#OTD in 1865 – Police raid and close the Irish People offices; Rossa, Luby and O’Leary are arrested.

15/09/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

In mid-1863, James Stephens informed his colleagues he wished to start a newspaper, with financial aid from John O’Mahony and the Fenian Brotherhood in America. The offices were established at 12 Parliament Street, almost at the gates of Dublin Castle. The first edition of the Irish People appeared on 28 November 1863. The staff of […]

#OTD in 1607 – The Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, along with a close circle of family and associates, boarded a ship at Rathmullan on Lough Swilly, bound for Spain.

04/09/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

This event has become known as ‘The Flight of the Earls’ and is widely regarded as one of the most enigmatic events in Irish history, virtually defying explanation. A French ship sailed from the northern harbour of Rathmullan in Lough Swilly. On board were Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, […]

#OTD in 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Irish rebels, with French assistance, establish the short-lived Republic of Connacht.

31/08/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The Irish Republic more commonly referred to as the Republic of Connacht was a short-lived Irish breakaway puppet state established with French Directory military support for 13 days during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Below is an excerpt from the proclamation of General Humbert, the French General who led the French and Irish armed forces […]

#OTD in 1803 – James Napper Tandy, Irish patriot, dies in exile in France.

24/08/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

James Napper Tandy was born in the Cornmarket area of Dublin in 1740; one of three children born to James Tandy, an iron works merchant, and Maria Bella Jenkins. Tandy received his education at the Quaker boarding school in Ballitore, Kildare, amongst its alumni Edmund Burke, a champion of Catholic emancipation and a supporter of […]

#OTD in 1894 – Birth of Iseult Lucille Germaine Gonne.

06/08/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Iseult Gonne, was the daughter of Maud Gonne and Lucien Millevoye, and the wife of the novelist Francis Stuart. Iseult was born on 6 August 1894, the daughter of Maud and her then married French Boulangist lover Lucien Millevoye. Maud Gonne claimed that Iseult was conceived in the mausoleum of Iseult’s late brother, Georges Silvère […]

O’Doherty’s Keep and Buncrana Castle

26/07/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

On the northern bank of the River Crana as it enters Lough Swilly sits the three-story O’Doherty’s Keep, which is the only surviving part of an original 14th-century Norman castle. The first two levels of the keep were built after 1333. In 1601 the O’Doherty’s Keep was described as being a small, two-story castle, inhabited […]

#OTD in 1884 – Louise Gavan Duffy, teacher and revolutionary, is born in Nice, France.

17/07/2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

Best known for her involvement in nationalist politics, the Gaelic revival, and the women’s suffrage movement in Ireland, Louise Gavan Duffy joined Cumann na mBan on its foundation in 1914 and was made joint secretary. Louise Gavan Duffy was writing her MA thesis at her lodgings on Haddington Road when she heard the 1916 Easter […]

#OTD in 2016 – Northern Ireland fans and Republic of Ireland fans received the Medal of the City of Paris on Thursday as a mark of gratitude for their “exemplary behaviour” in the city during Euro 2016.

07/07/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Northern Ireland fans and Republic of Ireland fans received the Medal of the City of Paris as a mark of gratitude for their “exemplary behaviour” in the city during Euro 2016. Mayor Hidalgo said that Parisians and visitors to the city were “charmed and impressed by their kindness, their chants and their good humour”. Representatives […]

#OTD in 1897 – Oscar Wilde is released from prison and goes to live in France, where he writes his famous poem, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”.

19/05/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile either in Bernevas-Le-Grand or in Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years’ hard labour in prison. During his imprisonment, on Saturday […]

#OTD in 1945 – Éamon de Valera responds to Winston Churchill’s victory speech during which Churchill took one last jab at Irish neutrality.

16/05/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Few outside of Ireland could understand the neutral stance of the Irish Free State during the war. Churchill most certainly did not when he said: “Owing to the action of Mr de Valera, so much at variance with the temper and instinct of thousands of Southern Irishmen who hastened to the battle-front to prove their […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: France