Frank Maguire (politician)

Meredith Francis Maguire, Frank Maquire or Big Frank Maguire called (* September 1929 in Lisnaskea, Northern Ireland; † 5 March 1981), was a member of the British Parliament as an Independent Republican.

Frank Maguire lived in a family with three boys and a girl. He joined in the 1950s, the republican movement and was imprisoned without trial for two years in Crumlin Road Jail, where he was the commanding officer of the Irish Republican Army (IRA ). After his release he became an opponent of violence. He remained, however, the Sinn Féin connected.

In the general election in October 1974 British Maquire was elected with more than 50 % of the vote; well he succeeded his re-election against Harry West. In his second election he was a compromise candidate of the republican and nationalist forces of his constituency.

Maguire was extremely popular in Fermanagh and owned a restaurant in Lisnaskea, the Frank 's Pub. He sat down in particular and for released prisoners. In the British Parliament, he was missing in 1979 during the crucial vote on the Labour government of James Callaghan, which was lost. Then Margaret Thatcher came to power.

When he died in the spring of 1981, Bobby Sands was erected as his successor in the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which he won. Sands participated in any meetings of the Parliament and died a month after the election in the Irish hunger strike of 1981.