#OTD in 1920 – IRA officer, Ernie O’Malley, was captured by British forces in Co Kilkenny with a notebook containing names of his IRA colleagues.

09/12/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

‘On the base of the Pillar was a white poster. Gathered around were groups of men and women. Some looked at it with serious faces, others laughed and sniggered. I began to read it with a smile, but my smile ceased as I read, ‘Poblacht na h-Eireann, the Provisional government of the Irish Republic – […]

#OTD in Irish History – 9 December:

09/12/2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

1791 – Birth of politician and diplomat, Sir Thomas Wyse, in St John, Co Waterford. 1845 – Frederick Douglass delivers a speech in Belfast: ‘The Cambria Riot, My Slave Experience, and My Irish Mission’. 1850 – Stokes Law was published on this date. Why do clouds float through the air? It’s one of those questions […]

#OTD in Irish History – 8 December:

08/12/2018.Reading time 15 minutes.

In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. If it falls on a week day, Roman Catholic schoolchildren are given a holiday, marking the beginning of the Christmas season. 1757 – The Rotunda Hospital opened in Dublin. Initially located in George’s Lane on the site of a recently closed theatre, the […]

#OTD in 1879 – Birth of Anti-Treaty Nationalist and Politician, Austin Stack, in Tralee, Co Kerry.

07/12/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

Under the influence of his father, Austin Stack joined the local Young Ireland Society and the local branch of the Irish National Foresters, and was a keen student of Irish history. Appalled at the Cinderella status of Gaelic football and hurling, he co-founded the John Mitchel club in Tralee and became its secretary. The remarkable […]

#OTD in Irish History – 7 December:

07/12/2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

521 – Birth of Saint Columba (Columba of Iona) or in Old Irish, as Colm Cille, Columbkill, Columbkille or Columcille (meaning ‘Dove of the church’). He was an outstanding figure among the Gaelic missionary monks who, some of his advocates claim, introduced Christianity to the Kingdom of the Picts during the Early Medieval Period. He […]

#OTD in 1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed, ending the Irish War of Independence.

06/12/2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

“Think, what have I got for Ireland? Something she has wanted these past 700 years. Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this, I have signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how odd, how ridiculous —a bullet may just as well have done the job five years […]

#OTD in Irish History – 6 December:

06/12/2018.Reading time 12 minutes.

In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the Feast of St Nicholas. St Nicholas (Naomh Nioclás) is believed to have been buried in Newtown Jerpoint in Kilkenny some 800 years ago. 1679 – St. Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, is accused of instigating the ‘Irish Popish’ Plot and arrested. 1745 – Charles Edward Stuart’s army begins […]

#OTD in Irish History – 5 December:

05/12/2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

1640 – John Atherton, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, was executed on a charge of immorality. Atherton was accused of buggery (homosexuality) with a man, John Childe, his steward and tithe proctor. They were tried under a law that Atherton himself had helped to institute. They were both condemned to death, and Atherton was executed […]

#OTD in Irish History – 4 December:

04/12/2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

1831 – Birth of Robert Horatio George Minty. Westport born Minty would become a Civil War Brevet Major General in the Union army. His campaigns included Chickamauga and Atlanta. Minty was in command of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry that captured fleeing Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis at Irwinsville, Georgia on 9 May 1865. 1879 – […]

#OTD in 1920 – Three Bandon members of the IRA were killed in an ambush set by the Essex Regiment.

03/12/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Three IRA men were shot dead on this date and the two deserters from the Essex Regiment were shot by the IRA as a result. The IRA believed their three men were killed as a result of the two deserters setting up a ‘sting’ to trap the IRA. During the height of the war, two […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: Irish War of Independence