1751 – Birth in Dublin of dramatist and orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

1816 – Sir Richard Quain, physician to Queen Victoria, is born in Mallow, Co Cork.

1846 – Cork Examiner reports death by starvation.

1865 – Birth of Rose Maud Young (Róis Ní Ógáin) at Galgorm House, Ballymena, Co Antrim. She was educated at home by a governess and then trained as a teacher in Cambridge. Although she came from a unionist family who were linen merchants, she was committed to learning the Irish language, and kept diaries charting her progress. While in England she visited the Bodleian Library to see their collection of Gaelic manuscripts. She attended Irish classes run by the Gaelic League in London, and on her return to Ireland in the early 1900s, went regularly to Shan O’Cahan’s Irish College in Belfast. She was a close friend of Margaret Dobbs, and supported the Glens of Antrim Feis. She published three collections of Irish songs, and observed the keening tradition that was on the decline.

1921 – Eithne Coyle, May Burke, Linda Kearns and Aileen Keogh, escape from Mountjoy Prison.

1922 – National Army troops raid Ballyheigue, Co Kerry. One Anti-Treaty fighter is killed, allegedly after he had been taken prisoner.

1922 – The bodies of four Anti-Treaty IRA men are found in a hay stack at Rockview, Delvin, Westmeath. They were killed by their own bomb while trying to blow up a bridge.

1928 – Birth of Sir Charles Brett, architectural historian.

1963 – Death of Domhnall Ua Buachalla. He was an Irish politician, shopkeeper and member of the First Dáil who served as third and final Governor-General of the Irish Free State and later served as a member of the Council of State. Ua Buachalla was from Maynooth in Co Kildare and ran a combined grocery, bicycle shop and pub in the town. He was an Irish language activist and member of Conradh na Gaeilge. In 1907, he was arrested and had his groceries seized when he refused to pay a fine for having his grocery wagon painted with Domhnall Ua Buachalla, as the law required grocery wagons to be registered only in the English language.

1968 – Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, met with British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in London. The Taoiseach called for the ending of partition as a means to resolve the unrest in Northern Ireland. The Irish Times carried a report of an interview with Lord Brookeborough (former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland).

1970 – There were serious riots in the Catholic Ardoyne area of Belfast which lasted for three nights. Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Chichester-Clark, met with British Home Secretary, Reginald Maulling, on matters related to reforms and security.

1971 – A British soldier was killed in a bomb attack in Belfast.

1972 – The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) issued a discussion document “The Future of Northern Ireland”. The paper states Britain’s commitment to the union as long as the majority of people wish to remain part of the United Kingdom (UK). The paper also introduces the ideas of a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland and an “Irish Dimension”.

1972 – Loyalist paramilitaries carried out a raid on an RUC station in Claudy, Co Derry, and stole four British Army issue Sterling sub-machine Guns that had been issued to Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers.

1972 – Secretary of State of Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw’s paper, “The Future of Northern Ireland” declares no UK opposition to unity by consent.

1973 – Birth of rugby player and head coach of Munster, Anthony Foley in Limerick. He was attached to the same squad during his professional playing career. He was a member of the Munster team that won the 2002–03 Celtic League and was the winning captain during their 2005–06 Heineken Cup success. Foley played for Ireland from 1995 to 2005, and captained the squad on three separate occasions. Foley died in his sleep on 16 October 2016, while staying at a hotel in the Paris suburb of Suresnes with the Munster squad; heart disease had caused an acute pulmonary oedema. The team was preparing to face Racing 92 in its opening game of the 2016–17 European Rugby Champions Cup. The match was postponed as a result of Foley’s death. President Michael D. Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny made tributes to Foley, and the Irish flag flew at half mast at government buildings in Munster.

1974 – Muhammad Ali becomes heavyweight champion of the world for the second time when he knocks out champion George Foreman in the eighth round of the “Rumble in the Jungle,” in Kinshasa, Zaire.

1984 – Birth of footballer, David Mooney, in Dublin. He plays for Leyton Orient. Mooney joined Shamrock Rovers, his first senior club, in 2000, while he was a pupil in Coláiste Éanna, in Dublin. and scored in every round when Rovers’ won the U17 All Ireland title against Kingdom Boys in 2002. He made his first team debut coming on as a sub against Longford Town on 6 April 2004. His first goal came on 24 June 2004 against the doomed Dublin City. In his fifteen months in the first team he scored nine goals in 40 total appearances. Due to Rovers’ financial position at the time players had to be sold on and Mooney moved to Longford. His last game in the Hoops was against Cork City on 22 July 2005.

1985 – James Molyneaux, Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Ian Paisley, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), attended a meeting at Downing Street, London, with British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

1991 – Desmond Ellis was acquitted of conspiring to cause explosions at a court in London. Ellis had been involved in an extradition dispute between Ireland and Britain earlier in the year. On the following day the British Home Secretary signed an ‘exclusion order’ which banned Ellis from living in Britain.

1992 – The IRA exploded a bomb, estimated at 250 lbs, at Glengormley RUC station. Thirteen people were injured in the explosion and over 100 houses were damaged.

1992 – The IRA forced a taxi driver in London to transport a bomb to a location close to Downing Street where it later exploded.

1993 – Greysteel massacre: the UDA, using the covername ‘Ulster Freedom Fighters’ (UFF), claimed responsibility for a gun attack on the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, Co Derry. Eight civilians (six Catholic, two Protestant) were killed and twelve wounded. One gunman yelled ‘trick or treat!’ before he fired into the crowded room; a reference to the Halloween party taking place. The UFF claimed that it had attacked the “nationalist electorate” in revenge for the Shankill Road bombing.

1994 – There were scuffles on the Ormeau Road, Belfast, between RUC officers and local residents who were protesting against an Orange Order parade passing through their area.

1994 – Speaking in Dublin, President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, said that there were “clear efforts” by the British government to reduce the momentum of the peace process.

1997 – The cIRA said that it was responsible for the attempted bombing of government offices in Derry.

1997 – The UN called for a judicial inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane on 12 February 1989, a solicitor based in Belfast, at the time. Finucane had represented a number of Republicans in high profile cases. The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), claimed responsibility for the killing. Republicans alleged that the RUC had colluded with the UFF in targeting Finucane. The UN also criticised the Law Society for not defending lawyers from threats and harassment from members of the security forces.

1997 – Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, gave an interview which was published by New Statesman in which she accused civil servants in the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) of undermining the peace process by engaging in a series of leaks to the media and political parties.

1997 – British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, announced in the House of Commons that the final 12 exclusion orders would be revoked. He also announced that new ‘anti-terrorist legislation’ would be introduced on a UK wide basis. The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), based in Belfast, called on the government to repeal all emergency legislation. There was an election in the Republic of Ireland to elect a new President. When the counting was completed Mary McAleese was elected as the eight President of Ireland.

1998 – The South County Bar in West Douglas became the first pub in Cork to win the James Joyce Pub Award.

2000 – The Good Friday Agreement hanged in the balance with the Government seeking to establish whether or not the North’s First Minister David Trimble can ban Sinn Féin Ministers from cross-Border committee meetings.

2001 – One of the country’s largest estates, Farnham, on about 1,200 acres in Cavan, was bought for around £5m by a locally born businessman, pharmacist, Roy McCabe.

2001 – A major anti-litter initiative was launched which holds every town in Ireland accountable for its cleanliness.

2001 – Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, called on the British government to demilitarise places such as south Armagh and west Tyrone “very quickly”. He was speaking in New York, at a meeting of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.

2001 – Kenneth Bloomfield, head of the Northern Ireland civil service, said that a commissioner should be appointed to safeguard the interests of victims of ‘the Troubles’.

2002 – The crisis in the Northern Ireland peace process deepened after the IRA announced its decision to end contact with the arms decommissioning body.

2003 – A wreath to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the Vatican priest who is credited with saving the lives of thousands of people during the second World War was laid on his grave in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry.

2005 – The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) instructed its forces to ‘stand down’.

2009 – U2 play Madison Square Garden for the 25th anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert.

Photo: The entrance passage to the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara is aligned with the rising sun around Samhain

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