Irish History - Mar. 30 - April 5

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

March 30
1493 - Kildare, who has been suspected of supporting Perkin Warbeck, is given a general pardon
1603 - After a long battle against English rule, Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, submits to Lord Mountjoy at Mellifont. O'Neill is pardoned; the Treaty of Mellifont ends the Nine Years War
1798 - Privy Council proclaims Ireland in state of rebellion and imposes martial law
1824 - Thomas Devin Reilly, journalist and editor, is born in Co. Monaghan
1851 - A census shows the population of Ireland to be 6,552,385: it has declined by one-fifth since 1845. The number of Irish in England and Wales has increased by 79% in the past decade. Nearly a quarter of Liverpool is now 'Irish'. Over 18% of the people of Glasgow and Dundee are Irish-born - 6.7% of Scotland as a whole
1873 - Richard Church, of Co. Cork, soldier and "liberator of Greece," dies in Athens
1880 - Birth of playwright Sean O'Casey in Dublin
1896 - An Irishman wins an Olympic gold medal for the first time, when John Pius Boland triumphs in tennis
1920 - Jack White, journalist and author, is born in Cork
1922 - Craig-Collins Pact is signed in London. Irish Free State formally recognizes Northern Ireland government
1926 - Actor Ray McAnally is born in Buncrana Co. Donegal
1930 - David Staple becomes joint president of the Council of Churches for Britain & Ireland
1972 - The Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act comes into force decreeing direct rule from London. Brian Faulkner, prime minister of Northern Ireland, resigns
1979 - Airey Neave, shadow Northern Ireland Secretary and opposition Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland, dies when a bomb explodes in his car as he is driving out of the House of Commons car park. Two groups, the Provisional IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, claim responsibility
1998 - According to a major report published on this date, almost 9,000 jobs will be lost with the abolition of duty free next year; it also indicates that travel costs from Ireland to Britain will increase by £16·70 while travel into Ireland will increase £14·30
1998 - The chairman of the Northern peace talks, Senator George Mitchell, praises the commitment of the political parties as representatives continue negotiations into the night
1999 - Talks led by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to break the decommissioning logjam end in deadlock
2001 - Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey returns to his Kinsealy home after spending nearly two weeks in hospital
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visits Co, Louth to see at first hand the devastation wrought by the first outbreak of the disease in the Republic; he warns that tough restrictions will remain in place for months. The photo shows Mr. Ahern using the foot dip before meeting officials of the Department of Agriculture
2001 - Aer Lingus workers stage a one-day strike over pay at Dublin Airport. The 3,000 striking staff, members of the SIPTU trade union, are protesting against their rates of pay in comparison with other Aer Lingus workers
2003 - Thousands of anti-war protesters join a peace march through Dublin city centre, in the latest of a series of demonstrations calling for an end to the military action against Iraq. Irish public support for US foreign policy has dropped sharply since the days after the September 11 attacks, an opinion poll shows. Three out of four adults are unhappy with President George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq situation, according to the Milward Brown poll.

March 31
1711 - Seven women from Island Magee, Co. Antrim are imprisoned and pilloried for 'bewitching' a woman named Mary Dunbar, who has experienced strange fits and visions
1790 - A quarrel between John Philpot Curran (MP for Kilbeggan) and Robert Hobart (MP for Portarlington) results in a duel in which Hobart allows Curran to fire and then refuses to return fire
1855: Charlotte Bronte, daughter of an Irish-born father (Patrick) and eldest of the Bronte sisters, dies during pregnancy
1859 - The independent Irish party splits and the Tenant League breaks up
1871 - Birth in Dublin of Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin and co-signatory of Anglo-Irish treaty
1896 - Women become qualified for election as poor law guardians (welfare administrators) under the Poor Law Guardians Act
1901 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 4,458,775; this is the last census to be taken on the basis of baronies
1903 - Jack Doyle, boxer and singer, is born in Cóbh, Co. Cork
1920 - British parliament accepts Irish "Home Rule"-law
1922 - Birth of actor Patrick MaGee in Co. Armagh
1926 - Jeremiah Newman, Bishop of Limerick and writer, is born in Dromcolliher, Co. Limerick
1952 - Birth of comedian Dermot Morgan in Dublin
1966 - Contingents from Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish and Scottish liberation movements march behind IRA at 50th anniversary of Easter Rising
1998 - At the Stormont peace, politicians fail to pass the first hurdle set for them by negotiations chairman Senator George Mitchell
1998 - According to a poll released on this date, almost four-fifths of people in the North will vote "yes" for compromise in a referendum if the political parties at Stormont agree to a deal
1998 - After a four-year hiatus, MTV returns to the screens of Irish Multichannel subscribers
1999 - Ireland is selected as the location for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. It will be the first time the event has been staged outside the US.

April 1
1329 - From April onwards there are risings by the native Irish in various parts of Munster and Leinster, and reprisals against them. This will continue into 1330
1716 - The first Doggett Coat and Badge sculling race takes place on the Thames; one of the oldest sporting fixtures in the British sporting calendar, it is founded by Thomas Doggett, an Irish actor and theatre manager
1730 - Samuel Boyse, MP for Bannow, dies as a result of a duel at the age of 33
1776 - Irish-born Edward Hand is appointed a Brigadier General in the Continental Army
1839 - St. Clair Mulholland, Union Civil War General and Medal of Honor winner, is born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim
1848 - Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, is born in Dublin
1911 - The Titanic is launched in Belfast
1919 - DeValera is elected president of the first Dáil Éireann
1935 - Death of Francis Arthur Fahy from Kinvara, Co Galway, who wrote the ballad Galway Bay
1966 - Death of writer Brian O'Nolan, also known as Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen
1986 - US sub Nathaniel Green runs aground in the Irish Sea
1998 - The European Commission serves notice on the Government that Ireland faces prosecution in the European Court on charges of damaging the environment and failing to provide secure habitats for some of our most endangered bird species
1999 - One thousand people, the entire population of Belmullet in Co. Mayo, are evacuated from the town following a fire in a rubber factory
2000 - John Dennehy, Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science, makes academic history by being elected Chairman of the Education Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for a three year period. He is the first Irish person to be appointed to this position
2001 - One of Irish television’s most familiar faces, Brendan O’Reilly, passes away. The 71 year old former television and radio broadcaster and commentator had been ill for a number of months
2001 - The Department of Agriculture orders the slaughter of all the remaining 15,000 or so sheep in the Cooley Peninsula, Co. Louth
2002 - Loyalist thugs posing as Glasgow Celtic supporters are hunted by police after a series of attacks in flashpoint north Belfast.
2003 - Veteran actress Pat Leahy, 66, collapses on the set of Fair City

April 2
1871 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 5,412,377; only 285 Jews are recorded in the census
1902 - Premiere of Yeats' Cathleen ni Houlihan starring Maud Gonne
1914 - Cumann na mBan, Irish women's Republican movement, is founded
1970 - Several days of rioting following Easter rising commemorations end on this date
1972 - Radio na Gaeltachta goes on the air for the first time and is launched by Eamon De Valera
1973 - Special Powers Act replaced by Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act
1998 - Dissident republicans, aligned to the 32 County Sovereignty Committee and a Louth-based former IRA Quartermaster are said to be behind a massive explosives find in Dun Laoghaire
1998 - Mentally exhausted and following the advice of his doctor, Christy Moore announces in an open letter to fans that he is taking a year off from live performances
1999 - More than 170 staff at the biggest Dunnes Stores branch in the west of Ireland are suspended in a row over a worker facing dismissal because she sampled food at the delicatessen counter
2000 - Westlife make pop history with five consecutive British number one chart hits
2002 - Linda and Declan Fleming win the second largest individual jackpot in Lotto history - £5.26 million
2003 - Protestors against the war in Iraq clash with gardaí outside the Dáil.
2003 - Pat Leahy, star of Fair City for eleven years, dies of kidney failure

April 3
1793 - Dionysius Lardner, scientific writer and lecturer, is born in Dublin
1798 - Writer John Banim, who was praised by Yeats as a writer who tried to "make one see life plainly," is born in Kilkenny
1807 - Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry, resigns as Commissioner of the Treasury (UK) over the issue of Catholic relief
1825 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Young Irelander, journalist and promoter of Canadian Federation, is born
1843 - Birth of James McCudden, WWI ace
1846 - Death of Michael Moran, aka Zozimus, balladeer and storyteller
1900 - Queen Victoria arrives at Kingstown for a three-day visit to Ireland
1946 - Birth of Ruari Quinn, former Labour leader
1951 - Birth of Michael Morris, jockey, winner of the 1977 Irish Grand National, trainer, and son of Lord Killanin
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announce that with ''realistic negotiation'', agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process could be reached by Thursday's deadline
1998 - Witnesses for the new inquiry into Bloody Sunday launched on this date in Derry, will not be offered blanket immunity from prosecution, according to the presiding chairman of the tribunal
2000 - Thousands of gallons of diesel oil are pumped off a storm-stricken Dutch barge which ran aground on a sandbank in Bray Harbour, Co. Wicklow
2000 - At the Special Criminal Court, John Gilligan denies having any involvement in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin
2001 - The Government agrees to a £2 million package to bail out the financially troubled Jeanie Johnston famine ship project
2001 - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson changes her mind about stepping down from the post on foot of a pledge that funding and staffing problems in her office will be addressed
2001 - It is announced that towns and villages within the current foot-and-mouth exclusion zone in Co. Louth have been barred from this year’s national tidy towns’ competition
2001 - Farm leaders from North and South meet in Dublin to pursue an agreed objective — the highest animal health status for all of Ireland.

April 4
1774 - Death of Oliver Goldsmith
1818 - Mayne Reid, pseudonym of Thomas Mayne; soldier, journalist, and writer of boys' stories, is born in Ballyroney, Co. Down
1933 - Paddy Hopkirk, international rally driver, is born in Belfast
1934 - Birth of novelist and journalist Mary Kenny
1951 - The Catholic hierarchy condemns the "Mother and Child" plan for free medical services, fearing the consequences of health education for women. Dr Noel Browne, Minister for Health, resigns; the scheme is abandoned on 6 April
1951 - Birth of singer and actress Adele King, better known as Twink
1952 - Gary Moore, rock guitarist, is born
1966 - Pirate Radio Scotland changes name to Radio Ireland
1994 - Riverdance appears in public for the very first time at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin
1999 - Sinn Féin warns that the peace process stands in crisis over provocative demands for arms decommissioning
1999 - The annual World Irish Dancing Championships come to an end in Ennis
2001 - Former employees and staff join three generations of the Barry family in a celebration of 100 years in business for a firm which has become an Irish institution
2001 - Dublin-born Butch Moore, the first singer to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, dies after a very short illness
2001 - The Supreme Court strongly criticizes the State’s failure to provide official Irish translations of laws and important legal materials.
2007 - History is made as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and DUP leader Ian Paisley shake hands for the first time in public prior to their milestone meeting at Farmleigh House in Dublin.

April 5

1806 - William Dool Killen, ecclesiastical historian, is born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins defeats the Spanish at the battle of Maipo River, Chile

1855 - The Dublin-Belfast railway line is completed

1869 - Birth in Dublin of Margaret Tennant, née Abraham; trade unionist and campaigner for improved working conditions
1900 - Spencer Tracy, the son of an Irish father, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1916 -Patrick Pearse denies rumors of a possible rising to Irish Volunteer Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill
1938 - Bill Attley, trade unionist, is born in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
1961 - Death of Oscar-winning Irish actor of stage and screen Barry Fitzgerald. Born in Dublin in 1888, he pursues an acting career at the Abbey Theatre and then heads for Hollywood where he becomes Paramount's resident Irishman in such films as "Going My Way" for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His finest works are under director John Ford, including "How Green Was My Valley" and the "The Quiet Man."
1962 -Guinness formally adopts the harp as its symbol
1975 - L'escargot, ridden by Tommy Carberry, wins the Aintree Grand National
Art Print by G. Isom from All-Posters
1998 - All sides in the Northern peace talks talk up the chances of a new peace agreement as Stormont sources reveal that both Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair will fly to Belfast for the final hours of talks on Thursday
1998 - Cannabis worth £2 million is seized during a dramatic early morning raid by members of the National Drugs Unit (NDU) in Ashbourne, Co Meath
1999 - More than 300 Co. Waterford people armed with gloves and plastic bags brave a driving mist and head for the hills for the annual Clean up the Comeraghs campaign
1999 - The first major event of the Loyalist marching season a controversial Apprentice Boys parade along the predominantly Nationalist Ormeau Road in Belfast - passes off peacefully
2000 - Debbie Walsh and Jennifer McCarthy are shown at the opening of 'the father of the modern day submarine' exhibition in Cobh heritage centre. This year is the 100th anniversary of the commissioning of the first US submarine invented by John Phillip Holland from Liscannor, Co. Clare
2000 - Marine Minister, Frank Fahey, announces new moves to protect Irish fishing vessels from harassment outside the 12 mile limit
2001 - Gardaí attempt to trace the origin of a herd of Friesian cattle found roaming without ear tags on a roadside at Rosadrehid in the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary
2002 - Forty-four young police graduates march their way into the North's history books as they become the first fully-fledged members of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
2003 - Attended by the entire cast of Fair City, the popular RTÉ television soap in which she starred for 11 years, the funeral of veteran actress Pat Leavy takes place at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Ballyroan, south Dublin.

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