Gusty Spence: Difference between revisions

Spence was born and raised in the [[Shankill Road, Belfast|Shankill Road]] area of West Belfast in [[Northern Ireland]], the son of William Edward Spence, who had been born in [[Whitehaven]] in [[Cumberland]] in the [[North West England|north-west]] of [[England]]; Spence Snr was raised in the Tiger's Bay area of north Belfast before later moving to the Shankill.<ref name="Garland6">Garland, ''Gusty Spence'', p. 6</ref> Spence Snr washad been a member of the [[Ulster Volunteers]] and had fought in the [[First World War]].<ref>Thomas Hennessey, ''Northern Ireland: The Origin of the Troubles'', Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2005, p. 54</ref> He married Isabella "Bella" Hayes, Gusty Spence's mother, in 1919.<ref name="Garland6"/> Spence was the sixth of seven children, their birth order being Billy, Cassie, Jim, Bobby, Ned junior, Gusty and Lily.<ref name="Garland5"/> The family home was 66 Joseph Street in an area of the lower Shankill known colloquially as "the Hammer".<ref name="Garland5">[[Roy Garland]], ''Gusty Spence'', Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2001, p. 5</ref> He was educated at the Riddel School on Malvern Street and the Hemsworth Square school, finishing his education aged fourteen.<ref>Garland, ''Gusty Spence'', pp. 11–12</ref> He was also a member of the [[Church Lads' and Church Girls' Brigade|Church Lads' Brigade]], a [[Church of Ireland]] group and the Junior [[Orange Order]].<ref>Garland, ''Gusty Spence'', p. 12</ref> His family had a long tradition of Orange Order membership.<ref name="Bruce15">Steve Bruce, ''The Red Hand'', Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 15</ref>