Irish History - July 20 - July 26

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

July 20
1616 - Death in Rome of Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Baron Dungannon and 2nd Earl of Tyrone. He led an unsuccessful uprising against the English, and was eventually forced into exile as part of “the Flight of Earls.”
1798 - Rebel camp at Timahoe surrenders
1835 - First report of the select committee on Orangeism is presented to the House of Commons
1902 - Jimmy Kennedy, lyricist, is born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1904 - Birth of writer Molly Keane
1922 - The Free State army takes Limerick from the anti-treaty Republicans
1933 - Eoin O'Duff becomes leader of the National Guard ('Blueshirts')
1982 - The IRA kills ten servicemen in bomb attacks in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London
1998 - Seven-year old Adele Chapman from Derry leaves hospital; 12 weeks earlier, she became Britains first triple-organ transplant child when she underwent a pioneering liver, pancreas and small bowel transplant at Birmingham Children's Hospital
1998 - Thirty-three years after the roadway was first proposed, plans for the £80m by-pass of Waterford city are unveiled
1999 - Munster MEP Pat Cox to play a pivotal role in the new European Parliament as President
1999 - The funeral Mass of actor Donal McCann is held at Dublin’s Terenure College Chapel.

July 21
1750 - Under-Secretary Waite reports to Chief Secretary Weston that ‘This morning I am informed that Lord Allen and Captain Eustace of Irvine’s have slit if not cut off a great part of a gentleman’s nose in a fray which happened a day or two ago in the road between Dublin and Naas. The occasion of it was very trifling, such as the gentleman returning the salutation of a fellow which they gave him and which they thought proper to deem an affront upon persons of their rank and in red coats.’ The victim, a Mr. Butler from Co. Tipperary, indicts Allen and Eustace in the courts; Waite writes on 11 August that Allen ‘will have three or four Butlers to fight after they have harassed him by due course of law’
1860 - Birth of Chauncey Olcott, famed Irish balladeer and writer of “My Wild Irish Rose.” He also co-wrote “Mother Machree” and “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”
1887 - Thomas Bodkin, lawyer and professor, is born in Dublin. Director of the National Gallery from 1927-35, he wrote several books on Irish art and artists
1903 - Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visit Ireland
1920 - 12 people die in Belfast riots which take place from 21-24 July
1920 - Sectarian violence continues in Derry/Londonderry
1920 - Catholics are forced out of Dromore, Co. Down following the funeral of an RIC man
1922 - The Free State army takes Waterford from the anti-treaty Republicans
1928 - John B. Keane, playwright, novelist and poet, is born in Listowel, Co. Kerry
1964 - Steve Collins, World Middleweight Boxing Champion, is born in Dublin
1972 - 'Bloody Friday' in Belfast; the Provisional IRA kills 19 and injures 130 in 22 bomb attacks
2002 - Approval is granted to open a €30m marine research centre in Galway.

July 22
1606 - A commission is instituted to remedy defective land titles
1817 - William Sadler makes the first balloon crossing of the Irish Sea, from Dublin to Anglesey
1860 - Johanna Butler is born in the Rower, Co. Kilkenny. She entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary at the age of sixteen in Béziers, France. Popularly known as Mother Butler, Mother Joseph was the founder of Marymount School and College in Tarrytown, New York. On August 26, 1926, she was elected general superior of the order and remained in that position until her death on April 26, 1940
1866 - Birth of D.J. O'Donoghue, writer, bookseller and librarian
1873 - James Cousins, writer and teacher, is born in Belfast
1933 - The anti-Fianna Fáil Army Comrades Association, which developed into a fascist-inspired group nicknamed the "Blueshirts," is outlawed
1999 - Loyalist Volunteer Force rules out any further weapons handover
2001 - Ranked 25th, Ireland falls below most of Europe in its healthcare.
2007 - Dubliner Padraig Harrington becomes the first Irish golfer to win the British Open in 60 years when he snatches victory from the jaws of defeat at Carnoustie in Scotland. He is the first European golfer to secure a major victory since Paul Laurie on the same course in 1999 and Ireland's first since Fred Daly in 1947. President McAllen was the first to convey her congratulations to Harrington, while Labour sports spokesman Jack Wall said: "Padraig Harrington's magnificent victory in the Open without doubt represents one of the greatest days in the history of Irish sport."

July 23
1803 - In opposition to the Act of Union, Robert Emmet leads an armed outbreak that is easily suppressed
1834 - St. Vincent’s Hospital, established by the Sisters of Charity, opens in Dublin
1883 - Birth of Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke; military commander, in Bagnéres-de-Bigorre, France
1889 - Birth in Chicago of writer Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe. He was born to Irish Quaker and Irish Catholic parents
1948 - John Cushnahan, Alliance Party and Fine Gael politician, is born in Belfast
1998 - Irish under-18 squad defeat Cyprus to reach final in European Football Championship
1999 - The nation pays its last respects to arson victim Garda Sergeant Andy Callanan, who is buried with full State honours
1999- - Guinness Blues Festival gets underway in 30 venues across Dublin
2001 - Under heavy garda surveillance, the gangland funeral of Seamus "Shavo" Hogan takes place at St Agnes' Church, Crumlin, Dublin
2002 - According to the United Nations report, Ireland is regarded as one of the least corrupt countries in the world.

July 24
1261 - The Norman-Irish under the justiciar, William de Dene, are heavily defeated by Fineen MacCarthy at the battle of Callann in Co. Kerry; the MacCarthys and O'Sullivans now control the south-west corner of Ireland.
Richard de la Rochelle becomes justiciar
1294 - Before the council of Dublin, de Vescy accuses John Fitz Thomas, Baron of Offaly, of defaming him to the king and council in England. Fitz Thomas retorts that de Vescy has described the king as the most perverse and dastardly knight of his kingdom. A wager of battle follows and the party are summoned before the king at Westminster. On this date, de Vescy appears ready to give battle but Fitz Thomas does not; de Vescy thus wins his case by default. However, he has been removed from the post of justiciar
1750 - John Philpott Curran, lawyer, politician, and defender of prominent United Irishmen, is born in Newmarket, Co. Cork
1878 - Edward Barrett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, fantasist, playwright and short-story writer is born in London
1909 - Geoffrey Bing, Irish human rights activist and author, is born in Belfast
1940 - The Picture Post magazine is banned in Ireland after a campaign by the Irish Catholic which objected to the “vulgarity and suggestiveness of the illustrations”
1998 - Cork Opera House announces significant rise in operating losses
2000 - The new Student Drama Theatre in the NUI Galway opens
Photo: Ray Ryan
2000 - Bus strike cripples large areas of Dublin
2000 - Galway district court Judge John Garavan refuses to extend late night opening hours to a number of nightclubs because the women frequenting them are “dreadful and not respectable”
2002 - Latest census figures show that the population of the State is just over 3.9 million - the highest level since 1871.

July 25
Today is the feast day of St. James. Since mediaeval times, Dubliners held an annual drinking festival in the Saint’s honour. Fittingly, Guinness chose St. James’ Gate as the site for their brewery
Click here to read our article on Guinness.
1633 - Thomas (Viscount) Wentworth becomes Lord Deputy of Ireland
1750 - Birth of John Curran, Irish statesman, in Newmarket, Co. Cork
1758 - Elizabeth Hamilton, author and educator, was born
1814 - Robert Peel establishes the Peace Preservation Force to counter rural unrest
1820 - Michaelangelo Hayes, painter, is born in Waterford
1917 - The Irish Convention - an attempt by Lloyd George to arrive at a political settlement - meets in Dublin; the opposition of Sinn Féin and the Ulster unionists will render it irrelevant
1919 - Death of Sir Sam McCaughey, known as ‘the Sheep King’. Born near Ballymena, he owned many millions of sheep in Victoria and New South Wales
1987 - U2 plays in Cardiff, Wales, in response to a fan who gathered 10,000 signatures on a petition requesting the show
1999 - A countrywide lobby is organised to persuade the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to ban foxhunting in Ireland
2000 - An Aer Lingus 737 carrying Irish passengers to Paris is the last aircraft allowed to land in Charles de Gaulle airport after the Air France Concorde explodes, killing 113 people.

July 26
1575 - On the orders of Essex, John Norris and Francis Drake lead an attack on Rathlin island, a stronghold of the MacDonnells. After the surrender of Bruce's castle, its 200 occupants are killed, as are 400 others found hiding in caves and cliffs
1739 - George Clinton, first governor of New York State, is born to an Irish family that had immigrated to New Britain, a small town near the Hudson River. He served as vice president under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
1782 - Birth of composer John Field in Dublin. His nocturnes for piano are the inspiration for much of Chopin’s work
1813 - A Catholic is killed at the 'Battle of Garvagh', a sectarian confrontation in Co. Derry/Londonderry
1856 - The Anglican Church of Ireland is disestablished as the state religion by the Irish Church Act
1856 - Birth in Dublin of George Bernard Shaw
1869 - British Royal assent is given to the Bill disestablishing the Irish Church (Anglican)
1914 - Arms which Sir Roger Casement had procured in Germany for the Easter Uprising are landed in Howth from Erskine Childers’ yacht, the "Asgard"
1927 - Entertainer, Danny La Rue is born Daniel Patrick Carroll in Co. Cork
1950 - Sir Gilbert Laithwaite and John Dulanty are installed as the first UK ambassador to Ireland and Irish ambassador to the UK respectively
1960 - Death of Dubliner Cedric Gibbons, art director and designer of the Oscar awards
1987 - Stephen Roche becomes the first Irishman to win the Tour de France
1998 - Robert Saulters, the Grand Master of the Orange Order, puts his leadership on the line with a call for talks with nationalist residents
2001 - Thirteen-year old Michael Beirne wins first prize in the Irish Animation Festival competition.
2006 - In what is described as a discovery 'of staggering importance' it is announced that an ancient book of psalms has been found in a bog in the midlands. The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries

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