1703 – Birth of Philip Tisdall, politician and Attorney General noted for his lavish hospitality.

1726 – Abraham Shackleton, a Quaker, opens a school at Ballitore, Co Kildare. Edmund Burke will later be a pupil.

1794 – Statutes of Dublin University amended to allow Catholics to take degrees.

1847 – Horrific Report on Irish Famine.

1848 – Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Irish sculptor of Dublin’s Parnell monument, is born.

1852 – Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1852 and again from 1858 to 1859.

1900 – Birth of Nano Reid, painter, in Drogheda, Co Louth.

1921 – The IRA informer Dan Shields betrayed the position of an IRA column in Nadd, west Cork. Three IRA volunteers were killed in the subsequent British ambush.

1921 – The IRA North Longford commander Sean MacEoin was captured at Mullingar and charged with the murder of an RIC detective. This was a severe blow to the IRA in that area.

1921 – Two IRA volunteers were killed in a skirmish with British forces at Ballynamrossagh, Co Tipperary.

1952 – Birth of Martin O’Neill, international soccer star and manager of Celtic.

1965 – Roger Casement’s body is re-interred in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.

1976 – ‘Special Category’ status is removed from political prisoners in Northern Ireland.

1981 – Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike at Long Kesh prison.

1981 – Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him. In order to secure his status as Irish political prisoner he was willing to fast til death, an event that would earn him a place in the annals of Irish history and in the hearts and minds of Irish republicans world wide. See Bobby Sands Trust for today’s recording: http://www.bobbysandstrust.com/writings/prison-diary

1998 – President McAleese defends her decision to hold a reception to mark Orange Day celebrations in the face of mounting criticism from unionists.

1998 – DUP councillor Nigel Dodds calls for security to be stepped up following an INLA bomb attack at a school used by Catholic and Protestant children.

1999 – The heroic action of a pilot and the crew of a Channel Express cargo plane avert a major tragedy as they land the plane safely at Shannon after two propellers on their ageing aircraft disintegrated, disabling two of their four engines and leaving a deep hole in the aircraft’s fuselage.

2001 – Fears of a foot and mouth outbreak in Kerry are eased with confirmation from the Department of Agriculture that no animals checked on two farms near Castleisland show symptoms of the disease.

2003 – According to a new global survey, Dublin is one of the safest cities in the world.

Photo: Mac Dermott’s Castle, Castle Island, Lough Key, Boyle, Co Roscommon, Gareth Wray Photography

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