1598 – Nine Years War: Battle of the Yellow Ford – Irish forces under Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.

1691 – Death of Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, the youngest of sixteen children of Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet, of Carton, and his wife, Alison Netterville was descended from an old Norman family that had settled in Leinster in the twelfth century. Like most Old English families in Ireland, the Talbots had adopted the customs of the Irish and had, like the Irish, adhered to the Catholic faith. He married Katherine Baynton in 1669. They had two daughters, Katherine and Charlotte. Baynton died in 1679. Talbot later married Frances Jennings, sister of Sarah Jennings (the future Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough). He was also known by the nickname “Mad Dick” Talbot.

1778 – Gardiner’s Catholic Relief Act is enacted and grants rights of leasing and inheritance to those who have taken the oath of allegiance: the first rolling back of the penal laws. The Papists Act 1778 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain and was the first Act for Catholic Relief. Later in 1778 It was also enacted by the Irish parliament.

1784 – Nathaniel Hone, painter and member of the Royal Academy at the time of its founding in 1768, dies.

1814 – Birth of Sister Anthony (born Mary Ellen O’Connell) in Limerick. She was an Irish-American Roman Catholic nun. Her work with the wounded during the American Civil War and health care in general caused her to be known as “the angel of the battlefield” and “the Florence Nightingale of America.”

1850 – The Irish Franchise Act is enacted and has the effect of increasing the electorate from 45,000 to 164,000.

1890 – Death of Knights of Columbus founder Father Michael McGivney. He was born to Irish immigrants Patrick and Mary (Lynch) McGivney in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1852.

1903 – The Land Purchase Act (Wyndham Act) is enacted and allows for entire estates to be purchased by the occupying tenantry, subsidized by the state.

1907 – Birth of author and unionist MP, H. Montgomery Hyde, in Belfast.

1918 – Hanna Sheehy Skeffington is recovering, at the Gower Hotel in London, from the effects of her recent hunger strike.

1968 – Birth of golfer, Darren Clark, in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.

1969 – North of Ireland riots of August 1969: in response to events in Derry, Irish nationalists held protests throughout the North of Ireland. Some of these became violent. In Belfast, loyalists responded by attacking nationalist districts. Rioting also erupted in Newry, Armagh, Crossmaglen, Dungannon, Coalisland and Dungiven. Eight people were shot dead and at least 133 were treated for gunshot wounds. Scores of houses and businesses were burnt-out, most of them owned by Catholics. Thousands of families, mostly Catholics, were forced to flee their homes and refugee camps were set up in the Republic.

1969 – After two days of continuous battle, and with the RUC exhausted, the Stormont government asked the British government for permission to allow British troops to be deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland, which marked the beginning of Operation Banner. Late in the afternoon troops entered the centre of Derry. John Gallagher, a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by the Ulster Special Constabulary (‘B-Specials’) during street disturbances on the Cathedral Road in Armagh. John Gallagher was recorded, by the RUC, as the first ‘official’ victim of ‘the Troubles’. In Belfast vicious sectarian riots erupted and continued the following day. In Divis Street the RUC fired a number of shots, from a heavy Browning machine-gun mounted on an armoured car, into the Divis Flats and Towers. One of the shots killed a young Catholic boy, Patrick Rooney, while he lay in bed.

1976 – Majella O’Hare (12), a young Catholic girl, was shot dead by British soldiers while she was walking near her home in Ballymoyer, Whitecross, Co Armagh.

1978 – The Daily Mirror, announced its support for a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.

1982 – Death of actor, Patrick Magee, best known for his collaborations with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as his appearances in horror films and in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’.

1983 – Security forces in France uncovered a haul of weapons believed to be en route to the IRA on a ferry from Le Harve to Rosslare, Co Wexford.

1984 – Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Prior, said that the decision to ban Martin Galvin, leader of NORAID (Irish Northern Aid Committee), from Northern Ireland had been “a bad mistake”. The decision and subsequent police action had led to the death of Sean Downes on 12 August 1984. https://goo.gl/d7Ao2W

1989 – Twentieth anniversary of the deployment of the British Army on the streets of Northern Ireland. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Brook, had talks with James Molyneaux, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

1992 – Boxer Michael Carruth wins an Olympic Gold medal in Barcelona.

1993 – A group of supporters of ETA from the Basque country paid a visit to Belfast and expressed support for Sinn Féin and the IRA.

1997 – President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, Martin McGuinness, and a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála were granted visas to visit the United States and to raise funds for Sinn Féin.

1998 – The Family Mediation Service, which enables separating couples to reach agreement on a range of issues relating to their break-up, is to be expanded nationwide.

1998 – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledges that the Stormont Agreement relating to the release of prisoners convicted of killing gardaí has to be honoured by the Government.

1998 – “The Sovereign Nation”, a publication of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement is launched in Dundalk.

2000 – The Irish Locomotive Driver’s Association rejects a bid to end the two-month-old rail dispute.

2001 – Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid strongly criticizes the IRA after they withdraw a plan to put their weapons beyond use.

2002 – Emer McGrath from Ballynew in Ballinrobe on the Mayo/Galway border becomes the country’s top student with eight Leaving Certificate A1s and one A2.

2013 – Death of Fianna Fáil politician, Paddy Power. Power was a national schoolteacher before entering politics, he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a TD for the Kildare constituency at the 1969 general election. Power retired from politics at the 1989 general election. His son, Seán Power is a former TD and Minister of State. Another son, J. J. Power, served as a Green Party councillor on Kildare County Council. He died in Caragh, Co Kildare. He had no connection with the Irish bookmakers of the same name.

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Photo: Cliff walk at the Bromore Cliffs, Co Kerry, Markus Helfferich Photography