On This Day / September 7, 1971

Summary: On This Day – 7th September 1971, 14-year-old Annette McGavigan was killed in crossfire in Derry, becoming the 100th victim of the Northern Ireland disturbances since August 1969. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.

Derry Child Dies in Crossfire | On This Day – 7th September 1971

A FOURTEEN-year-old schoolgirl was shot dead in crossfire between snipers and troops in Derry yesterday, bringing the total killed in the Nl disturbances since August 1969 to 100.

She died holding a lollipop and wearing the gym shoes she kept on after being sent home early from St Cecilia’s School when it was evacuated after a bomb scare.

The child, Annette McGavigan from the Bogside, was given the Last Rites by a priest as she lay dying in the roadway. In the Bogside last night her death sparked off renewed rioting.

Annette was hit by a bullet in the Abbey Street area where there were three separate shooting incidents and nine shots were fired at troops.

The Army returned the fire on two occasions. Residents claimed that the first shots were fired by the Army but the Army said the troops were sniped at first.

A ten-year-old girl said Annette had been speaking to her shortly before her death and said she wanted to get a rubber bullet for her collection of riot souvenirs.

Annette excelled at art at St Cecilia’s and wanted to become an art teacher.

Protest Closure by Fifty Schools

AT LEAST fifty schools in Down and Armagh will close tomorrow in protest at internment. Teachers are to give their day’s salary to the internees’ dependants’ fund.

This was announced in Newry last night in a statement by the Teachers’ Action Group. It was signed by Seamus Mallon, Hugh McNamara and Anne O’Hara. There are to be Masses for peace with justice in many areas tomorrow.

Moving Scenes at Baby Funeral

THERE were scenes of deep emotion at the funeral yesterday of Angela, baby daughter of Mr and Mrs Peter Gallagher, Cavendish Street, Belfast, who was accidentally killed while playing near her home by a bullet fired from a car at a military patrol.

Many people among the large crowd unashamedly wept as the father carried the tiny light-blue coffin in his arms from St Paul’s Church where Mass was offered for peace in Ireland.

The grief-stricken mother was a pathetic figure as, aided by her mother, she walked along the road for a short distance on the way to Milltown Cemetery.

(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: As the death rate continued to climb a month after Faulkner’s internment gamble, many gasped In horror at the deaths of two children caught in crossfire.

Meanwhile, the Joint Security Committee at Stormont was considering a possible military operation against the No-Go areas in Derry – seen as IRA strongholds.

General Tuzo, the GOC, realising the stakes involved, favoured a negotiated solution using ‘Catholic moderates’.)

On This Day – 7th September 1971

Further Reading on Irish History:

List of other On This Day columns

Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive

About Eamon Phoenix

About the Eamon Phoenix Foundation