Roy Magee
Encyclopedia
Reverend Robert James Magee OBE
(3 January 1930 - 1 February 2009) was a Northern Irish
Presbyterian
minister who is credited with playing a leading role in delivering the Combined Loyalist Military Command
(CLMC) ceasefire of 1994. Earlier Rev Magee had been a leading figure in Unionism
.
's Ballysillan district into a working class family, with his father working as a fitter in a factory on the Falls Road. He attended Sunday school
although his family was not overtly religious and it was not until Magee was a teenager that he became consumed by Christianity
.
Having worked in a number of roles for Mackie's industrial machinery manufacturers Magee left work to attend first Magee College
and then Trinity College, Dublin
. He graduated and became a minister in the Presbyterian Church in 1958. As a minister Magee garnered a reputation for "fire and brimstone
" preaching.
" and felt that the Vanguard could be a rallying point to united Unionism. He even served as chairman of this organisation. However Magee left the Vanguard after its leader Bill Craig decided to reconstitute it as a political party separate from the Ulster Unionist Party
, thus killing Magee's hopes of it being a nifying force.
Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Magee returned to political activism, becoming an outspoke critic of the deal. At the Ulster Says No
rally against the Agreement at Belfast City Hall
Magee was one of the figures to join Jim Molyneaux and Ian Paisley
on the platform.
(UDA) through a number of avenues, notably during the early 1970s when the nascent vigilante groups that made up the UDA worked alongside the Vanguard and later when UDA leader Andy Tyrie
began to attend Magee's church. Magee ministered to a church in Dundonald
whilst also working with the Farset Youth and Community Development group in the Greater Shankill area of west Belfast
. Both roles brought Magee further into contact with loyalist paramilitaries in what are for the most part working-class Ulster loyalist area. He condemned the loyalist violence but also befriended a number of loyalists and sought to work alongside them to achieve peace, reasoning that Jesus "befriended sinners in order to redeem them".
In 1991 the CLMC called a ceasefire. Although this ultimately lasted only a very short time Magee was encouraged by the development and sought to work with the body to restore peace. Magee was also dealt with the British
government and delivered messages between them and the loyalists, serving as the only conduit of information between the two for a time. Later, at the request of UDA leadership, Magee also put them in contact with Archibshop Robin Eames
, the Primate of the Church of Ireland
, who also liaised between the government and the UDA. As an individual Magee also had a direct line to Albert Reynolds
and was able to report loyalist aims and greivances to the Taoiseach
.
On 14 February 1992 he arranged a meeting with the organisation's ruling Inner Council at which the six brigadiers discussed the possibility of a ceasefire with Magee, Godfrey Brown and Jack Weir, the latter both former moderators of the Presbyterian Church
. The meeting accomplished little but Magee kept contact with the UDA open.
Magee's main point of contact was Ray Smallwoods
and the two kept in regular touch, although Magee considered ending all contact following the October 1993 Greysteel massacre
, the random nature of which disgusted him. He informed the Inner Council that he was finished with them but they pleaded for him to keep the contact open. Magee eventually decided to keep open his contact with Smallwoods and later credited the Ulster Democratic Party
leader as "one of the key people who saw the necessity to end it all".
Magee worked closely with Chris Hudson, a Dublin trade unionist who liaised with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on similar levels to Magee did with the UDA. Nonetheless Magee had links to some UVF figures, notably Gusty Spence
whom Magee introduced to a number of leading Republic of Ireland
business figures just before the ceasefire. The ceasefire was announced at Fernhill House on 13 October 1994 when Spence read out a statement from the CLMC flanked by Progressive Unionist Party
colleagues Jim McDonald and William "Plum" Smith
and Ulster Democratic Party members Gary McMichael
, John White
and Davy Adams.
and was also a senior research Fellow of the University of Ulster
, having retired as an active minister in 1995. His efforts in peace-making saw him receive a number of awards, notably the Tipperary International Peace Award in 1995, the Peace Activist Award from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and, in 1998, the post of honorary grand marshal of the St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin. He received the Order of the British Empire
in 2004. He finally left the Parades Commission for good in 2006.
During the 2000 loyalist feud
between the UVF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force
John White asked Rev. Magee to mediate between the warring factions. However the UVF, who wanted to go on the offensive, rejected the proposal out of hand.
Rev Magee died in 2009 after battling Parkinson's disease
. He was married to Maureen Reynolds and had two sons and a daughter, with his wife and one son dying before him.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(3 January 1930 - 1 February 2009) was a Northern Irish
Northern Ireland
Northern 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...
Presbyterian
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland , is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland...
minister who is credited with playing a leading role in delivering the Combined Loyalist Military Command
Combined Loyalist Military Command
The Combined Loyalist Military Command was an umbrella body for loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s, recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee....
(CLMC) ceasefire of 1994. Earlier Rev Magee had been a leading figure in Unionism
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
.
Early life
Magee was born in BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
's Ballysillan district into a working class family, with his father working as a fitter in a factory on the Falls Road. He attended Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
although his family was not overtly religious and it was not until Magee was a teenager that he became consumed by Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
Having worked in a number of roles for Mackie's industrial machinery manufacturers Magee left work to attend first Magee College
Magee College
Magee College is a campus of the University of Ulster located in Derry, Northern Ireland. It opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian Christian arts and theological college...
and then Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. He graduated and became a minister in the Presbyterian Church in 1958. As a minister Magee garnered a reputation for "fire and brimstone
Fire and brimstone
Fire and brimstone is an idiomatic expression of signs of God's wrath in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In the Bible, they often appear in reference to the fate of the unfaithful. "Brimstone," possibly the ancient name for sulfur, evokes the acrid odor of volcanic activity...
" preaching.
Unionist activism
Magee was a member of the hard-line Ulster Vanguard during the early 1970s. Magee claimed that he joined the group after seeing "awful atrocities being perpetrated by the IRAProvisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
" and felt that the Vanguard could be a rallying point to united Unionism. He even served as chairman of this organisation. However Magee left the Vanguard after its leader Bill Craig decided to reconstitute it as a political party separate from the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The 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...
, thus killing Magee's hopes of it being a nifying force.
Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
Magee returned to political activism, becoming an outspoke critic of the deal. At the Ulster Says No
Ulster Says No
Ulster Says No was the name of a slogan, campaign and mass protest against foreign interference by the Republic of Ireland in the internal affairs of the United Kingdom, specifically that of Northern Ireland...
rally against the Agreement at Belfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall is the civic building of the Belfast City Council. Located in Donegall Square, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, it faces north and effectively divides the commercial and business areas of the city centre.-History:...
Magee was one of the figures to join Jim Molyneaux and Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian 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...
on the platform.
Towards ceasefire
Rev Magee had come into contact with the Ulster Defence AssociationUlster Defence Association
The 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"...
(UDA) through a number of avenues, notably during the early 1970s when the nascent vigilante groups that made up the UDA worked alongside the Vanguard and later when UDA leader Andy Tyrie
Andy Tyrie
Andrew "Andy" Tyrie is an Ulster loyalist and served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association during much of its early history...
began to attend Magee's church. Magee ministered to a church in Dundonald
Dundonald
Dundonald is a large settlement in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies east of Belfast and is often deemed to be a suburb of the city. It includes the large housing estate of Ballybeen, and many new housing estates have emerged in the past ten years....
whilst also working with the Farset Youth and Community Development group in the Greater Shankill area of west Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. Both roles brought Magee further into contact with loyalist paramilitaries in what are for the most part working-class Ulster loyalist area. He condemned the loyalist violence but also befriended a number of loyalists and sought to work alongside them to achieve peace, reasoning that Jesus "befriended sinners in order to redeem them".
In 1991 the CLMC called a ceasefire. Although this ultimately lasted only a very short time Magee was encouraged by the development and sought to work with the body to restore peace. Magee was also dealt with the British
United Kingdom
The 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...
government and delivered messages between them and the loyalists, serving as the only conduit of information between the two for a time. Later, at the request of UDA leadership, Magee also put them in contact with Archibshop Robin Eames
Robin Eames
Robin Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames OM was the Anglican Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.-Education:...
, the Primate of the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
, who also liaised between the government and the UDA. As an individual Magee also had a direct line to Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds
Albert Reynolds , served as Taoiseach of Ireland, serving one term in office from 1992 until 1994. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize...
and was able to report loyalist aims and greivances to the Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The 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...
.
On 14 February 1992 he arranged a meeting with the organisation's ruling Inner Council at which the six brigadiers discussed the possibility of a ceasefire with Magee, Godfrey Brown and Jack Weir, the latter both former moderators of the Presbyterian Church
Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the most senior office-bearer within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which is Northern Ireland's largest Protestant denomination....
. The meeting accomplished little but Magee kept contact with the UDA open.
Magee's main point of contact was Ray Smallwoods
Ray Smallwoods
Raymond "Ray" Smallwoods was a Northern Ireland politician and sometime leader of the Ulster Democratic Party. A leading member of John McMichael's south Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association , Smallwoods later served as a leading adviser to the UDA's Inner Council...
and the two kept in regular touch, although Magee considered ending all contact following the October 1993 Greysteel massacre
Greysteel massacre
The Greysteel massacre took place on the evening of 30 October 1993 in Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Three members of the Ulster Defence Association , a loyalist paramilitary group, attacked a crowded pub with firearms, killing eight civilians and wounding thirteen...
, the random nature of which disgusted him. He informed the Inner Council that he was finished with them but they pleaded for him to keep the contact open. Magee eventually decided to keep open his contact with Smallwoods and later credited the Ulster Democratic Party
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association to replace their New Ulster Political Research Group...
leader as "one of the key people who saw the necessity to end it all".
Magee worked closely with Chris Hudson, a Dublin trade unionist who liaised with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on similar levels to Magee did with the UDA. Nonetheless Magee had links to some UVF figures, notably Gusty Spence
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence was a leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force and a leading loyalist politician. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade but later renounced violence and joined the Progressive Unionist...
whom Magee introduced to a number of leading Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
business figures just before the ceasefire. The ceasefire was announced at Fernhill House on 13 October 1994 when Spence read out a statement from the CLMC flanked by Progressive Unionist Party
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party is a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979...
colleagues Jim McDonald and William "Plum" Smith
William Smith (loyalist)
William Smith is a Northern Irish Loyalist former paramilitary and politician. He has been involved in loyalism in various capacities for at least forty years.-Early life:...
and Ulster Democratic Party members Gary McMichael
Gary McMichael
Gary McMichael is the son of former Ulster Defence Association leader John McMichael and was the leader of the now defunct Ulster Democratic Party during the peace process....
, John White
John White (loyalist)
John White is a former leading loyalist in Northern Ireland. He was sometimes known by the nickname 'Coco'. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic...
and Davy Adams.
Subsequent activity
Magee served on the Parades CommissionParades Commission
The Parades Commission is a quasi-judicial non-departmental public body responsible for placing restrictions on or banning outright any parades in Northern Ireland it deems contentious or offensive. It is composed of seven members, all of whom are appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern...
and was also a senior research Fellow of the University of Ulster
University of Ulster
The University of Ulster is a multi-campus, co-educational university located in Northern Ireland. It is the largest single university in Ireland, discounting the federal National University of Ireland...
, having retired as an active minister in 1995. His efforts in peace-making saw him receive a number of awards, notably the Tipperary International Peace Award in 1995, the Peace Activist Award from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and, in 1998, the post of honorary grand marshal of the St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin. He received the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 2004. He finally left the Parades Commission for good in 2006.
During the 2000 loyalist feud
Loyalist feud
A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups since they were founded shortly before and after the religious/political conflict known as The Troubles broke out in the late 1960s...
between the UVF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force
Loyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and the Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade was stood down by the UVF leadership. He had been the commander of the Mid-Ulster Brigade. The...
John White asked Rev. Magee to mediate between the warring factions. However the UVF, who wanted to go on the offensive, rejected the proposal out of hand.
Rev Magee died in 2009 after battling Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
. He was married to Maureen Reynolds and had two sons and a daughter, with his wife and one son dying before him.