Geordie Shannon Despite his advancing years, Belfast republican Geordie Shannon, who died on 14 March aged 78, was actively involved in the struggle for Irish freedom until illness made this impossible. He had suffered ill health for most of the past ten years. Geordie was no stranger to self-sacrifice and republican activism and was first sentenced to ten years' penal servitude in the early 1940s. He served part of that sentence with his older brother Billy, who is also deceased. Free article