Category: Ireland

#OTD in Irish History – 23 October:

.Reading time 11 minutes.

1641 – The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d’état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for Catholics. The coup failed and the rebellion developed into an ethnic conflict between native Irish Catholics on one side, and English and Scottish […]

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#OTD in 1641 – Rory O’More, Lord Maguire and Sir Pheilim O’Neill initiate a major revolt in Armagh.

.Reading time 9 minutes.

The Irish Uprising of 1641 was a long-term result of the “plantation” policy of Tudor and Stuart monarchs under which Ireland was aggressively colonised by Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. From the mid-16th century, Irish landowners were dispossessed to make way for the settlers and a vicious cycle developed whereby rebellion against the English […]

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#OTD in 1920 – IRA 3rd Cork Brigade personnel attacked a lorry carrying British troops from the Essex Regiment at the Toureen Ambush, on the road between Bandon and Cork.

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Up until the ambush the 3rd West Cork Brigade Flying Column had not before engaged the British troops stationed in Co Cork in a proper battle. The Brigade had finished its training and to get it ready for combat it had to get in an engagement with the British soldiers. Under Tom Barry at Toureen, […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 22 October:

.Reading time 13 minutes.

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast Day of Pope Saint John Paul II. He is widely known to Catholics as Saint John Paul the Great, especially in the names of institutions. It is traditional to celebrate saints’ feast days on the anniversary of their deaths, but that of John Paul II (22 October) […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 21 October:

.Reading time 12 minutes.

1449 – Birth of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, in Dublin Castle at a time when his father, the Duke of York, had begun to challenge Henry VI for the crown. His godfather was James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond. He was the third of the four sons of Richard and Cecily who survived […]

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#OTD in 1892 – Birth of General Eoin O’Duffy, near Castleblaney, Co Monaghan.

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Birth of Eoin O’Duffy, IRA man, Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and General Franco supporter, near Lough Egish, Co Monaghan. O’Duffy first came to fame when he led an IRA group which captured the first RIC barracks at Ballytrain taking from it weapons and explosives, during the War of Independence. Also present at this victory […]

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#OTD in 1933 – The Irish Free State government purchases the copyright of Peadar Kearney’s, ’The Soldiers Song’ (Amhrán na bhFiann) which becomes the national anthem.

.Reading time 5 minutes.

The lyrics of ‘The Soldiers Song’ were written by Peadar Ó Cearnaigh (Kearney), an uncle of Brendan Behan, who together with Patrick Heeney composed the music. Before the present-day National Anthem was adopted, “God Save Ireland” was the unofficial anthem used by the Fenians and the official anthem was “God Save the King” until the […]

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#OTD in Irish History – 20 October:

.Reading time 10 minutes.

1612 – Birth of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, 2nd Earl of Cork, in Youghal, Co Cork. He was an Anglo-Irish nobleman who served as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and was a Cavalier. 1674 – Birth of James Logan, Colonial statesman and scholar in Lurgan, Co Armagh. 1775 – Two hundred passengers are […]

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