Máire Drumm

Máire Drumm (22 October 1919 – 28 October 1976) was the vice-president of Sinn Féin and a commander in Cumann na mBan. She was killed by Ulster loyalists while recovering from an eye operation in Belfast's Mater Hospital.[2]

Máire Drumm
Drumm during an interview with the BBC in 1976
Born
Máire McAteer

(1919-10-22)October 22, 1919
Killean, South Armagh
DiedOctober 28, 1976(1976-10-28) (aged 57)
Belfast, County Antrim
Cause of deathAssassinated by Ulster loyalist paramilitaries
NationalityIrish
Known forCivil rights leader, public orator and figurehead of the republican movement
TitleVice-President of Sinn Féin
Term1972–1976
Political partySinn Féin
Spouse(s)Jimmy Drumm (1946-her death)[1]
ChildrenSéamus, Seán, Margaret, Catherine and Máire
Máire Drumm's grave
A mural in Belfast showing Drumm at Bodenstown
Drumm's memorial in Killean

Born in Newry, County Down, to a staunchly Irish republican family. Drumm's mother had been active in the War of Independence and the Civil War. Drumm grew up in the village of Killeen, County Armagh, right on the border with County Louth. She played camogie for Killeen. She was active in the republican movement after meeting her husband, a republican prisoner, and became involved in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the 1960s and worked to rehouse Catholics forced from their homes by loyalist intimidation.

She was jailed twice for seditious speeches. After she was released from HM Prison Armagh, 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, Máire Drumm was shot dead in her hospital bed in a joint operation by the Red Hand Commando.[3][4]

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."

References
  1. Eager, Paige Whaley (2008). From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence. Ashgate. p. 164. ISBN 0-330-49388-4.
  2. "Máire Drumm – An Phoblacht". anphoblacht.com. n.d. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  3. "Fógraí bháis – An Phoblacht". anphoblacht.com. n.d. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  4. 307 killed in Troubles' second bloodiest year, The Belfast Telegraph, 29 December 2006
Party political offices
Preceded by
Dáithí Ó Conaill
Joe Clarke		 Vice-President of Sinn Féin
1972–1976
With: Dáithí Ó Conaill		 Succeeded by
Dáithí Ó Conaill
Joe Cahill
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