Early Years
Fitt was born in Belfast and educated at a local Christian Brothers school. He served in the Merchant Navy as a stoker until 1953. He joined in 1941 during World War II serving on convoy duty. He witnessed the sinking of HMS Bluebell from which there was one survivor. His elder brother Geordie, an Irish Guardsman, was killed at the Battle of Normandy.
Living in the nationalist Beechmount neighbourhood of the Falls, he stood for the Falls as a candidate for the Dock Labour Party in a city council by-election in 1956, but lost to Paddy Devlin of the Irish Labour Party, who would later be his close ally. In 1958, he was elected to Belfast City Council as a member of the Irish Labour Party.
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