Early Life
The family was originally from the Marrowbone area, on the Oldpark Road in North Belfast. The family had to move when Bobby was very young due to loyalist attacks on the district, moving to Manor Street, an interface area also in north Belfast. Bobby’s father, also Bobby, along with Sam O’Hanlon, were involved in the defence of their area in the 1970s.
Bobby was one of four children, two brothers, Seamus and Brian, and Geraldine, his sister. Seamus escaped from Crumlin Road Jail in 1971. Seamus and Bobby’s father had been arrested after a raid on their home which uncovered a rifle and a pistol. His father was later released but Seamus was charged, escaping a couple of months later.
On his mother Peggy’s side of the family there was also a history of republicanism, but Bobby, according to An Phoblacht, says “the dominant influences on” him “were the events that were happening around” him. These included the McGurk's Bar bombing in the New Lodge, some of those killed being people who knew his family, and also Bloody Sunday 1972. This then lead to his attempts to join the IRA.
Bobby left school when he was fifteen and went to work with his father selling fruit. At sixteen, he became a member of the IRA.
Read more about this topic: Bobby Storey
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