Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
Bernadette Devlin was elected to the House of Commons at twenty-one, the youngest woman ever to sit there. Born in Cookstown, County Tyrone in 1947 into a poor Catholic family, she lost her father at nine and her mother at nineteen, and was studying psychology at Queen's University Belfast when the civil rights movement began. She joined People's Democracy, a student organisation demanding one person one vote in local elections, an end to gerrymandered boundaries, and fair allocation of housing and jobs. She was on the march from Belfast to Derry in January 1969 that was attacked by loyalists at Burntollet Bridge while police watched. She won the Mid Ulster by-election in April 1969 and made her maiden speech the day she took her seat. In August 1969 she was in the Bogside during the three days of rioting that followed an Apprentice Boys parade, helping build barricades and directing the defence. She was convicted of incitement to riot and served four months. She is best known for what she did on 31 January 1972. The day after paratroopers shot dead thirteen unarmed civilians in Derry, the Home Secretary Reginald Maudling told the Commons that the army had fired in self-defence. Devlin, who had been present at the march and had been refused the floor, crossed the chamber and punched him in the face. She lost her seat in 1974, and was shot nine times by loyalist gunmen in front of her children in 1981 and survived. She has remained politically active in community work in Tyrone.
- Lived: 1947 CE – ?
- Nationality: Irish
- Roles: politician, activist
