Harry White (Irish republican)

Born in Belfast, White worked as a plumber, and joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) at an early age, being imprisoned several times during the 1930s. He travelled to England to take part in the IRA's "S-Plan" bombing campaign of 1939 to 1940, then returned to Dublin to pass his bomb-making skills onto new recruits, including Brendan Behan. He then returned to become the IRA's Manchester Operations Officer but, after a bomb he was working on went off in the flat he was renting, he fled to Glasgow, then back to Ireland. ==The IRA in the 1940s==

Shortly after returning to Ireland, White was arrested while giving a lecture on explosives in County Offaly, and was interned at the Curragh Camp. Once released, he immediately rejoined the IRA and passed on the information; However, he was suspected of involvement in the killing of a police officer, Dinny O'Brien, something which he always denied, and had to go on the run. In Coogan's version, he caught a bus to Dublin, covered in blood and mud; while, according to Morrison, he was assisted by a sympathetic soldier who helped him recover and cycled to Dublin with him. They agree that he reached a safe house once in the capital. Kerins was arrested in Dublin in June 1944, and later tried for murder and hanged. White became the only member of the IRA leadership still free. A wanted man, he travelled around until work was arranged for him by supporters in Altaghoney. There, he worked as a handyman and barber and set up a dance band, also managing to acquire some explosives from a local Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer who wanted rocks clearing from his field. and was handed over to the southern Irish authorities; he was sentenced to death, but this was reduced to twelve years' imprisonment on appeal, a defence in which his former comrade Seán MacBride was involved. He was actually released early in 1948 following a change in government (a coalition between the Fianna Fáil and republican minded party Clann na Poblachta) which left Mac Bride in a ministerial post. ==Later life==

Following his release, White remained active in the IRA, but in a less high-profile way, as he was married and settled in Dublin. He supported the Provisional IRA following its split in 1970, and was involved in smuggling weapons across the border. White's nephew, Danny Morrison, became a prominent Irish republican from the 1970s onwards. ==References==