Peter Moloney Collection

“In loving memory of Vol. Tom Williams “C. Coy” 2nd Battalion Belfast Brigade IRA who lived here [46 Bombay Street, where Williams lived with his grandmother Fay] and was executed in Belfast Gaol [Crumlin Road] 2nd Sept 1942, aged 19 years. Ar dheıs Dé go ra[ı]bh a anam. Erected by National Graves Association, Belfast 1992.”

Williams, the unit’s leader, took sole responsibility for the killing of RUC Constable Patrick Murphy, hoping that it would save the lives of the other seven (including two women) who had taken part in the ambush. The six men were jointly convicted of the killing but only Williams was ultimately hanged, after appeals from Ireland (not yet officially ‘The Republic Of’), the Vatican, and the US State Department (RN).

There is a portrait of Williams at the bottom of Clonard Street, and a mural in Kashmir Street in the 1990s.

Bombay Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney
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