#OTD in 1854 – Birth of playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, Oscar Wilde, in Dublin.

16/10/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Oscar Wilde was an Irish author, playwright and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. […]

#OTD in 1920 – Peter O’Carroll (actor, Brendan O’Carroll’s grandfather) was shot dead in Manor Street, Dublin.

16/10/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Actor, Brendan O’Carroll (Mrs Brown’s Boys) is the youngest of eleven children. He was born in 1955 in Finglas, Co Dublin to parents Gerard Francis O’Carroll and Maureen McHugh. Gerard was a cabinet-maker and Maureen a secondary school teacher and the first Irish Member of Parliament. They were married in 1936 in Dublin but both […]

#OTD in 1588 – Birth of Franciscan friar and historian, Luke Wadding, in Co Waterford.

16/10/2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

Wadding was born in Waterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia Lombard (sister of Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland). Educated at the school of Mrs. Jane Barden in Waterford and of Peter White in Kilkenny, in 1604 he went to study in Lisbon and at […]

#OTD in 1890 – Birth of Irish Revolutionary leader, Michael Collins (The Big Fella) in Sam’s Cross, near Clonakilty, Co Cork.

16/10/2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

“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, during the treaty negotiations. Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the […]

#OTD in Irish History – 16 October:

16/10/2019.Reading time 13 minutes.

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast Day of St. Gall (Gallen, or Gallus, c. 550 – c. 646). He was an Irish disciple and one of the traditionally twelve companions of Saint Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. 1588 – Birth of Franciscan friar and historian, Luke Wadding, in Co […]

#OTD in 1858 – John L. Sullivan nicknamed ‘The Boston Strong Boy’ is born in Roxbury, Massachussetts.

15/10/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

John L. Sullivan was born to Irish immigrants, Michael Sullivan from Abbeydorney, Co Kerry and Catherine née Kelly from Athlone, Co Westmeath. He was one of the most popular heavyweight champions and a symbol of the bareknuckle era of boxing. Sullivan began to fight professionally in 1878 after briefly studying at Boston College. On 7 […]

#OTD in 1949 – Death of Eoin MacNeill, Irish historian and founder of the Irish Volunteers.

15/10/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Eoin MacNeill was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, nationalist activist, and Sinn Féin politician. MacNeill has been described as “the father of the modern study of early Irish medieval history.” A key figure of the Gaelic revival, he was a co-founder with Douglas Hyde of the Gaelic League, to preserve Irish language and culture. […]

#OTD in Irish History – 15 October:

15/10/2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

1582 – Pope Gregory reforms the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45BCE: 4 October is followed by 15 October. However, the reform will not be implemented in Britain and Ireland till 1752. 1690 – After taking Cork on 28 September, Marlbourough takes Kinsale for the Williamites, who now control Munster. 1763 – Birth of […]

#OTD in 2001 – The first multiple State funeral is held in honour of ten IRA Volunteers, including Kevin Barry, who were executed for their role in the War of Independence.

14/10/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

More than 80 years after they were buried in the grounds of Mountjoy Gaol, the bodies of the ten men were exhumed and reinterred in a special new plot at Glasnevin Cemetery. They were executed in Mountjoy Gaol by British forces following courts-martial from 1920–21 during the Irish War of Independence. Based upon military law […]

#OTD in 1814 – Birth of Irish writer, who was the chief organiser and poet of the Young Ireland movement, Thomas Osborne Davis in Mallow, Co Cork.

14/10/2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

Thomas Osborn Davis was born in the town of Mallow, Co Cork, the son of a Welsh father, a surgeon in the Royal Artillery, and an Irish mother. Through his mother he was descended from the Gaelic noble family of O’Sullivan Beare. His father died one month after his birth and his mother moved to […]

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

#OTD in 1854 – Birth of playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, Oscar Wilde, in Dublin.

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#OTD in 1920 – Peter O’Carroll (actor, Brendan O’Carroll’s grandfather) was shot dead in Manor Street, Dublin.

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#OTD in 1588 – Birth of Franciscan friar and historian, Luke Wadding, in Co Waterford.

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#OTD in 1890 – Birth of Irish Revolutionary leader, Michael Collins (The Big Fella) in Sam’s Cross, near Clonakilty, Co Cork.

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#OTD in Irish History – 16 October:

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#OTD in 1858 – John L. Sullivan nicknamed ‘The Boston Strong Boy’ is born in Roxbury, Massachussetts.

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#OTD in 1949 – Death of Eoin MacNeill, Irish historian and founder of the Irish Volunteers.

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#OTD in Irish History – 15 October:

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#OTD in 2001 – The first multiple State funeral is held in honour of ten IRA Volunteers, including Kevin Barry, who were executed for their role in the War of Independence.

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#OTD in 1814 – Birth of Irish writer, who was the chief organiser and poet of the Young Ireland movement, Thomas Osborne Davis in Mallow, Co Cork.

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