Erskine Childers was the author of ‘Riddle of the Sands’, an arms smuggler via The Asgard, father of the fourth president of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers, and would be executed by the Free State government for carrying an unlawful weapon. Childers supported the Anti-Treaty forces in the vicious Irish civil war which bedeviled the country. […]
Kitchener was the son of Lt. Col. Henry Horatio Kitchener who settled in Ballylongford, Co Kerry under a scheme to encourage the purchase of land after the recent An Gorta Mór. His father was an unpopular tenant-evicting landlord. The young Kitchener was commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871. Kitchener saw active service […]
The battle was between Domhnall, High King of Ireland and Congal Cláen, King of Ulster. It is described as one of the most sanguinary in early Irish History. Congal had killed the King of Ireland in 628 but was defeated the next year at the battle of Battle of Dun Cethirn and Domnall became King […]
In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the feast of St. John and the second day of the Midsummer celebrations. 637 – The Battle of Moira is fought between the High King of Ireland and the Kings of Ulster and Dalriada. It is the largest battle in the history of Ireland. 1747 – Birth of actor […]
The Kilnasaggart Pillar Stone in Co Armagh is one of the oldest known inscribed stones in Ireland. Kilnasaggart stone stands in a field not far from Kilnasaggart Bridge. It is a tall pillar stone, 2 metres high, and inscribed with some Ogham script, crosses, most within circles, and a Gaelic inscription. The pillar-stone is said […]
Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was the daughter of Mary (née Frazer) and Charles Joseph O’Sullivan, an officer in the Connaught Rangers who served in World War I. She attended a convent school in Dublin, then the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton (now Woldingham School), England. One of her classmates there was Vivian Mary Hartley, […]
St. John’s Eve / Bonfire Night / Oíche Fhéile Eoin. The evening of 23 June, St John’s Eve, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist. This ancient custom has its roots in pre-Christian Irish society when the Celts honoured the Goddess Áine. 1704 – The Registration Act comes […]
John Kelly lived in Killanne in the parish of Rathnure and was a leader who fought in the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798. While Kelly was obviously well-known to rebels and loyalists alike during the short duration of the Wexford rising, almost nothing is known of him outside this time. He was one of the […]
St John’s Day, the feast of St John the Baptist, or Midsummer’s Day as it is sometimes called, occurs on 24 June. In many cultures, however, it is 23 June, the vigil of the feast, that is considered more significant because of the wealth of superstition that surrounds it much of it going back to […]
But time at last makes all things even, And if we do but watch the hour, There never yet was human power That could evade, if unforgiven, The patient hate and vigil long, Of those who treasure up a wrong. British capitalism was a dominant world power, still expanding. It policed the world for imperial […]
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