1170 – Richard de Clare (Strongbow) marries MacMurrough’s daughter Aoife, as part of an agreement made two years earlier.

1645 – Edward Worcester, Earl of Glamorgan; aristocrat and inventor, is sent to Ireland to raise troops for the king, and makes two secret treaties with the confederates on this date and on 20 December.

1764 – Birth of James Hope. He was a United Irishmen leader who fought in the 1798 and 1803 rebellions against British rule in Ireland. He was born in Templepatrick, Co Antrim, to a Presbyterian family originally of Covenanter stock. He was apprenticed as a linen weaver but attended night school in his spare time. Influenced by the American Revolution, he joined the Irish Volunteers, but upon the demise of that organisation and further influenced by the French Revolution, he joined the Society of the United Irishmen in 1795.

1769 – Henry Flood, MP for Callan, kills James Agar, MP for Tulsk, in a duel. The Flood and Agar families had disputed the representation of Callan for many years.

1798 – Humbert takes Ballina after token resistance by Government forces.

1803 – The British capture Robert Emmet.

1863 – Eugene O’Growney, priest and Irish-language revivalist, is born in Ballyfallon, Co Meath.

1865 – Robert Lloyd Praeger, botanist and writer, is born in Holywood, Co Down.

1869 – Birth of athlete, Tom Kiely, in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. He competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, in the all-round, which consisted of 100 yd run, shot put, high jump, 880 yd walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yd hurdles, 56 pounds weight throw, long jump and 1 mile run. He won the gold medal.

1882 – Birth of journalist and politician, Sean Ó Oceallaigh, Ireland’s second president.

1919 – IRA members start taking the oath and start using the name Irish Republican Army.

1921 – Birth in Belfast of Brian Moore who is best known for his novel “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne”.

1922 – A Free State CID Motor Driver is fatally wounded in an attack at Dean’s Grange, Dublin.

1922 – A Free State soldier is shot dead and a barracks burned at Shortcourse, Waterford.

1958 – The first Rose of Tralee festival is held.

1962 – Birth of guitarist, Vivian Campbell, in Belfast. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of Dio, and has been a member of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing the late Steve Clark). Campbell has also worked with Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Sweet Savage, Trinity, Riverdogs, and Shadow King.

1986 – ‘Hurricane Charlie’ hits Ireland and the heaviest rain-fall over a 24 hour period is recorded — 10.63 inches at Kippure Mountain, Co Wicklow.

1998 – British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, arrives in the North to announce a security crackdown in the wake of the Omagh bombing.

1998 – An armada of tall ships from around the world sail away from Dublin, ending a five-day visit.

2001 – U2 brought the Elevation Tour to Slane Castle, site of the annual Slane Festival since 1981. This was U2’s first performance at Slane since that first festival, when they were on the support bill for Thin Lizzy.

Photo: Dun Aengus, Aran Islands, Co Galway

#irish #history #Ireland