#OTD in 1865 – Two weeks after being arrested, James Stephens escapes from Richmond prison, Dublin.

The Richmond General Penitentiary was a prison established in 1820 in Grangegorman, Dublin as an alternative to transportation. It was part of an experiment into a penitentiary system which also involved Millbank Penitentiary, London. Richmond and Millbank penitentiaries were the first prisons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was at […]

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#OTD in 1942 – Death of Peadar Kearney, writer of the Irish National Anthem, ‘A Soldier’s Song’.

Peadar Kearney was born at 68 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin in 1883, he often walked along Gardiner Street to the Custom House and along the Quays. His father was from Louth and his mother was originally from Meath. He was educated at the Model School, Schoolhouse Lane and St Joseph’s Christian Brothers School in Fairview, […]

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#OTD in 1887 – Birth of Irish patriot and poet, Joseph Mary Plunkett, in Dublin.

Joseph Plunkett, one of the leaders of the 1916 rising and a signatory of the Proclamation is born into a privileged background. His father was a Papal Count. A gifted writer, he met Thomas MacDonagh when he was tutored by him in Irish in preparation for the University College, Dublin, matriculation examinations. MacDonagh was to […]

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#OTD in 1879 – Birth of teacher, barrister, writer, revolutionary and one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion, Pádraig Pearse, in Dublin.

Pádraig Pearse was born in Dublin to an English father (he was a sculptor) and an Irish mother. Pearse became interested in the heritage and history of Ireland at a very early age and joined the Gaelic League when he was 21 years old. The purpose of the league was to promote Irish tradition and […]

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

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 […]

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#OTD in 1908 – Poet, educator and eventual Easter Rising leader, Pádraig Pearse, opens St. Enda’s school for boys (Scoil Eanna).

“I dwell on the importance of the personal element in education. I would have every child not merely a unit in a school attendance, but in some intimate personal way the pupil of a teacher, or to use more expressive words, the disciple of a master … the main objective in education is to help […]

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#OTD in 1842 – Birth of journalist and leading member of the Fenians, John Devoy in Kill, Co Kildare.

‘The most dangerous enemy of this country [Britain] Ireland has produced since Wolfe Tone’. –The London Times John Devoy was born in Kill, Co Kildare in 1842 just prior to An Gorta Mór (1845-1852) which saw approximately one million Irish starve to death and another million emigrate to America and elsewhere. After Irish defeats by […]

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#OTD in 1890 – Death of nationalist, poet and novelist, John Boyle O’Reilly.

“The world is large when its weary leagues two loving hearts divide, “But the world is small when your enemy is loose on the other side.” –John Boyle O’Reilly As a youth in Ireland he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, for which crime he was transported to Western Australia. After escaping to […]

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#OTD in 1848 – Young Irelander Rebellion | Tipperary Revolt – In Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.

The Young Irelander Rebellion (sometimes called “Famine Rebellion” or the Battle of Ballingarry of 1848). It took place during the Great Irish Hunger (1845-1849) or ‘Battle of the Widow MacCormack’s cabbage garden’) was a failed uprising of the Young Ireland political movement, which took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, Co […]

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#OTD in 1870 – Michael Davitt is sentenced to 15 years penal servitude for gun-running.

The Father of the Land League and pioneer of social justice, Michael Davitt, was born in Straide, Co Mayo, on 25 March 1846 during An Gorta Mór. When Michael was six years old, his parents, Martin and Sabina Davitt, were evicted and their cottage was burnt down. Eventually, they ended up in Haslingden, near Manchester. […]

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