Woodvale Defence Association
The Woodvale Defence Association (WDA) was an Ulster loyalist vigilante group in the Woodvale district of Belfast, an area immediately to the north of the Shankill Road.
The organisation grew from a few smaller vigilante groups. It initially met in a pigeon fancier's club on Leopold Street,[1] a location found on the initiative of Charles Harding Smith, who kept some birds.[2] Sources differ on its actual date of foundation; many claim it was founded in 1969, around the same time as the Shankill Defence Association, which covered a neighbouring area,[3] but Ian Wood's detailed study of the Ulster Defence Association dates its origin to June 1970, when a loyalist pipe band on the Springfield Road was attacked by Catholic protesters, leading to a riot.[4]
The WDA was initially led by Alan Moon, with Sammy Smyth acting as its main spokesman, although Moon was soon replaced by Harding Smith.[5] Initial membership of the WDA was primarily middle-aged and disinclined to take violent action. However, Davy Fogel interrupted an early meeting to call for members to receive military training. Harding Smith instructed him to start this, members bringing both legally held guns and dummy weapons.[4]
In 1971, many local loyalist groups merged to form the Ulster Defence Association. Its core components were the Woodvale and the Shankill Defence Associations,[6] the Woodvale organisation being the largest of its forerunners.[7] The new organisation was a loose confederation, and the Woodvale group continued to publish a newsletter, the WDA News.[8] Its 1 May 1972 issue carried a notorious article justifying genocide against Roman Catholics and calling for racial purity.[9] When the UDA was restructured, the WDA became its "B" Company.[10]
Several leading members of the UDA started out in the WDA, including Jim Anderson,[11] Davy Payne, Ernie Elliott and John White.[12]
References
- ^ Steve Bruce, The red hand: Protestant paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, p.49
- ^ Peter Taylor, Loyalists, p.101
- ^ Council of Europe, Yearbook of the European convention on human rights, p.652
- ^ a b Wood, Ian S., Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA, pp.1–2
- ^ Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, pp.49, 59
- ^ Steve Bruce, "Unionists and the Border", in Malcolm Anderson and Everhard Bort, The Irish border: history, politics, culture, p.129
- ^ Peter Taylor, Loyalists, p.100
- ^ Chris Curtin, Irish urban cultures, p.250
- ^ Frank Burton, The politics of legitimacy: struggles in a Belfast community, p.52
- ^ Peter Janke, Ethnic and religious conflicts: Europe and Asia, p.116
- ^ Ian S. Wood, Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA, p.347
- ^ Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack, UDA: inside the heart of Loyalist terror, p.55
- v
- t
- e
- Charles Harding Smith (1971-1973)
- Andy Tyrie (1973-1988)
- position abolished (1988)
- Albert "Ginger" Baker
- Jimmy Birch
- Billy Elliot
- Jim "Doris Day" Gray
- Tommy Herron
- Sammy McCormick
- Ned McCreery
- Michael Stone
- John Boreland
- John Bunting
- Sammy Duddy
- Tommy English
- Davy Payne
- Andre & Ihab Shoukri
- Jimbo Simpson
- David Adams
- Joe Bratty
- James Craig
- Raymond Elder
- Alex Kerr
- Jackie McDonald
- John McMichael
- Ray Smallwoods
- Michael Stone
- Johnny Adair
- Ken Barrett
- Jackie Coulter
- Mo Courtney
- James Craig
- Frankie Curry
- William "Winkie" Dodds
- Hester Dunn
- Ernie Elliott
- Davy Fogel
- Donald Hodgen
- Billy Hull
- Matt Kincaid
- Tommy Lyttle
- Kenny McClinton
- Sam McCrory
- Alan McCullough
- William "Bucky" McCullough
- Stephen "Top Gun" McKeag
- Billy "Twister" McQuiston
- James "Sham" Millar
- Wendy Millar
- Brian Nelson
- Charles Harding Smith
- Gary "Smickers" Smyth
- Sammy Smyth
- Jim Spence
- William Stobie
- "Fat" Jackie Thompson
- Andy Tyrie
- John White
- Joe English
- John Gregg
- Glenn Barr
- Ken Kerr
- Torrens Knight
- Billy McFarland
- Andy Robinson
- Robert John Kerr
- Eddie Sayers
- Michael Stone
- Benny's Bar bombing (1972)
- Top of the Hill bar shooting (1972)
- New Lodge Six shooting (1973)
- Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews killings (1973)
- Murder of Ann Ogilby (1974)
- Dublin Airport bombing (1975)
- Biddy Mulligan's pub bombing (1975)
- Milltown Cemetery attack (1988)
- Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting (1992)
- Attack on James Murray's bookmakers (1992)
- Castlerock killings (1993)
- Greysteel massacre (1993)
- Paddy Wilson (1973)
- John Turnley (1980)
- Miriam Daly (1980)
- Ronnie Bunting (1980)
- James Craig (1988)
- Pat Finucane (1989)
- Gerard Casey (1989)
- Eddie Fullerton (1991)
- Ned McCreery (1992)
- Frankie Curry (1999)
- Combined Loyalist Military Command
- Loyalist Association of Workers
- Loyalist feud
- Quis separabit?
- Real Ulster Freedom Fighters
- Red Hand Defenders
- Shankill Defence Association
- Ulster Army Council
- Ulster Democratic Party
- Ulster loyalism
- Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee
- Ulster nationalism
- Ulster Political Research Group
- Ulster Workers' Council strike
- Ulster Young Militants
- Volunteer (Ulster loyalist)
- Woodvale Defence Association