Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
Kevin Barry’s execution and Terence MacSwiney’s death precipitated a dramatic escalation in violence as the Irish War of Independence entered its most bloody phase. MacSwiney and Barry were elevated to the status of republican martyrs and presented to the world as examples of British tyranny in Ireland. But their deaths also led indirectly to a […]
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1814 – Joseph Finegan, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, is born in Clones, Co Monaghan. 1852 – Sligo-born Brigadier Michael Corcoran’s Irish Legion is mustered into the Federal service; it is involved in the defense of Washington D.C. 1869 – For nearly 150 years, the Suez Canal has played a vital role […]
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1366 – Lionel of Clarence, third son of Edward III and king’s lieutenant in Ireland, leaves the country. 1730 – The Danish East India Company ship, Golden Lyon, is stranded near Ballyheige, Co Kerry. 1771 – Funeral of Charles Lucas in Dublin attracts ‘the most numerous crowds of people ever known in this Kingdom’. 1791 […]
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1688 – William of Orange arrives in England with 15,000 men. 1881 – Death of Robert Mallet FRS, Irish geologist, civil engineer, and inventor who distinguished himself in research on earthquakes and is sometimes called the father of seismology. Mallet was born in Dublin, the son of factory owner John Mallet. He was educated at […]
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“When the hills were bleedin’ And the rifles were aflame To the rebel homes of Kerry, The Saxon strangers came, But the men who dared the Auxies And fought the Black and Tan Were the Boys of Barr na Sráide Who hunted for the wren.” Two RIC constables were shot dead in Abbeydorney by IRA […]
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1601 – A Spanish army under Don Juan del Aguila, which had landed at Kinsale on 21 September, is besieged by Lord Mountjoy on this date. 1771 – Birth of Brigadier Juan Mackenna, in Clogher, Co Tyrone. He was a Chilean military officer and hero of the Chilean War of Independence. He is considered to […]
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1651 – The Navigation Act provides that goods imported to any Commonwealth lands shall be carried in English ships only. 1834 – Opening of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland. 1849 – First tenant protection society established at Callan, Co Kilkenny. 1895 – Victoria Cross winner Billy […]
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1331 – Birth of James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond, as a noble in the Peerage of Ireland. He was Lord Justice of Ireland in 1359, 1364, and 1376. The son of James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond and Eleanor de Bohun, James was born at Kilkenny and given in ward, 1 September 1344, to […]
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At 1.15 am Captain Geoffrey Thomas Baggallay, a “one-legged” courts-martial officer had phoned Dublin Castle telling of John Lynch’s presence at the Exchange Hotel. A group of 12 soldiers entered the Exchange Hotel, wearing military caps and long black Burberry coats. They held the hotel porter, William Barrett, at gunpoint. After consulting the register they […]
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O! BREATHE not his name! let it sleep in the shade, Where cold and unhonoured his relics are laid; Sad, silent, and dark be the tears that we shed, As the night dew that falls on the grave o’er his head. But the night dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, Shall brighten with […]
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