In the liturgical calendar, today starts the beginning of Lent, a solemn religious observance that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, on Easter Sunday.

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 An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger).

1848 – ‘Starvation Fever of 1847’ article by Dr. Daniel Donovan of Skibbereen, Co Cork was published in the Dublin Medical Press.

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.

1883 – Death of boxer, Jimmy Elliott. Born in Athlone, he emigrated to America and became Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1865 to 1868. On 12 December 1870, Elliott was arrested and convicted of highway robbery and assault with intent to kill. He was sentenced to sixteen years and ten months at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. He was released early in the spring of 1879 due to an eye disease. On 1 March 1883, a gambler by the name of Jere Dunn shot Elliot in a Chicago saloon. He died shortly after.

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

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 international soccer star and manager of Celtic, Martin O’Neill, in Kilrea, Co Derry.

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

1973 – A general election resulted in a change of government. Fine Gael/Labour coalition government took over from Fianna Fáil which had been in power for 16 years. Liam Cosgrave succeeded Jack Lynch as Taoiseach.

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

1982 – Lord Lowry, Northern Ireland Lord Chief Justice, was attacked by the IRA as he paid a visit to the Queen’s University of Belfast. The IRA fired several shots at Lowry who was not injured but a lecturer at the university was wounded by the gunfire.

1991 – The IRA carried out a (horizontal) mortar attack on an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) mobile patrol on the Killylea Road, Armagh. One UDR soldier was killed and another, who was mortally wounded, died on 4 March 1991.

1991 – The European Court of Human Rights agreed to hear another complaint against the British government. The case involved the United Kingdom’s derogation from the European Convention of Human Rights on the matter of the seven-day detention of suspects under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

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, Co Kerry show symptoms of the disease.

2003 – According to a new global survey, Dublin was regarded as 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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