Bridget Dirrane was the oldest native of Ireland’s Aran Islands and the second oldest person in Ireland. Éamon de Valera was the Irish political leader she most admired, but in a life touching three centuries, she met Pádraig Pearse, went on hunger strike in Mountjoy gaol, campaigned for John F Kennedy in Boston, and was […]
1170 – Diarmait Mac Murchada and the Normans march on the Norse kingdom of Dublin, avoiding an Irish force that awaits them to the south of it. Dublin falls to them on this date. Some Norsemen, including the king of Dublin, Ascall mac Ragnaill, flee to the Hebrides or the Isle of Man. 1601 – […]
1770 – James Smyth, MP for Dundalk, is killed in a riding accident. 1777 – Birth of Admiral William Brown (also known in Spanish as Guillermo Brown) was born in Foxford, Co Mayo and died in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 3 March 1857. 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Rebel southern column marches through Sculloge Gap, […]
Caomhan is the patron saint of Inisheer (Inis Oírr), the smallest of the Aran Islands. Even though he is “by far the most celebrated of all the saints of the Aran Islands”, little is known about him. He is said to have been a disciple of Saint Enda of Aran. He is also said to […]
1699 – According to Jonathan Swift’s book, Gulliver’s Travels, it was on this day that Lemuel Gulliver sets sail on board the Antelope from Bristol. 1715 – Joseph Deane, Justice of Assize for Munster and MP for Co Dublin, dies of a fever resulting from a cold he caught (allegedly caused by a total eclipse […]
Easter Sunday 1738 – A Mr Lorimer, receiver of Sir Arthur Acheson (MP for Mullingar), is killed in a duel. 1816 – Birth of author of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë, daughter of an Irish father and eldest of the three Brontë Sisters. 1871 – Birth of Labour leader and Irish nationalist, John Fitzpatrick, in Athlone, […]
Birth of Irish playwright, poet and author John Millington Synge in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin. Synge was one of the leading lights of what was known as the Irish Literary Revival and along with William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory, founding members of the Abbey Theatre. His most famous work is The Playboy of the Western […]
1718 – Birth of John Gore, Baron Annal, lawyer, politician and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench from 1764 to 1784. 1836 – Texas declares its independence from Mexico at a meeting in Washington on the Brazos, Texas. At the time, at least ten Irish-born soldiers were fighting at the Alamo (23 Feb-6 March) with […]
1003 – Death of Abbot, Kilian of Cologne. Kilian was a native of Ireland. In 974, he and a group of Irish missionaries, led by Minnborinus of Cologne (died 986), arrived at Cologne where they established St. Martin’s Abbey in an island on the Rhine. Minnborinus ruled as first abbot; upon his death, Kilian succeeded […]
Bridget Dirrane was the oldest native of Ireland’s Aran Islands and the second oldest person in Ireland. Éamon de Valera was the Irish political leader she most admired, but in a life touching three centuries, she met Pádraig Pearse, went on hunger strike in Mountjoy gaol, campaigned for John F Kennedy in Boston, and was […]
