Harold Gracey, district master of the Portadown Orange Lodge, was born on June 30, 1935. He died on March 29, 2004, aged 68.
Harold Gracey was the district master of the Portadown Orange Lodge, and a prominent figure during the annual stand-off at Drumcree in the Co Armagh town in the 1990s. The deadlock arose in 1995 when, owing to pressure from Roman Catholic residents, Orangemen were forbidden from marching along their traditional route through the Garvaghy Road. In subsequent years Gracey became a vocal presence at the flashpoint.
Samuel Harold Gracey was born in Portadown. His father, a delivery man, was a member of the Orange Order, and Gracey Jr enrolled at the age of seven, becoming a senior member at the age of 16. A member of the Church of Ireland, he rose through the ranks before become district master in 1986.
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In 1995, the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition, lead by Brendan McKenna, complained that the traditional march was intimidatory and triumphalist, and lobbied successfully for it to be rerouted. Gracey refused to parley with McKenna, regarding him a front for Sinn Féin/IRA. Deeming this ruling an infringement of Protestant civil rights, he and 500 other members of the order stayed overnight in protest.
After confrontation with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Orange members were eventually permitted to parade through the district. Gracey led the march, before reaching Carleton Street Orange Hall, where members of the Order lined up to shake Gracey by the hand.
Matters proved even more heady the next year, and in 1997 a third ban in a row prompted rioting in the town and throughout loyalist areas of Ulster. Mo Mowlam, The Northern Ireland Secretary, eventually bowed to pressure and reversed the interdict. This was not least due to Gracey’s indomitable disposition.
By “Drumcree IV” in 1998, however, Protestant resolve had flagged in the face of another ban. Nonetheless, Gracey’s determination remained undiminished, and he settled permanently in a caravan in a field near Drumcree church, where he became known as the “Man on the Hill”. He lived there for 300 days, looked after by friends who regularly brought him food.
Gracey was known as a considerate and modest man, who reminisced about the days when he socialised with Catholic workmates in the Garvaghy Road.