1642 – 30 Catholics are killed by the Scottish garrison and English settlers at Island Magee, Co Antrim.

1873 – John J. Flanagan, hammer-thrower and shot-putter, is born in Kilbreedy, Co Limerick.

1900 – Birth of Harry Kernoff in London, artist; resident of Dublin from the time he was 14 years old.

1904 – George Buchanan, poet, novelist and journalist, is born in Kilwaughter, Co Down.

1916 – Final evacuation from the ill-advised Gallipoli invasion which saw the death of 3,500-4,000 Irish soldiers fighting either in Australian, New Zealand or British uniform. An estimated 44,000 allied soldiers died. As with most Irish who fought in WWI, their sacrifice received scant recognition by parochial Irish government until 2010.

1922 – Éamon de Valera resigns.

1923 – Anti-Treaty IRA men burn the home of Free State Senator John Philip Bagwell at Marfield, Clonmel, County Tipperary, including the extensive library built up by his father, historian Richard Bagwell.

1929 – Brian Friel, playwright and author of Dancing at Lughnasa, is born near Omagh, Co Tyrone.

1949 – Birth of Liam Quinn (born William Joseph Quinn in San Francisco, U.S.), a former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) who killed London Metropolitan Police Constable Stephen Tibble at Charleville Road, Barons Court, London in February 1975. Tibble, who was off duty at the time, saw Quinn fleeing from the police after he had ran from a flat in Hammersmith, in which Quinn and fellow members of the Balcombe Street Gang had been preparing bombs. Tibble give chase on his motorbike and, while attempting to stop Quinn, was shot and killed. Quinn returned to the USA in the aftermath of the shooting and was extradited to the United Kingdom in February 1988 where he was jailed for life for murder. Quinn served 11 years before he was released, along with the rest of the Balcombe Street Gang, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. While with the IRA, Quinn was tagged with the nickname “Yankee Joe” because of his American origins.

1951 – The Northern and Southern governments agree on the running of the Great Northern Railway.

1952 – Birth of Danny Morrison, former publicity officer for Sinn Féin, and now a novelist.

1953 – Birth of Danny Morrison (b. Belfast). He is an Irish republican writer and activist. He is also the secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust. Morrison came from a strongly republican family. His uncles had been jailed for their part in the IRA’s Northern Campaign in the 1940s; one of his uncles was Harry White, a prominent IRA man.

1962 – Birth of Ray Houghton, footballer.

1998 – Mo Mowlam, risks her political future in talks with loyalist paramilitaries inside the Maze prison in a desperate bid to save the troubled Northern Ireland peace process.

2000 – Boy band Westlife retains their place at the top of the charts to become the first act in more than a year to hang on at number one for longer than three weeks.

2001 – For the first time ever, electric power comes to the tiny islands of Inishgort and Inishlyre in Clew Bay.

2002 – Former soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, accepts the honour of being named the 71st Freeman of Dublin, following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela and members of U2.

2002 – Police are attacked with bricks and bombs by rioters from both sides of the sectarian divide, as bigotry and violence flare again at the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, north Belfast.

2012 – Singer Bridie Gallagher passes away at age 87. Known professionally as the ‘Girl from Donegal’, over a 50-year career she played everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall in London to Carnegie Hall in New York and Sydney Opera House. Born in Creeslough, Co. Donegal, Bridie Gallagher made her home in Belfast almost 60 years ago and it was there she was discovered by a Decca talent scout in 1956. Her first single for them – A Mother’s Love’s a Blessing – was an instant hit and within a few short years she was performing on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The late 50s and 60s saw tens of thousands of Irish people emigrating. In Britain, America and Australia, Bridie had ready-made audiences who packed out the venues she played. In one particularly memorable show at the Albert Hall mounted police had to be used to hold back fans who blocked the surrounding streets.

Photo: Downpatrick Head, Co Mayo, Photography by Jack Andrys

#irish #history #Ireland