#OTD in 1892 – Birth of General Eoin O’Duffy, near Castleblaney, Co Monaghan.

20/10/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

Birth of Eoin O’Duffy, IRA man, Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and General Franco supporter, near Lough Egish, Co Monaghan. O’Duffy first came to fame when he led an IRA group which captured the first RIC barracks at Ballytrain taking from it weapons and explosives, during the War of Independence. Also present at this victory […]

#OTD in 1602 – “Red” Hugh O’Donnell dies in Simancas, Spain; evidence suggests he was poisoned by an English spy.

10/09/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Red Hugh O’Donnell (Aodh Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill) is one of the most famous heroes of Ireland. He was viewed as the fulfilment of an old prophecy, and was imprisoned as a boy by the English who saw him as a threat. He escaped from Dublin Castle in 1591, in company with the sons of the […]

#OTD in 1607 – The Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, along with a close circle of family and associates, boarded a ship at Rathmullan on Lough Swilly, bound for Spain.

04/09/2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

This event has become known as ‘The Flight of the Earls’ and is widely regarded as one of the most enigmatic events in Irish history, virtually defying explanation. A French ship sailed from the northern harbour of Rathmullan in Lough Swilly. On board were Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, […]

#OTD in 1579 – Death of rebel leader, James Fitzgerald.

18/08/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Fitzgerald was a Roman Catholic nobleman who led two unsuccessful uprisings against English rule in the province of Munster. He was a member of the 16th century ruling Geraldine dynasty who rebelled against the crown of Queen Elizabeth I in response to the onset of the Tudor conquest of Ireland. He led the first of […]

#OTD in 1933 – The anti-Fianna Fáil Army Comrades Association, which developed into a fascist-inspired group nicknamed the “Blueshirts,” is outlawed.

22/07/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

Éamon de Valera denounced the Blue Shirts organisation as unlawful, yet despite the Government’s ban, the Blueshirts also known as the National Guard paraded throughout the country. The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but better known by the nickname The Blueshirts, was a far-right […]

Queen Scotia

21/03/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

Scota appears in the Irish chronicle Book of Leinster (containing a redaction of the Lebor Gabála Érenn). According to Irish Folklore and Mythology, the battle of Sliabh Mish was fought in this glen above the town of Tralee, where the Celtic Milesians defeated the Tuatha Dé Danann but Scotia, the Queen of the Milesians died […]

#OTD in 2011 – Renowned rock guitarist Gary Moore dies in a hotel room while on holiday in Spain.

06/02/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Blues guitarist, Gary Moore was born in Belfast and was a guitar prodigy who was mentored in his teens by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac. Green gave Moore his 1959 Les Paul Standard guitar after he left Fleetwood Mac. Moore’s first band was Skid Row which featured a young Phil Lynott. Moore went on to […]

The Grave of the Yellow Men

19/01/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

It’s said that the blood that flows in all of us; every one of us in the country is blood that came from across the sea. Our identity is best understood from a maritime perspective. For the past 800 years, Ireland has been a haven for explorers, settlers, colonialists, navigators, pirates and traders absorbing goods […]

#OTD in 1602 – The O’Sullivan Beara’s are driven out of West Cork by the English who had defeated the combined Spanish and Irish forces at the Battle of Kinsale.

31/12/2017.Reading time 7 minutes.

Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare, Prince of Beare, 1st Count of Berehaven, was the last independent ruler of the O’Sullivan Beara sept, and thus the last O’Sullivan Beare, a Gaelic princely title, in the southwest of Ireland during the early seventeenth century, when the English crown was attempting to secure their rule over the whole island. […]

#OTD in 1842 – Death of Chilean independence leader, Bernardo O’Higgins, who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence.

24/10/2017.Reading time 1 minute.

Although O’Higgins was the second Supreme Director of Chile (1817–1823), he is considered one of Chile’s founding fathers, as he was the first holder of this title to head a fully independent Chilean state. O’Higgins was of Spanish and Irish ancestry. Bernardo O’Higgins, a member of the O’Higgins Family, was born in the Chilean city […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: Spain