William Reid (1 January 1939 – 15 May 1971[1]) was a member of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
[1] Reid is reported to have shot dead Gunner Robert Curtis of the British Army in the New Lodge, Belfast on 6 February 1971; Curtis was the first on-duty British soldier to be killed in Ireland since the Anglo-Irish War of the 1920s.
The following week, following clashes at an IRA funeral in North Belfast, the government of Northern Ireland, which at that time still controlled the security forces, banned the wearing of military-style uniforms by "subversive organisations".
[3][6] Reid is the subject of a song called "The Ballad of Billy Reid", written by Brian Lyons, which tells the story of his death; the song has been recorded by a number of bands including Shebeen, Terry O'Neill, Spirit of 67, The ShamRogues and the Wolfe Tones.
[7] A mural depicting Reid and other Irish republicans Sean McIlvenna, Rosemary Bleakley and Michael Kane is painted on the New Lodge Road in Belfast.