Peter Skeet Hamilton

As the year moves into its final hours it leads to reflection on those who will not cross the threshold of the year about to dawn. Skeet Hamilton may have remained with the Provos right up to his last breath, even having voted for Gerry Adams in Louth a few short hours before he died, but those of us who knew him and journeyed with him through difficult times never allowed that to get in the way of friendship.

A contemporary comrade of the late Martin Meehan, Skeet had received a life sentence upon conviction for a 1975 IRA attack on the Shankill Road’s Bayardo Bar. The IRA denied the attack as was customary at the time but no one believed it. Nobody in Crumlin Road Prison, where I first met him, regarded Skeet as a member of the North Belfast Catholic Reaction Force. He was IRA to his bones.

It was an overcast June morning. I had turned 21 two days earlier and could feel the knot of tension in my midriff as I prepared to leave Cage 11 for a court appearance at the appeal Court near Belfast City Centre, Few were up out of bed, but one of those who were was the inimitable Skeet.

When a few weeks earlier I first learned that my appeal against conviction and sentence would be heard my first instinct was to approach Skeet. The previous year he had lost his grip and slipped trying to flee on foot the same court house, and was returned to Cage 11 after a spell on the boards. Together we hatched a plan and put it to the camp Intelligence Officer. He approved and things moved from there.

A replica weapon that cocked was obtained. It had earlier been made by Larry Marley, himself now in the H Blocks on blanket protest having been caught trying to escape a few months earlier. Some unfortunate’s platform shoes were requisitioned in which the weapon could be concealed, ultimately unsuccessfully. It was to be my last day in the political status cages of Long Kesh. And so began my sojourn in the ‘Maze Cellular’, better known as the H-Blocks of Long Kesh where hopes were outlandish, news scarce and screws were thugs.

Skeet being addicted to escaping joined us there three years later, caught making his freedom bid along with Gerry Kelly and I can no longer recall who else. In 1983 he was frustrated once again when caught in a river bed where he took refuge after the H-Block escape. That was an event that prompted graffiti artists to scrawl ‘H7, open all day Sunday.’

We met in Dundalk by chance one morning a few years ago. He had been forced to head south after almost being caught on active service shortly after his release. That was Skeet; he just wouldn’t give up. He said to me how disappointed he was at Sinn Fein’s poor election performance. I laughed and told him I had little sympathy. I would bump into him frequently in the town. Once when trying to make the bus to Dublin for a course, he did his best to get me to stuff the class and go to the pub with him.

The last drink we had together was on the train back from the funeral of Brendan Hughes. If it was not banter that sustained our conversation on the journey, it was our differing views of where the Provisional movement had ended up. He didn’t strike me as being convinced of the Sinn Fein narrative. He had been around too many corners to believe it. Nor did he buy into the policing perspective. Sometime before Skeet died I found myself in conversation with an active member of an armed republican organisation. I asked him how the town’s Provos treated people of his persuasion. We got around to talking of Skeet and his words were simple – would do no republican the slightest harm.

Skeet was popular amongst Provisionals and republicans alike.  Martin Og Meehan was right to describe Skeet as an Ardoyne legend but his impact was felt much wider than Ardoyne.  His North Belfast funeral was attended by a wide spectrum of opinion. A man who gave his entire adult life to the Provisional movement, he was acknowledged in death by those who shared his company along the way.

30 comments:

  1. AM-

    Just a wild thought to your-self-

    Maybe- Skeet- Adams- Martin Meehan
    were right- [ i would have said Larry Marley as well but as you know he was killed in 1987-unlike others i dont like to use the fallen as an excuse for my views ] and the Dark done most of his T.V interviews with a picture of Gerry Adams beside him-

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  2. Michaelhenry,

    I am not sure what this means in its totality as it seems mangled a bit.

    I don't believe Adams, was right. I don't believe either Skeet or Martin Meehan were comfortable with the line that the Provisionals were taking. I spoke to both men at different points and while they certainly did not endorse my position they were far from hostile towards it. That is my reading of the issue.

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  3. Skeet was a pure legend in his lifetime; witty, sarcastic, generous, loyal. Perhaps the last attribute was what characterised him most of all. He harboured a deep sense of loyalty to his friends that was unshakable. However, he was not one to turn his back on an old comrade because of political fallouts. I occasionally had the pleasure of his company and crack in Dundalk where he spent the later years of his life.

    The large numbers of Republicans that turned out for his funeral was testimony to his popularity. Ardyone witnessed the laying to rest of one of the gaints of this phase of struggle: The inimitable Peter 'Skeet' Hamilton.

    Another gracious tribute form a former comrade and friend. We will all remeber him in our own ways, Mackers.

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  4. Yes Anthony a nice tribute to a volunteer in the true sense.its easy said I know but I believe Martin Meehan was becoming more and more disillusioned with the way qsf was heading,his son Martin og could comfirm or deny this,I note in todays paper that the majority of pira volunteers in north Belfast have now seen the sell out for what it actually is,a gravy train for the bearded one and a few cronies I think the problem with Skeet and other solid men and women is that to accept the viewpoint a lot of us have now arrived at is to accept that all that effort was a waste of good peoples lives and energy,and that can be a bitter pill to swallow, one thing I am certain of is that more and more republicans are now turning their backs on those carpetbaggers. .

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  5. No one can say what the dead would belief, though one thing you can say with some degree of certainty (given he devoted so much of his time as an activist to prisoners), is that Martin Meehan would not be as silent over the current situation in Maghaberry as others within SF.

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  6. IRA to the bones unlike many, including the tout who wrote this obituary. I feel sorry on the whole fucking seven of you. Look at your lives you bitter fools.

    Truly yours mackers, your biggest fan Gerrad McM-why you leave me.

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  7. Hatchie, no offence like but you're the one sounding bitter - and foolish.

    We all know what a tout is and someone who endeavours to record history for history's sake doesn't fall into that category. Bit too free and easy with your words.

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  8. Hatchie,
    Having no dog in this fight I find it in poor taste that you would use an obituary to display your anger at the 7 bitter people and even more inexcusable using it to level a disturbing allegation “tout.”

    Surely, you could have just made your angry obvious point on the article below where it would be more appropriate.
    Whether or not you agree with the people who posted out of respect for a volunteer perhaps you should not let your anger dictate your decision, as the only one you have disrespected is the dead volunteer, the other seven can speak for themselves.

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  9. Marty


    ""I think the problem with Skeet and other solid men and women is that to accept the viewpoint a lot of us have now arrived at is to accept that all that effort was a waste of good peoples lives and energy"

    Your Legend "but" trbute is shocking

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  10. Hatchie you sound like someone from rent a mob or in your case rent a gob, the only touts I really know of are Scap ,Donaldson,Davidson and all were members of prm .which comes as no suprise to many when qsf now formally call on people to tout.Peader there are still good sound people connected to prm qsf for whatever reason but I,m sure it cant be principal,so if its loyality then it is misplaced,people should be loyal to the cause not the flagwavers,thats the way I see it.

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  11. I don't wish to speak ill of the dead but let's call a spade a spade. This man was involved in sectarian slaughter. Surely, then, anti-sectarian, politically minded people should perhaps pause for a moment to analyse why he killed five people for no other reason than the geographical area they lived in?

    If it's wrong when loyalists do it, it's even more wrong when republicans do it.

    Sectarian murder is a disgusting crime - no matter who carries it out.

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  12. Hathcie,

    it's somewhat ironic that you come on this site to attack Anthony McIntyre with your slanderous comments. I doubt whether Sinn Fein would provide you with a platform to attack the glorious leader. The party is not known for facilitating a free exchange of views.

    As for your liberal use of the 'T' word you need not look far for many examples past and present. One in four informers is a very good reason sue for peace. I suggest in your own case the touts are much closer to home.

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  13. Lovely tribute to a dedicated Volunteer Mackers. I don't need to state the views of my late father, suffice to say he had serious issues with the so-called Peace Process. However, he was a soldier and had to follow orders from his Leadership just as Skeet and many others did and sadly more still do today?

    What's not in doubt is that the Unionist Veto, Partition, British Occupation and a Political Police Force are STILL very much in place and people like my Dad and Skeet didn't sacrifice so much of their lives and liberty to allow the above crimes against the Irish Nation continue....

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  14. Bobby Campbell (the infamous "Barker Dobson) died and buried just before Christmas. He was undoubtedly a handful but he gave everything and died in lonely obscurity. No fine words written or orations spoken. A contemporary of Skeets and very close to Meehan, he was no fan of the "Piss Process".

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  15. Jim,

    feel free to write about Bobby. I didn't know the man and heard by chance in Belfast that he had died. Given his experiences he deserves an obituary regardless of his views on the piss process. He did time in England, time in the Kesh, escaped, was on hunger strike.

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  16. SPON,

    I think many people pause for reflection on these issues. Your contribution is none the less welcome even though it is hostile. It seems genuinely felt.

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  17. Hatchie-

    As one of your 7 bitter fools i would
    just like to nicely say to you that i could not give a flying duck about your rant- your view is your view but you should still show some respect on the Quill-

    Aye-and i did say duck-

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  18. Great to see Hatchie turn up here. All through the dirty war people lived in dread of being set up or suspected of touting. Well, apart from the PIRA/SF leadership who were long term practitioners of that job description.

    After town, country and their dogs have realised how dirty SF were and remain, it boggles the mind for someone to still try and insult anyone with the old 'tout' chestnut. The blind hypocrisy marches on.

    Hatchie, as the wee belfast guy said in 'man about dog'
    SUCK THE BACK E'THEM.

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  19. Michael Henry, what have you done with Michael Henry?

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  20. @ AM

    Thanks for your comment. I didn't mean to sound hostile - I also didn't express myself correctly.

    I suppose I wanted some sort of discussion or debate about how someone like Mr Hamilton, whose integrity I don't doubt, could have ended up doing what he did.

    I wasn't alive, let alone a young man, in 1975 so some my feel that it's not my place to bring this up - but I maintain that to murder someone because of their religion or district of birth remains a despicible crime.

    Loyalists should be judged on their actions. It would be hypocritical to judge republicans differently.

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  21. SPON cant argue with that comment a cara,without doubt there has been some despicable actions carried out by all sides in that dirty little conflict, possibly the worst offender was the british goverment itself.

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  22. SPON,

    'hostile' was the most available word at the time, although perhaps not the most appropriate given your tone which did not convey hostility as normally understood.

    There is a need to debate the points and concerns you raise. The fact that republicans denied actions of this type suggest there was something seriously wrong with them in the first place.

    I think it is only in later life that greater serious consideration has been given to rights and war waging and the the very negative impact that it has on society.

    But as we know there are many activities and processes going on today from a security driven agenda that adversely affect a fuller discussion of the past. It seems that too many people have a vested interest in having the past refracted through a lens of their own making. There will never be one truth that everone can subscribe to. The most we will get is more interpretations, more narratives, hopefully leading to greater understanding.

    War is often the acts of people functioning under great stress and duress. Yet rights have to be firewalled from that. I don't have the answers and can only reflect on it all from a distance in time.

    The one thing I think is imperative to arrive at is that every reason imaginable should be found not to wage war or justify it, rather than seeing it as some inalienable right.

    When war is explained I tend to think mitigation rather than justification is the best defence that can be offered. Wars are rarely as clear cut as the the Soviet decision to resist Nazi invasion in 1941.

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  23. @@ AM

    Yours are very wise words.

    I studied the conflict in the six counties from the safety of Scotland with the benefit of hindsight, despite being from the Falls, I moved away when I was a child in the 80s.

    I often wondered, sometimes angrily, why the IRA didn't do more to prevent loyalist outrages. Indeed, at one point, I approved wholeheartedly of Kingsmill, my line of thinking being that the ends justified the means. I couldn't understand how the Belfast IRA, being better armed and organised than the UDA/UVF, didn't do more to prevent sectarian murder. Easy for me to say and it demonstrated the power of the tribal call.

    Did Mr Hamilton believe there were loyalist paramilitaries in the Bayardo? Would it have mattered, given the civilian death toll? If loyalist murders stopped after the attack, as they seem to have in South Armagh after Kingsmill, would the attack have been justified? In a paramilitary war, can either or any side ever fight a "clean war"? An oxymoron if ever there was one.

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  24. Spoon, a discussion of the type you raise should not be referenced to Peter Hamilton personally. Many Republicans and Loyalists were charged with actions which many today would consider dubious or outright sectarian. In the case of Republicana and Loyalists, I do not believe we a dealing with like for like. Whereas Loyalist violence was sectarian by its very nature, Republican violence was directed at British occupation in the main. However, the PIRA did carry out sectarian acts resulting in death and injury to innocent civilans.

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  25. SPON,

    Like yourself I thought Kingsmill was justified. I very much regret that I felt that way but I did. I know by the time Teebane happened I was very much opposed to that operation.

    The end justifies the means is never the way it should work although many of us thought it did. There is an old liberal tenet which holds that process justifies outcome. I think it has much more merit.

    I don’t know what Peter Hamilton thought about the Bayardo. The IRA certainly believed that it was a hive of UVF activity and had earlier in the year bombed it for that reason and admitted doing so. But as the campaign of sectarian killing went on I think the IRA grew less selective in who it targeted. That seems clear from the Kingsmill massacre.

    ‘If loyalist murders stopped after the attack, as they seem to have in South Armagh after Kingsmill, would the attack have been justified?’
    I appreciate that you ask the question rhetorically but why would it be if our starting point is that the Kingsmill attack was wrong? The problem here is that it is slippage into ends justifying means. My view, having evolved over the years, is that people have rights against combatants; it may even be argued that people have rights that combatants do not have. Despite all the problems and dilemmas that a rights based view of conflict conjures up, it is the least worst approach that can be taken. It is something I probably learned much too late in the day but it is what I now feel. We are all inconsistent to greater or lesser degrees but I think the general rule for humanity is that it tries to decrease rather than increase the level of misery in its midst. And in my view wars have caused more misery than they have alleviated. But I also know that there are occasions that people go to war only out of necessity and not out of sheer aggression.

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  26. It was a different time.Within the movement you had Catholic Defenders and Republicans.It was difficult at times to control the former.Over the years Republicans left the Provisionals where as the "Defenders" remained.This is IMO one of the reasons they can accept the GFA.

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  27. R.I.P Peter Skeet Hamilton, i have read every comment and found one to be disrespectful with reference to 7 touts, in the name of God, some people have to get a grip of themselves, how many people were executed on the word of touts!!! to safegaurd there own deceiving manipulating greedy devilsh minds, we all know that an op has to be sanctioned, ie, approved, so if info about xyz has been put forward, verified and accepted, then action is authorised, now this is were the logic comes in, lets call it a scenario, the tout gives false info, this info is accepted by oc, action is authorised and executed, you cant blame the volunteer for carrying out orders given, so Peter can not be called a setarian killer, now, for one more Legend who has been Mentioned, The Late Martin Meehan, side stepped by SF because he did not have the decoroum required to be a so called mla, why?, because he was an out ant out fighter, sucked into the greasy world of SF, manipulated to the core, what did he , and others get for such bravery, crap jobs, my god, i can just visualise both Martin and skeet firing fron within the grave, i could go on and on and on, i am very dubious about premature detonation which lost so many good volunteers, one of which was a very very close friend of mine, i kept thinking, did the tout take the bomb to the handler to have it worked on, these are the things which should be brought out into debates as well, if someone said to me, "x" done this, "x" done That, I want 100% proof before any action is carried out upon "x", Now , i dedicate this post to deceased comrades, and to those who know SF were in the hands of British handlers being manipulated into accepting continuous british rule, Do I Agree with oglaigh na heireann, I will not condemn them.

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