A British Army (BA) bomb-disposal specialist was killed by a bomb in Lurgan, County Armagh.

Thursday 25 November 1971
Harold Wilson, then leader of the Labour Party, proposed that Britain should work towards a withdraw from Northern Ireland, with the consent of Protestants, after a period of 15 years. As part of the proposal the Republic of Ireland would rejoin the British Commonwealth.
[ Political Developments. ]

Friday 26 November 1971
[ Political Developments. ]

Saturday 27 November 1971
Two Customs officials, Ian Hankin (27), a Protestant, and James O'Neill (39), a Catholic, were shot dead by an Irish Republican Army (IRA) sniper who fired at a British Army (BA) patrol investigating an earlier bomb attack on a Customs Post near Newry, County Armagh.
A British soldier was shot dead in Belfast.

Monday 29 November 1971
An off duty British soldier was found shot dead in County Armagh.

Tuesday 30 November 1971
The government of the Republic of Ireland stated that it would take the allegations of brutality against the security forces in Northern Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights.

n.d. November 1971
[ Law Order; Political Developments. ]

[ NAI Records – November 1971. ]

December 1971

Thursday 2 December 1971
A teenage girl died four days after being shot during a gun attack on members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

Saturday 4 December 1971
McGurk's Pub Bombing
Fifteen Catholic civilians were killed when Loyalist paramilitaries exploded a bomb at The Tramore Bar, better known as McGurk's bar, in North Queen Street, north Belfast. The bomb had been planted by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Four of those killed were women (including the owner's wife and 14 year old daughter). [This attack was one of the worst single incidents during the Northern Ireland conflict. Only one of the bombers, the driver of the getaway car, was ever convicted. Immediately after the bombing, and for some time later, the security forces and various official sources maintained that the bomb had gone off inside the bar, implying that it was being prepared by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and thus represented an 'own goal'. On 21 February 2011 the Police Ombudsman published a report that identified investigative bias in how the RUC handled the case. In 2014 the Historical Enquires Team (HET) reached the conclusion that there was no evidence of any bias in the RUC investigation. Relatives of those killed undertook a civil action to have the HET findings overturned. On 29 June 2022 a High Court judge ruled that the entire HET report should be quashed. The judge said, "findings of no bias in the original RUC investigation were irrational." (Source: BBC NI News item.)]

Monday 6 December 1971
A woman died trying to salvage property from the Salvation Army Citadel in Belfast when a wall fell on her. Earlier there had been a bomb which started a large fire in an ajoining building.

Brian Faulkner, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, met with Reginald Maudling, then British Home Secretary, in London.

Tuesday 7 December 1971
An off duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was shot dead by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in County Tyrone.

Wednesday 8 December 1971
Sean Russell (30), an off duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), was shot dead by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in his home in Ballymurphy, Belfast. [Russell was the first Catholic member of the UDR to be killed in the conflict.]
A British soldier died found days after being shot in Belfast.

Friday 10 December 1971
Kenneth Smyth (28), a Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) member, and Daniel McCormick (29), a former UDR member, were killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Strabane, County Tyrone.
A man was shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast.

Saturday 11 December 1971
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) killed four Protestant civilians in a bomb attack on a furniture shop on the Shankill Road in Belfast. Two of those who were killed in the explosion were children. The dead were: Hugh Bruce (70), Harold King (29), Tracey Munn (2) and Colin Nicholl (1).

Sunday 12 December 1971
John (Jack) Barnhill, then a Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member of the Northern Ireland Senate, was shot dead by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) at his home in Strabane. He was the first politician to be killed in the conflict.

Monday 13 December 1971
[ Internment; Law Order; Political Developments. ]

Tuesday 14 December 1971
A boy aged 16 was shot dead by British soldiers in Coalisland, County Tyrone.
      [ Law Order; Political Developments. ]

Wednesday 15 December 1971
[ Law Order; Political Developments. ]

Thursday 16 December 1971
A British soldier was shot dead in Belfast.

Saturday 18 December 1971
Three members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), James Sheridan (20), John Bateson (19) and Martin Lee (19), were killed when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely in King Street, Magherafelt, County Derry.
A man was killed in a bomb attack in Belfast.

Monday 20 December 1971
A woman was shot dead during a gun attack on British soldiers.

Tuesday 21 December 1971
A man was shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast.
A publican was killed as he tried to remove a bomb from his pub.
      [ Internment; Law Order; Political Developments. ]

Thursday 23 December 1971
Edward Heath, then British Prime Minister, visited Northern Ireland and expressed his determination to end the violence.

Wednesday 29 December 1971
A British soldier was shot dead in Derry.

Thursday 30 December 1971
A member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was killed in a premature bomb explosion in Santry, Dublin.

Friday 31 December 1971
Edmund Compton, then Northern Ireland Ombudsman, was replaced by John Benn.

[ NAI Records – December 1971. ]

[ PRONI Records on CAIN - 1971 ]

[ NAI Records on CAIN - 1971 ]

• Bew, P. and Gillespie, G. (1999). Northern Ireland A chronology of the Troubles 1968-1999. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan Ltd.
• Elliott, S. and Flackes, W.D. (1999). Northern Ireland A Political Directory 1968-1999. Belfast: The Blackstaff Press.
• 'Fortnight' magazine's monthly chronology of 'the Troubles'.
• Sutton, M. (1994). An Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland 1969-1993. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications. An updated searchable version is available: The Sutton Index of Deaths 1969-2001 - see in particular the list of deaths for 1971.
• Various newspapers

See Also:

• Material listed in the CAIN Bibliography which was published during 1971.
• For a full list of, and links to, on-line sources see the Guide to the Internet.

Notes

• Each entry contains information, where relevant, on the following topic areas:
  • Major security incidents
  • Political developments
  • Policy initiatives
  • Economic matters
  • Other relevant items
• Information contained within square brackets [   ] may contain commentary or information that only became publicly available at a later date.
• Any piece of information which is followed by a question mark in parenthesis (?) is a best estimate while awaiting an update.