#OTD in 1860 – Birth of Irish Celtic Scholar, Eleanor Hull, in England, of a Co Down family.

15/01/2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Eleanor Henrietta Hull was a writer, journalist and scholar of Old Irish. She was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin and was a student of Irish Studies. On 26 April 1898 she was a co-founder of the Irish Texts Society for the publication of early manuscripts. Douglas Hyde was President and Frederick York Powell was chairperson […]

#OTD in 1939 – IRA Army Council declare war on England and the Sabotage Campaign (S-Plan) begins a day later.

15/01/2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

On 12 January 1939, the Army Council sent an ultimatum, signed by Patrick Fleming, to British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax. The communiqué duly informed the British government of “The Government of the Irish Republic’s” intention to go to “war”. Excerpt from the ultimatum: I have the honour to inform you that the Government of […]

#OTD in 1871 – Alexander Sullivan, barrister and last King’s Serjeant of Ireland, is born in Dublin; best known as the leading counsel for the defence in the 1916 treason trial of Roger Casement.

14/01/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

Best known as the leading counsel for the defence in the 1916 treason trial of Roger Casement. Sullivan failed to win the case and Casement was sentenced to death. After Roger Casement’s capture on Banna Strand he was brought to London. During his interrogation on Easter Monday, news of the Rising filtered through, and by […]

#OTD in 1917 – Hanna Sheehy Skeffington travelled to New York with her son, Owen, to speak about her husband’s murder during the Easter Rising.

13/01/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

In an interview with the New York Times, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington says she was determined to come to America to tell people about ‘my husband’s murder’, despite the British government’s refusal to give her a passport. ‘I am not willing to tell how I got here’, she said, before adding that she had been forced […]

#OTD in Irish History – 13 January:

13/01/2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

1695 – Jonathan Swift was ordained as a priest in the Church of Ireland. 1702 – Birth of Thomas Arthur Lally in Romans, France. He was a French General of Irish Jacobite ancestry. Lally commanded French forces, including two battalions of his own red-coated Regiment of Lally of the Irish Brigade, in India during the […]

#OTD in Irish History – 10 January:

10/01/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

1751 – Cornelius Bolton, politician, Volunteer and improving landlord is born. He was a very progressive landlord and was very interested in helping his tenants progress. 1814 – Aubrey Thomas De Vere, a poet who adapted early Gaelic tales, is born in Co Limerick. He helped the Celtic revival encouraging the study of Celtic legend […]

#OTD in 1916 – Final evacuation from the ill-advised Gallipoli invasion which saw the death of 3,500-4,000 Irish soldiers fighting either in Australian, New Zealand, New Foundland or British uniform.

09/01/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Final evacuation from the ill-advised Gallipoli invasion which saw the death of 3,500-4,000 Irish soldiers fighting either in Australian, New Zealand or British uniform. An estimated 44,000 allied soldiers died. The Gallipoli campaign was a costly failure for the Allies, with an estimated 27,000 French, and 115,000 British and dominion troops (Great Britain and Ireland, […]

#OTD in 1547 – Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin; it will not be restored until 15 June 1555.

08/01/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the head of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, elected by the Chapter of the cathedral. The office was created in 1219 or 1220, by one of several charters granted to the cathedral by Archbishop Henry de Loundres between 1218 and 1220. For centuries, the Dean of St. Patrick’s was […]

#OTD in 1915 – The Infamous Sabotage Order Against The U.S. and Roger Casement.

06/01/2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

The Imperial German Admiralty requested that the military and naval attachés in Washington, Franz von Papen and Karl Boy-Ed respectively, initiate sabotage in the United States and Canada. This request only surfaced as a memorandum in the Imperial Foreign Office. Initially, the Admiralty envisioned the Irish nationalists to conduct sabotage operations in the U.S. This […]

#OTD in 1986 – Death of singer, bassist, instrumentalist, and songwriter, Phil Lynott.

04/01/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Irish rock star, bassist, singer and founder of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott dies. Lynott originally played with Skid Row, (the Irish band featuring Gary Moore, Brush Shiels, Noel Bridgeman). Lynott had significant success with Thin Lizzy. The band’s first major hit was a rock version of Whiskey in the Jar, but are probably best known […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: England