#OTD in 1697 – Birth of pirate, Anne Bonny, née Cormac, in Co Cork.

Born in Co Cork, Anne Bonny was the illegitimate daughter of lawyer William Cormac and his housemaid. They immigrated to America after Anne’s birth and settled on a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina. A headstrong young woman ‘with a fierce and courageous temper’, she eloped with James Bonny against her father’s wishes. James took her […]

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#OTD in 1594 – English expedition sets out from Galway to kill pirate queen, Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O’Malley).

England used Galway as a launching pad for capturing the Pirate Queen, Gráinne Ní Mháille — and failed miserably. Gráinne Ní Mháille was chieftain of the Ó Máille clan in the west of Ireland, following in the footsteps of her father Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. Commonly known as Gráinne Mhaol (anglicised as Granuaile) in Irish […]

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Ní Saoirse go Saoirse na mBan! ‘Invisible Women’ by Brian Moore

Ní Saoirse go Saoirse na mBan! ‘Invisible Women’ (by Brian Moore) The singer sings a rebel song and everybody sings along. Just one thing I’ll never understand: Every damn rebel seems to be a man. For he sings of the Bold Fenian Men And the Boys of the Old Brigade. What about the women who […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 8 March:

International Women’s Day 1574 – Captain William Martin lays siege to Gráinne Ní Mháille in Rockfleet castle. 1594 – English expedition sets out from Galway to kill pirate queen, Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O’Malley). Pádraig Pearse rewrote the lyrics to Óró Sé do Bheatha ‘Bhaile as a rallying call to Irish nationalists leading up to […]

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#OTD in 1981 – Day 8 | Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.

In a few hours time I shall be twenty-seven grand years of age. Paradoxically it will be a happy enough birthday; perhaps that’s because I am free in spirit. I can offer no other reason. I was at Mass today, and saw all the lads minus their beards, etc. An American priest said Mass and […]

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#OTD in 1918 – The SS Kenmare, part of the fleet of the Cork Steampacket Company, was sunk without warning in Irish waters, from a torpedo fired from a German submarine.

Out of the crew of 35, only six were saved. The vessel was en route from Liverpool to Cork when it was struck. Most of the crew were in their bunks asleep when they were awoken by a loud explosion that shattered the ship from end to end. It sank in less than two minutes. Among […]

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#OTD in 1922 – Birth of folk singer, Patrick Clancy, in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.

Paddy Clancy, was an Irish folk singer best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. In addition to singing and storytelling, Clancy played the harmonica with the group, which is widely credited with popularising Irish traditional music in the United States and revitalising it in Ireland. He also started and ran […]

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#OTD in 1848 – First unveiling of the Irish Tricolour by Thomas Francis Meagher at 33 the Mall in Waterford city.

The Irish Tricolour flag was first flown publicly by Waterford man and Irish-American Patriot Thomas Francis Meagher in his native city at the Wolf Tone Confederate Club at 33 The Mall, Waterford on 7 March 1848. On the 15th of April he presented a fabulous version of the Tricolour made from the finest French silk […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Nine Republican prisoners are taken from Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee to Ballyseedy Cross, ostensibly to clear a mined road.

Kerry had seen more violence in the guerrilla phase of the Civil war than almost anywhere else in Ireland. By March 1923, sixty-eight Free State soldiers had already been killed in Kerry and 157 wounded. Eighty-five would die there by the end of the war. The day after Five Free State soldiers were killed by […]

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