Tom Williams (Irish republican)

He was hanged in the Crumlin Road Gaol for his involvement in the killing of Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police officer Patrick Murphy during the Northern Campaign.

[1] After the death of his mother, Williams and his brother then went to live with their grandmother at 46 Bombay Street in the Clonard area of Belfast.

Williams' family had to leave the small Catholic enclave in the Shore Road area of Belfast before moving to Beechmount, after their house was attacked and burnt during The Troubles in Ulster (1920–1922) which followed the Irish War of Independence.

[1] According to Williams's biographer, Jim McVeigh:[1] because of its defencelessness this enclave saw some of the most awful atrocities of the period, the most infamous occurring in February 1922 when loyalists threw a bomb into a group of Catholic children playing in Weaver Street, killing a number of them and grievously injuring many more.

The Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor Dr MacRory, remonstrated and was quoted as saying "the butchery of my people".Williams's uncle Terry Williams was jailed for his part in defending the Shore Road enclave during this period.

He attended St Gall's Primary School but left at an early age to obtain work, which at the time was difficult due to discrimination.

[1] As soon as Williams was old enough, he joined Na Fianna Éireann, the republican Scout Organisation founded by Countess Markievicz in 1909, becoming a member of the Con Colbert slua in the Clonard area.

There they spent their time drilling, attending lectures in history, and sometimes scouted for the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Five, Henry Cordner (19); William James Perry (21); Sean Terence Oliver (21); Patrick Simpson (18); and Joe Cahill (21) (who went on to become a senior figure in the IRA) had their sentences commuted.

[9] Various recordings have been made, most notably by the Flying Column, and by Éire Óg who preamble their version with the story of the campaign to release his body.