#OTD in Irish History | 13 May:

1842 – Arthur Sullivan, the son of an Irish musician, is born. Along with William Gilbert he invented the English operetta. Sullivan’s last work is entitled “The Emerald Isle”. 1848 – The Irish Confederation splits; John Mitchel starts the militant United Irishman; he is arrested on this date and is sentenced to 14 years transportation […]

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#OTD in 1923 – Liam Lynch, chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army, is mortally wounded by Free State troops in the Knockmealdown Mountains, Co Tipperary.

Liam Lynch was born in Barnagurraha, Co Limerick. He joined the Irish Volunteers after witnessing the arrests of the Kent family by British forces after the failed Easter Rising of 1916. Two of the Kent brothers, David and Richard were shot during their arrest. Richard would later die of his wounds and a third brother, […]

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#OTD in 1895 – Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband Michael who believed her spirit had been taken by bad faeries and replaced with a changeling.

Cleary was born Bridget Boland around 1869 in Ballyvadlea, Co Tipperary. She married Michael Cleary in August 1887. The couple met in Clonmel, where he worked as a cooper and she served as a dressmaker’s apprentice. The horrific case dominated the media in Ireland during the trial. Reports of the incident suggest that her husband […]

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#OTD in 1867 – The ‘Manchester Martyrs’ are hanged in Manchester, England: Fenians, Michael Larkin, William Philip Allen, and Michael O’Brien.

On 18 September 1867 about fifty Irish Fenians, led by William Allen, attacked a prison van guarded by a large number of unarmed police at Hyde Road in Manchester, England. Their aim was to release two important Fenian prisoners, Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy. In the course of freeing the men, an unarmed police […]

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#OTD in 1919 – An unofficial government policy of reprisals began in Fermoy, Co Cork.

Two hundred British soldiers looted and burned several commercial buildings in the town, after 23 Cork Volunteers, under the leadership of Liam Lynch, augmented by Mick Mansfield and George Lennon of Waterford attacked members of the Royal Shropshire Light Infantry en route to services at the Wesleyan Church. Four soldiers were reportedly wounded, one fatally. […]

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#OTD in 1815 – Charles Bianconi, opens his first horse-drawn coach service, between Clonmel and Cahir, Co Tipperary, a distance of 10 miles.

Charles Bianconi was an Italo-Irish entrepreneur, a brilliant salesman and knew how to develop his brand. He is possibly the first person in Irish transport history who tried to brand his business; he engraved his automobiles, when no one else was doing anything like that. After working as an engraver and print seller in Dublin, […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 13 May:

1842 – Arthur Sullivan, the son of an Irish musician, is born. Along with William Gilbert he invented the English operetta. Sullivan’s last work is entitled “The Emerald Isle”. 1848 – The Irish Confederation splits; John Mitchel starts the militant United Irishman; he is arrested on this date and is sentenced to 14 years transportation […]

Read More

#OTD in 1923 – Liam Lynch, chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army, is mortally wounded by Free State troops in the Knockmealdown Mountains, Co Tipperary.

Liam Lynch was born in Barnagurraha, Co Limerick. He joined the Irish Volunteers after witnessing the arrests of the Kent family by British forces after the failed Easter Rising of 1916. Two of the Kent brothers, David and Richard were shot during their arrest. Richard would later die of his wounds and a third brother, […]

Read More

#OTD in 1895 – Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband Michael who believed her spirit had been taken by bad faeries and replaced with a changeling.

Cleary was born Bridget Boland around 1869 in Ballyvadlea, Co Tipperary. She married Michael Cleary in August 1887. The couple met in Clonmel, where he worked as a cooper and she served as a dressmaker’s apprentice. The horrific case dominated the media in Ireland during the trial. Reports of the incident suggest that her husband […]

Read More

#OTD in 1867 – The ‘Manchester Martyrs’ are hanged in Manchester, England: Fenians, Michael Larkin, William Philip Allen, and Michael O’Brien.

On 18 September 1867 about fifty Irish Fenians, led by William Allen, attacked a prison van guarded by a large number of unarmed police at Hyde Road in Manchester, England. Their aim was to release two important Fenian prisoners, Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy. In the course of freeing the men, an unarmed police […]

Read More