Máire Drumm

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Máire Drumm
Born Máire McAleer
November 22, 1919(1919-11-22)
Newry, County Down
Died October 28, 1976 (aged 56)
Belfast, County Antrim
Cause of death killed by Loyalist paramilitaries
Nationality Irish
Title Vice President of Provisional Sinn Féin
Known for Civil rights leader, Public Orator and figurehead of Republican Movement
Term 1972 - 1976
Political party Sinn Féin
Religious beliefs Roman Catholic
Spouse James Drumm (1946-Death)
Máire Drumm's Grave
Máire Drumm's Grave
A mural in Belfast showing Máire Drumm at Bodenstown
A mural in Belfast showing Máire Drumm at Bodenstown
Máire Drumm's Memorial in Killean
Máire Drumm's Memorial in Killean

Máire Drumm (22 November 1919-28 October 1976) was the vice president of Sinn Féin and a commander in Cumann na mBan. She was killed by loyalists while recovering in Belfast's Mater Hospital.

Born in Newry, County Down to a staunchly republican family. Drumm's mother had been active in the War of Independence and the Civil War. Drumm grew up in the village of Killean, County Armagh, where she enjoyed playing camogie (the female form of hurling). She was active in the republican movement after meeting her husband, a republican prisoner and becoming involved in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and she worked on efforts to re-house the thousands of nationalists forced from the homes by unionist intimidation.

She was jailed twice for 'seditious speeches'. After she was released from Armagh prison raids on her house by the security forces escalated, her health began to fail and she was admitted to the Mater Hospital, Belfast.

On 28 October 1976, Maíre Drumm was killed by Loyalist paramilitaries, as she lay on her hospital bed. [1]

[edit] Quotes

Drumm's speeches and quotations can be found on murals across Northern Ireland. These include:

  • "The only people worthy of freedom are those who are prepared to go out and fight for it every day, and die if necessary."
  • "We must take no steps backward, our steps must be onward, for if we don't, the martyrs that died for you, for me, for this country will haunt us forever."

[edit] References

  1. ^ 307 killed in Troubles' second bloodiest year, Belfast Telegraph, 29 December, 2006

[edit] External links