In the Liturgical Calendar, today is All Saints’ Day.

1625 – Birth near Oldcastle, Co Meath of St. Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh who was canonised in 1975.

1688 – William III of Orange sets a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to liberate England, Scotland and Ireland from the tyrannical King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution. The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England (James VII of Scotland and James II of Ireland) by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). William’s successful invasion of England with a Dutch fleet and army led to his ascending of the English throne as William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II of England.

1790 – Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France” is published.

1798 – Sir Benjamin Guinness, owner of the Guinness brewery from 1855, is born in Dublin.

1838 – Birth in Ballylough, Co. Antrim of Anthony Traill, provost of Trinity College, Dublin.

1857 – John Joly, geologist and physicist, is born in Co Offaly.

1884 – Founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association in the Hayes’s Hotel in Thurles, Co Tipperary.

1903 – Birth of stage, film, and television actor and singer, Max Adrian, in Eniskillen, Co Fermanagh. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In addition to his success as a character actor in classical drama, he was known for his work as a singer and comic actor in revue and musicals, and in one-man shows about George Bernard Shaw and Gilbert and Sullivan, and in cinema and television films, notably Ken Russell’s Song of Summer as the ailing composer Delius.

1920 – Following a mutiny in India by soldiers of the Connaught Rangers in protest at events in Ireland, Private James Daly is court-martialled and executed by firing squad; he is the last member of the British army to be executed for mutiny.

1920 The enrollment of the Ulster Special Constabulary begins.

1920 – Kevin Barry, an 18-year-old medical student, is hanged in Dublin for his part in a raid in which six soldiers were killed.

1920 – An RIC man was shot dead in Ballinalee, Co Longford. The Black and Tans burned the village of Granard in reprisal.

1920 – Civilian Helen Quinn was shot dead by the police in Co Galway. Afraid of ambushes, police had begun to ‘reconnoiter by fire’, shooting blindly into woods and possible ambush sites. Helen Quinn was near one such site when the police opened fire, and was hit by a stray bullet. Irish public opinion was outraged when a military court of inquiry subsequently returned a verdict of “death by misadventure”. Soon afterward, the RIC Headquarters and the Chief of Police issued orders against wild firing from motor vehicles.

1920 – IRA fighters from West Waterford, under Column O/C George Lennon, ambushed a British army patrol at Piltown (Kinsalebeg), Co Waterford. Two soldiers were killed, six wounded and thirty captured but those captured were later released. RIC Constable Maurice Prendiville promised to leave the RIC but was fatally shot the next month at the Youghal Bridge.

1920 – Simultaneous IRA attacks were carried out on the RIC barracks and Marine Station at Ardmore, Co Waterford.

1920 – Police burned the County hall in Tralee in revenge for the killing of two constables the previous day and fired shots at people going to Mass. Shops and businesses were forced by the RIC and Tans to remain closed until 9 November in an effort to recover the bodies of the dead RIC men. Local man John Conway was also shot dead by Police in the town.

1922 – A 20 strong Anti-Treaty IRA column encounters 250 Free State troops at Brockagh Fahy, Co Mayo. Six Republicans are captured, one is wounded and another is killed.

1922 – Five civilians are wounded by a grenade blast at an ambush in Henry Street, central Dublin.

1945 – Demobilisation of the Irish Army begins.

1972 – VAT is introduced into Ireland.

1993 – The Maastricht Treaty came into effect, formally establishing the European Union (EU). The treaty was signed on Ireland’s behalf by Foreign Minister Gerry Collins and Finance Minister Bertie Ahern on February 7 1992.

1999 – After stumbling on a huge complex of tombs and structures on his property which date back to the Stone Age, it is reported that farmer Tom Coffey may have uncovered one of Ireland’s most important archaeological sites.

2001 – The global economic downturn claims another 1,100 Irish jobs as workers are let go in Navan, Dundalk, Carlow and Dublin.

2001 – Northern Ireland faces the threat of new Assembly elections as the British and Irish governments prepare to block David Trimble’s bid to be re-elected as First Minister of the power-sharing executive at Stormont.

2001 – Industry experts warn that up to 2,000 jobs will be put at risk if the Government’s proposal to ban bituminous coal and petroleum coke nationwide goes ahead. Consumers could also face increases in their home-heating costs of up to 25%.

2002 – For the first time in his life, Bertie Ahern needs a decoy to break through a crowd as angry IFI workers protest outside a Fianna Fáil fundraising dinner.

2016 – Death of singer-songwriter, and Energy Orchard frontman, Bap Kennedy. Born in west Belfast, he was noted for his collaborations with Steve Earle, Van Morrison, Shane MacGowan and Mark Knopfler, as well as for writing the song “Moonlight Kiss” which was on the soundtrack for the film Serendipity. He died while in hospice care from pancreatic and bowel cancer.

Photo: Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne, Co Derry

#irish #history #Ireland