The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitaryMulholland, Marc. Northern Ireland: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, 2002. p.80 group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of the participants of the Troubles. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism, particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1970s, uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government proscribed the UFF as a terrorist group in November 1973, but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.'A History of the UDA' BBC News. Retrieved 28 December 2021
The UDA/UFF were responsible for more than 400 deaths. The vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, – choose "organisation" as First Variable and "status summary" as Second Variable – choose "organisation" as First Variable and "religion summary" as Second Variable killed at random, in what the group called retaliation for IRA actions or attacks on Protestants. High-profile attacks carried out by the group include the Top of the Hill bar shooting, the Milltown massacre, the Sean Graham's and James Murray's bookmakers' shootings, the Castlerock killings, killings of Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews and the Greysteel massacre. Most of its attacks were in Northern Ireland, but from 1972 onward it also carried out bombings in the Republic of Ireland. The UDA/UFF declared a ceasefire in 1994 and ended its campaign in 2007, but some of its members have continued to engage in violence. The other main Loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). All three groups are proscribed organisations in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.
History The Ulster Defence Association emerged from a series of meetings during the middle of 1971 of loyalist "vigilante" groups called "defence associations". The largest of these were the Shankill and Woodvale Defence Associations,Steve Bruce, "Unionists and the Border", in Malcolm Anderson and Everhard Bort, The Irish border: history, politics, culture, p.129 with other groups based in East Belfast, Lower Shankill and Roden Street.Alan O'Day, Terrorism's laboratory: the case of Northern Ireland, p.118
UDA formation The first meeting, in September 1971, was chaired by Billy Hull, with Alan Moon of the lower Shankill as its vice-chair. Moon was quickly replaced by Jim Anderson.Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, p.50McDonald, Henry & Cusack, Jim (2004). The UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. Dublin: Penguin Ireland. Moon, who had become reluctant to be involved in vigilantism since the group's formation, willingly stepped aside and ended his association with the UDA soon afterwards.Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, Oxford University Press, 1992 The structure of this new movement soon took shape with a thirteen-man Security Council established in January 1972 as a reaction to a Provisional IRA bomb the previous month at the Balmoral furniture showroom on the Shankill which killed four people including two infants.
By this point, Charles Harding Smith had become the group's leader, with former Royal Army Ordnance Corps soldier Davy Fogel as his second-in-command, who trained the new recruits in military tactics, the use of guns, and unarmed combat. Its most prominent early spokesperson was Tommy Herron; however, Andy Tyrie would emerge as leader soon after.H. McDonald and J. Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004, pp. 64–65 Its original motto was Cedenta Arma Togae ("Law before violence") and it was a legal organisation until it was banned by the British government on 10 August 1992. Under Smith's command, the UDA was organised along paramilitary lines into battalions, companies, platoons and sections. The organisation drew more members, becoming the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Unlike its principal rival, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the UDA was legal.
In April 1972, the organisation's leader, Charles Harding Smith and leading UDA member John White were arrested in London for gun-trafficking.Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. A temporary de facto leadership assumed control and Anderson became the acting chairman of the UDA.
At the end of May 1972, Fogel, by then the leader of B Company and Harding Smith's second-in-command, erected the first UDA roadblocks and street barricades, making Woodvale, the area under Fogel's command, a no-go area.Wood, Ian S. (2006). Crimes of loyalty: a history of the UDA. Edinburgh University Press. p.8 The operation attracted a great deal of media and press coverage, resulting in much publicity for the UDA. British Army troops under the command of Major-General Robert Ford were sent to the area, where a stand-off with the UDA ensued. Leading UDA figures eventually entered into street negotiations with senior Army officers, where it was eventually agreed that the UDA could erect small temporary barriers in Loyalist neighbourhoods. That summer, the UDA marched through the streets of central Belfast in a massive demonstration of strength.
In December 1972, Harding Smith and White were acquitted and returned to Belfast. Immediately after their return, a fierce power struggle ensued after Harding Smith declared to his associates: "I'm the boss. I take orders from no one". Fogel was promptly ousted from the B Company command, while the formidable East Belfast brigadier, Tommy Herron, appeared on the scene to challenge Harding Smith's leadership. Anderson became joint chairman of the UDA with Harding Smith. The struggle that ensued between Harding Smith and Herron overshadowed the Inner Council and during the height of the feud Anderson often had to call a register at its meetings, so poor were the turnouts. Herron and Anderson became linked and the East Belfast brigadier took to styling himself as deputy leader to Anderson, whom he treated as sole chairman.
By spring 1973, however, Fogel had already returned to his native England, and Anderson decided to stand down. He publicly announced his resignation as joint chairman in March 1973, in part because he was a fairly law-abiding individual who sat uneasily with violently chaotic figures like Harding Smith and Herron. It had been Anderson who had been one of the main thinkers behind the UDA's motto "Law Before Violence" although this was ditched shortly after his resignation in favour of "Quis separabit". As a compromise candidate between the rival factions of Harding Smith and Herron, Andy Tyrie, commander of West Belfast Brigade's A Company, was chosen as the UDA's chairman. He would soon become the UDA's Supreme Commander, a position he held until an attempted car bombing brought about his retirement in March 1988.
Early in its history the UDA was closely associated with the Vanguard movement led by William Craig and it was regularly described as the "military wing" of Vanguard. At a rally in Lisburn in February 1972, Craig inspected uniformed ranks of UDA members. Craig issued a warning during a rally at Ormeau Park the next month, where thousands of UDA men were present: "If the politicians fail us, it might become our responsibility to eliminate the enemy." However, by 1979 the UDA had turned on Craig over his increasingly conciliatory approach to Nationalists and condemnation of the 1977 loyalist strike, leading the UDA to instead back Peter Robinson in that year's general election.
Membership
At its peak of strength it held around forty thousand members, mostly part-time. During this period of legality, the UDA committed a large number of attacks using the name Ulster Freedom Fighters, including the murder of Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician Paddy Wilson and his companion Irene Andrews in 1973. The UDA was involved in the successful Ulster Workers Council Strike in 1974, which brought down the Sunningdale Agreement, a power-sharing agreement for Northern Ireland which some unionists thought conceded too much to nationalist demands. The UDA enforced this general strike through widespread intimidation across Northern Ireland. The strike was led by VUPP Assemblyman and UDA member, Glenn Barr.
The UDA were often referred to by the nickname "Wombles" by their rivals, mainly the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The nickname is derived from the furry fictional children's TV creatures The Wombles, and was given to the UDA because many of its members wore fur-trimmed parkas.Sarah Nelson (1984). Ulster's Uncertain Defenders: Protestants Political, Paramilitary and Community Groups and the Northern Ireland Conflict. Belfast: Appletree Press, p.179 Its headquarters is in Gawn Street, off the Newtownards Road in east Belfast,Murphy, Dervla (1978). A Place Apart. Great Britain: Penguin Books. p.150 and its current motto is Quis Separabit, which is Latin for "Who will separate [us]?".
Women's units The UDA had several women's units, which were independent of each other.Taylor, p.136McEvoy, p.12 Although they occasionally helped staff roadblocks, the women's units were typically involved in local community work and responsible for the assembly and delivery of food parcels to UDA prisoners. This was a source of pride for the UDA."Women Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland: Duty, Agency and Empowerment – A Report from the Field". All Academic Research. Sandra McEvoy. 2008. p.16 The first women's unit was founded on the Shankill Road by Wendy "Bucket" Millar, whose sons Herbie and James "Sham" Millar would later become prominent UDA members. The UDA women's department was headed by Jean Moore, who also came from the Shankill Road. She had also served as the president of the women's auxiliary of the Loyalist Association of Workers. Her brother Ingram "Jock" Beckett, one of the UDA's founding members, had been killed in March 1972 by a rival UDA faction in an internal dispute.Dillon, Martin; Lehane, Denis (1973). Political murder in Northern Ireland. Penguin. p.232 Moore was succeeded by Hester Dunn of east Belfast, who also ran the public relations and administration section at the UDA headquarters.Wood, Ian S. (2006). Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p.94 Wendy Millar's Shankill Road group was a particularly active women's unit, and another was based in Sandy Row, south Belfast, a traditional UDA stronghold. The latter was commanded by Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas.Kiely, David M. (2005). Deadlier Than the Male: Ireland's Female Killers. Dublin: Gill & MacMillan. p.108 Her teenaged daughter, Elizabeth was one of the members.