Tag: British Government

Bliain an Áir | Year of the Slaughter

02/11/2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

The Irish Famine of 1740–1741, Bliain an Áir (Year of Slaughter), in Ireland was perhaps of similar magnitude, or equally destructive (in fact, it killed a greater percentage of the population in a shorter period of time) to the better-known An t-Ocras Mór of 1845–1852. An t-Ocras Mór where more than a million died in […]

Read More

#OTD in 1920 – After 74 days on Hunger Strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney died.

25/10/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Following his court-martial in August 1920, Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, greeted his sentence of two years in prison by declaring: ‘I have decided the term of my imprisonment: I shall be free, alive or dead, within a month.’ Four days earlier, British troops had stormed the City Hall in Cork and arrested […]

Read More

#OTD in 1920 – The inquest into the death of Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork killed by policemen in disguise on 20 March, returns a verdict of willful murder against the RIC, and indicts Lloyd George and the British government.

17/04/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

A Cork jury returns a verdict of willful murder against British Prime Minister Lloyd George following the killing in March of Lord Mayor Tomas MacCurtain. The verdict read: “We find that Alderman Tomas MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork, died from shock and haemorrhage, caused by bullet wounds, and that he was wilfully wounded under circumstances […]

Read More

#OTD in 1941 – A Luftwaffe bomb kills 13 people in Belfast.

07/04/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The British government appeals to Éamon de Valera for help and he authorises fire brigades from Dublin, Dundalk, Drogheda and Dún Laoghaire to give assistance. On the evening of 7 April 1941, Fifteen German bombers believed to have been from the Kampfgruppe 26 path finder’s left their airfield in Northern Holland near the town of […]

Read More

#OTD in 1989 – Belfast solicitor, Patrick Finucane is murdered by Unionist assassins.

12/02/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Pat Finucane, who acted as solicitor for republican hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was shot dead at his north Belfast home in front of his wife and children. The De Silva report into the brutal murder of Pat Finucane, coupled with the prime minister’s searing confession to parliament, revealed probably the worst atrocity by the British […]

Read More

#OTD in 1919 – Daíl Éireann, chaired by Sean T. O’Kelly meets for the very first time at Mansion House in Dublin.

21/01/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

The first meeting of Dáil Éireann took place in the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. The session lasted a mere two hours. They were two of the most momentous hours in Ireland’s history. During this brief period the Dáil adopted a Constitution and approved the Declaration of Independence. By doing […]

Read More

Bliain an Áir | Year of the Slaughter

02/11/2022.Reading time 12 minutes.

The Irish Famine of 1740–1741, Bliain an Áir (Year of Slaughter), in Ireland was perhaps of similar magnitude, or equally destructive (in fact, it killed a greater percentage of the population in a shorter period of time) to the better-known An t-Ocras Mór of 1845–1852. An t-Ocras Mór where more than a million died in […]

Read More

#OTD in 1920 – After 74 days on Hunger Strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney died.

25/10/2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Following his court-martial in August 1920, Terence MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, greeted his sentence of two years in prison by declaring: ‘I have decided the term of my imprisonment: I shall be free, alive or dead, within a month.’ Four days earlier, British troops had stormed the City Hall in Cork and arrested […]

Read More

#OTD in 1920 – The inquest into the death of Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork killed by policemen in disguise on 20 March, returns a verdict of willful murder against the RIC, and indicts Lloyd George and the British government.

17/04/2022.Reading time 1 minute.

A Cork jury returns a verdict of willful murder against British Prime Minister Lloyd George following the killing in March of Lord Mayor Tomas MacCurtain. The verdict read: “We find that Alderman Tomas MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork, died from shock and haemorrhage, caused by bullet wounds, and that he was wilfully wounded under circumstances […]

Read More