Senator John ('Jack') Barnhill - v1
John Eccles Nixon Barnhill (b.1905 d.1971), Jack (as he was known) was a senator and businessman, was born 11 April 1905 at Brickfield, Park Road aka Bog Rd, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the third child and second son in a family of at least five children, two sons and three daughters of William Wilson Barnhill (b.1867 d.1950) aged 83, a well-to-do farmer and barrister-at-law, and his wife Violet Alice, née Irvine (b.1878 d.1961) aged 82. She was born at 29 Shipquay Street, Derry/Londonderry, her father, John Irvine, a merchant, of Derry/Londonderry and his wife Rebecca Mary Anne (née Nixon). They married on 9 July 1900 at Alelaide Road Presbyterian Church, Dublin.
Siblings of William and Violet Barnhill.
1. Frances Violet Barnhill (b.c1903 d.?).
2. William Wilson Barnhill (b.c1904 d.?).
3. John Eccles Nixon Barnhill (b.1905 d.1971).
4. Gladys Mary Barnhill (b.c1907 d.?).
5. Aileen Olive Barnhill, b.c1909 died 31st August 1964. Widow of A. Cromie.
Barnhill was educated at Prior School, Lifford, Co. Donegal, before moving with his brother, William to the private boarding school, Campbell College, Belfast.
On leaving Campbell College, Barnhill began a business career with the family firm, William Thompson & Co. Ltd. in Derry/Londonderry who where a well-known seed, agricultural machinery sales, also dealing with feed, fertilisers and milking machines. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Barnhill became managing director of the company. He was also a substantial farmer and served for many years as honorary treasurer of the North-West of Ireland Agricultural Society.
An active member of the Unionist Party, Barnhill was vice-chairman of the North Tyrone Unionist Association when he was elected to the senate of Northern Ireland in 1962. In the senate Barnhill frequently spoke on matters affecting the north-west of Ireland and in 1965 he became a leading member of the campaign to locate the new University of Ulster in Derry/Londonderry. While he enthused that the university campaign transcended the religious divide, his earlier comments at a unionist meeting in Derry on January 1964 had provoked a storm of controversy: he had stated that, while employers in Derry should not sack good nationalist employees, they should ensure that new employees were unionists.
Barnhill was generally identified as a hard-line unionist, and he had been strongly opposed to the reforming policies of Terence O'Neill (b.1914 d.1990). At the time of his death, William Samuel Fyffe (b.1914 d.1989), a unionist politician, MP for Tyrone North, stated that people would remember Senator Barnhill as ‘a strong unionist and one who held office determined to do good for all the citizens’ (Strabane Chronicle, 18 Dec. 1971). Barnhill's senate speeches were noted for their embellishment with poetic quotations and he won many awards for his speeches at unionist meetings in the north-west. He was elected to serve as deputy speaker of the house from 1967 to 68. The nationalist senator and journalist, Dr. Patrick Francis, McGill (b.1913 d.1977) recalled that Barnhill was a very cultured man who set a remarkably high standard in his senate contributions.
On the day of his murder, Barnhill had attended morning worship with his wife Margarette at Leckpatrick Presbyterian Church. It’s thought that in the afternoon, he was present at the funeral service of 28 year old Sergeant Kenneth Smyth in Urney, Strabane, a Sergeant in ‘A’ Company, 6th Battalion of the Ulster Defence Regiment who was murdered two days before, on 10th December 1971.
Senator Barnhill was murdered on 12 December 1971 at around 7pm in the course of a bomb attack which destroyed his home, Brickfield, on the Park Road aka Bog Rd, one mile from the town of Strabane, Co. Tyrone, and half a mile from the border town of Lifford, Donegal, Republic of Ireland. The Official IRA admitted responsibility for the murder but denied that they had intended physical harm to either the senator or his wife. They alleged, in a statement issued shortly after the killing, that Barnhill had struggled with the bombers and that he was shot dead in the ensuing brawl. They also stated that the bomb had been placed in reprisal for recent attacks on working-class catholic homes and that Barnhill's premises had been selected because he had been identified as a supporter of the policies of Brian Faulkner (b.1921 d.1977) at that time he was head of the parliamentary Unionist Party and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
The murder was strongly condemned by members of the SDLP and by some within the republican movement such as Tomás Mac Giolla (b.1924 d. 2010) president of Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place). At a meeting of Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) in the Mansion House, Dublin, Bernadette McAliskey, née Devlin (b.23 April 1947), MP for Mid-Ulster at Westminster, called on the army council of the IRA to discipline the men involved. She suggested that while Barnhill was ‘a bigot of the first-class order’, he did not represent British imperialism and was not a threat to the people or the IRA (Irish Times, 14 Dec. 1971).
In contrast to the Official IRA's statement, the RUC claimed that Barnhill was shot dead on answering his door to the bombers and that his dead body was then laid alongside the 50 lb (22.7 kg) gelignite bomb. His wife had been ordered out of the house and as she reached a neighbour's home the bomb exploded. Barnhill was buried in the rubble, his body being recovered the following day.
He was the twenty-second person to die as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland in just eight days. The previous day, Saturday 11 December, a bomb exploded without warning outside the Balmoral Furniture Company (known locally as "Moffat's") when the Shankill Road in Belfast was crowded with shoppers. Four people were killed, two employees working inside the shop, Hugh Bruce (70) and Harold King (29) and two babies, Tracey Munn (2) and Colin Nichol (17 months), who both died instantly when part of the wall crashed down upon the pram they were sharing.
Barnhill was also the first member of the Stormont parliament to die since the 22 May 1922 when W. J. Twaddell (b.1884) was murder in Belfast. It was widely believed that this bombing was carried out by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in retaliation for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) bombing of McGurk's Bar a week earlier on the 4 December 1971, when 15 Catholic civilians where killed.
Because of the proximity of Barnhill's home to the border with the republic, Brian Faulkner suggested that an IRA gang, operating from a safe haven in Donegal, was responsible for recent killings in the Strabane area, including that of Barnhill. The Unionist Party, the New Ulster Movement, and the Westminster government subsequently placed renewed pressure on the taoiseach, Jack Lynch (b.1917 d.1999), to take effective action against the IRA. The Royal Black Preceptory (RBP), of which Barnhill was a member, called for sanctions to be applied against the Irish government, as they believed that the state was harbouring terrorists. Lynch vehemently denied the allegations and instead renewed his suggestion that the British and Irish governments should jointly ask the UN security council to provide a UN observer group on both sides of the border. He also suggested that unionist politicians and others were attempting to use the death of Barnhill to shift the blame for the continuing tragedy in the north on the Irish government and away from those directly responsible, the British government and the Stormont administration.
No-one has ever been convicted for Barnhill's murder.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Sir Alec Douglas-Home (b.1903 d.1995) stated “We were deeply shocked at the murder of Senator Barnhill and I know that the House will join me in expressing our deep sympathy to his family. A statement on this despicable case of murder, however, is not for me”.
On Wednesday 15, December 1971, Barnhill’s funeral took place at Leckpatrick Presbyterian Church, the coffin was draped in the Union Flag, while his Royal Black and Apprentice Boys regalia was lay on top. He was then buried in the family plot BE12 in the protestant section of Strabane Cemetery.
He was survived by his wife, Margarette, his brother, William, and his sister, Gladys. Speaking at his funeral, the Rev. Frank Hay, minister at Leckpatrick presbyterian church, referred to him as a cultured gentleman and noted that, as a ruling elder and clerk of session of that congregation, he manifested an intimate interest in the work and welfare of the presbyterian church.
Traumatised and heartbroken by the loss of her husband, Margarette Barnhill later left the Strabane area and moved to England.
Barnhill was also prominent in the loyal orders and served as worshipful master of Leckpatrick LOL 251, treasurer of Strabane district LOL No. 14, worshipful master of Artigarvan Royal Black Preceptory (RBP) 91, registrar of the Strabane District Royal Black Preceptory No. 2, and grand censor of the County Tyrone Grand Black Chapter. He was also president of the Mitchelburne Club Apprentice Boys, Artigarvan branch.
On the 13th anniversary of Barnhill's death, the cross-party Stormont assembly commission decided to inscribe the names of Senator Barnhill and Senator Paddy Wilson on the walls of the old Senate chamber. Senator Wilson was a prominent member of the SDLP who along with his protestant friend, Irene Andrews were hacked and repeatedly stabbed to death on 25/26 June 1973, in a quarry off the Hightown Road near Cavehill, Belfast by members of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF), which was a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). There was widespread shock and condemnation in the wake of the killings. Politicians, including Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave (b.1920 d.2017) and SDLP leader Gerry Fitt (b.1926 d.2005), offered their condolences to the Wilson and Andrews' families, whilst Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley (b.1926 d.2014) blamed the IRA. According to journalist and documentary-maker, Peter Taylor (b.1942), there had never been a crime so brutal carried out in Northern Ireland before.
The anniversary was attended by friends and relatives of the Barnhill and Wilson families, elected Ministers, Officers of the Assembly and Members of the Northern Ireland Executive. The speaker, the Deputy First Minister, Mark Durkan and Junior Minister Dermotte Nesbitt, representing the First Minister, made a short but very moving address. The cermoney ended with Patrick Barnhill, Senator Barnhills nephew, and Paul Wilson, Senator Wilson’s son, jointely unveiling the two engravings in the Senate Rountunda and then shaking hands as a mark of friendship. This was a very special and momentous occasion, and the first time that a member of the nationalist and Unionist communities had been jointly honoured in this way by the Assembly.
Exactly 50 years after the killing of Senator Barnhill, a special Service of Remembrance was held in his memory at Artigarvan Hall on Sunday, 12 December 2021, organised by Artigarvan Royal Black Preceptory (RBP) No. 91, Leckpatrick LOL No. 251, and the Artigarvan Branch, Mitchelburne Club, Apprentice Boys of Derry.
Senior leaders of the three Loyal Orders were in attendance, including Rev William Anderson, Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution.
Afterwards, Rev William Anderson said: “The cold-blooded murder of Sir Knight Jack Barnhill by republican terrorists was an evil, dastardly crime. Others may wish to forget, but we will never forget the actions of paramilitary gunmen who skulked in the shadows to commit their crimes, nor will we ever forget their innocent victims.”
During the religious service, special floral tributes were laid in memory of Sir Knight Barnhill, and those in attendance heard a detailed account of his life, which was devoted to his family, faith and country.
Senator John ('Jack') Barnhill - v1
John Eccles Nixon Barnhill (b.1905 d.1971), Jack (as he was known) was a senator and businessman, was born 11 April 1905 at Brickfield, Park Road aka Bog Rd, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the third child and second son in a family of at least five children, two sons and three daughters of William Wilson Barnhill (b.1867 d.1950) aged 83, a well-to-do farmer and barrister-at-law, and his wife Violet Alice, née Irvine (b.1878 d.1961) aged 82. She was born at 29 Shipquay Street, Derry/Londonderry, her father, John Irvine, a merchant, of Derry/Londonderry and his wife Rebecca Mary Anne (née Nixon). They married on 9 July 1900 at Alelaide Road Presbyterian Church, Dublin.
Siblings of William and Violet Barnhill.
1. Frances Violet Barnhill (b.c1903 d.?).
2. William Wilson Barnhill (b.c1904 d.?).
3. John Eccles Nixon Barnhill (b.1905 d.1971).
4. Gladys Mary Barnhill (b.c1907 d.?).
5. Aileen Olive Barnhill, b.c1909 died 31st August 1964. Widow of A. Cromie.
Barnhill was educated at Prior School, Lifford, Co. Donegal, before moving with his brother, William to the private boarding school, Campbell College, Belfast.
On leaving Campbell College, Barnhill began a business career with the family firm, William Thompson & Co. Ltd. in Derry/Londonderry who where a well-known seed, agricultural machinery sales, also dealing with feed, fertilisers and milking machines. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Barnhill became managing director of the company. He was also a substantial farmer and served for many years as honorary treasurer of the North-West of Ireland Agricultural Society.
An active member of the Unionist Party, Barnhill was vice-chairman of the North Tyrone Unionist Association when he was elected to the senate of Northern Ireland in 1962. In the senate Barnhill frequently spoke on matters affecting the north-west of Ireland and in 1965 he became a leading member of the campaign to locate the new University of Ulster in Derry/Londonderry. While he enthused that the university campaign transcended the religious divide, his earlier comments at a unionist meeting in Derry on January 1964 had provoked a storm of controversy: he had stated that, while employers in Derry should not sack good nationalist employees, they should ensure that new employees were unionists.
Barnhill was generally identified as a hard-line unionist, and he had been strongly opposed to the reforming policies of Terence O'Neill (b.1914 d.1990). At the time of his death, William Samuel Fyffe (b.1914 d.1989), a unionist politician, MP for Tyrone North, stated that people would remember Senator Barnhill as ‘a strong unionist and one who held office determined to do good for all the citizens’ (Strabane Chronicle, 18 Dec. 1971). Barnhill's senate speeches were noted for their embellishment with poetic quotations and he won many awards for his speeches at unionist meetings in the north-west. He was elected to serve as deputy speaker of the house from 1967 to 68. The nationalist senator and journalist, Dr. Patrick Francis, McGill (b.1913 d.1977) recalled that Barnhill was a very cultured man who set a remarkably high standard in his senate contributions.
On the day of his murder, Barnhill had attended morning worship with his wife Margarette at Leckpatrick Presbyterian Church. It’s thought that in the afternoon, he was present at the funeral service of 28 year old Sergeant Kenneth Smyth in Urney, Strabane, a Sergeant in ‘A’ Company, 6th Battalion of the Ulster Defence Regiment who was murdered two days before, on 10th December 1971.
Senator Barnhill was murdered on 12 December 1971 at around 7pm in the course of a bomb attack which destroyed his home, Brickfield, on the Park Road aka Bog Rd, one mile from the town of Strabane, Co. Tyrone, and half a mile from the border town of Lifford, Donegal, Republic of Ireland. The Official IRA admitted responsibility for the murder but denied that they had intended physical harm to either the senator or his wife. They alleged, in a statement issued shortly after the killing, that Barnhill had struggled with the bombers and that he was shot dead in the ensuing brawl. They also stated that the bomb had been placed in reprisal for recent attacks on working-class catholic homes and that Barnhill's premises had been selected because he had been identified as a supporter of the policies of Brian Faulkner (b.1921 d.1977) at that time he was head of the parliamentary Unionist Party and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
The murder was strongly condemned by members of the SDLP and by some within the republican movement such as Tomás Mac Giolla (b.1924 d. 2010) president of Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place). At a meeting of Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) in the Mansion House, Dublin, Bernadette McAliskey, née Devlin (b.23 April 1947), MP for Mid-Ulster at Westminster, called on the army council of the IRA to discipline the men involved. She suggested that while Barnhill was ‘a bigot of the first-class order’, he did not represent British imperialism and was not a threat to the people or the IRA (Irish Times, 14 Dec. 1971).
In contrast to the Official IRA's statement, the RUC claimed that Barnhill was shot dead on answering his door to the bombers and that his dead body was then laid alongside the 50 lb (22.7 kg) gelignite bomb. His wife had been ordered out of the house and as she reached a neighbour's home the bomb exploded. Barnhill was buried in the rubble, his body being recovered the following day.
He was the twenty-second person to die as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland in just eight days. The previous day, Saturday 11 December, a bomb exploded without warning outside the Balmoral Furniture Company (known locally as "Moffat's") when the Shankill Road in Belfast was crowded with shoppers. Four people were killed, two employees working inside the shop, Hugh Bruce (70) and Harold King (29) and two babies, Tracey Munn (2) and Colin Nichol (17 months), who both died instantly when part of the wall crashed down upon the pram they were sharing.
Barnhill was also the first member of the Stormont parliament to die since the 22 May 1922 when W. J. Twaddell (b.1884) was murder in Belfast. It was widely believed that this bombing was carried out by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in retaliation for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) bombing of McGurk's Bar a week earlier on the 4 December 1971, when 15 Catholic civilians where killed.
Because of the proximity of Barnhill's home to the border with the republic, Brian Faulkner suggested that an IRA gang, operating from a safe haven in Donegal, was responsible for recent killings in the Strabane area, including that of Barnhill. The Unionist Party, the New Ulster Movement, and the Westminster government subsequently placed renewed pressure on the taoiseach, Jack Lynch (b.1917 d.1999), to take effective action against the IRA. The Royal Black Preceptory (RBP), of which Barnhill was a member, called for sanctions to be applied against the Irish government, as they believed that the state was harbouring terrorists. Lynch vehemently denied the allegations and instead renewed his suggestion that the British and Irish governments should jointly ask the UN security council to provide a UN observer group on both sides of the border. He also suggested that unionist politicians and others were attempting to use the death of Barnhill to shift the blame for the continuing tragedy in the north on the Irish government and away from those directly responsible, the British government and the Stormont administration.
No-one has ever been convicted for Barnhill's murder.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Sir Alec Douglas-Home (b.1903 d.1995) stated “We were deeply shocked at the murder of Senator Barnhill and I know that the House will join me in expressing our deep sympathy to his family. A statement on this despicable case of murder, however, is not for me”.
On Wednesday 15, December 1971, Barnhill’s funeral took place at Leckpatrick Presbyterian Church, the coffin was draped in the Union Flag, while his Royal Black and Apprentice Boys regalia was lay on top. He was then buried in the family plot BE12 in the protestant section of Strabane Cemetery.
He was survived by his wife, Margarette, his brother, William, and his sister, Gladys. Speaking at his funeral, the Rev. Frank Hay, minister at Leckpatrick presbyterian church, referred to him as a cultured gentleman and noted that, as a ruling elder and clerk of session of that congregation, he manifested an intimate interest in the work and welfare of the presbyterian church.
Traumatised and heartbroken by the loss of her husband, Margarette Barnhill later left the Strabane area and moved to England.
Barnhill was also prominent in the loyal orders and served as worshipful master of Leckpatrick LOL 251, treasurer of Strabane district LOL No. 14, worshipful master of Artigarvan Royal Black Preceptory (RBP) 91, registrar of the Strabane District Royal Black Preceptory No. 2, and grand censor of the County Tyrone Grand Black Chapter. He was also president of the Mitchelburne Club Apprentice Boys, Artigarvan branch.
On the 13th anniversary of Barnhill's death, the cross-party Stormont assembly commission decided to inscribe the names of Senator Barnhill and Senator Paddy Wilson on the walls of the old Senate chamber. Senator Wilson was a prominent member of the SDLP who along with his protestant friend, Irene Andrews were hacked and repeatedly stabbed to death on 25/26 June 1973, in a quarry off the Hightown Road near Cavehill, Belfast by members of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF), which was a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). There was widespread shock and condemnation in the wake of the killings. Politicians, including Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave (b.1920 d.2017) and SDLP leader Gerry Fitt (b.1926 d.2005), offered their condolences to the Wilson and Andrews' families, whilst Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley (b.1926 d.2014) blamed the IRA. According to journalist and documentary-maker, Peter Taylor (b.1942), there had never been a crime so brutal carried out in Northern Ireland before.
The anniversary was attended by friends and relatives of the Barnhill and Wilson families, elected Ministers, Officers of the Assembly and Members of the Northern Ireland Executive. The speaker, the Deputy First Minister, Mark Durkan and Junior Minister Dermotte Nesbitt, representing the First Minister, made a short but very moving address. The cermoney ended with Patrick Barnhill, Senator Barnhills nephew, and Paul Wilson, Senator Wilson’s son, jointely unveiling the two engravings in the Senate Rountunda and then shaking hands as a mark of friendship. This was a very special and momentous occasion, and the first time that a member of the nationalist and Unionist communities had been jointly honoured in this way by the Assembly.
Exactly 50 years after the killing of Senator Barnhill, a special Service of Remembrance was held in his memory at Artigarvan Hall on Sunday, 12 December 2021, organised by Artigarvan Royal Black Preceptory (RBP) No. 91, Leckpatrick LOL No. 251, and the Artigarvan Branch, Mitchelburne Club, Apprentice Boys of Derry.
Senior leaders of the three Loyal Orders were in attendance, including Rev William Anderson, Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Black Institution.
Afterwards, Rev William Anderson said: “The cold-blooded murder of Sir Knight Jack Barnhill by republican terrorists was an evil, dastardly crime. Others may wish to forget, but we will never forget the actions of paramilitary gunmen who skulked in the shadows to commit their crimes, nor will we ever forget their innocent victims.”
During the religious service, special floral tributes were laid in memory of Sir Knight Barnhill, and those in attendance heard a detailed account of his life, which was devoted to his family, faith and country.