Gordon Wilson (peace campaigner)

Gordon Wilson (25 September 1927 – 27 June 1995) was a draper in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, who became known internationally as a peace campaigner during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Gordon Wilson
Wilson with his wife Joan
Born(1927-09-25)25 September 1927
Manorhamilton, County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland
Died27 June 1995(1995-06-27) (aged 67)
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Occupation(s)Draper, peace campaigner, politician
Known forForgiving IRA bombers and opposing loyalist revenge
SpouseJoan Wilson
Children3

On 8 November 1987 a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA exploded during Enniskillen's Remembrance Day parade, injuring Wilson and fatally injuring his daughter Marie, a nurse. In an emotional television interview with the BBC only hours after the bombing, Wilson described his final conversation with his dying daughter as they both lay buried in rubble. His words "I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge" were reported worldwide, becoming among the most-remembered quotations from the Troubles.[1] Whereas IRA attacks in Northern Ireland often resulted in reprisals by loyalists, Wilson's calls for forgiveness and reconciliation came to be called the Spirit of Enniskillen.

As a peace campaigner, Wilson held many meetings with members of Sinn Féin. He also met once with representatives of the Provisional IRA. Wilson sought to understand the reasons for the Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen. He also held talks with loyalist paramilitaries in an attempt to persuade them to abandon violence.

Bombing

On 8 November 1987, Enniskillen held its annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony to honour those who had served in the British Armed Forces. The Provisional IRA had planted a 40 lb (18 kg) bomb in the town's Reading Rooms behind the cenotaph. It was timed to go off at 10:43 am just before the ceremony was due to start.[2][3] The explosion killed 11 people and injured 64; the last victim died after lying in a coma for 13 years.[4][5]

The blast buried Wilson and his daughter, Marie, in rubble. Unable to move, he held her hand and comforted her as she lay dying, her last words were, "Daddy, I love you very much". Five minutes later rescuers pulled Wilson and his daughter out from under the collapsed building. Marie never regained consciousness and died later in hospital.[6]

The BBC would later describe the bombing as a turning point in the Troubles because the attack shook the IRA "to its core".[2][6] Pivotal to the change in attitude towards this sort of attack was Wilson's reaction to the death of his daughter. The 60-year-old draper publicly forgave those who had planted the bomb and said he would pray for them. He also begged that no-one take revenge for Marie's death and pleaded with loyalists not to do so.

On Remembrance Day 1997, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams formally apologised for the bombing.[7]

Peace campaigner

Mediator

William Ury wrote in his 1999 book The Third Side:

In an interview with the BBC, Wilson described with anguish his last conversation with his daughter and his feelings toward her killers: "She held my hand tightly, and gripped me as hard as she could. She said, 'Daddy, I love you very much.' Those were her exact words to me, and those were the last words I ever heard her say." To the astonishment of listeners, Wilson went on to add, "But I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge. Dirty sort of talk is not going to bring her back to life. She was a great wee lassie. She loved her profession. She was a pet. She's dead. She's in heaven and we shall meet again. I will pray for these men tonight and every night." As historian Jonathan Bardon recounts, "No words in more than twenty-five years of violence in Northern Ireland had such a powerful, emotional impact."

He contacted senior members of the IRA following the bombings which killed two boys in Warrington, England in 1993. Despite his begging them to stop, the IRA issued a statement offering "sincerest condolences and apologies" for his daughter's death.[8] Wilson said his efforts had been "quite pointless"; he also noted that some Protestants never forgave him for meeting the IRA.[8]

Spirit of Enniskillen Trust

In 1989 Wilson helped launch a community outreach programme entitled the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust which helped young people in Northern Ireland participate in international undertakings. The Trust gave bursaries to promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland. "The idea was to encourage young people aged between 16 and 19 from Northern Ireland to travel outside the Province and to use their experience to help build community bridges at home".[9] The Trust closed in 2013 due to financial problems.[10]

Irish Senate

In 1993, Wilson was nominated by Albert Reynolds, the then Taoiseach of Republic of Ireland, to join the Seanad Eireann, the Upper house of the Oireachtas. He served as a Senator until 1995.[1][11][12]

Personal life

William Gordon Wilson was born in the town of Manorhamilton in County Leitrim in the Irish Free State on 25 September 1927, a few years after the partition of Ireland. His parents, George Wilson and Henrietta Conn, had married in 1926. Wilson was the eldest of four children, had a happy childhood in a strongly Methodist household, with his three sisters Joan, Wilma and Dorothy.[13] Educated at Wesley College, Dublin, Wilson was a man of strong Christian faith and attended Enniskillen Methodist Church.[14] He spent most of his adult life running the family drapery shop in High Street, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

Death

Wilson died of a heart attack in 1995, aged 67,[12] just a few months after the death of his son, Peter, in a road accident.[1] He was survived by his wife, Joan, and their daughter Julie-Anne. [15]His wife, Joan Wilson, died on 31 March 2023. [16]

Legacy

People who had met Wilson in the course of his peace work have described him as one of the most inspiring and caring men they had ever met.[1][15][17]

Wesley College Dublin, where Wilson went to school as a teenager, renamed their library to the Gordon Wilson Library after his death. His widow was present at the ceremony.[18]

References
  1. "Interviewing Gordon Wilson was nearest I'd ever get to being in presence of a saint". Belfast Telegraph. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  2. "Age of Terror" (Television Documentary). BBC. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  3. House of Commons Official Report 9 November 1987 Column 19
  4. Mary Harney (2001). "Dail Remarks by Mary Harney, T.D., Tánaiste and Leader of the Progressive Democrats in Response to the Recent Terrorist Attacks on the United States". DETE press release. Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  5. McDonald, Henry (23 April 2006). "Gadaffi sued by 160 victims of IRA". Guardian Unlimited. London. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  6. "Educational Television Programmes for lectures, training seminars and exhibitions" (PDF). BBC Active. 14 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  7. "Adams apologises for Enniskillen bombing". BBC News. 8 November 1997.
  8. "Gordon Wilson, 67, Campaigner For Peace in Northern Ireland". New York Times. 28 June 1995. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. McCreary, op. cit, p. 120
  10. "Spirit of Enniskillen Trust charity folding due to pension crisis". BBC News. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  11. "Gordon Wilson". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  12. "Obituary: Gordon Wilson". The Independent. 28 June 1995. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  13. McCreary, Alf (1996). Gordon Wilson, An Ordinary Hero. Marshall Pickering. p. 1.
  14. Drummond, Norman (2010). The Power of Three: Discovering what really matters in life. UK: Hachette (Hodder & Stoughton). p. 200. ISBN 9780340979914.
  15. "'Every day I think of Marie and what happened. I know we'll meet again'". Belfast Telegraph. 6 November 2017.
  16. "'Joan Wilson obituary: A beacon of light during the darkness of Troubles'". Belfast Telegraph. 31 March 2023.
  17. "Remembering the unthinkable". The Irish Times. 8 November 1997.
  18. "Dedication of Gordon Wilson Library". Wesley College Dublin. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
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