#OTD in 1918 – Over five hundred die in the Irish Sea following the sinking of the R.M.S. Leinster by U-boat 123.

The Leinster was operating as a passenger ship and mail boat, although most of those who died were soldiers returning from leave, many of them Irishmen who fought in the British Army in World War I. First World War 1914-1918. On one side were Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. On the other side were the […]

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#OTD in 1939 – In one of the more intriguing episodes of World War II, German U-Boat 35 under the command of Kapitan Werner Lott disembarked 28 men at Dingle, Co Kerry from the Greek cargo ship Diamantis.

About 15.40 hours on 3 Oct, 1939, the Diamantis was torpedoed by U-35 and sank 40 miles west of the Scilly Islands. Because the lifeboats were not suited for use in the bad weather, Lott decided to take all crew members aboard and landed them the next day at Dingle, Co Kerry. On a stormy […]

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#OTD in 1939 – The horror of a war declared just days previously comes to Galway. German U-boat 30 torpedoed the SS Athenia 250 miles north-west of the Donegal coast resulting in the deaths of 112 of over 1,400 passengers and crew.

The Athenia was bound for Quebec carrying civilians fleeing the situation in Europe. It was the first ship to be sunk in the war. Survivors were picked up by the Norwegian freighter Knute Nelson and brought to Galway. Under the command of Captain James Cook, the SS Athenia had begun her voyage in Glasgow on 1 September, […]

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Roger Casement | A Man of Mystery

In the week after Roger Casement’s execution, on 3 August 1916, newsreel footage of the nationalist leader was shown in cinemas across America. At a conservative estimate, some 15 million US citizens saw the moving pictures. A century on, this fragment of film provides a fascinating insight. Casement is glimpsed at his desk writing: The […]

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#OTD in 1916 – Roger Casement, Irish patriot, is hanged by the English in Pentonville Prison, London.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. “Self government is our right, a thing born to us at birth. A thing no more to be doled out to us by another people than the right to life itself; than the right to feel the sun or smell the flowers or to love our kind.” […]

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#OTD in 1943 – In a Dáil Éireann debate on The Emergency Powers Act which was primarily designed to curtail IRA activity, independent TD Oliver Flanagan unleashed an astonishing attack on Jews.

In a Dáil Éireann debate on The Emergency Powers Act which was primarily designed to curtail IRA activity, independent TD Oliver Flanagan unleashed an astonishing attack on Jews. “How is it that we do not see any of these Acts directed against the Jews, who crucified Our Saviour nineteen hundred years ago, and who are […]

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

“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 […]

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#OTD in 1944 – Death of politician, journalist, intelligence agent and paramilitary activist, Frank Ryan.

Frank Ryan was born in Co Limerick, in 1902. After leaving university he became an active member of the Irish Republican Army and fought in the Irish Civil War. In 1929 Ryan was appointed editor of An Phoblacht, the IRA newspaper. He was imprisoned several times over the following years for publishing seditious articles and […]

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#OTD in 1920 – A group of Irish-American women protest against the United States for not getting involved in the Irish War of Independence with England.

While there was sympathy for the Irish, it was not the most pressing at the time as England was involved in WWI with Germany trying to get the U.S. involved (however, the U.S. had desperately tried to stay neutral, but ties to Britain, propaganda, and finally the sinking of The Lusitania finally got them involved […]

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#OTD in 1918 – Almost the entire leadership of Sinn Féin are arrested. 150 were arrested on the night of 16–17 May and taken to prisons in England.

During the last year of the First World War, on the night of 17/18 May, over 70 leading members of Sinn Fein were arrested under the terms of the Defence of the Realm Act. The arrests had been made following the discovery of a supposed plot on the part of Sinn Féin to help Germany […]

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