Seán Mac Stíofáin
| Seán Mac Stíofáin | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Edward Drayton Stephenson |
| Born | 17 February 1928 Leytonstone, London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 18 May 2001 (aged 73) Navan, County Meath, Ireland |
| Allegiance |
Irish Republican Army Provisional Irish Republican Army |
| Years of service | 1949–1973 |
| Rank | Chief of staff (1969–1972) |
| Battles/wars | The Troubles |
| Other work | Journalist |
Seán Mac Stíofáin (17 February 1928 – 18 May 2001), born John Stephenson, was an English-born Irish republican. He was the first chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, a position he held between 1969 and 1972.
Although he used the Gaelicised version of name in later life, Mac Stíofáin was born John Edward Drayton Stephenson in Leytonstone, London, in 1928. An only child, his father was an English solicitor's clerk and his mother an Ulster Protestant from east Belfast. He stated his mother had left an impression on him at the age of seven with her instruction:
"I'm Irish, therefore you're Irish… Don't forget it".
His childhood was marred by his alcoholic, wife-beating father. His mother, who doted over her son, died when Mac Stíofáin was 10. Mac Stíofáin attended Catholic schools, where he came into contact with pro-Sinn Féin Irish students.
He left school in 1944 at the age of 16 and worked in the building trade, before being conscripted into the Royal Air Force in 1945 to do his national service. He attained the rank of corporal. After leaving the RAF, he returned to London where he became increasingly involved with Irish organisations in Britain. He first joined Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), then the Irish Anti-Partition League, bought (and later sold) the United Irishman, joined Sinn Féin in London and eventually in 1949 helped to organise a unit of the IRA. He first met his wife, Máire, who was from Castletownroche, County Cork. Mac Stíofáin then began work for British Rail.
On 25 July 1953, Mac Stíofáin took part in an IRA arms raid on the armoury of the Officers' Training Corps at Felsted School in Essex. The IRA netted over 108 rifles, ten Bren and eight Sten guns, two mortars and dummy mortar bombs in the raid. The police seized the van carrying the stolen weapons some hours later, due to it being so overloaded that it was going at about 20 mph on the Braintree bypass with a queue of traffic behind it. On 19 August 1953, he was sentenced, along with Cathal Goulding and Manus Canning, to eight years' imprisonment by a court in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. It was in the run-up to the raid that Mac Stíofáin learned his first few words in Irish from Cathal Goulding. He later became fluent in the language, which he spoke with an English accent.
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