Irish History - Aug. 5 - 11
Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.August 5
1722 - Birth of William Fortescuem, politician and sportsman, who tried unsuccessfully in the 1760s to introduce a bill 'to preserve partridges and hares and to take away the lives of above half the dogs in the nation'
1888 - Philip Henry Sheridan, the son of Irish immigrants from Cavan, dies in Nonquit, Massachusetts. He became an officer in the Federal cavalry and is infamously credited with the phrase: "The only good Indian is a dead one"
1891 - The Land Purchase Act further facilitates tenants' purchase of acreage from former landlords and establishes a board to purchase and redistribute land at a local level in the west
1901 - Peter O'Connor sets long jump record at 24' 11 3/4". He was born in Ashford, Co.Wicklow, but he lived and worked as a solicitor in Waterford City for most of his life. He won his first title in 1899 at the age of 25 years and his last in 1906 - but that was the Olympic title. He was the first IAAF ratified long jump world record holder and his remarkable world, and Irish, long jump record, set in Ballsbridge, Dublin on this date lasted for 20 years
1931 - Birth of Billy Bingham, Northern Ireland footballer and manager, in Belfast
1934 - Gay Byrne, broadcaster, is born in Dublin
1984 - U2 finish recording "The Unforgettable Fire"
1999 - A unique exhibition - "75 Years of Giving" - is officially opened in in Dublin by President Mary McAleese. It comprises a collection of treasures from museums and art galleries throughout the country and marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland (FNCI).
August 6
1312 - John de Wogan ceases to be justiciar; Edmund le Botiller will act as justiciar for the present
1761 - Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, MP for Fore, and still a teenager, dies of wounds he received after fighting a duel with a Mr Reilly on July 30
1775 - Daniel O'Connell, Irish patriot, is born in Cahirciveen, County Kerry
1853 - Sir William Ridgeway, classical scholar, is born in Ballydermot, Co. Offaly
1920 - The Dáil orders the boycotting of Belfast unionist firms
1927 - Poet Richard Murphy is born
1998 - Triple Olympic champion, Michelle de Bruin, is banned for four years by FINA, the swimming's world governing body, for tampering with a urine sample
1999 - Labour analysts at the Economic and Social Research Institute announce that the country is heading for full employment for the first time in history
2000 - In Waterford, a team of six men, five of them former international boxers, skip their way into the Guinness Book of Records by smashing the 24 hour relay skipping record
2000 - The first annual Witness Festival comes to a close at Fairyhouse in Co. Meath
2001 - The chairman of the International Commission on Decommissioning, General John de Chastelain, reveals that his members and an IRA representative have agreed on a method for decommissioning.
August 7
1798 - Examination by secret committee of MacNeven, O'Connor, Neilson, Thomas Emmet, and Bond begins in the House of Lords
1832 - The Parliamentary Reform Act increases Irish seats from 100 to 105 and introduces ten-pound franchise in the boroughs: the electorate is increased to 1.2% of the population (county electorate 60,000; borough electorate 30,000). 1 Irish urban dweller in 26 and one Irish rural dweller in 116 now has the vote, as compared to 1 in 17 and 1 in 24 in England
1892 - Birth of Tom Falcon Hazel, WWI Ace, in Clifden, Co. Galway
1916 - O'Neil of the Glen, the first production released by the Film Company of Ireland, premiers at Dublin's Bohemian Theatre
1937 - Rosemary Smith, rally driver, is born in Dublin
1943 - Sarah Purser, Irish painter, dies
1998 - Unemployment falls for the 16th month in a row to reach its lowest level in almost eight years
2001 - British Airways begin a training programme for the crew of the Concorde aircraft at Shannon Airport amid speculation the supersonic plane could be back in the air within the next number of weeks
2001 - Family and close friends gather in the Spanish resort of Alicante for the cremation of one of Ireland's best loved actors, Joe Lynch
2002 - The government announces that American Special Forces will not be allowed to use Irish airspace or airports during any attack on Iraq.
August 8
1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English, with some Spaniards slain upon reaching the coasts of Ireland and some survivors remaining
1694 - Birth of Francis Hutcheson, Presbyterian philosopher, in Co. Down
1781 - James Gandon moves from London to Dublin; the first stone of his Customs House is laid on this date
1923 - The Civic Guard is renamed the Garda Siochana
1953 - The library of Alfred Chester Beatty, containing his unique collection of oriental manuscripts, opens in Dublin
1961 - On Edge of U2 (David Evans) is born in Barking Maternity Hospital, East London
1976 - Founding of the Peace Movement in the North
1981 - Thomas McElwee, Irish politicl prisoner , dies on the 62nd day of his hunger strike in Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.
2000 - A leading figure in the Young Ireland Movement, Edward Walsh, poet, folklorist, song writer and teacher, is remembered on the 150th anniversary of his death
2001 - The Taoiseach and Tánaiste urge Irish workers and employers not to panic as computer giant Gateway signals a shutdown of Irish operations with 900 job losses.
August 9
1690 - First siege of Limerick begins
1850 - Irish Tenant League is founded
1971 - Internment without charge or trial is introduced in Northern Ireland; the first wave of arrests on this date is based largely on incorrect or outdated information and causes massive resentment among nationalists; 17 people are killed in the rioting that follows
1979 - The first Vietnamese boat people arrive in Ireland
1998 - U2's PopMart movie debuts at the Festival Revue in Edinburgh, Scotland
2000 - Secondary picketing by striking train drivers, who are members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association, causes transport chaos for thousands of Dublin commuters.
August 10
1316 - Battle of Athenry. Irish rising in support of Edward Bruce of Scotland
1636 - The Annals of the Four Masters is completed
1719 - The House of Commons proposes that all unregistered priests in Ireland should be branded on the cheek. The plan is ultimately abandoned.
1854 - A statutory provision is made for the establishment of a national gallery of paintings, sculpture and fine arts in Ireland
1857 - Death of John Wilson Croker, Galway-born politician and writer
1890 - Death of journalist and republican John Boyle O’Reilly
1848 - Birth in Clonakilty of William Hartnett, master of still life painting
1886 - Death of Joseph Medlicott Scriven from Seapatrick, Co. Down, who wrote the words for What A Friend We Have In Jesus
1920 - Death of actor James O’Neill, in Kilkenny. Remembered for his portrayal of the Count of Monte Cristo, he was also the father of playwright Eugene O’Neill
1928 - Peter Barry, Fine Gael politician, is born in Co. Cork
1971 - Birth in Co. Cork of soccer star Roy Maurice Keane, the "human dynamo"
1975 - Death of Robert Barton, last of the surviving 1921 Treaty signatories
1984 - John Treacy wins a silver medal in the marathon at the LA Olympics
1998 - Car clamping of illegally parked cars is introduced in Dublin
1998 - After 26 years on the air, Gay Byrne confirms he will quit his RTÉ morning radio programme at Christmas and will give up the Late Late Show next June
1998 - After serving 21 years, William Moore, the last member of the terrifying Shankill Butchers Gang to remain behind bars is released, despite a Judge's recommendation that he should never go free. He was given 14 life sentences for his role in the abduction and murder of 19 innocent Catholics
1999 - Lakes featured in The Quiet Man are put on the market
2000 - Ruth-Kelly Walsh from Bray, Co. Wicklow wins the special prize for the 'Most Creative Hat' in the RDS Ladies Day Competition at the Kerrygold Horse Show.
August 11
1691 - A Jacobite force under Patrick Sarsfield, guided by Galloping Hogan, destroys a Williamite siege train at Ballyneety, hampering the siege of Limerick
1835 - Henry Grattan Guinness, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1894 - Dan Breen, nationalist revolutionary and politician, is born near Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary
1927 - After the Free State general election on June 9, de Valera and Fianna Fáil enter the Dáil as the largest opposition party; the Cosgrave administration brings the Farmers' Party into government (independent Ireland's first coalition government, though not so called)
1927 - The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is established to control the Shannon hydro-electric scheme and take over all existing projects for the electrification of Ireland
1979 - Disaster overtakes the Fastnet Challenge yacht race when the biggest-ever fleet of 303 vessels is caught in a vicious storm. Seventeen people lose their lives
1998 - Fine Gael warns that many farmers who are at the mercy of the worst harvesting weather for 20 years will have no incomes by Christmas unless the Government adopts a strategy to help them out
1999 - Last almost-total solar eclipse of the century takes place in Western Europe. Cloud cover in many parts of Ireland spoils the view, but hundreds in Croke Park, Dublin watch the phenomenon under cloudless, blue skies
2000 - Hugh O'Flaherty's nomination to the European Investment Bank may be in jeopardy after the bank confirms it has the power to recommend someone else for the job
2000 - The Royal Ulster Constabulary welcomes deal which will allow a low-key policing operation for a loyalist march at the weekend in Derry.
2003 - Model plane goes transatlantic after "The Spirit of Butts Farm" - named after its testing site - lands safely in County Galway, Ireland, 38 hours after it took off from Canada. The balsa wood and mylar plane flies 3,039 kilometres (1,888 miles). US, Canadian and Irish engineers work together using satellite navigation and an autopilot system overseen by engineers and radio operators using laptop computers.
Sources: Irish Culture and Customs, The Celtic League, Irish Abroad, The Wild Geese
1722 - Birth of William Fortescuem, politician and sportsman, who tried unsuccessfully in the 1760s to introduce a bill 'to preserve partridges and hares and to take away the lives of above half the dogs in the nation'
1888 - Philip Henry Sheridan, the son of Irish immigrants from Cavan, dies in Nonquit, Massachusetts. He became an officer in the Federal cavalry and is infamously credited with the phrase: "The only good Indian is a dead one"
1891 - The Land Purchase Act further facilitates tenants' purchase of acreage from former landlords and establishes a board to purchase and redistribute land at a local level in the west
1901 - Peter O'Connor sets long jump record at 24' 11 3/4". He was born in Ashford, Co.Wicklow, but he lived and worked as a solicitor in Waterford City for most of his life. He won his first title in 1899 at the age of 25 years and his last in 1906 - but that was the Olympic title. He was the first IAAF ratified long jump world record holder and his remarkable world, and Irish, long jump record, set in Ballsbridge, Dublin on this date lasted for 20 years
1931 - Birth of Billy Bingham, Northern Ireland footballer and manager, in Belfast
1934 - Gay Byrne, broadcaster, is born in Dublin
1984 - U2 finish recording "The Unforgettable Fire"
1999 - A unique exhibition - "75 Years of Giving" - is officially opened in in Dublin by President Mary McAleese. It comprises a collection of treasures from museums and art galleries throughout the country and marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland (FNCI).
August 6
1312 - John de Wogan ceases to be justiciar; Edmund le Botiller will act as justiciar for the present
1761 - Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, MP for Fore, and still a teenager, dies of wounds he received after fighting a duel with a Mr Reilly on July 30
1775 - Daniel O'Connell, Irish patriot, is born in Cahirciveen, County Kerry
1853 - Sir William Ridgeway, classical scholar, is born in Ballydermot, Co. Offaly
1920 - The Dáil orders the boycotting of Belfast unionist firms
1927 - Poet Richard Murphy is born
1998 - Triple Olympic champion, Michelle de Bruin, is banned for four years by FINA, the swimming's world governing body, for tampering with a urine sample
1999 - Labour analysts at the Economic and Social Research Institute announce that the country is heading for full employment for the first time in history
2000 - In Waterford, a team of six men, five of them former international boxers, skip their way into the Guinness Book of Records by smashing the 24 hour relay skipping record
2000 - The first annual Witness Festival comes to a close at Fairyhouse in Co. Meath
2001 - The chairman of the International Commission on Decommissioning, General John de Chastelain, reveals that his members and an IRA representative have agreed on a method for decommissioning.
August 7
1798 - Examination by secret committee of MacNeven, O'Connor, Neilson, Thomas Emmet, and Bond begins in the House of Lords
1832 - The Parliamentary Reform Act increases Irish seats from 100 to 105 and introduces ten-pound franchise in the boroughs: the electorate is increased to 1.2% of the population (county electorate 60,000; borough electorate 30,000). 1 Irish urban dweller in 26 and one Irish rural dweller in 116 now has the vote, as compared to 1 in 17 and 1 in 24 in England
1892 - Birth of Tom Falcon Hazel, WWI Ace, in Clifden, Co. Galway
1916 - O'Neil of the Glen, the first production released by the Film Company of Ireland, premiers at Dublin's Bohemian Theatre
1937 - Rosemary Smith, rally driver, is born in Dublin
1943 - Sarah Purser, Irish painter, dies
1998 - Unemployment falls for the 16th month in a row to reach its lowest level in almost eight years
2001 - British Airways begin a training programme for the crew of the Concorde aircraft at Shannon Airport amid speculation the supersonic plane could be back in the air within the next number of weeks
2001 - Family and close friends gather in the Spanish resort of Alicante for the cremation of one of Ireland's best loved actors, Joe Lynch
2002 - The government announces that American Special Forces will not be allowed to use Irish airspace or airports during any attack on Iraq.
August 8
1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English, with some Spaniards slain upon reaching the coasts of Ireland and some survivors remaining
1694 - Birth of Francis Hutcheson, Presbyterian philosopher, in Co. Down
1781 - James Gandon moves from London to Dublin; the first stone of his Customs House is laid on this date
1923 - The Civic Guard is renamed the Garda Siochana
1953 - The library of Alfred Chester Beatty, containing his unique collection of oriental manuscripts, opens in Dublin
1961 - On Edge of U2 (David Evans) is born in Barking Maternity Hospital, East London
1976 - Founding of the Peace Movement in the North
1981 - Thomas McElwee, Irish politicl prisoner , dies on the 62nd day of his hunger strike in Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.
2000 - A leading figure in the Young Ireland Movement, Edward Walsh, poet, folklorist, song writer and teacher, is remembered on the 150th anniversary of his death
2001 - The Taoiseach and Tánaiste urge Irish workers and employers not to panic as computer giant Gateway signals a shutdown of Irish operations with 900 job losses.
August 9
1690 - First siege of Limerick begins
1850 - Irish Tenant League is founded
1971 - Internment without charge or trial is introduced in Northern Ireland; the first wave of arrests on this date is based largely on incorrect or outdated information and causes massive resentment among nationalists; 17 people are killed in the rioting that follows
1979 - The first Vietnamese boat people arrive in Ireland
1998 - U2's PopMart movie debuts at the Festival Revue in Edinburgh, Scotland
2000 - Secondary picketing by striking train drivers, who are members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association, causes transport chaos for thousands of Dublin commuters.
August 10
1316 - Battle of Athenry. Irish rising in support of Edward Bruce of Scotland
1636 - The Annals of the Four Masters is completed
1719 - The House of Commons proposes that all unregistered priests in Ireland should be branded on the cheek. The plan is ultimately abandoned.
1854 - A statutory provision is made for the establishment of a national gallery of paintings, sculpture and fine arts in Ireland
1857 - Death of John Wilson Croker, Galway-born politician and writer
1890 - Death of journalist and republican John Boyle O’Reilly
1848 - Birth in Clonakilty of William Hartnett, master of still life painting
1886 - Death of Joseph Medlicott Scriven from Seapatrick, Co. Down, who wrote the words for What A Friend We Have In Jesus
1920 - Death of actor James O’Neill, in Kilkenny. Remembered for his portrayal of the Count of Monte Cristo, he was also the father of playwright Eugene O’Neill
1928 - Peter Barry, Fine Gael politician, is born in Co. Cork
1971 - Birth in Co. Cork of soccer star Roy Maurice Keane, the "human dynamo"
1975 - Death of Robert Barton, last of the surviving 1921 Treaty signatories
1984 - John Treacy wins a silver medal in the marathon at the LA Olympics
1998 - Car clamping of illegally parked cars is introduced in Dublin
1998 - After 26 years on the air, Gay Byrne confirms he will quit his RTÉ morning radio programme at Christmas and will give up the Late Late Show next June
1998 - After serving 21 years, William Moore, the last member of the terrifying Shankill Butchers Gang to remain behind bars is released, despite a Judge's recommendation that he should never go free. He was given 14 life sentences for his role in the abduction and murder of 19 innocent Catholics
1999 - Lakes featured in The Quiet Man are put on the market
2000 - Ruth-Kelly Walsh from Bray, Co. Wicklow wins the special prize for the 'Most Creative Hat' in the RDS Ladies Day Competition at the Kerrygold Horse Show.
August 11
1691 - A Jacobite force under Patrick Sarsfield, guided by Galloping Hogan, destroys a Williamite siege train at Ballyneety, hampering the siege of Limerick
1835 - Henry Grattan Guinness, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1894 - Dan Breen, nationalist revolutionary and politician, is born near Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary
1927 - After the Free State general election on June 9, de Valera and Fianna Fáil enter the Dáil as the largest opposition party; the Cosgrave administration brings the Farmers' Party into government (independent Ireland's first coalition government, though not so called)
1927 - The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is established to control the Shannon hydro-electric scheme and take over all existing projects for the electrification of Ireland
1979 - Disaster overtakes the Fastnet Challenge yacht race when the biggest-ever fleet of 303 vessels is caught in a vicious storm. Seventeen people lose their lives
1998 - Fine Gael warns that many farmers who are at the mercy of the worst harvesting weather for 20 years will have no incomes by Christmas unless the Government adopts a strategy to help them out
1999 - Last almost-total solar eclipse of the century takes place in Western Europe. Cloud cover in many parts of Ireland spoils the view, but hundreds in Croke Park, Dublin watch the phenomenon under cloudless, blue skies
2000 - Hugh O'Flaherty's nomination to the European Investment Bank may be in jeopardy after the bank confirms it has the power to recommend someone else for the job
2000 - The Royal Ulster Constabulary welcomes deal which will allow a low-key policing operation for a loyalist march at the weekend in Derry.
2003 - Model plane goes transatlantic after "The Spirit of Butts Farm" - named after its testing site - lands safely in County Galway, Ireland, 38 hours after it took off from Canada. The balsa wood and mylar plane flies 3,039 kilometres (1,888 miles). US, Canadian and Irish engineers work together using satellite navigation and an autopilot system overseen by engineers and radio operators using laptop computers.
Sources: Irish Culture and Customs, The Celtic League, Irish Abroad, The Wild Geese
Labels: history
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