Birmingham pub bombings
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| Birmingham Pub Bombings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| Target(s) | Public Houses in Birmingham |
| Date | 21 November 1974 2014 - 2025 (GMT) |
| Attack Type | Time bombs |
| Fatalities | 21 |
| Injuries | 182 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Provisional Irish Republican Army |
The Birmingham pub bombings were bombings by the Provisional IRA in Birmingham, England on November 21, 1974 which killed 21 people. The devices were placed in two central Birmingham pubs: the Mulberry Bush, at the foot of the Rotunda, and the Tavern in the Town, a basement pub on New Street (now renamed the Yard of Ale).
Contents |
[edit] The attacks
At 20:14 a man with an Irish accent telephoned the Birmingham Post newspaper and said that there was a bomb in the 17 story Rotunda office block housing the Mulberry Bush pub. Police hastened to the area to attempt to clear the pub, which was very crowded with patrons. Just twelve minutes later, at 20:25, the bomb exploded, devastating the crowded bar.
Warnings had just reached the equally crowded Tavern in the Town pub nearby, when at 20:27 a second bomb there exploded. A third device, outside a bank on Hagley Road, failed to detonate.
Collectively, the attacks were the most injurious terrorist attacks in England until the July 2005 London bombings; 21 people were killed (ten at the Mulberry Bush and eleven at the Tavern in the Town) and 182 people were injured.
In the book 'Error of Judgement' Mick Murray (an IRA member arrested later for other bombings) is quoted as telling Paddy Hill and Johnny Walker (two members of the Birmingham Six) that the phone boxes that were supposed to have been used to phone in a warning about the bombs were vandalised so they had to find another one some distance away.[1]
Six innocent people, the Birmingham Six, were later accused of carrying out the attack, convicted and served sixteen years in jail before they had their convictions overturned due to police tampering with evidence.
Thirty years after the bombings in 2004, Sinn Féin expressed regret for the loss of life in the attacks.
[edit] Memorial
A memorial plaque, commemorating the victims of the bombings, is sited in the grounds of St. Philip's Cathedral, in the centre of Birmingham.
[edit] The Dead
The 21 people killed in the bomb attacks, including two who died later from their injuries
- Jane Davis, 17
- Desmond Reilly, 20
- Eugene Reilly, 23
- Maureen Roberts, 20
- Marylin Nash, 22
- Pamela Palmer, 19
- Stephen Whalley, 21
- Lynn Bennett, 18
- Anne Hayes, 19
- Michael Beasley, 30
- Maxine Hambleton, 18
- John Jones, 51
- Charles Gray, 44
- John Rowland, 46
- Stanley Bodman, 51
- Trevor Thrupp, 33
- James Caddick, 40
- Paul Davis, 20
- Neil March, 20
- Thomas Chaytor, 28 (Died 28 November 1974)
- James Craig, 34 (Died 10 December 1974)
[edit] External links
- http://birmingham999.co.uk
- On this day report by the BBC on the incident
- On this day report by the BBC on the six men being charged
[edit] References
- ^ pp 153-154, Error of Judgement, Mullin, Chris, 3rd Edition, Poolbeg Press
