23 June 2005 Edition

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Francie 'The Cardinal' McCrory

Francie McCrory was born in December 1922 and reared in Ballymacarret in the parish of St Matthews in East Belfast. He married his childhood sweetheart, Ella Fitzimmons, and they had seven children, two girls and five boys. They, like most people of that era, had their ups and downs. They lost two of their sons, Paul who was brutally murdered by a state-sponsored loyalist death squad on 8 November 1979 and Harry who died in London at a young age.

Francie worked most of his life in the Belfast shipyard. He was a strong trade unionist, a staunch voice for his fellow workers, even if the mostly loyalist workforce could not accept his politics. Despite this, Francie was elected as secretary, then treasurer, of the Boiler Makers Society, even though very few of the workers spoke to him. Francie would shrug and describe them as misguided Irishmen.

They give him the name 'The Cardinal' as a form of derision, however Francie wore the name with pride. With a quiet sarcasm he would say, "they don't know they are calling me a Prince".

During the lean times for the Republican Movement, Francie was out working for Davy McConnell, who was standing on a republican ticket in East Belfast. He believed in the primacy of politics and would emphasise when he could that the people who were doing the work out on the streets should be representatives of the people.

He was elated when Sinn Féin started to make inroads in the political arena all over Ireland. In 1969, Francie's organisational skills came into play when Catholic people were being driven from their homes all over East Belfast during the pogroms. He set up committees to cater for all their needs, housing, food and medical care.

Francie went on to give radio and TV interviews detailing how things were in the Six Counties. He then went on to work with Father Lowry to set up a fund to help those refugees who were burned and intimidated out of their homes by loyalist thugs and RUC gunmen.

After Bloody Sunday in Derry, he minted badges with '13' on them and used them to keep the memory of those killed fresh in people's minds.

With the tempo of the armed resistance against the British increasing and many republican activists ending up in British prisons, Francie became heavily involved with the Green Cross, raising money whenever and wherever he could. For this work, he was fondly remembered by the POWs.

On behalf of the republican ex-prisoners, I would like to say thank you to Francie. And to the entire McCrory family, we offer our deepest sympathies.

BY DICKIE GLEN


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland