#OTD in 1791 – Theobald Wolfe Tone publishes “An argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland”.

22/08/2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Society of United Irishmen, a liberal political organisation that initially seeks Parliamentary reform, is founded in Belfast on 14 October 1791. It evolves into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France. It launches the Irish Rebellion of 1798 with the objective of ending British monarchical rule over […]

#OTD in 1920 – RIC Detective Swanzy was shot dead by Cork IRA volunteers while leaving Church in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

22/08/2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

On 20 March 1920, Oswald Swanzy was in charge of a group of masked RIC policemen who entered the home of Tomás Mac Curtain, Lord Mayor of Cork, and killed him. Mac Curtain was also the leader of Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA. On 17 April 1920, a coroner’s inquest was held into […]

#OTD in 1922 – Michael Collins is killed in an ambush. On the last day of his life, he set out from Cork in a convoy that passed through Bandon, Clonakilty, and Rosscarbery on its way to Skibbereen.

22/08/2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann! “Give us the future, we’ve had enough of your past. Give us back our country, to live in, to grow in, to love.” –Michael Collins Michael Collins was killed during Ireland’s Civil War at Béal na mBláth – not far from Woodfield, Clonakilty, Co Cork where he […]

#OTD in Irish History – 22 August:

22/08/2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

565 – St Columba reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland. 1755 – Birth of General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert. He was a French soldier, a participant in the French Revolution, who led a failed invasion of Ireland to assist Irish rebels in 1798. 1791 – Theobald Wolfe Tone publishes “An argument on behalf […]

Brehon Law and Medicine

21/08/2017.Reading time 11 minutes.

Physicians practised in Ireland from earliest times. The Book of Genealogies lists Capa and Eaba as the first male and female doctors in Ireland. The first historical reference to a physician is in the Annals of the Four Masters, where the death of Maelodhar Ua Tindridh, ‘the most learned physician of Ireland’, is recorded in […]

#OTD in Irish History – 21 August:

21/08/2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

1693 – Death of Jacobite and soldier, Patrick Sarsfield. Born in Lucan, Co Dublin, he was created the first Earl of Lucan and belonged to an Anglo-Norman family long settled in Ireland. His father Patrick Sarsfield married Anne, daughter of Rory (Roger) O’Moore, who organised the Irish Rebellion of 1641. The family was of Norman […]

#OTD in 1919 – Motion passed by Dáil that an Oath of Allegiance (to the Republic) should be taken by all members and officials of Dáil Éireann, and all Irish Volunteers.

20/08/2017.Reading time 1 minute.

Ernie O’Malley says that with this oath the Irish Volunteers became the Irish Republican Army (IRA). At a meeting of Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament not recognised by Britain), Secretary of Defence, Cathal Brugha called for all TDs to swear allegiance to the new parliament. Every person and every one of those bodies undermentioned must […]

#OTD in 1949 – Birth of Thin Lizzy lead singer, Phil Lynott.

20/08/2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

Irish rock star, bassist, singer and founder of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott is born in England to single mom Philomena Lynott. At about age four, Lynott moved to Dublin to live with his maternal grandmother. At a time when Dublin was a very homogeneous white society, Lynott did suffer some racial prejudice. Still in his […]

#OTD in 1981 – Twenty-seven-year-old Michael “Mickey” Devine, from the Creggan in Derry dies on the 60th day of his hunger strike.

20/08/2017.Reading time 1 minute.

Fuar siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Mickey Devine was the third INLA Volunteer to join the H-Block hunger strikers and he was the last of the group to give their lives in order to retain their status as political prisoners. Twenty-seven-year-old Mickey Devine, from the Creggan in Derry city, was the third INLA […]

#OTD in Irish History – 20 August:

20/08/2017.Reading time 7 minutes.

535 – Death of Mochta of Louth; he was a disciple of St. Patrick. Also known as Maucteus, he was, like Patrick, a native of Britain. The Annals of Ulster date his death to 535, which points to him being considerably younger than Patrick, who had died in 493. He is known to have written […]