Francis Hughes

Francis Hughes was born in Bellaghy, County Derry, on 28 February 1956, the tenth child in a quiet farming family rooted in the bogland of South Derry. He joined the IRA in his late teens, becoming one of the most active volunteers in the area before his capture and death during the 1981 hunger strike. His life moved from ordinary childhood to extraordinary danger, shaping the protest that transformed Northern Ireland’s political future.