In 1848, Thomas Meagher and William Smith O’Brien went to France to study revolutionary events, and returned to Ireland with the new Flag of Ireland, a tricolour of green, white and orange made and given to them by French women sympathetic to the Irish cause. The acquisition of the flag is commemorated at the 1848 […]
1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia was routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempted to halt the progress of a Parliamentarian army. Though outnumbered, Ormonde managed to defeat the rebels and marched on to Dublin by 17 April. 1642 – A Scottish army under Robert Munroe landed at Carrickfergus. 1707 […]
1661 – Birth of scientist, archaeologist, physician and MP, Sir Thomas Molyneux, in Dublin. He was the first to assert that the Giant’s Causeway was a natural phenomenon. 1859 – Death of novelist, Sydney, Lady Morgan, née Owenson. Born in Dublin, she is best known as the author of The Wild Irish Girl. 1836 – […]
1593 – Birth of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford/Viceroy of Ireland. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632–39 he was Lord Deputy of Ireland, where he established a strong authoritarian rule. Recalled to England, he became a leading advisor to the king, attempting to strengthen the royal position […]
1654 – The Ordinance of Union comes into effect, uniting Ireland and Scotland with England. 1816 – Sir Charles Gavan Duffy was born in Co Monaghan. He was self-educated as a journalist and founded the Nation, a nationalist weekly journal with Thomas Davis and John Dillon in 1842; ultimately, he emigrated to Australia and while […]
1603 – In the revolt of the towns, or recusancy revolt, Catholic worship is re-established in Kilkenny and the main Munster towns between this date and 10 May, in the hope that James I will grant religious toleration; Mountjoy marches south and forces the towns to submit. 1700 – Richard Levinge, an Irish MP and […]
1346 – Following the death of Ralph de Ufford, Roger Darcy is appointed justiciar. 1650 – Cromwell’s New Model Army is victorious at Macroom, Co Cork. 1662 – A charter of Charles II replaces Cromwell’s charter of Derry. 1726 – Birth of William Brownlow, parliamentarian and Volunteer. 1816 – Birth of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, […]
Civil war was now a virtual certainty as the delegates adopted a new constitution and elected a new 16-member Executive composed of the following members: Liam Lynch (Cork), Frank Barrett (Clare), Liam Deasy (Cork), Tom Hales (Cork), Tom Maguire (Mayo), Joseph McKelvey (Belfast), Liam Mellows (Galway), Rory O’Connor (Dublin), Peadar O’Donnell (Donegal), Florence O’Donoghue (Cork), […]
Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died suddenly of a heart attack, precipitating the April 1981 by-election. The sudden vacancy in a seat with a nationalist majority of about five thousand was a valuable opportunity for Bobby Sands’ supporters to unite the nationalist […]
Leslie de Barra (née Price) was an Irish nationalist active during the Easter Rising of 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War, becoming Director of Cumann na mBan. She went on to be Chairman and President of the Irish Red Cross. Born Leslie Mary Price in Dublin in 1893 to Michael and Mary […]
