565 – St Columba reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland.

1755 – Birth of General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert. He was a French soldier, a participant in the French Revolution, who led a failed invasion of Ireland to assist Irish rebels in 1798.

1791 – Theobald Wolfe Tone publishes “An argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland”.

1798 – Birth of Richard Robert Madden (b. Dublin) was an Irish doctor, writer, abolitionist and historian of the United Irishmen.

1798 – A French force of 1,019 men under General Humbert lands at Killala, Co Mayo.

1846 – John Keegan Casey, Fenian, poet and writer of “Rising of the Moon” is born near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

1850 – First Catholic Synod in Ireland since the Middle Ages in Thurles, Co Tipperary. Paul Cullen summons the synod which runs from this date through September 10.

1881 – Second Gladstone Land Act introduces the ‘three Fs’ – fair rent, fixity of tenure, free sale – and sets up the Land Commission.

1889 – Birth in Belfast of Seán McEntee, Fianna Fáil politician.

1918 – Dublin-born WWI ace Dennis Latimer shot down. A Bristol Fighter pilot and the highest scoring ace in 20 Squadron, Latimer shot down 28 enemy aircraft between March and August of 1918. On this date, he and his observer, Lieutenant T.C. Noel, were shot down near Westroosebeke by a member of Jasta 7. Latimer was captured, Noel was killed.

1920 – IRA forces from East Mayo, led by Sean Corcoran and Sean Walsh captured the RIC barracks in Ballyvarey, Co Mayo. Arms and ammunition were taken.

1920 – RIC Detective Swanzy was shot dead by Cork IRA volunteers while leaving Church in Lisburn Co Antrim. Swanzy had been blamed by an inquest jury for the killing of Cork Mayor Thomas MacCurtain. Catholic residential areas of Lisburn were burned in revenge by local loyalists. Several people were later prosecuted for the burnings. Loyalists attack Catholic areas of Belfast in reprisal. A total of 33 people died over the next ten days in sectarian rioting and shooting in the city.

1922 – Two National Army soldiers are killed and three wounded in an ambush at Redmondstown, Co Kilkenny on the road between Clonmel and Kilkenny. Free State commandant Frank Thornton is also badly wounded in the incident. Three other National Army officers had been captured by the irregulars in the same spot the previous night.

1922 – A Free State soldier is killed in an ambush of a convoy near Tralee, Co Kerry.

1922 – Michael Collins is killed in an ambush. On the last day of his life, he set out from Cork in a convoy that passed through Bandon, Clonakilty, and Rosscarbery on its way to Skibbereen. He stopped at Woodfield, and there in the Four Walls, the pub situated across the road from the house where his mother had been born. On the return trip they again passed through Bandon. Michael Collins had only twenty minutes more to live. Around eight o’clock, his convoy was ambushed at Béal na Bláth – the mouth of flowers. To this day, there is controversy about what actually happened.

1933 – The National Guard is banned.

1954 – Birth of Jimmy Barry Murphy, hurler and Gaelic footballer, in Co Cork.

1966 – The Munster and Leinster, Provincial and Royal Banks merge to form Allied Irish Banks.

1977 – Cardinal Tomas Ó Fiaich becomes the 112th successor to St. Patrick as Primate of All Ireland.

1995 – Death of professional footballer and manager, Johnny Carey. Born in Dublin, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953. He was also a dual internationalist, playing for and captaining both Ireland teams, the FAI XI and the IFA XI.

1998 – The republican splinter group INLA calls for a total and unconditional ceasefire and says it has instructed all units to desist from the “armed struggle”.

1999 – Yann Reynard Goulet – “The Fox” – Breton patriot and Irish Republican dies in Ireland.

2000 – Prominent loyalist Johnny ‘‘Mad Dog’’ Adair is sent back to prison after Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson suspends his early release license.

2002 – Caroline Corr, drummer with Irish pop band The Corrs, marries Frank Woods on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

2002 – U2’s “Elevation 2001: Live From Boston” picks up the “Best Music Release DVD” award at the 5th DVD Awards in Hollywood.

2010 – Finance Minister Brian Lenihan steps onto the podium and into history as the first Fianna Fáil minister to deliver the keynote speech at the annual Michael Collins commemoration in Béal na mBláth.

Photo: Michael Collins grave site, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin