Sammy Duddy

Andrew Samuel Duddy (25 August 1945 – 17 October 2007), known as Sammy, was a Northern Irish actor, having joined the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) shortly after its formation in 1971. He later became a leading member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), which provided political advice to that organisation.

Early years Duddy was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in a large Ulster Protestant family in the "Hammer" area of the city, located in the lower Shankill Road. He had eight siblings. His father was originally from Derry but had settled in Belfast and served in the B Specials during World War II. Duddy was born shortly after the war ended.

He attended a local secondary modern school where he displayed a talent for writing, and would often compose valentines for his classmates in return for Dinky cars or pens. He once performed for British troops on tour.

At the outbreak of the violent religious and political conflict known as "the Troubles" in the late 1960s, he became involved in loyalist vigilante groups. He joined the paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in 1971, the year it was formed.

Known as a "court jester" by his associates, he never took much of an active military role in the UDA, although he was considered "handy with his fists". In the course of the general strike, which effectively brought Northern Ireland to a standstill, he was among those who manned the many street barricades that were set up. On the first full day of the strike he had assisted in the hijacking of a bakery van. Duddy and the others, however, paid the driver for the loaves of bread he was in the process of delivering.

Duddy, who was known as a literate and well-spoken individual from his involvement in the Westland housing association, was in the early 1970s employed by then UDA leader Andy Tyrie to work as part of his staff at the UDA headquarters at 254A Shankill Road. He rose to prominence within the organisation in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he served as the UDA's public relations officer along with Hester Dunn. At that time the UDA was legal, and would remain so until 1992. Duddy went on to serve as the editor of UDA magazine Ulster for a time and in 1983 published a book of his poetry entitled Concrete Whirlpools of the Mind which received praise for its sensitive treatment of the problems for young working-class men drawn into violence.

Death

He died at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast on 17 October 2007, aged 62, after suffering a massive heart attack.

A Sammy Duddy Memorial Flute Band was established in his memory in February 2012. His name was also given to the Sammy Duddy Conflict Transformation Centre, the headquarters of the North Belfast UPRG on York Road.