Don’t Go Far | The Young Boys from Dublin Who Ran Away to New York

13/09/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

It was August 1985 and two boys from Darndale, Dublin, aged 10 and 13, hop on a DART train for a ride that will take them a few thousand miles beyond their stop. Keith and Noel were friends. They had a knack for bunking off. One day they hopped on a Dart and skipped out […]

#OTD in 1851 – Birth of nationalist politician, John Dillon, in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

04/09/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

John Dillon served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition Dillon was an advocate of Irish nationalism, originally a follower of Charles Stewart Parnell, supporting land reform and Irish Home Rule. He became a leading land reform agitator as […]

#OTD in 1922 – Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin, dies of a cerebral haemorrhage.

12/08/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Arthur Griffith was one of the most important players in Irish Independence. Griffith founded Sinn Féin in 1905 as an Irish nationalist party whose objective was “to establish in Ireland’s capital a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation”. It was not until after the 1916 Rising that Sinn Féin became […]

#OTD in 1927 – Death of Constance, Countess Markiewicz, politician, revolutionary nationalist and suffragette.

15/07/2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Born in London, her father was a philanthropist, Henry Gore-Booth. He was an Arctic explorer and a landlord in the west of Ireland, who was married to Georgina May Hill, of Tickhill Castle, York, England. Constance was educated at the family estate in Lissadell, Co Sligo. She was noted as a fine horsewoman who had […]

#OTD in 1921 – Just three days after a truce is implemented, Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann meets with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George in London.

14/07/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Francis Stevenson, Private Secretary to Lloyd George recalled: “I have never seen David so excited as he was before de Valera arrived, at 4.30. He kept walking in and out of my room… As I told him afterwards, he was bringing up all his guns! He had a big map of the British Empire hung […]

#OTD in 1985 – Live Aid, organised primarily by Dublin-born, Bob Geldof, is held in London and Philadelphia in aid of Ethiopian famine relief.

13/07/2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Geldof was lead singer with Irish punk band The Boomtown Rats. Geldof became an outspoken voice for third world countries and bullied, cajoled, persuaded some of the world’s largest bands to donate their services for huge musical events. Bands that played London include U2, Queen, the Who and Dire Straits. Philadelphia performers included the Beach […]

#OTD in 1991 – The convictions of the group of people known as the ‘Maguire Seven’ were quashed by the Court of Appeal in London.

26/06/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Court of Appeal overturns the sentences on the Maguire Seven. In 2005, Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised unreservedly for what happened. “I am very sorry that they were subject to such an ordeal and such an injustice. “They deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated.” Forced (beaten) confessions, contaminated forensic kits, a rush to […]

#OTD in 1916 – Roger Casement goes on trial at the Royal Courts of Justice on a charge of treason.

26/06/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

In the early hours of 21 April 1916, three days before the rising began, Roger Casement was taken by a German submarine and was put ashore at Banna Strand in Tralee Bay, Co Kerry. Suffering from a recurrence of the malaria that had plagued him since his days in the Congo, and too weak to […]

#OTD in 1870 – Erskine Childers, novelist, member of the Royal Navy, and later an Irish nationalist, is born in London.

24/06/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Erskine Childers was the author of ‘Riddle of the Sands’, an arms smuggler via The Asgard, father of the fourth president of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers, and would be executed by the Free State government for carrying an unlawful weapon. Childers supported the Anti-Treaty forces in the vicious Irish civil war which bedeviled the country. […]

#OTD in 1974 – Michael Gaughan dies on hunger strike at Parkhurst Prison in England.

03/06/2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Michael Gaughan was born in Ballina, Co Mayo in 1950. He grew up at Healy Terrace and was educated at St Muredach’s College, Ballina, and after finishing his schooling, he emigrated from Ireland to England in search of work. Whilst in London, Gaughan became a member of the Official IRA (OIRA) through its English wing […]

Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland

Tag: London

Don’t Go Far | The Young Boys from Dublin Who Ran Away to New York

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#OTD in 1851 – Birth of nationalist politician, John Dillon, in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

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#OTD in 1922 – Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin, dies of a cerebral haemorrhage.

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#OTD in 1927 – Death of Constance, Countess Markiewicz, politician, revolutionary nationalist and suffragette.

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#OTD in 1921 – Just three days after a truce is implemented, Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann meets with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George in London.

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#OTD in 1985 – Live Aid, organised primarily by Dublin-born, Bob Geldof, is held in London and Philadelphia in aid of Ethiopian famine relief.

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#OTD in 1991 – The convictions of the group of people known as the ‘Maguire Seven’ were quashed by the Court of Appeal in London.

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#OTD in 1916 – Roger Casement goes on trial at the Royal Courts of Justice on a charge of treason.

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#OTD in 1870 – Erskine Childers, novelist, member of the Royal Navy, and later an Irish nationalist, is born in London.

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#OTD in 1974 – Michael Gaughan dies on hunger strike at Parkhurst Prison in England.

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