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==Early life== Adams was born in the [[Springfield Road#Ballymurphy and Whiterock|Ballymurphy]] district of [[Belfast]] on 6 October 1948.<ref name="bbcadams">{{Cite news |date=20 November 2017 |title=Gerry Adams: Profile of Sinn Féin leader |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310023721/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |archive-date=10 March 2020 |access-date=14 June 2020 |work=[[BBC News]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="eb">{{Cite web |title=Gerry Adams |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerry-Adams |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032811/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerry-Adams |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=11 July 2019 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> His parents, Anne (née Hannaway) and [[Gerry Adams Sr.]], came from [[Irish republicanism|republican]] backgrounds.<ref name="eb" /> His grandfather, also named Gerry Adams, was a member of the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]] (IRB) during the [[Irish War of Independence]]. Two of his uncles, Dominic and Patrick Adams, had been interned by the governments in Belfast and [[Dublin]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 November 2017 |title=Profile: Gerry Adams |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121215123/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27238602 |archive-date=21 January 2018 |access-date=19 January 2018 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> In [[J. Bowyer Bell]]'s book ''The Secret Army'',<ref>J. Bowyer Bell, ''The Secret Army: The IRA 1916'' (Irish Academy Press).</ref> Bell states that Dominic was a senior figure in the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) of the mid-1940s. Gerry Adams Sr. joined the IRA at age 16. In 1942, he participated in an IRA ambush on a [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] (RUC) patrol but was shot, arrested and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.<ref name="bbcadams" /> Adams's maternal great-grandfather, Michael Hannaway, was also a member of the IRB during its [[Fenian Rising|bombing campaign in England in the 1860s and 1870s]].{{sfn|Moloney|2002|p=38}} Michael's son, Billy, was election agent for [[Éamon de Valera]] at the [[1918 Irish general election]] in [[Belfast West (UK Parliament constituency)|West Belfast]]. Adams attended [[St Finian's Primary School]] on [[Falls Road, Belfast|Falls Road]], where he was taught by [[Lasallian educational institutions|La Salle brothers]]. Having passed the [[eleven-plus]] exam in 1960, he attended [[St Mary's Christian Brothers Grammar School]]. He left St Mary's with six [[O-levels]] and worked in bars.
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