Obituary: Martin McGuinness

James Martin Pacelli McGuinness was born in the Bogside area of Londonderry on 23 May, 1950.

Brought up in a devout Catholic family, he left school aged 15 to work in a butcher's shop.

When the Troubles began, a young McGuinness, who was already active in the civil rights movement, took part in the Battle of the Bogside, seen as one of the major confrontations at the start of the conflict.

Initially, he joined the Official IRA but quickly moved to the Provisionals and soon became their second-in-command in Derry. In 1973 he was jailed in the Republic of Ireland for terrorist offences.

Mr McGuinness claimed he left the IRA in 1974, although police intelligence chiefs say he maintained his involvement with the organisation for many years and played a leading role at the highest levels of the organisation.

He went on to become an increasingly prominent figure within Sinn Féin, the political wing of the republican movement and became the chief negotiator in the Northern Ireland peace process which led to the Good Friday Agreement.

Following the St Andrew's Agreement and Assembly election he became Minister for Education in the first devolved government and went on to controversially scrap the 11-plus primary school transfer exam.

He became deputy First Minister in 2007 with the then DUP leader Ian Paisley as First Minister. McGuinness and Paisley became a most unlikely pair of friends, earning the nickname the 'Chuckle Brothers'.

He served for a decade as joint leader of the Northern Ireland Executive, serving alongside the DUP's Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster.

Mr McGuinness was MP for Mid Ulster from 1997 until he resigned as MP in 2013, never taking his seat in Westminster. He remained as MLA for Mid Ulster until he stood in his home constituency of Foyle last year. He did not stand in this year’s election due to ill health.

He resigned as deputy First Minister in January over the so-called ‘cash for ash’ scandal when First Minister Arlene Foster refused to step aside amid an investigation. The move saw the Executive collapse and a snap election triggered.

The recent election saw Sinn Féin surge at the polls, and the unionist majority was ended.