Irish History - March 12-18

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

March 12
1295 - Richard de Burgh is released by the council in parliament at Kilkenny
1685 - George Berkeley, philosopher, physicist, mathematician, Dean of Derry and Bishop of Cloyne, is born in Dysart Castle, Co. Kilkenny. The university town of Berkeley in California is named in his honour
1689 - James II lands at Kinsale and proceeds to Dublin
1832 - Birth of Capt. Charles Boycott, despised English estate manager in Ireland, from whose name the word 'boycott' is taken
1873 - Gladstone's Irish University Bill is defeated
1875 - After being barred as an undischarged felon from taking his seat as elected MP for Tipperary, John Mitchel is re-elected on this date. He dies eight days later
1798 - Having been betrayed by Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster Directory of United Irishmen leaders is arrested
1860 - Michael O'Hickey, professor of Irish and Irish-language campaigner, is born in Carrickbeg, Co. Waterford
1930 - Pat Taaffe, jockey and trainer, is born in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
1944 - Britain bans all travel to and from Ireland in an effort to prevent news of Allied preparations for the invasion of France reaching the Germans
1974 - Billy Fox, MP for Co. Monaghan, is assassinated
2000 - National Tree Week ends with a mass planting of 5,000 trees at Corkagh Park in Clondalkin
2001 - Department of Agriculture vets are investigating another suspected case of foot and mouth in the North. Tests are carried out on a sheep taken from a farm in Augher to an abattoir in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, for slaughter.

March 13
1784 - Reform Bill in Irish House of Commons
1791 - Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man (part 1) - a reply to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and a major influence on Irish radicals - is published
1865 - Birth of Patrick Nally in Balla, Co Mayo. An athlete, he was a major inspiration in the founding the GAA in 1884 by Michael Cusack. The Nally stand in Croke Park is named after him
1922 - George Bernard Shaw's "Back to Methusaleh V" premieres in New York
1939 - At-Swim-Two-Birds, a highly experimental novel by Flann O'Brien, is published in London
1960 - Birth of Adam Clayton, bass player with U2
1973 - Birth of Ballybeg Prim, one of the greatest racing dogs of all time in Thurles, Co. Tipperary
1998 - Naval personnel question the crew of a British-registered flagship after a second day of intimidation of Irish trawlers off the South West coast
1999 - Over 250,000 people pack the streets around the River Liffey in Dublin to witness the largest fireworks display ever seen in Ireland
The event marks the start of a five-day festival to mark St Patrick's Day as well as the official launch of the Millennium celebrations
2000 -A multi million pound seizure of drugs in Holland results in the arrest of John Cunningham, one of Ireland’s most prolific career criminals
2001 - The Irish food industry is dealt a hammer blow as the United States and Canada ban Irish food imports, worth over £100 million a year, because of the foot and mouth scare
2003 - Taoiseach Bertie gives his strongest indication yet that the US will be able to use Shannon Airport regardless of UN backing for war in Iraq.

March 14
1705 - An English act permits direct export of Irish linen to American colonies
1732 - Birth of Sackville Hamilton, politician and civil servant
1738 - John Beresford, unionist politician, is born in Cork
1822 - Richard Boyle, civil engineer, is born in Dublin
1894 - William Earle "Moley" Molesworth, WWI Ace, is born
1902 - The Irish Association of Women Graduates and Candidate-Graduates, an organization open to those interested in promoting women's education, is launched
1962 - Eibhín Bean Uí Choisdeaíbh, Irish language folk song collector, dies
1973 - Liam Cosgrave is appointed president of Ireland
1985 - Schoolchildren claim to have seen a 'moving' statue in Asdee, Co. Kerry. Other reports come from Ballinspittle, Co. Cork. The faithful claim a miraculous event. Sceptics say it is an optical illusion
1984 - Gunmen shoot and wounded Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, in an attack in central Belfast. He is hit in the neck, shoulder and arm as several gunmen riddle his car with about 20 bullets. Three people travelling with Mr Adams are also wounded in the shooting No-one is seriously hurt and a fourth man escapes injury
1991 -The Birmingham Six - Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker - are released from jail after their convictions for the murder of 21 people in two pubs are quashed by the Court of Appeal
1998 - Former Defence and Marine Minister Hugh Coveney falls to his death from a headland near Roberts Cove, Co. Cork
2002 - Roundwood House, Mountrath, Co. Laois is the only Irish establishment to make the list of the world's top 50 restaurants published by Restaurant magazine. It places at 42.

March 15
1672 - The first declaration of indulgence suspending penal laws against Catholics and dissenters is issued by Charles II
1764 - Charles O'Conor, antiquary and historian, is born in Belanagare, Co. Roscommon
1773 - Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer is performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London
1774 - Isaac Weld, author, is born in Dublin
1813 - In the British House of Commons, Sir Eyre Coote (the younger), MP for Ballynakill and Maryborough, proposes the abolition of flogging in the army
1852 - Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (née Persse), playwright, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, is born in Roxborough, Co. Galway
1904 - Birth of George Brent, actor, in Dublin
1878 - Sir Robert McCarrison, medical scientist and honorary physician to King George V from 1928 to 1935 is born in Portadown, Co. Armagh
1976 - The IRA is linked to a bomb that explodes on a London Underground train; the driver of the train, Julius Stephen, is shot dead while chasing a gunman who is believed to have detonated the bomb. Ten other people are injured
1993 - Kitty Linnane, leader of the Kilfenora Céili Band, dies
1998 - The US Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, confirms she will leave her post after US Independence Day celebrations in Dublin on July 4
1999 - A prominent Irish civil rights solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, is killed by a Loyalist car bomb in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1999 - The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Jim McDaid, unveils plans to commemorate the Year 2000. Commencing on St. Patrick's Day, "The Party Starts Here," is the official title of a 21-month long series of events, which will link over 300 separate festivals
2000 - The censor lifts a ban on more than two thirds, or 400, of prohibited books following an appeal by the Labour Party. Only 187 books and about 270 magazines and newspapers now remain on the banned list
2001 - John Gilligan is found not guilty of the murder of Veronica Guerin; however, he is sentenced to 28 years in prison on drug-related crimes. The sentence is twice what most people expected and six years more than the previous longest sentence handed down for a drugs offence
2002 - Tesco's supermarket chain in Ireland announces that, unlike its British counterpart, it has no plans to start issuing the morning-after pill to Irish teenagers free of charge.

March 16
1618 - Richard Archdekin, Jesuit, educator and missioner to Ireland, is born in Louvain
1640 - Charles I's second Irish parliament meets
1690 - French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland
1789 - Francis Rawdon Chesney, soldier and explorer, is born in Annalong, Co. Down
1815 - William Reeves, Church of Ireland bishop and antiquary, is born in Charleville, Co. Cork
1828 - Patrick Cleburne, American Civil War Confederate General, is born in Cobh, Co. Cork
1839 - John B. Yeats, painter and father of William Butler and Jack B. Yeats, is born in Tullylish, Co. Down
1865 - Irish-born Martin Murphy, one of the greatest pioneers of early California, dies
1955 - Singer Ruby Murray scores five simultaneous hits in the British charts
1959 - RTÉ interviews Ireland's first bangarda, Mary Brown from Roscommon
1960 - The P & O liner Canberra (45,000 tons) is launched in Belfast
1988 - At Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast, a gunman kills three mourners and injures at least 50 people attending a funeral for IRA members Mairead Farrell, Daniel McCann, and Sean Savage shot dead in Gibraltar
1991 - Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade
1995 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams meets President Bill Clinton for the first time
1998 - In Washington, at the American/Ireland Fund dinner, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern bluntly tells Northern political leaders to display the courage necessary to make far-reaching compromises over the next fortnight to rescue the peace process from the dangers of failure
1998 - Beef exports from Northern Ireland are to resume after a three-year ban stemming from the BSE crisis
2000 - Hundreds of sprigs of shamrock are airlifted from Ireland by the RAF to Irish regiments of the British Army around the world in accordance with a decree issued by Queen Victoria 100 years ago. It is exactly 100 years since the queen decrees that all Irish regiments of the British Army wear a shamrock in their head dress on St Patrick’s Day to commemorate the bravery of Irish troops during the Boer War
2000 - Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, announces that more troop withdrawals are likely over the coming months
2001 - President Bush, Sinn Fein's President Gerry Adams, center, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, right, watch Irish dancers perform at the White House in Washington. Ahern meets with Bush and discusses the 1998 power-sharing deal that has brought a tenuous peace in Northern Ireland. Standing behind Bush is National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, left.
2001 - Kilmainham residents protest against a planned office development in the heart of an historic part of Dublin
2001 - Irish Defense Minister Michael Smith, center, waves the Irish flag as he celebrates St. Patrick's day with other Irish peacekeepers at Camp Shamrock near the southern village of Tibnine
2003 - More than 1,500 performers create a Mardi-Gras atmosphere on the streets of Limerick for the 33rd International Marching Band Parade and Competition.

March 17
1777 - Patrick Brontë, originally Brunty; clergyman and father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, is born in Ballynaskeagh, Co. Down
1800 - Charles James Patrick Mahon, high-ranking soldier in Russia, Turkey, South America and France; duellist; & politician, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare
1794 - Sir Thomas Maclear, astronomer, is born in Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone
1820 - Patrick Edward Connor, Union General, is born in Co. Kerry
1852 - Patrick Sheehan, 'Canon Sheehan', priest and writer, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1853 - The Ossianic Society is founded to preserve and publish manuscripts of the Fionn cycle
1858 - James Stephens founds the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Dublin
1864 - Charlotte Milligan Fox, collector of folk music, is born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1877 - Michael O'Hanrahan, author and revolutionary, is born in New Ross, Co. Wexford
1889 - Harry Clarke, artist, known chiefly for stained-glass work, is born in Dublin
1899 - First issue of Gaelic League's An Claidheamh Soluis is published
1903 - St Patrick's Day becomes a bank holiday
1944 - Birth in Northern Ireland of Pat McCauley, rock drummer for Them
1951 -Scott Gorham, hard rock guitarist, is born
1964 - Joe Cooney, Galway hurler, is born near Loughrea
1976 - Birth in Dublin of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately
1997 - President Bill Clinton sharply increases the pressure on Northern political leaders to make concessions following a White House declaration that they will throw away a chance in a lifetime if they fail to settle an agreement by May
1998 - Frankie Curry, a top loyalist dissident, is gunned down by the UVF in revenge for the killing of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson
1999 - From Malin Head to Mizen Head, up to a million people turn out for St Patrick’s Day parades.
2001 - For the first time, Queen Elizabeth II sends a special St. Patrick's Day greeting to President Mary McAleese
2001 - Publicans in Westport, Co. Mayo call time on hen and stag parties. Bar owners in Westport, Co Mayo say the revellers are no longer welcome and will not be served in the town’s 44 pubs
2001 - Thousands of bargain hunters pack the RDS for the biggest ever Irish International Antiques and Fine Art Fair
2002 - In Dublin, an estimated 500,000 people line the parade route for the pinnacle of the €2.5 million St. Patrick's festival weekend
2003 - Two police officers and a paramedic are injured as sectarian fighting breaks out in flashpoint areas of Belfast
2003 - Snakes, sea monsters, Vikings and samba bands provide the sparkle in St Patrick’s Day celebrations around the country while the saint himself supplies the weather - warm and sunny in most areas.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint.

March 18
1736 - The Irish House of Commons condemns tithe of agistment on pasturage for dry and barren cattle
1800 - Harriet Smithson, actress and wife of the composer Hector Berlioz, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare
1801 - Ambrose O'Higgins, Viceroy of Peru, dies in Lima
1825 - In accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act, the Grand Orange Lodge advises its members that further meetings would be in violation of the law
1932 - The order outlawing the IRA is allowed to lapse
1949 - Birth in Belfast of Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, snooker player and two time world-champion
1952 - Pat Eddery, jockey, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1998 - The funeral of Hugh Coveney, politician and former Lord Mayor of Cork, takes place at St Michael's Church in Blackrock
1998 - Founder and executive director of the Chernobyl Children's Project charity, Adi Roche, is awarded the Frantsysk Skrayna Order by Belarus's envoy to Britain and Ireland, Uladzimir Shchasny. It is the country's highest honour and the first time it has been given to a foreigner
1999 - The funeral of murdered human rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, takes place at St. Peter's Church in Lurgan
2000 - The end of a 30 year ban fails to bring huge numbers of people out to see the controversial cult movie, A Clockwork Orange
2000 - Geneva-based financier and professional gambler, JP McManus jumps almost 20 places to 13th in The Sunday Times Irish rich list, with an estimated worth of more than £300 million.

In the old Celtic calendar, today is Sheelah's Day. In ancient Ireland, it was an annual festival to honor the fertility Goddess known as Sheela-na-gig. Naked Sheela-na-gig figures appeared in Irish churches constructed before the 16th century, but most were defaced or destroyed during the prudish Victorian age.

According to some sources, the origins of "drowning the shamrock" have also been traced to this date. In the eighteenth century, William Hone reported on the celebrations surrounding Sheelah, who has been variously identified as the wife, mother, or other relative of St. Patrick - noting that, the people of the day "are not so anxious to determine who 'Sheelah' was, as they are earnest in her celebration. All agree that her immortal memory is to be maintained by potations of whisky." At the end of the day, the faithful would then take their shamrocks and drop them into their respective glasses before downing the contents.

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