Irish History - May 21-27

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

May 21
1639 - Lord Deputy Thomas Wentworth imposes the Black Oath of loyalty to Charles I on all Ulster Scots over the age of 16
1745 - Count Daniel O'Connell, a soldier in French and British services, is born in Derrynane, Co. Kerry
1917 - Birth of tenor and comedian, Dennis Day, to Irish parents in New York, NY
1916 - Clocks and watches go forward one hour as the Daylight Saving Act (Summer Time) is introduced
1920 - James Plunkett, pseudonym of James Plunkett Kelly; novelist, is born in Dublin
1944 - Mary Robinson, lawyer, youngest ever Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin; President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997; and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is born in Ballina, Co. Mayo
1980 - Taoiseach Charles Haughey and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher meet in London (and later in Dublin on December 8), and agree to consider 'the totality of relationships within these islands'
1981 - At 2:11 am, Raymond McCreesh dies on hunger strike in the Maze Prison. Later, the same day at 11:29 pm, he is joined in death by his friend and fellow hunger-striker, Patsy O'Hara
1999 - Bono and Larry appear on RTE's "The Late Late Show" to present long-time host Gay Byrne with a black Harley Davidson as a going away present on his retirement
1999 - The Jack Lynch Tunnel, described as the most challenging civil engineering project in the history of the state, is unveiled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the entrance of the tunnel in Mahon, Co. Cork
2000 - Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams sparks a new political storm when he makes it clear he could not call on republicans and nationalists to join the North’s proposed new police service
2000 - Demonstrators picket Drogheda Heritage Centre as the death mask of Oliver Cromwell is put on display where he is reputed to have massacred thousands of defenceless civilians
2000 - Thousands of Christians celebrate the jubilee year by coming together in parishes throughout the country for National Pilgrimage Day
2001 - The EU blue flag quality mark is awarded to 111 beaches around the coast for the cleanliness of the water. Ireland, at 91.7%, ranks fourth overall in the EU when it comes to blue flag beaches. The Netherlands comes first with 96%, followed by Greece with 95% and Italy, 92%
2001 - Former US president, Bill Clinton, is rumored to have been paid £100,000 by the chairman of Independent News and Media Sir Anthony O'Reilly to talk to a select gathering at Trinity College on this date
2002 - Bono kicks off a 10-day four- nation tour of Africa in the company of US Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill
2003 - According to a new survey published in the Wall Street Journal, the Irish remain among the most contented races on Earth. The statistics on our generally sunny disposition appear to confirm the findings of another recent study - the World Happiness Survey - which places Ireland sixth in a league of 68 countries.

May 22
1805 - Michael Doheny, poet and Young Irelander, is born near Fethard, Co. Tipperary
1849 - Novelist, Maria Edgeworth, dies in Mostrim, Co. Longford. She is laid to rest in a vault at Edgeworthstown Church. The Great Famine which decimates the people she loves mars her last years. Even though in her late seventies, she worked strenuously for the relief of the stricken peasants at the height of the famine. She shows the same involvement and generosity throughout her entire life and devotes her best talents to the betterment of the people of her adoption. Her books on the Irish people bring her world fame and the acclaim of such writers as Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Byron and the Russian writer Turgenev.
1859 - Birth in Edinburgh of Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was the eldest son of 10 siblings born to Irish parents Charles Doyle and Mary Foley
1870 - Birth of Eva Gore-Booth, poet, trade unionist and feminist, on the Lissadell Estate in Co. Sligo
1920 - Birth of Oliver J. Flanagan, Fine Gael politician
1932 - Death of Augusta Persse, better known as Lady Augusta Gregory, Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre director; also a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre
1941 - Caitlin Maude, Irish language activist, is born
1944 - Birth of Betty Williams, former peace activist and 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner
1946 - George Best, the greatest player of his generation and the world's first superstar footballer, is born in Belfast
1950 - Bill Whelan, musician and composer, is born in Limerick; he is best known for composing the music to Riverdance
1955 - Mary Black, singer, is born in Dublin
1971 - Members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement defy the law by bringing contraceptives bought in Belfast into Connolly railway station in Dublin
1972 - Death of Laois man Cecil Day-Lewis, one of the English language's leading poets of the early part of the 20th century, and father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis
1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton approves a visa for Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams to enter the United States
1997 - Pneumonia causes the quiet passing of Dr. Noel Browne in the University College Hospital Galway at the age of 81. As Minister of Health, Dr. Browne had lain the foundation stone of the same Hospital almost fifty years before
1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is overwhelmingly endorsed in referendums North (71%) and South (94%)
2000 - A survey shows that half of Ireland's small and medium-size businesses have their own website
2003 - Hurling reaches its highest peak when Gerard McDonnell from Limerick brought the spirit of the GAA to Mount Everest; he sent a ball flying above 29,000 feet
2003 - The Official Languages Bill 2002, introduced by the Minister for the Gaeltacht, Mr Ó Cuív, will give citizens the right to conduct their business with any State agency or Government department, in Irish.

May 23
1561 - The first court of High Commission, a group of officials and Protestant clergy, is set up to enforce the Reformation in Ireland
1754 - Birth of Dr. William Drennan in Belfast; physician, poet, educationalist political radical and one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen. Drennan's poetic output included some powerful and moving pieces. He is chiefly remembered today for "Erin" written in 1800, in which he penned the first reference in print to Ireland as "the Emerald Isle":
"Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle."
Interestingly, he himself is quoted as saying that this expression was first used in a party song called “Erin, to her own Tune,” written in 1795. The song appears to have been anonymous
1794 - As part of a crack-down on seditious activity during Britain's war with France, the Dublin United Irishmen are supressed
1798 - United Irish Rebellion begins in Wexford
1798 - United Irish rebellion begins in Leinster
1903 - Shelah Richards, actress and producer, is born in Dublin
1920 - Oliver Plunkett is beatified by Pope Benedict XV
1920 - Railway workers refuse to transport troops from this date
1934 - Birth of former rugby international, Syd Millar
1951 - Lord Henry Mount Charles, Slane Castle impresario, is born
1954 - Former soccer international, Gerry Armstrong, is born
1966 - Birth of GAA footballer, Paul McGrath
1998 - Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomes the resounding "yes" vote in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland, calling it "a day for joy"
1998 - Thousands flock to Ennis for the 29th Fleadh Nua Traditional Music Festival
1999 - Rural post offices are thrown a life-line when the Government gives its strongest commitment yet to preserving regional services
2002 - The long simmering division between Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy erupts into a huge row and Keane is expelled from the World Cup squad.

May 24
1487 - Lambert Simnel (aged 10), the Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is brought to Ireland. It is claimed that he is Edward, Earl of Warwick (Clarence's son), but in fact, he is a baker's son - the real Warwick is a prisoner in the Tower of London and will be executed in 1499. Most of the Anglo-Irish believe that Simnel's claim is genuine and support him (exceptions are the Butlers, Waterford city and the Archbishop of Armagh, Octavian del Palatio); Simnel is crowned King of England as Edward VI in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on this date. Walter FitzSimons, Archbishop of Dublin, is present at the crowning; he will be imprisoned in the Tower because of this
1628 - 51 'graces' to Irish interest groups by Charles I are promised but various excuses are used not to grant these concessions
1798 - Archibald Hamilton Jacob conducts the Enniscorthy Yeomen Cavalry to the village of Ballaghkeen where they flog a man to death
1813 - A Catholic Relief Bill is introduced by Grattan in the House of Commons, and is narrowly defeated 251 to 247
1818 - John Foley, sculptor, is born in Dublin
1830 - Anthony Durnford, soldier, is born in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim
1882 - Creighton Hale, actor, is born in Cork
1921 - 1st parliament for Northern Ireland is elected
1923 - Actress, Siobhan McKenna is born
1928 - William Trevor (Cox), prolific short story-writer and novelist is born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. He has written over 30 works including 'The Story of Lucy Gault' which was short-listed for the 2002 Booker Prize
1956 - Sean Kelly, cyclist, ranked world number one (1984-1989) is born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary
Photo Credit: Dave Lawrence, ©1992
1987 - A referendum in the Republic approves the Single European Act
1998 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams signals that the terrorist war is over and that the gun can finally be removed from Irish politics
1998 - Less than 24 hours after people on both sides of the border gave a resounding Yes to the Stormont peace agreement, dissident republican terrorists cause widespread disruption on the Belfast-Dublin railway line after a suspicious object is found on the line near Lurgan
1998 - Director John Boorman wins the Best Director prize for The General, about real life Dublin gang leader, Martin Cahill
1999 - As part of a £4.5m tourism project, Waterford Treasures on the city's quayside, is opened to the public. On display are an impressive range of Viking artefacts from settlements dating back to 853 and discovered during excavations in the city over the last six years
2000 - According to a report published on this date, 1 in 10 homeless people in London are Irish
2000 - Two more members of David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Assembly team are to oppose his plan to return to power sharing with Sinn Féin
2002 - European parliament president Pat Cox is awarded the freedom of Limerick city. The former Progressive Democrats TD is presented with the award by Mayor Dick Sadlier at a reception in City Hall. Previous recipients of the award include John F Kennedy, The Pope and Charles Stewart Parnell
2003 - Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, meet Sinn Féin's chief negotiators Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in Dublin for talks.

May 25
1315 - Edward Bruce (brother of Robert Bruce, king of Scots), having been invited by some Gaelic chiefs, leads an expedition to Ireland with the aim of conquering it, creating a kingdom of Ireland and driving out the Norman-Irish settlers. He lands at Larne on this date and is proclaimed king of Ireland
1705 - On this date, May Eustace Sherlock, gentleman, petitions the Commons for relief from 'the great oppressions he lies under, by the undue practices and power of Maurice Annesley, a Justice of the Peace'. Annesley is an MP. The ensuing complicated legal case will eventually result in the passing by the British parliament of the 1720 Declaratory Act confirming the British House of Lords as the final Court of Appeal for Irish cases
1745 - Lord John Allen (3rd Viscount Allen), former MP for Carysfort, dies of a fever caused from cuts to his fingers inflicted by the sword of a dragoon
1830 - As a result of growing Unitarianism the General Synod reinforces subscription. Henry Montgomery, the leading Unitarian protagonist, leads a secession of Non-subscribers from the General Synod which establishes the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster. The Remonstrant Synod joins with the earlier Presbytery of Antrim in 1910 to form the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland
1842 - Birth on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, of Helen Blackburn, early leader of the movement for the emancipation of women
1885 - Gerald Boland, nationalist politician, is born in Manchester
1870 - Irish Fenians raid Eccles Hill, Québec
1895 - Oscar Wilde is sentenced to two years imprisonment for offences “against public decency”
1900 - John Hunt, expert on mediaeval art, is born in Limerick
1903 - Ewart Milne, poet, is born in Dublin
1912 - First issue of the weekly suffrage magazine, Irish Citizen, appears
1914 - British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule for the third time
1921 - The Dublin brigade of the IRA attacks and sets fire to the Customs House; 120 of its men are captured and 11 are killed
1960 - Packie Bonner, Celtic and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper, in Burtonport, Co. Donegal
1968 - Unicorn by the Irish Rovers makes it to #7 in the British charts
1993 - Dawson Stelfox becomes the first Irishman to conquer Everest
2000 - Prime Minister of Ireland Bertie Ahern, right, and his Polish counterpart Jerzy Buzek walk in front of a Guard of honor during the welcoming ceremony in Warsaw. Ahern is in Poland for an official two day visit
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski
2003 - Brendan McCann, one of the most acclaimed photographers in Northern Ireland's history dies in Belfast Mater Hospital, aged 75.
In a career spanning 50 years, he covers some of the darkest hours of the Troubles.

May 26
1562 - Following his submission to Elizabeth at Whitehall in January, Shane O'Neill returns to Ireland on this date
1650 - Oliver Cromwell leaves Ireland on board the frigate President Bradshaw. His deputy and son-in-law, Henry Ireton takes control of the Irish campaign and captures Birr Castle
1798 - The rebels are defeated at Tara Hill; this marks the end of the rebellion in Co. Meath. Rebellion begins in Co. Wexford. Fr. John Murphy and local people confront the Camolin yeomanry at The Harrow. Thomas Bookey, Lieutenant of the yeomanry, is killed
1867 - Michael Barrett from Kesh, Co. Fermanagh is executed for his part in the explosion at Clerkenwell Gaol. From all the evidence, it is likely he is not guilty. He is the last man to be publicly hanged in England.
1867 - Princess Victoria Mary of Teck: the future Queen Mary, queen consort of George V of the United Kingdom is born.
1873 - Trinity College Dublin abolishes all remaining religious restrictions for entry, with the exception of the Faculty of Divinity
1897 - First publication of Dracula, written by Dublin man Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker
1924 - Dublin-born composer,Victor Herbert dies
1950 - End of petrol rationing in Northern Ireland
1972 - The Special Criminal Court, with three judges and no jury, is set up in the Republic
1980 - Derry band The Undertones reach No. 1 in the UK charts with My Perfect Cousin
2003 - Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary snubs an awards ceremony in Dublin after the no-frills airline is beaten by Aer Lingus in the Best Overall Value for Money category. It is the first time in the 10-year history of the event, hosted by the Air Transport Users Council (ATUC), that Ryanair fails to win the award.

May 27
1224 - Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, king of Connacht and brother of Rory O'Connor, dies at the age of 72. This finally opens the way for the Norman occupation of Connacht
1595 - Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeats the English forces of his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Bagenal, at the Battle of Clontibret, Co. Monaghan; he is proclaimed a traitor at Newry in June
1648 - Giovanni Rinuccini, papal nuncio to the confederates, excommunicates adherents of the truce between confederates and Inchiquin
1798 - Wexford rebels massacre Kingsborough's militiamen and yeomanry at Oulart
1877 - Hanna Sheehy Skeffington is born in Co. Limerick. A committed suffragette, she is one of the founding members of the Irish Womens Franchise League; sexual equality remains a primary concern throughout her despite a slight shift in focus after the summary execution of her husband in 1916
1936 - Following the Free State's provision for the formation of Aer Lingus as the national airline, Aer Lingus opens routes to Bristol and London, commencing with a flight from Baldonnell to Bristol on this date
1960 - The last barge on the Grand Canal makes its final journey to Limerick with a cargo of Guinness
1966 - The UVF shoot and mortally wound John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, in the Clonard area of west Belfast
1993 - Mary Robinson, the first female president of Éire, becomes the first Irish head of state to meet with a British monarch when she visits Queen Elizabeth II
1998 - Actor Brendan Gleeson strongly defends his lead role in the controversial £6m film The General, rebutting criticism that it attempts to portray the assassinated Dublin gangster Martin Cahill as a latter-day Robin Hood
2001 - The breakaway Real IRA is believed to be behind a rocket attack on Strabane RUC station which sparks a five-hour security alert. No-one is injured but 12 families are evacuated from their homes during the follow-up security operation in the Co.Tyrone town
2001 - Fears of a long, difficult summer are growing after 57 RUC officers are injured in clashes with nationalist youths on the flashpoint Garvaghy Road in Portadown following a Junior Orange parade
2001 - Thousands of traditional music fans flock to Ennis for the 50th anniversary of Fleadh Nua
2003 - Water quality has taken a dip at Irish beaches with fewer bathing areas meeting standards of cleanliness. But Irish bathing water still ranks among the best in Europe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual report, and the small number of freshwater lakes and rivers tested produce their best results ever
2003 - It is announced that the Royal Irish Regiment is to be scrapped as part of a major plan to cut troop numbers in the North. British military authorities plan to abolish all three Home Service battalions, comprising nearly 3,000 soldiers under a new deal to break the deadlock in the peace process
2003 - Paul McCartney performs his first Irish show in 40 years at the RDS Arena. It's also his first solo concert in Dublin
2003 - FAI and Communications Minister Dermot Ahern announces that all Republic of Ireland competitive soccer internationals will now be available free on RTÉ.

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