Billy Hull
William Hull (born 1912, date of death unknown[1]) was a loyalist activist in Northern Ireland. Hull was a leading figure in political, paramilitary and trade union circles during the early years of the Troubles. He is most remembered for being the leader of the Loyalist Association of Workers, a loyalist trade union-styled movement that briefly enjoyed a mass membership before fading.
Early years
A native of Belfast, Hull came from the Shankill Road, a staunchly loyalist and working class area in the west of the city.[2] Hull was well known for his heavy build, and he was said to weigh as much as twenty stone.[3] He was a member of the Orange Order.[4]
Hull worked at the
Loyalist activism
Hull was also active in loyalist paramilitarism and around 1970 he helped to establish the Workers' Committee for the Defence of the Constitution (WCDC), a loyalist trade union of which he was joint leader along with Hugh Petrie of Short Brothers.[5] In February 1971, he led a march of 9,000 shipyard workers to demand the introduction of internment in the aftermath of the 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings.[1] Hull's march was one of the major factors in the resignation of James Chichester-Clark as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.[1]
In 1971 he founded the
UDA
In 1971 Hull had co-operated closely with
Political career
In 1972, Hull was a prominent founder-member of the Ulster Vanguard.
Following his own disappointing showing, Hull contemplated turning the LAW into a new, working class loyalist party, but this was fiercely opposed by Vanguard leader
Later years
In 1974, Hull was shot and injured in an attack which Conflict Archive on the Internet states was carried out by other loyalist paramilitaries, possibly the Ulster Volunteer Force.[17] Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack however state that the shooting was the work of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who wanted to take down two high-profile UDA members, even if they had little involvement in the group's military activities.[18] Steve Bruce also states that it was the work of IRA members from Ardoyne, although a false claim was made to the BBC that it had been carried out by the Ulster Young Militants.[19] Hull had been in the Crumlin Road glazier shop belonging to Jim Anderson when a gunman entered and shot both men.[18]
By the time of this attack, Hull's role with the UDA had diminished considerably.[18] With the LAW having also disappeared, Hull would play little role in public life from then on.
References
- ^ a b c d e f WD Flackes & Sydney Elliott, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968–1993, Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 185
- ^ a b Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald, UVF, Poolbeg, 1997, p. 107
- ^ a b Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 19
- ^ Tim Pat Coogan, The Troubles, Hutchinson, 1995, p. 140
- ^ Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish political organizations: parties, groups and movements of the 20th century, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000, p. 265
- ^ Peter Taylor, Loyalists, Bloomsbury, 2000, pp. 120–121
- ^ David McKittrick, "The Class Structure of Unionism", The Crane Bag, Vol. 4, No. 2, The Northern Issue (1980/1981), pp. 28–33
- ^ Mansbach, Richard (1973), Northern Ireland: Half a Century of Partition, Facts on File, Inc, New York, pg 196, ISBN 0-87196-182-2
- ^ a b c Michael Farrell, Northern Ireland: The Orange State
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 30
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 39
- ^ J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, Transaction Publishers, 1997, p. 387
- ^ North Belfast 1973–1982, Northern Ireland Elections
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 66
- ^ Dean Godson, Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism, HarperCollins UK, 2004, p. 38
- ^ a b Paul Bew & Gordon Gillespie, Northern Ireland A Chronology of the Troubles 1968–1999, Gill & Macmillan, 1999, p. 60
- ^ A Chronology of the Conflict – 1974, CAIN Web Service
- ^ a b c McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 90
- ^ Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102