The Guildford pub bombing occurred on October 5, 1974. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) planted a bomb in the Horse and Groom pub in Guildford which killed five people and injured 44¹ or 65². October 5 is the 278th day of the year (279th in Leap years). ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which has attempted, through violence, to achieve two goals: British withdrawal from Ireland, the political unification of Ireland through the overthrow of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the creation of an all-Ireland socialist republic. ... Guildford is the county town of Surrey, England, as well as being the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region. ...

An IRA active service unit manufactured two 6lb gelignite bombs in London. One was placed in the Horse and Groom and the other in the Seven Stars pub nearby. Both pubs were popular with army personnel. Gelignite is an explosive consisting of collodion-cotton (a type of nitrocellulose or gun cotton) dissolved in nitroglycerine and mixed with wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ...

Both bombs exploded but only that in the Horse and Groom caused any casulaties. The five people to die included four soldiers and one civilian. The civilian was Paul Craig, a plasterer aged 22. The soldiers, all of whom were off-duty, were privates Ann Hamilton, John Hunter, William Forsyth, and Jean Slater.

Previous bombings in this campaign included the M62 coach bomb on February 4, 1974. A similar bomb to those used in Guildford, with the addition of shrapnel, was thrown into the Kings Arms pub in Woolwich on November 7, 1974. Gunner Richard Dunne and Alan Horsley, a sales clerk, died in that explosion. On November 21, 1974 two bombs exploded in Birmingham at the Tavern in the Town and the Mulberry Bush pubs killing 21 people and injuring over 150; these acts led to the conviction of the Birmingham Six. February 4 is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The Kings Arms is a public house in Woolwich, London that was bombed in 1974 and is now a landmark on the route of the London Marathon. ... Woolwich (pronounced Woolitch) is a town in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich (which is now part of the London Borough of Newham) is on the north side of the river. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... The Birmingham Six were Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker. ...

These bombings were at the height of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The Metropolitan Police were under enormous pressure to apprehend the IRA bombers who had brought terrorism to mainland Britain from Northern Ireland. Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area. ...

In December 1974 the police arrested three men and a woman, later known as the Guildford Four. They were convicted of the bombings in October 1975. Their convictions were later overturned in the appeal courts after it was proved the convictions were unsafe, with confessions obtained under duress. The Guildford Four were Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon, Patrick (Paddy) Armstrong and Carole Richardson, who were wrongly convicted in the United Kingdom in October 1975 for the Provisional IRAs Guildford pub bombing which killed five and injured over one hundred people. ...

During the trial of the Balcombe Street gang in February 1977 the four IRA men instructed their lawyers to "draw attention to the fact that four totally innocent people were serving massive sentences" for three bombings in Woolwich and Guildford. They were never charged with these offences. However, no evidence has ever been presented that proves the involvement of the four men, they never actually admitted any personal responsibility, and the IRA never identified the true perpetrators of the attack. The Balcombe Street Siege was an incident involving the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) on December 6, 1975. ...

Notes

Note 1: BBC

Note 2: The Daily Telegraph

References

• The Guardian
• The Daily Telegraph
• [http://republican-news.org/archive/1998/May07/07balc.html An Phoblacht/Republican News, (May 7, 1998)