Chronology of 1969 events
Courtesy of The Irish Times
January 1st: People's Democracy march from Belfast to Derry.
January 4th: Attack at Burntollet.
January 15th: Cameron Commission appointed to inquire into disturbances of 1968.
January 15th: Capt O'Neill tells Cabinet: "In resisting this molehill of reform [universal suffrage in local government], we are allowing a mountain to fall upon us."
February 24th: NI general election. "Most confused election in Northern Ireland's history," says historian Jonathon Bardon. O'Neill wins but his party is not united.
March 30th and April 25th: UVF bombings - were thought to be IRA and worsened a difficult situation for O'Neill.
April 17th: Bernadette Devlin wins Mid-Ulster by-election, takes Westminster seat.
April 22nd: O'Neill agrees, under pressure from London, universal suffrage in local elections.
April 28th: O'Neill resigns as NI prime minister: "I have tried to break the chains of ancient hatreds." Succeeded by his cousin, Maj James Chichester Clark.
May 6th: Paisley released from prison. Late May: violence in Hooker Street, a sensitive frontline between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast.
June 18th: Jack Lynch wins general election.
July 12th: protracted rioting in Belfast, trouble in Derry.
July 13th: police baton-charge Catholics storming an Orange hall.
July 21st: Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.
August 12-14th: Battle of the Bogside follows Apprentice Boys parade in Derry. Lynch notes that Stormont has lost control of the situation and says: "It is clear, also, that the Irish Government can longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse." August 14th: first death of Troubles.
August 19th: Downing Street declaration commits Stormont to implementation of British standards of justice.
August 14-15th: British troops deployed on streets of Belfast and Derry.
August 27-28th: James Callaghan, British Home Secretary, visits Belfast and Derry.
September 12th: Cameron report on discrimination published. Points to unionist gerrymandering.
October 10th: Hunt report published. Recommends disarming RUC, abolishing B-Specials and formation of new part-time force, later to become the UDR.
October 11th: 3,000 loyalists, enraged by Hunt, advance on Catholic Unity flats in Belfast and fire on RUC, mortally wounding Const Victor Arbuckle. British army confronts loyalists with tear gas for first time in Belfast.
October 23rd: Samuel Beckett wins Nobel Prize for Literature.
December 22nd: Devlin sentenced to six months for her part in Bogside riots.
December 29th: Irish Press reports split in IRA. The Provisionals are about to appear.
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Where were you in 1969?
The photo below 'October 23rd: Samuel Beckett wins Nobel Prize for Literature is W B Yeats' not Samuel Beckett
ReplyDeleteThank you, I had intended to change that and forgot all about it. Let's just say that yesterday was an 'interesting day'...
DeleteI appreciate you taking the time to let me know.