#OTD in 1875 – John Mitchell returns from America one day after being elected MP for Tipperary.

16/02/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Mitchel’s election was deemed invalid as he was a convicted felon for his activities with the Young Ireland movement. In poor health, he would die weeks later on 20th March. Mitchel wrote for The Nation and was founder of The United Irishman newspaper which openly preached rebellion against England returns to Ireland. Convicted of treason […]

#OTD in 2008 – Death of Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes, aged 59.

16/02/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

As leader of the Belfast brigade of the IRA, Hughes led one of the most effective campaigns seen during the Troubles. But he also endured the worst of the British prison regime at Long Kesh, spending 13 years in jail. Hughes spent 53 days on hunger strike in the famous H-Blocks in 1980, was Officer […]

#OTD in Irish History – 16 February:

16/02/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

1768 – The Octennial Act limits Irish parliaments’ life to eight years. 1822 – Birth of engineer, James Thomson, in Belfast. 1841 – The Maplin Sands lighthouse was first lit, constructed and built by blind Irish engineer, Alexander Mitchell, from Dublin, which began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames. A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse […]

Ancient Irish Law

15/02/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

‘Irish law is the oldest, most original, and most extensive of mediaeval European legal systems. It is a unique legal inheritance, an independent indigenous system of advanced jurisprudence that was fully evolved by the eighth century. It is also far less well-known than it deserves.’ ‘Early medieval Ireland evolved a system of law (often called […]

#OTD in 1850 – Birth of patriot and women’s rights advocate, Sophie Bryant, in Sandymount, Co Dublin.

15/02/2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Sophie Bryant, mathematician, suffragette and pioneer of education for women, also had the distinction of being described by her friend, the playwright George Bernard Shaw, as having ‘a literary style that outdid George Eliot’s.’ Bryant was born Sophie Willock in Dublin in 1850. Her father was a mathematician and a fellow of Trinity College Dublin. […]

#OTD in 1896 – Birth of stage and film actor, Arthur Shields (younger brother of Barry Fitzgerald), in Portobello, Co Dublin.

15/02/2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

While Sean Connolly claimed the unfortunate title of being the first rebel fatality, others were luckier and escaped from Easter Week, 1916 with their lives. For Arthur Shields, his role in the Rising was to become merely an interesting titbit in what was a fascinating career as an actor at home and in the US. […]

#OTD in 1921 – The IRA ambush a train at Upton believing it is transporting an estimated fifteen British soldiers.

15/02/2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) mounted an attack on a train carrying British soldiers at Upton, Co Cork. The action was a disaster for the IRA; three of its volunteers were killed and two wounded. Six British soldiers were wounded, three seriously. Six civilian passengers were killed and ten wounded in the crossfire. Cork was […]

#OTD in Irish History – 15 February:

15/02/2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

1782 – The first Dungannon Convention of the Ulster Volunteers calls for an independent Irish parliament; Grattan continues to campaign for the same objective. 1793 – A third convention of Dungannon – a gathering of Volunteers from Ulster is held. 1794 – The United Irishmen published a plan for parliamentary reform, advocating universal male suffrage, […]

#OTD in 1971 – Variously known as Decimal Day, Decimalisation Day and D-Day, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland decimalised their currencies.

15/02/2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

After months of preparation, Ireland’s currency finally changed from pounds, shillings and pence to a new decimal currency. Decimal Day as it was known, took place on 15 February 1971. Decimal Currency D-Day 1971

#OTD in 1921 – Two IRA Volunteers, the Coffey brothers, were assassinated in their beds by unknown gunmen in Enniskeane, Cork.

14/02/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Volunteers James and Timothy Coffey were from Breaghna, Enniskeane, Co Cork, the eldest boys in the family of eight of farming parents James and Margaret Coffey. In the early hours of Monday 14 February 1921, the soldiers of the Essex Regiment and Black and Tans were escorted by two masked civilians, who were members of […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Category: History