Bobby Sands (Irish: Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh, 1954 - 1981) was a militant Irish revolutionary who died from a hunger strike at 27 on this day in 1981, just one month after winning the election to serve as MP to Fermanagh and South Tyrone while imprisoned.

Sands grew up in North Belfast, a member of the Catholic minority and in a majority Protestant area. After being threatened at gunpoint and called "Fenian scum" by his co-workers at the age of 15, Sands became dedicated to militant politics. In 1972, he attended his first Provisional IRA meeting.

Just a few months later, Sands was arrested and charged in October 1972 with possession of four handguns found in the house where he was living. After being released in 1976, he continued his work with the IRA.

In 1976, Sands and fellow IRA member Joe McDonnell bombed the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry and engaged in a shootout with police. Sands was captured and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Undeterred, Sands continued his resistance in prison. He refused to wear a prison uniform, and was kept in his cell naked without access to bedding for 13 hours a day. While in prison, Sands authored poems and songs, published by Republican magazines.

On March 1st, 1981, Sands initiated a hunger strike in collaboration with other inmates. The demands of the hunger strike included the right to not have to do prison work, the right to not wear a prison uniform, and full restoration of remission lost through protest.

Sands narrowly won a special election to serve as MP of Fermanagh and South Tyrone on April 9th, 1981, more than a month into the hunger strike. In response, the British government introduced the "Representation of the People Act", which prevents prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in the UK from being nominated as candidates in British elections.

Less than a month after winning this election, Sands died in prison at the age of 27. More than 100,000 people lined the route of Sands' funeral, and he was buried in the New Republican Plot, alongside 76 others.

"They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit of one Irishman who doesn't want to be broken."

- Bobby Sands