#OTD in 1927 – Death of Constance, Countess Markiewicz, politician, revolutionary nationalist and suffragette.

15/07/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Born in London, her father was a philanthropist, Henry Gore-Booth. He was an Arctic explorer and a landlord in the west of Ireland, who was married to Georgina May Hill, of Tickhill Castle, York, England. Constance was educated at the family estate in Lissadell, Co Sligo. She was noted as a fine horsewoman who had […]

#OTD in 1921 – Just three days after a truce is implemented, Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann meets with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George in London.

14/07/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Francis Stevenson, Private Secretary to Lloyd George recalled: “I have never seen David so excited as he was before de Valera arrived, at 4.30. He kept walking in and out of my room… As I told him afterwards, he was bringing up all his guns! He had a big map of the British Empire hung […]

#OTD in 1981 – Martin Hurson, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike.

13/07/2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. On 29 May 1981, Martin Hurson joined the hunger-strike, replacing South Derryman Brendan McLoughlin who was forced to drop out because of a burst stomach ulcer. Having seriously deteriorated after forty days on hunger-strike, he was unable to hold down water and died a horrifically agonising death […]

#OTD in 1921 – The Truce: Actions commanded by IRA H.Q. ended in the south at midday under the Truce.

11/07/2018.Reading time 10 minutes.

‘At this moment, there is more ill-will within a victorious assembly than ever could be anywhere else but in the devil’s assembly. It cannot be fought against. The issues and persons are mixed to such an extent as to make discernibility an utter impossibility except for a few.’ –Michael Collins Although the Anglo-Irish Treaty of […]

#OTD in 1972 – Springhill Massacre: British snipers shot dead five Catholic civilians and wounded two others in Springhill, Belfast.

09/07/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Springhill Massacre was a shooting incident on 9 July 1972 in the Springhill estate in west Belfast. Five civilians were killed by British Army snipers firing from a timber yard. Army snipers took up positions in Corry’s timber yard and reinforced them with sandbags. Two cars pulled into Springhill and the snipers fired two […]

#OTD in 1581 – The Wexford Martyrs were hanged, drawn and quartered.

05/07/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The Wexford Martyrs were Patrick Cavanagh, Matthew Lambert, Edward Cheevers, Robert Tyler and two others whose names are not known. They were found guilty of treason for aiding in the escape of James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass. James Eustace, whose family had links with Clongowes Wood Castle, now a Jesuit boarding school near Dublin, joined the […]

#OTD in 1970 – Falls Road Curfew: Beginning in the afternoon, the British Army carried out extensive house searches in the Falls Road area of Belfast for members of the IRA and IRA arms.

03/07/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

At approximately 4.30pm a mixed patrol of British Army soldiers and RUC pulled up to no.24 Balkan Street, in the Lower Falls in west Belfast. They were acting on a tip-off from a ‘concerned resident’ about a stash of weapons hidden in the property. What happened next is widely seen as having changed the course […]

#OTD in 1923 – Noel Lemass, Anti-Treaty IRA officer in Dublin, brother of Seán Lemass is abducted by Free State plainclothesmen and killed.

03/07/2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

‘The Winter Sleep of Captain Lemass’ by Harry Clifton The life of the country Hardened against you Like frost, and a new front Opened—brother against brother, Choice against choice, Disputing the high ground. Your eyes, Blindfolded, beheld the ideal State As the real one steadied itself To annihilate you. How to survive it, the force […]

#OTD in 1922 – Anti-Treaty forces abandon The Four Courts in Dublin which was bombarded for two days under the orders of Michael Collins.

30/06/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Anti-Treaty commander in the Four Courts, Paddy O’Brien is wounded by shrapnel. Ernie O’Malley assumes command. In the morning there is a truce to remove the wounded. Shortly afterward, a massive explosion destroys the western wing of the Four Courts and the Irish Public Records Office along with it. Forty advancing Free State troops were […]

#OTD in 1916 – Sir Roger Casement, Irish Nationalist and British diplomat is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

29/06/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

“If today when all Europe is dying for national ends, whole people marching down with songs of joy to the valley of eternal night, we alone stand by idle and moved only to words, then we are in truth the most contemptible of all the people in Europe.” –Sir Roger Casement Sir Roger Casement was […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: England