#OTD in 1919 – Official founding of ‘The Squad’, an IRA counter-intelligence and assassination squad.

19/09/2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

The Squad was officially established at 46 Rutland Square on the 19 September 1919. Although at the time it had been in operation for two months and had already carried out two killings. Members were paid £4.10s per week. Officially the unit was a part of the Dublin Brigade under Dick McKee from Finglas, but […]

#OTD in 1889 – Kathleen Behan, née Kearney, ‘Mother of All the Behans’ and folk singer is born in Dublin.

18/09/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

“What I have, I hold.” –Kathleen Behan History has cast Kathleen Behan in supporting roles, reducing her to the “sister of” or “mother of” someone important. But she deserves so much more – Kathleen was a political powerhouse, raconteur, and gifted singer who, in the course of her long and often tragic life, managed to […]

#OTD in 1921 – The Dáil votes to appoint plenipotentiaries to negotiate with Britain regarding Ireland’s independence.

14/09/2019.Reading time 1 minute.

In what would turn out to be a momentous decision, de Valera opted NOT to be one of the negotiators stating that the Irish parliament “recognised themselves but no one else did. He really believed it was vital at this stage that the symbol of the Republic should be kept untouched and that it should […]

#OTD in 1921 – De Valera received nationalist delegations from counties Down, Derry, Antrim and the city of Belfast who expressed anxiety at partition.

11/09/2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Referring to the unionists, one Protestant member of the Belfast delegation said that “partition would place power in the hands of those responsible for the pogroms”. The issue which faced the two sides in that second half of 1921 was the status, and size, of this new Ireland. Clearly something more than the old Home […]

#OTD in 1921 – Michael Collins paid a visit to Armagh.

04/09/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Michael Collins paid a visit to Armagh on 4 September 1921, in what the ‘Irish News’ described as “his first official visit to the city.” The implication may well be that he had been in Armagh on IRA business in the past few years, but he was now a leading figure in the Dáil Éireann […]

#OTD in 1975 – Death of Éamon de Valera from pneumonia and heart failure, while in Linden Convalescent Home, Blackrock, Co Dublin, aged 92.

29/08/2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

Éamon de Valera was a man loved by his supporters but distrusted and hated by those who blamed him for the Irish civil war. (That latter sentence could equally apply to Michael Collins from the opposite side of the political divide.) Although born in Brooklyn, New York, “Dev” had an almost mystical and spiritual belief […]

#OTD in 1922 – Michael Collins is buried in Glasnevin Cemetary, Dublin.

28/08/2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The seven mile journey from Dublin’s pro-cathedral to the Big Fella’s final resting place was lined with half a million mourners, many of whom, would have differed with him on the Treaty.

#OTD in Irish History – 28 August:

28/08/2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

1710 – A board of trustees for linen manufacture is established. 1788 – Birth of poet, Sir Aubrey de Vere, in Adare, Co Limerick. 1788 – Birth of banker and philanthropist, James Digges La Touche, in Dublin. 1798 – Cornwallis reaches Athlone; Humbert entrenches in Castlebar. 1814 – Birth of novelist and journalist, Joseph Sheridan […]

#OTD in 1920 – RIC Detective Swanzy was shot dead by Cork IRA volunteers while leaving Church in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

22/08/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

On 20 March 1920, Oswald Swanzy was in charge of a group of masked RIC policemen who entered the home of Tomás Mac Curtain, Lord Mayor of Cork, and killed him. Mac Curtain was also the leader of Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA. On 17 April 1920, a coroner’s inquest was held into […]

#OTD in 1920 – Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, arrested by British; he immediately goes on hunger strike.

12/08/2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“It’s not those who inflict the most, but those that endure the most, that shall prevail.” –Terence MacSwiney Terence MacSwiney was arrested in Cork for possession of seditious articles and documents, and also possession of a cipher key. He began a hunger strike in protest and was joined by ten other prisoners. IRA officers Liam […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: Michael Collins

#OTD in 1919 – Official founding of ‘The Squad’, an IRA counter-intelligence and assassination squad.

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#OTD in 1889 – Kathleen Behan, née Kearney, ‘Mother of All the Behans’ and folk singer is born in Dublin.

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#OTD in 1921 – The Dáil votes to appoint plenipotentiaries to negotiate with Britain regarding Ireland’s independence.

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#OTD in 1921 – De Valera received nationalist delegations from counties Down, Derry, Antrim and the city of Belfast who expressed anxiety at partition.

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#OTD in 1921 – Michael Collins paid a visit to Armagh.

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#OTD in 1975 – Death of Éamon de Valera from pneumonia and heart failure, while in Linden Convalescent Home, Blackrock, Co Dublin, aged 92.

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#OTD in 1922 – Michael Collins is buried in Glasnevin Cemetary, Dublin.

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#OTD in Irish History – 28 August:

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#OTD in 1920 – RIC Detective Swanzy was shot dead by Cork IRA volunteers while leaving Church in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

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#OTD in 1920 – Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, arrested by British; he immediately goes on hunger strike.

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