1973 in Northern Ireland
Encyclopedia
Events
- 9 March - Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
vote overwhelminglyNorthern Ireland referendum, 1973The Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum of 1973 was a referendum held in Northern Ireland on 8 March 1973 on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom or join with the Republic of Ireland to form a united Ireland...
to remain within the UK. Voter turnout is reportedly at 59%, although less than 1% of Catholics vote. - 2 April - Special Powers ActCivil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922The Civil Authorities Act 1922, often referred to simply as the Special Powers Act, was an Act passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland shortly after the establishment of Northern Ireland, and in the context of violent conflict over the issue of the partition of Ireland...
is replaced by Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973The Northern Ireland Act 1973 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which abolished the death penalty for murder in Northern Ireland, and established the Diplock courts in which terrorist offences were tried by a judge without a jury. It has mostly been repealed, the anti-terrorism...
abolishing the death penalty for murder in Northern Ireland and establishing the Diplock courtsDiplock courtsThe Diplock courts were a type of court established by the Government of the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland on 8 August 1973, in an attempt to overcome widespread jury intimidation associated with the Troubles. The right to trial by jury was suspended for certain "scheduled offences" and the...
. - 28 June - Elections to NI Assembly.
- 31 July - Militant protesters of Ian PaisleyIan PaisleyIan Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
disrupt the first sitting of the Northern Ireland AssemblyNorthern Ireland AssemblyThe Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
. - November 1 - Sir James FlanaganJames Flanagan (RUC)Sir James Bernard Flanagan, KBE was the only Roman Catholic Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary . There was also later a Roman Catholic Deputy Chief Constable, Michael McAtamney....
, first and only Roman Catholic Chief ConstableChief ConstableChief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
of the Royal Ulster ConstabularyRoyal Ulster ConstabularyThe Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
, replaced Graham Shillington. - December 9 - The Sunningdale AgreementSunningdale AgreementThe Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The Agreement was signed at the Civil Service College in Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973.Unionist opposition, violence and...
is signed by BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Prime MinisterPrime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Ted HeathEdward HeathSir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
, TaoiseachTaoiseachThe Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Liam CosgraveLiam CosgraveLiam Cosgrave is an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach and as Leader of Fine Gael . He was a Teachta Dála from 1943 to 1981....
, Brian FaulknerBrian FaulknerArthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, PC was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972...
, Gerry FittGerry FittGerard Fitt, Baron Fitt was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party , a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.-Early years:...
and Oliver NapierOliver NapierSir Oliver Napier was the first leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. In 1974 he served as the first and only Legal Minister and head of the Office of Legal Reform in the Northern Ireland power-sharing executive set up by the Sunningdale Agreement.-Early life:Napier was educated at St...
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Football
- Irish League
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- Winners: CrusadersCrusaders F.C.Crusaders Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish association football club, playing in the IFA Premiership. The club, founded in 1898, hails from Belfast and plays its home matches at Seaview. Club colours are red and black. The current manager is Stephen Baxter, appointed in 2005...
- Winners: Crusaders
- Irish CupIrish CupFor the equivalent tournament in the Republic of Ireland, see FAI Cup.The Irish Cup is the national cup knock-out competition in Northern Irish football. Inaugurated in 1881, it is the fourth oldest national cup competition in the world...
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- Winners: GlentoranGlentoran F.C.Glentoran F.C. is a semi-professional, football club in Northern Ireland. The club was founded in 1882 and plays its home games at the Oval in east Belfast. Club colours are green, red, and black.Glentoran's biggest rivals are Linfield...
3 - 2 LinfieldLinfield F.C.Linfield F.C. , is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club, whose home ground is Windsor Park in Belfast, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland international team....
- Winners: Glentoran
Births
- 2 March - Peter HuttonPeter Hutton (footballer)Peter Hutton is a professional footballer and manager best known for his time with League of Ireland club Derry City, who he captained and managed on a caretaker basis...
, footballer. - 17 March - David McCannDavid McCannDavid McCann is an Irish professional road bicycle racer. He used to cycle for the Taiwan-based UCI Continental team Giant Asia Racing.McCann was the Irish national road race champion in 2000, 2001 and 2006...
, professional road bicycle racer. - 21 June - Nigel Boyd, soccer player.
- 13 October - George Gorman, rugby player.
- 12 November - Chris WalkerChris Walker (footballer)Chris Walker is a Northern Irish footballer.Walker played as a centre back for Glentoran from 1994 until January 2007. He previously played for First Liverpool. He is a Glentoran supporter, growing up close to the club's home, The Oval...
, footballer.
Full date unknown
- Philip McGuiganPhilip McGuiganPhilip McGuigan is a Sinn Féin member of Ballymoney Borough Council in Northern Ireland and a former MLA. He was raised in Swatragh, County Londonderry....
, Sinn FéinSinn FéinSinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
councillor and former MLAMember of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)Member of the Legislative Assembly is a representative elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Northern Ireland.- About :...
. - Stephen NolanStephen NolanStephen Nolan, born Belfast in 1973, is a radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio Five Live. He was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and Queen's University Belfast where he studied French and Business Studies....
, radio and television presenter.
Deaths
- 19 January - Max AdrianMax AdrianMax Adrian was a Northern Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre....
, actor (b.19031903 in Ireland-Events:*3 January - The Norwegian ship, Remittant, is towed into quarantine in Queenstown . The entire crew are suffering from beriberi.*3 February - The proposed canonisation of Oliver Plunkett is discussed in Rome....
). - 8 April - E. R. Dodds, classical scholar (b.18931893 in Ireland-Events:*February - Prime Minister Gladstone introduces his second Home Rule Bill to the House of Commons, where it is passed.*26 April - Edward Carson is called to the English Bar at the Middle Temple...
). - 9 April - Warren LewisWarren LewisWarren Hamilton Lewis was an Irish British Army officer and historian, best known as the brother of the author and professor C. S. Lewis. Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Corps of the British Army during and after World War I...
, soldier and historian, brother of C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
(b.18951895 in Ireland- Events :*3 April - Oscar Wilde launches a criminal libel case in London against the Marquess of Queensberry. During the trial he collapses under cross-examination by Edward Carson, and is eventually found guilty and imprisoned for two years on homosexuality charges.*23 December - Grand Opera...
). - 21 May - Eugene O'CallaghanEugene O'CallaghanEugene O'Callaghan was a priest in the Archdiocese of Armagh, ordained on 21 June 1913. Having served as curate in Armagh City for a period, he was then appointed as Administrator of the Cathedral parish of Armagh. He was responsible for building the parish church of St Malachy's in that city...
, Bishop of ClogherBishop of ClogherThe Bishop of Clogher is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and the other of the Roman Catholic Church.-History:Clogher is one...
1943-1969 (b.18881888 in Ireland-Events:*March — The Pan-Celtic Society is founded by William Butler Yeats.*April — Pope Leo XIII issues a decree denouncing the "Plan of Campaign" as the Holy Office issued a rescript to the Bishops of Ireland to boycott the Campaign...
). - 22 May - Harry Baird, footballer (b.19131913 in Ireland-Events:*30 January - At Westminster the House of Lords rejects the Home Rule Bill by 326 to 69.*7 July - The Home Rule Bill is once again carried in the House of Commons, despite attempts by Bonar Law to obstruct it....
). - 18 August - Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount BrookeboroughBasil Brooke, 1st Viscount BrookeboroughBasil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Bt, KG, CBE, MC, PC, HML was an Ulster Unionist politician who became the third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943 and held office until 1963....
, Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
MPMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, third Prime Minister of Northern IrelandPrime Minister of Northern IrelandThe Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the de facto head of the Government of Northern Ireland. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. However the Lord Lieutenant, as with Governors-General in other Westminster Systems such as in Canada, chose to appoint someone...
(b.18881888 in Ireland-Events:*March — The Pan-Celtic Society is founded by William Butler Yeats.*April — Pope Leo XIII issues a decree denouncing the "Plan of Campaign" as the Holy Office issued a rescript to the Bishops of Ireland to boycott the Campaign...
). - 15 September - Tommy HerronTommy HerronTommy Herron was a loyalist from Northern Ireland, and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association up until his fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast, one of its two earliest strongholds...
, prominent member of the Ulster Defence AssociationUlster Defence AssociationThe Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
. - Paddy WilsonPaddy WilsonPatrick Gerard Wilson, known as Paddy Wilson was a politician in Northern Ireland who was killed by the "Ulster Freedom Fighters", a covername used by the Ulster Defence Association ....
, SDLPSocial Democratic and Labour PartyThe Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
politician (b.19331933 in Northern Ireland-Events:*31 January - Start of rail strike disrupting the rail network.*7 April - Rail strike ends.*Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway ceases operations.*Construction of the Craigavon Bridge in Derry is completed....
).