Irish History Nov. 20 - Dec. 3

Took a little Turkey break (hope yours was blessed), but back on the ball and getting ready for Christmas.

This two week history lesson will get you back up to speed - remember, you will be tested!

November 20
1762 - Francis Andrews is appointed first professor of history at the University of Dublin
1719 - Spranger Barry, actor, is born in Skinner's Row (Christ Church Place) Dublin
1800 - Richard Rothwell, painter, is born in Athlone, Co. Westmeath
1830 - Birth of Patrick Henry Jones, Union General from Co. Meath
1840 - Birth of John Russell Young, journalist in American Civil War, from Co. Tyrone
1889 - Donn Byrne (real name Brian Donn-Byrne) novelist and short-story writer, is born in Brooklyn, New York of Irish parents
1908 - Birth of Alistair Cooke who describes himself as a "Lancastrian Irishman" - his mother was from Co. Sligo
1917 - The 16th Irish Division of the British army assaults an area of the German lines known as Tunnel Trench
1925 - Eoin MacNeill resigns from the Boundary Commission
1959 - Stephen Roche, champion cyclist, is born in Dublin
1998 - An historic union between Labour and Democratic Left is agreed. Unveiled by the two top negotiators, Labour's deputy leader Brendan Howlin and DL Deputy Eamon Gilmore, the merger proposal will go before Labour's General Council and DL's Executive for ratification
2000 - Three Galway pubs are prosecuted by the Director of Consumer Affairs for failing to display correct price lists, in the first ever such prosecutions brought under new Retail Price Display regulations
2001 - Cash-strapped Aer Lingus auctions its collection of paintings. Most money went on "By Merrion Strand" by Jack B. Yeats, an oil on canvas, which is sold for £290,000
2002 - The last surviving member of the recruits which founded the Garda Síochána is laid to rest. Galway-born Charlie Clarke, who spent most of his career in Dublin, celebrated his 100th birthday last summer.

November 21
1281 - Stephen de Fulbourne, bishop of Waterford and treasurer, replaces the infirm Robert de Ufford as justiciar and establishes a mint at Waterford
1759 - Henry Flood enters parliament and becomes leader of the opposition
1767 - United Irishman Thomas Russell is born in Kilshanick, Co. Cork. Although born in the Rebel County, he is now identified in the popular imagination of Co. Down and elsewhere as "The man from God-knows-where", from the ballad which recalls his charismatic but doomed efforts to raise the county in support of Robert Emmet’s rebellion of 1803
1887 - Joseph Mary Plunkett, Irish patriot and poet, is born in Dublin
1918 - The Parliament (Qualifications of Women) Act entitles women to sit and vote in the house of commons
1920 - On the morning of this date, 14 British intelligence officers are shot dead in Dublin by Michael Collins' men. In the afternoon, at a GAA match in Croke Park, Dublin, between Tipperary and Dublin, 12 civilians including one of the players die after Black & Tans open fire; auxiliaries kill three prisoners, including two IRA men, in Dublin that night; the date becomes infamously known as 'Bloody Sunday'
1929 - Birth in Cork of stage, television and film actor Niall Toibin - Official Niall Toibin website
1952 - Birth in Dublin of middle distance runner and former World Champion Eamon Coghlan
1974 - Bombs believe planted by the Provisional IRA devastate two central Birmingham pubs, killing 19 people and injuring over 180
1999 - Victims of Birmingham IRA bombings are remembered in a 25th anniversary service at St. Philips Cathedral
1999 - President Mary McAleese pays a warm tribute to former President Dr Erskine Childers on the 25th anniversary of his death. Speaking at Derralossary Cemetery, Co. Wicklow, Mrs McAleese describes Dr Childers as a pivotal figure in politics for more than 35 years.

November 22
1773 - Lord John Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, is born in Dublin
1830 - Justin McCarthy, politician, novelist and historian, is born in Cork
1869 - Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, Fenian, contests and wins a Tipperary by-election in abstentia, but is declared ineligible as a convicted felon
1912 - Birth in Dublin of poet, dramatist and lawyer Donagh MacDonagh, son of Thomas MacDonagh
1919 - Birth of Máire Drumm, Irish Republican, in Newry, Co. Armagh
1963 - C. S. Lewis, Irish writer, dies
1963 - The first Roman Catholic president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, is assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1998 - Security forces in Northern Ireland brace themselves as fears grow over a new bomb-blitz alert, the first since the Omagh massacre
1999 - The North’s politicians are given an ultimatum when the British Government warns it will pull the plug on the planned Stormont institutions if the IRA fails to decommission its arms
1999 - A timetable for the transfer of power to an inclusive Northern Ireland executive is outlined to the House of Commons
2000 - Blockades by taxi drivers brings the threat of serious confrontation with gardaí, mainline train services are paralysed by strike, and secondary schools are again closed
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams meets with Bertie Ahern on the forth coming Irish Budget

November 23
1074 - Donatus (or Dunan), the first Bishop of Dublin, dies and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral. Patrick, his successor, is sent to Canterbury for consecration. (Some records say he died on May 6)
1702 - Birth of Sir Richard Cox, politician and pamphleteer
1819 - Birth in Waterford of Margaret Aylward, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Faith
1841 - Birth in Co. Cork of Richard Croker, Boss of Tammany Hall, New York
1845 - Charlotte Grace O'Brien, social reformer who campaigned against conditions on emigrant ships, is born
1865 - Birth of Herbert Trench, poet, dramatist and theatre producer, in Avonmore, Co. Cork
1867 - Fenians Michael Larkin, William Philip Allen, and Michael O'Brien - the "Manchester Martyrs" - are executed
1876 - Sir Richard Dawson Bates, unionist politician and minister in Northern Ireland is born in Belfast
1913 - Irish Citizen Army is founded in Dublin by James Larkin
1923 - Tomás Ó Fiaich, cardinal, historian and Catholic Primate of All Ireland, is born in Cullyhanna, Co. Armagh
1927 - Birth of journalist and BBC political editor, John Cole
1941 - Birth of poet, Derek Mahon, in Belfast
2000 - The Opel Corsa is named the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2001 by the Irish Motoring Writers Association
2000 - Traffic in Dublin comes to a standstill as hundreds of taxi drivers protest against the decision to deregulate the industry
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Columbanus.

November 24
1713 - Lawrence Sterne, clergyman, humorist, and author of the experimental novel Tristram Shandy, is born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
1807 - Henry Blosse Lynch, soldier and explorer, is born in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo
1820 - Arthur French, MP for Co. Roscommon, dies 'of excessive fox-hunting'
1865 - Two weeks after being arrested, James Stephens escapes from Richmond prison, Dublin
1922 - Irish republican Erskine Childers is executed by the Free State government
1940 - Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, dies peacefully at his home on this date and is succeeded by the Minister of Finance John Andrews
1942 - Death of Peadar Kearney, writer of the Irish National Anthem, "A Soldier's Song"
1965 - The Government imposes an experimental 70mph speed limit on motorways
1972 - The RTÉ authority is replaced by the government after RTÉ broadcasts a radio interview with IRA leader Seán Mac Stiofáin
1982 - General election in the Republic leads to a Fine Gael-Labour coalition government
1998 - The national 24-hour stoppage by train drivers costs Dublin City centre traders about £1·5m in lost sales, with Irish Rail losing substantial revenue from more than 60,000 stranded travellers
1999 - Father Aengus Finucane, CSSp, former chief executive of Concern Worldwide, is conferred by the University of Limerick with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in recognition of his outstanding work with the world’s disadvantaged peoples
2002 - Ireland’s TDs and Senators, lose 3-2 to their Scottish counterparts in a friendly football match. The ‘Clash of the Celts’ inter-parliamentary match was held to highlight the Irish-Scottish bid to host the Euro 2008 football championships.

November 25
1713 - The second Irish parliament of Queen Anne sits from this date to 24 December. The Whig Alan Brodrick is elected Speaker for the second time, in place of John Forster, after a stormy contest with the government's Tory nominee, Sir Richard Levinge
1764 - Birth of Henry Sirr, Dublin town head of police
1784 - Napper Tandy asks for parliamentary reform for Ireland
1858 - John Smyth Crone, physician and editor, is born in Belfast
1906 - Birth in Belfast of Saidie Paterson, trade unionist and peace activist
1913 - The Irish Volunteers, a militant nationalist splinter of the Irish Parliamentary Party and nationalist version of the 18th-century Ulster Volunteers, is founded by Eoin MacNeill at a mass meeting at the Rotunda, Dublin
1947 - Birth of former Liverpool and Irish international footballer Steve Heighway
1999 - Mystery surrounds the identity of two human skeletons discovered on the site of the former Carnegie school in Killorglin, Co. Kerry. According to experts, the remains of a child and an adult are at least 100 years old and could date to medieval times
2002 - JP McManus, the man who never liked school, receives a doctorate from the University of Limerick. The reluctant schoolboy is now an internationally-renowned financier, racehorse owner and part-proprietor of soccer giants Manchester United
2002 - Hundreds of Irish tourists are left stranded in France as a series of transport strikes threaten to bring chaos to roads, rail, and air traffic.
2005 - James McLoughlin the former bishop of Galway, dies at the age of 76.

November 26
1624 - Birth in Dublin of John Stearne, founder and first president of the College of Physicians
1791 - First convicts from Ireland arrive in New South Wales, Australia
1852 - Aeneas Coffey, inventor of the Coffey Still, dies
1873 - Birth in Cork of Celtic scholar Osborn Joseph Bergin
1885 - Birth in Belfast of Thomas Andrews, chemist and physicist
1926 - Rugby player Karl Mullen is born in Courtown Harbour, Co. Wexford
1955 - Saor Uladh (Free Ulster) a splinter group of the IRA, attacks the police barracks in Rosslea, Co. Fermanagh
1972 - RTÉ Journalist Kevin O'Kelly is imprisoned for contempt of court arising out of an interview with then Provisional IRA chief Séan MacStiofáin. Mr O’Kelly had refused to identify his interviewee in court
1972: Eight armed men protesting against the imprisonment of IRA leader Sean MacStiofain try to rescue him from a Dublin hospital. Police foil the attempt
1998 - Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a historic address to the Houses of the Oireacthas.

November 27
784 - Fergil, the Geometer, Irish educator, dies
1612 - Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, is the first of 40 new boroughs to be incorporated
1774 - John Kyan, inventor, is born in Dublin
1857 - Birth in Clogher House, Kilmore, Co. Roscommon of Thomas Heazle Parke, surgeon, military officer and author. Educated at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, he serves with the British Army in Egypt during Arabi`s 1882 revolt and on the 1884-1885 Nile expedition, to relieve General Gorden in Khartoum. In 1887, he volunteers as Medical Officer on an expedition led by Henry Morten Stanley. This journey takes them right across the Congo. He writes a book "My personal experiences in Equatorial Africa " which becomes a bestseller. He dies suddenly in 1893 at the early age of 36 years. His body is brought back to Clogher House and he is buried with full military honours in Drumsna graveyard
1876 - Henry Robinson Allen, tenor and composer, dies
1878 - Birth of Sir William Orpen, painter, in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
1906 - Death of Michael Cusack, one of the founders of the GAA.
1953 - Playwright Eugene O'Neill dies
1963 - The Buchanan Committee warns of future chaos as traffic in cities multiplies
1975 - Guinness Book of Records co-founder and editor Ross McWhirter dies of wounds inflicted by Irish gunmen; an outspoken critic of the IRA, the BBC Records Breaker presenter had recently offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of IRA bombers.

November 28
1727 - William Connolly is unanimously re-elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons
1856 - Birth of Cardinal Patrick O'Donnell near Glenties, Co. Donegal
1863 - Foundation of the Fenian newspaper, "Irish People"; John O'Leary is the editor
1871 - The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, opens with a performance of She Stoops to Conquer
1899 -Irish units in the Boer army fight in the battle of Modder River
1905 The Irish political party Sinn Féin is founded in Dublin by Arthur Griffith
1920 - Tom Barry and his Cork Flying Column ambush a convoy in Kilmichael
1934 - Birth of travel writer Fervla Murphy
1959 - Birth of Tour de France winner, Stephen Roche
1967 - All horse racing in Britain has been cancelled indefinitely to help prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease
1969 - Birth of Olympic medalist Sonia O'Sullivan in Cobh, Co. Cork

November 29
1330 - Edward III, on attaining his majority, executes Mortimer on this date and banishes his own mother, Isabella. This revolutionizes the political situation in Ireland and England
1521 - William Rokeby, Archbishop of Dublin, dies
1641 - The Ulster rebels defeat the government forces at Julianstown Bridge
1740 - Edward Sewell, a "couple-beggar" - i.e. a clergyman who conducts illegal marriages involving Catholics and Protestants - is hanged at Stephen's Green
1783 - Ulster Volunteers' parliamentary reform bill is rejected by the Irish Parliament at College Green
1895 - Death of Denny Lane, Young Irelander, author and poet
1898 - Birth of novelist C.S. Lewis in Belfast
1993 - The Conservative government has come under attack in the Commons over the revelations it has had secret contacts with the IRA
1998 - IRA leaders are on the brink of making a goodwill gesture which could kick-start the stalled North peace process
1999 - Pressure grows on the Provisional IRA to hand over weapons in the wake of Northern Ireland’s first power sharing Government in 25 years
2002 - Hurling in Cork is thrown into chaos after the county’s senior squad goes on strike.

November 30
1667 - Birth in Dublin of Jonathan Swift, poet, satirist and clergyman 1670 - Birth in Inishowen, Co. Donegal of John Toland, deist and philosopher
1864 - Cork-born Confederate General Patrick Cleburne is killed in command of his division at a battle in Franklin, Tennessee
1869 - Birth of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn and first Governor of Northern Ireland
1900 - Death of Oscar Wilde in Paris
1930 - Death of Cork-born union organizer and human rights activist, Mary Harris - "Mother" Jones"
1933 - Birth of Eamon Campbell of the Dubliners
1960 - Catherina McKiernan, athlete, is born in Cornafean, Co. Cavan
1967 - Death of poet Patrick Kavanagh
1970 - Birth of Phil Babb, Irish soccer international
1995 - Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland on this date - the first serving US president to do so
2000 - Tributes are paid in the Supreme Court to former Chief Justice, Mr Justice Liam Hamilton, who passes on in the early morning hours on this date
2000 - With forecasters saying rainfalls in September, October and November are the highest in living memory, severe storms again lash the country. Munster and South Leinster get the worst of the weather as gales of up to 80 mph batter parts of Cork, Tipperary, Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford.

December 1
1494 - Poynings Law enacted. This forbids the Irish parliament to convene without the King's prior permission, and all intended legislation has to be approved by him
1848 - The paddle steamer The Londonderry, with immigrants fleeing the famine, takes shelter in Derry harbour. When the covers are removed from the hold it is discovered that 72 men, women and children have suffocated
1889 - Michael Hayes, politician and professor of Irish is born in Dublin
1890 - Six days of Irish Parliamentary Party debates begin, only to end in a split, with the majority opposing Parnell
1901 - Fenian Thomas Clarke Luby dies in New York. Luby was born in Dublin in 1821. He was the son of a Church of Ireland minister and graduate of Trinity College. His first political experience was in the Young Ireland movement
1946 - Singer Gilbert (Richard) O'Sullivan is born in Waterford
1955 - Birth of Pat Spillane, Kerry Gaelic footballer
1956 - Birth of hurler Joachim Kelly
1986 - Guinness shares plunge by £300m after the British government orders an inquiry into the affairs of the company
1998 - President Bill Clinton contacts First Minister, David Trimble, and his deputy, Seamus Mallon, in a bid to save the stalled Northern Ireland peace process
1999 - The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair hails the transfer of powers to Stormont as “one giant step forward”
1999 - Plans to develop Pol an Ionain cave, which according to the Guinness Book of Records contains the largest free hanging stalactite in the world, are given the go ahead by Clare County Council
2001 - Morans on the Weir, Kilcolgan, Co Galway, wins the prestigious Gilbeys Gold Medal Award
2002 - Film producer Noel Pearson and brother Billy Harris lead the tributes to Richard Harris as hundreds pack the Church of the Sacred Heart for a memorial mass
2002 - Gusts reaching up to 80 miles per hour and driving rain continue to sweep across the country; in the west Clare village of Quilty, six fishing boats sink as winds reached between gale force seven and nine along the Clare coast.

December 2
1791 - Death in Kilkenny of Henry Flood, founder of the movement which forces Britain to grant legislative independence to Ireland
1802 - Sir Dominic Corrigan, cardiologist, is born in Dublin
1805 - William Thompson, naturalist, is born in Belfast
1811 - The Kildare Place Society is formed to maintain non-denominational schools and to promote the education of the poor
1865 - The Fenian senate deposes founder John O'Mahoney as president, replacing him with William Roberts
1877 - Birth of nationalist politician Cahir Healy in Mountcharles, Co. Donegal
1924 - William Craig, unionist politician, is born
1998 - In an effort to break the deadlock in the stalled Northern Ireland political process, British Premier Tony Blair holds intensive discussions with David Trimble and Seamus Mallon at Stormont
1998 - Death of Mary McShain at Killarney House, Killarney, Co. Kerry.
In 1960, she and her late husband, John McShain, acquired the Killarney Estate, which had been owned by the Earls of Kenmare since the 16th century. Most of that property has since been turned over the State and Killarney House will now be turned over as well
1999 - The Good Friday Agreement comes into operation as the British and Irish governments formally notify each other that all the necessary arrangements are in place.The notification ceremony takes place at Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs, at a joint signing by Foreign Affairs Minister, David Andrews, and the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson
1999 - President Mary McAleese is entertained to lunch by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace
1999 - The IRA appoints an unnamed representative to enter into talks with General John de Chastelain on decommissioning
2002 - Former Fine Gael deputy leader Jim Mitchell loses his three-year battle with cancer.

December 3
1745 - John Toler, 1st Earl of Norbury and Chief Justice, is born in Beechwood, Co. Tipperary
1792 - Beginning on this date and continuing through December 8, a Catholic Convention is held in Tailors' Hall, Dublin to demand abolition of the remaining penal laws; a petition is presented to the king in London
1831 - Birth near Belfast of James Graham Fair, banker, mining tycoon and US senator
1897 - Birth in Limerick of Irish writer, Kate O'Brien who will become best known for her novels Land of Spices and That Lady
1942 - Birth in Belfast of rugby player Mike Gibson, former rugby player, 1945 - Ralph McTell, writer of From Clare To Here and Streets Of London is born
1956 - Limerick-born runner Ronnie Delaney wins Olympic Gold in Melbourne
1960 - Birth of broadcaster Eamonn Holmes
1990 - Inauguration of Mary Robinson as President of Ireland
1993 - Two bombs explode in the center of Manchester, injuring 65 people; the IRA claims responsibility the following day
1996 - Six officers are hurt as loyalists attack police with fireworks, bottles and stones in Portadown, Co Armagh
199 - The country’s first three day International Flower Fair opens in Lismore, Co. Waterford
2000 - Hiúdaí, an Irish language cartoon character, is voted Best TV Personality at the Irish Film and Television Awards in Belfast
2000 - Browns on the Green wins the prestigious Gilbeys Gold Medal Award for excellence in catering
2002 - Up to 2000 mourners gather at St Joseph’s Church, Terenure for the removal of Fine Gael minister and deputy leader, Jim Mitchell
2002 - Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, says there is little point in proceeding with multi-party talks in the North if the IRA refuses to address the need to give up all paramilitary activity.


Sources: Irish Culture and Customs, The Celtic League, Irish Abroad, The Wild Geese