In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of the Annunciation to Our Lady.
1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots.
1635 – A shower of hailstones, with stones as large as four inches in circumference, was reported in Castletown, Co Offaly – a hen was killed and a woman was injured.
1735 – Birth of James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden and politician.
1738 – Irish harpist and composer, Turlough O’Carolan, died at Alderford House, the home of his patron Máire MacDermott Roe, in Ballyfarnan, Co Roscommon.
1807 – The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
1831 – Birth of politician and progressive landlord, Arthur Kavanagh, in Borris, Co Carlow.
1840 – Birth of Myles Keogh in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow. Soldier in the US army, it is said by the Sioux that he is the last man killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn, where his horse is the only US survivor. His niece, Margaret Keogh, was the first victim on Easter Monday in Dublin during the 1916 Rising.
1846 – Michael Davitt, known universally as ‘The Father of the Land League’, was born in Straid, Co Mayo.
1847 – Pope Pius IX issued an encyclical called ‘On aid for Ireland’.
1918 – The new MP for Waterford City will bear same surname as the last one: Redmond. Capt William Redmond, son of John Redmond, the long-serving Irish Party leader whose recent passing gave rise to this by-election, defeated his Sinn Féin opponent Dr Vincent Joseph White. In what was a straightforward head to head contest, Capt. Redmond secured 1,242 votes to Dr White’s 764.
1918 – A crowded meeting of protest was at Melbourne Town Hall following the display of Sinn Féin flags and ‘disloyal’ emblems in the course of a St Patrick’s Day procession. The Lord Mayor, who had sanctioned the procession, remarked that he never dreamed that such materials would be exhibited. A resolution was passed urging Prime Minister Billy Hughes to use the War Precautions Act to prevent such an occurrence from happening again. Meanwhile, the Irish-born Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, addressing a crowd of 8,000 stated that he was not aware of any Sinn Féin organisation in the city. Nevertheless he urged the crowd that no matter where threats came from they were to be true to the principles of right and justice, and faithful to Ireland and to Australia.
1920 – The first ‘Black and Tans’ (auxiliary policemen) officially arrived in Ireland.
1923 – Republican leader in Leitrim, Ned Bofin and three of his men are captured in the Arigna Mountains.
1923 – Free State soldiers in Wexford shot dead Michael Furlong (of Ballagh) at Oldcourt, in revenge for the previous days killing of three Free State troops as they suspected that he was an Anti-Treaty IRA member (he had fought in the recent Irish War of Independence in the IRA).
1923 – A republican prisoner, Murphy is shot dead by Free State troops in Kerry.
1939 – Birth of James ‘Jim’ McCann in Belfast. He is a figure who has been linked with Irish republicanism, drug trafficking and the smuggling of arms to the Provisional IRA in the 1970s. McCann has dual British and Irish citizenship. In 1971 he escaped from Belfast’s Crumlin Road Prison, where he was awaiting trial for a petrol-bombing at Queen’s University.
1946 – To mark the centenary of Michael Davitt’s birth, a major celebration was held in Straide, Co Mayo, primarily at the request of a personal friend and executor of his will, Mr. Dennis O’Rourke of Dublin. An attendance of over 12,000 includes Éamon de Valera, Hugh Delargy, M.P. as well as surviving members of the Davitt family, Dr. Robert Davitt and Miss Eileen Davitt. The occasion is covered live by the BBC.
1949 – Birth of Ronnie Flanagan, Northern Irish Chief Constable (Royal Irish Constabulary, Police Service of Northern Ireland) in Belfast.
1963 – Captain Terence O’Neill becomes Northern Ireland Prime Minister after Lord Brookeborough resigns.
1966 – Birth of former professional footballer, Anton Rogan, in Belfast. His playing career included spells at Lisburn Distillery, Celtic, Sunderland, Oxford United, Millwall and Blackpool. Rogan also played 42 times for the Northern Ireland national team between 1987 and 1996.
1968 – The Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) held another protest at the Guildhall in Derry.
1969 – Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting were jailed for organising an illegal counter demonstration in Armagh on 30 November 1968.
1971 – Shadow Home Secretary, James Callaghan, spoke at a rally of the Northern Ireland labour movement but rejected calls for the Labour Party to open membership to those living in Northern Ireland.
1975 – British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, paid a visit to Stormont and announced that an election to the Constitutional Convention would be held in Northern Ireland on 1 May 1975.
1976 – Secretary of Sate for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, made a speech in the House of Commons in which he indicated a change in security policy for Northern Ireland. The decision meant that the RUC were to take the leading role in security in Northern Ireland; previously this had been the responsibility of the British Army. The policy was referred to as ‘police primacy’ and also, by some commentators, as the ‘Ulsterisation’ of the conflict. This referred to the fact that the RUC and the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) were to find themselves more and more in the front line. This was reflected in the increase in numbers of personnel in the RUC and the UDR and the reduction in the level of British troops. The policy also lead to a period of poor relations between the police and the army.
1976 – Birth of GAA footballer, Francie Bellew, in Crossmaglan, Co Armagh. He has won an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medal, five Ulster Championships and a National League title with the county. He was also awarded an All Star for his performances in 2003. Bellew plays club football for Crossmaglen Rangers and has won four All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championships, seven Ulster Senior Club Football Championships and 13 Armagh Senior Football Championships with the club.
1982 – The IRA killed three British Soldiers during a gun attack on Crocus Street, off the Springfield Road in west Belfast. Five other people were injured in the attack. It was believed that an M-60 machine gun was used in the attack.
1991 – The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), all agreed to the arrangements for political talks on the future of Northern Ireland. A Northern Ireland Office (NIO) Minister, Richard Needham, became the first NIO minister to visit Belfast City Hall since the Unionist protest began over the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).
1992 – The London Times carried details of an opinion poll that it had commissioned. The poll was carried out by MORI to find out the attitudes of people living in Britain towards Northern Ireland. Of those questioned, 31 per cent said they were in favour of Northern Ireland becoming independent, 29 per cent favoured the region remaining part of the United Kingdom (UK), and 23 per cent were in favour of a United Ireland.
1994 – President Mary Robinson, visited Newry, Craigavon, and Derry.
1993 – Castlerock killings: the UDA, using the cover name ‘Ulster Freedom Fighters’ (UFF), claimed responsibility for shooting dead four Catholic civilians and a PIRA volunteer at a building site in Castlerock, Co Derry. Later in the day it claimed responsibility for shooting dead another Catholic civilian in Belfast.
1998 – New constitutional arrangements for Northern Ireland that include cross-border bodies with executive powers and a new Northern Ireland Assembly are revealed by the British and Irish Governments.
1998 – Robbie Keane made his first appearance for the Republic of Ireland against the Czech Republic. Keane came on as a second half substitute in a game against the Czech Republic which Ireland lost 2-1.
1999 – The judge hearing the case against a man charged with murdering Robert Hamill in Portadown, Co Armagh on 27 April 1997, described some of the actions of RUC officers on that night as ‘unfortunate’. The man was cleared of murder but sentenced to 4 years for causing an affray. The Solicitor’s Criminal Bar Association (SCBA) called for the RUC to be removed from the investigation into the murder of Rosemary Nelson who was the solicitor for the Hamill family. Chief Constable of the RUC, Ronnie Flanagan, rejected these and other similar calls.
2000 – David Trimble narrowly beats off a challenge to his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party casting doubt on its unity and the future of the Northern Ireland peace process.
2001 – More than 1,200 animals are slaughtered in counties Meath, Wexford, Carlow and Laois as a precautionary measure against foot and mouth disease.
2001 – Ballymun, a northside suburb in Dublin, is transformed into the Bogside for the filming of Bloody Sunday, a movie which promises to piece together the controversial events of the 1972 parade. More than 2,000 locals take part in the scenes, including some of the original marchers from Derry.
2002 – An international report ranks Ireland 28th in the top 30 healthiest countries – behind Slovenia, Malta, the Czech Republic and Portugal.
2002 – At an international conference in Co Antrim, Dr Andrew Cooper of the University of Ulster warns that Ireland is shrinking. Every year an estimated 750 acres of coastline is swallowed up by the sea and the situation is likely to get worse unless urgent action is taken.
2003 – Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue launches the Value Menu Restaurant Guide which will offer meals at record low prices. Participating pubs, restaurants and hotels will give customers the choice of meals at fixed prices of €10, €20 and €30.
2006 – Death of prolific photographer, Bob Carlos Clarke. Often referred to as the ‘British Helmut Newton’, in his short life he had a strong impact upon and influenced the development of photography from the late 20th Century through the present day. Born in Co Cork, he authored six books during his career. He committed suicide on this date in 2006.
Image | Duck Inn, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare | Peaceful Earth Studio Photography
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