Guildford pub bombings: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|1974 IRA bombings in Surrey, England}}

These attacks were the first in a year-long campaign by an IRA [[active service unit]] who became known as the [[Provisional IRA's Balcombe Street Gang|Balcombe Street Gang]] – whowhom police arrested in December 1975 after the [[Balcombe Street siege]] leading to their trial and conviction for other murders and offences.<ref>McKee G, Franey R, ''Time Bomb'', 1988, Bloomsbury Publishing, {{ISBN|0-7475-0099-1}}. Page 18 notes that a new ASU was set up in August 1974 comprising O'Connell, Dowd etc whose first attack was the Guildford Bombings</ref> A similar bomb to those used in Guildford, with the addition of shrapnel, was thrown into the [[Woolwich pub bombing|Kings Arms pub in Woolwich]] on 7 November 1974. A soldier and a civilian died in that explosion.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11504414|title=Woolwich pub bombing: murder of Alan HORSLEY and Richard Copeland Sloan DUNNE and injury...|date=1 January 1974 - 31 December 1976 |publisher=The National Archives}}</ref>

The bombings were at the height of [[the Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]]. The [[Metropolitan Police]] were under enormous pressure to apprehend the IRA bombers responsible for the attacks in England. In December 1974, the police arrested three men and a woman, later known as the [[Guildford Four]].<ref name=mckee/> One of the four, [[Gerry Conlon]], had been in London at the time of the bombings, and had visited his mother's sister, Annie Maguire. A few days after the Guildford Four were arrested, the Metropolitan Police arrested Annie Maguire and her family, including Conlon's father, Patrick "Giuseppe" Conlon &ndash; the "[[Guildford Four and Maguire Seven|Maguire Seven]]".<ref name=mckee/>

The London-based IRA active service unit's next attack was the [[Kings Arms, Woolwich|Woolwich]] [[Woolwich pub bombing|pub bombing]] on 7 November 1974,<ref>{{cite web |title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1974 {{!}} Thursday 7 November 1974 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch74.htm#71174 |website=CAIN Web Services |publisher=Ulster University |access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref> two people were killed in this attack, one soldier and a civilian who worked in the pub, over 30 people injured.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sutton |first1=Malcolm |title=An index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland {{!}} November 1974 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=7&month=11&year=1974 |website=CAIN Web Service |publisher=Ulster University |access-date=14 September 2020}}</ref> Two of the Guildford Four were also convicted of this attack.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Staff|first=and agencies|date=2005-02-09|title=Blair apologises to Guildford Four family|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/feb/09/northernireland.devolution|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-29|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/5/newsid_2492000/2492543.stm BBC report on the attacks], bbc.co.uk, 5 October 1974; accessed 23 October 2015.

* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Balcombe-Street-Terror-London-ebook/dp/B00XUVNR2Y ''The Road to Balcombe Street: The IRA Reign of Terror in London'' -– Second Edition by Steven P. Moysey -– Author]

[[Category:Building bombings in the United KingdomEngland]]

[[Category:Improvised1974 explosive devicebuilding bombings in 1974]]