Irish History - July 6-12

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

July 6
1815 - Charles Bianconi, opens his first horse-drawn coach service, between Clonmel and Cahir, Co. Tipperary, a distance of 10 miles
1868 - Death of songwriter and novelist Samuel Lover. His compositions included Widow Machree, The Low Backed Car and Molly Bawn
1907 - The Irish Crown Jewels vanish from Dublin Castle, never to be found
1937 - Birth of Dave Allen, comedian
1940 - Birth of Mary Peters, Olympic gold medalist
1946 - Clann na Poblachta, a radical new republican party is founded by Sean MacBride
1960 - The first Late Late Show - TV chat show hosted by Gay Byrne- is broadcast
1998 - Cranberries' bass player, Mike Hogan, marries Siobhain O'Carroll
2000 - In an effort to curb inflation, the government orders a freeze on the price of drinks; publicans consider a Hight Court challenge to overturn the order
2000 - Tensions intensify in the North as a second major parades ban is placed on the Orange order
2001 - Official figures show that the average price of a new house is £144,116 - more than double what it was in 1996
2001 - U2 opens the European leg of the Elevation Tour at the 10,000 Forum in Copenhagen.

July 7
1691 - Ginkel offers pardon and security of property to opponents
1700 - MP for Co. Sligo, Captain Hugh Morgan of Lord Dungannon's Regiment, is summoned to appear before a board of general officers at the Curragh of Kildare to answer accusations of being 'a rogue and rascal' and several other complaints. (On 17 July, he is pardoned for failure to turn up - ????!)
1817 - Death of Dublin-born Richard Brinsley Sheridan; playwright, impresario, and politician
1823 - Francis Fowke, engineer and architect, designer of the Royal Albert Hall, London and the National Gallery in Dublin, is born near Belfast
1823 - John Kells Ingram, professor, librarian and writer, is born in Temple Carne, Co. Donegal
1913 - Home Rule bill passes in Commons for the second time
1922 - Death of Cathal Brugha from injuries received when shot by Free State forces in O'Connell Street
1930 - Death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Scotland of Irish parents
1970 Birth of Wayne McCullough, bantamweight boxer; Olympic silver medalist 1992; world champion (WBC) 1995, in Belfast
1986 - Death in Belfast of Francie McPeake II, uilleann piper and singer. Francie, whose father wrote Will Ye Go Lassie Go, was a crucial figure in preserving the great Ulster piping tradition.

July 8
1642 - Owen Roe O'Neill accepts an offer to lead the Ulster rebels and arrives in Ulster (8-9 July); Thomas Preston, another experienced general, also arrives from the continent
1730 - Robert Edgeworth, former MP for St. Johnstown, Co. Longford, dies
1770 - Mary Anne McCracken, patriot and supporter of the United Irishmen, is born
1808 - Birth of Bernard (Barney) Hughes, baker, entrepreneur and philanthropist; first Catholic member of Belfast Town Council, in Armagh
1819 - Sir Francis McClintock, naval officer and polar explorer, is born in Dundalk, Co. Louth
1889 - In the last official bare knuckle title fight ever held, heavyweight boxer, John L. Sullivan beats fellow Irishman Jack Kilrain in a world championship bout which lasts 75 rounds
1914 - The House of Lords enacts the Government of Ireland Bill, excluding all Ulster permanently from its stipulations
1970 - The SDLP withdraws from Stormont in protest at failure to inquire into deaths of two civilians killed by army
1981 - Death of Joe McDonnell, from Lenadoon, Belfast, on the 46th day of his hunger strike
1984 - Two Irish-Americans slug it out on Wimbledon’s centre court for the men’s singles’ title - John McEnroe beats Jimmy Connors
2001 - The President and Taoiseach head a large crowd of dignitaries at the annual National Day of Commemoration in Dublin.

July 9
1751 - The foundation stone of the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, is laid by the Lord Mayor of Dublin
1790 - The "Gentleman’s Magazine" reports, regarding the MP for Cork, James Bernard who died on this date: ‘Though he had an immense fortune, he did not live at the rate of £300 a year. His tailor’s bill never amounted to £61 per annum. He did not absolutely starve himself to death, as he lately showed himself a mere voluptuary, having a few months since married a fortunate girl of tender years, to whose tender embraces, it is feared, he fell a sacrifice’
1797 - Death of the political theorist Edmund Burke in Dublin. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the development of parliamentary democracy
1809 - Birth of John O'Donovan, Irish language scholar and author of The Annals of the Four Masters, in Attateemore, Co. Kilkenny
1921 - A truce is reached between the IRA and the British army
1959 - Mary Browne from Roscommon becomes the first Ban Garda - woman police officer - pounding the beat in Dublin
1959 - Birth of Matt Connor, Offaly Gaelic footballer
1967 - Michael Carruth, winner of Ireland's first Olympic gold medal in boxing (1992), is born in Dublin.
2007 - Following a short illness, Former Tanaiste John Wilson passes away at St. Jame’s Hospital, a day after his 84th birthday. He was a TD for 20 years and held posts in seven government departments, serving under three Taoisigh: Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds. On the sportsfield, he played for Cavan and an illustrious career brought him significant honours, including two All-Ireland medals (in 1947 and 1948) and five Ulster Football Championship medals. In paying his respects, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is quoted as saying "John Wilson was a sportsman, scholar and a politician who served Cavan and Ireland throughout many years of endeavour and in many fields. A fine orator and a classics scholar, he was a popular deputy across the House who contributed with knowledge, wit and courtesy across a broad range of issues. Through decades of activism in the sporting, cultural and political life of the country, John Wilson contributed his talents to his students and teaching colleagues in the sphere of education and to the community from which he came which later elected him to political office."

July 10
1614 - Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, politician and author, is born in Dublin
1793 - Birth of William Maginn, poet and author, in Co. Cork
1900 - Birth of Paul Carroll, playwright, in Blackrock, Co. Louth
1917 - De Valera wins election to Parliament from Clare as Sinn Fein candidate
1921 - Unionists burn 160 homes in Belfast, killing 15 and injuring 58
1927 - Kevin O'Higgins, the Irish Free State Minister for Justice, is assassinated
1949 - The last CIE tram service leaves Nelson's Column, Dublin
1956 - Birth of Frank Stapleton, international footballer, in Dublin
2000 - Northern Ireland shuts up shop ahead of Orange Order demonstrations
2000 -The Irish government concedes for the first time that a referendum may have to take place in 2001 to get voter approval for a major revision to the European Union treaties
2001 - A draft chapter from Irish writer James Joyce's classic novel Ulysses is sold for nearly £900,000 at auction.

July 11
1792 - A gathering of some ten Irish harpers and one Welsh begins in Belfast; the objective is to collect the remaining fragments of the tradition; melodies are transcribed by Edward Bunting and others See our article on the great harpist/composer O'Carolan
1798 - Rebels attack Clonard, Co Meath
1798 - Sir Joseph Larmor, mathematician, physicist and politician, is born in Magheragall, Co. Antrim
1879 - Birth in Dublin of Hugh Kennedy, first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State
1921 - Truce is declared between IRA and English forces, thus ending the War of Independence military campaign
1935 - Birth of Oliver Napier, politician and Alliance Party leader from 1972 to 1984
1967 - Censorship Act lifts the ban on certain books that had been banned for more than a decade
1986 - U2 plays at the Half Moon Club in London; it's the first time they sell out a venue in the U.K
1999 - A massive security operation swings into action as tens of thousands of Orangemen prepare to parade into Ormeau Park in the flashpoint south Belfast area on the banks of the River Lagan
1999 - Hundreds of train travellers are left stranded in Cork despite advance warnings by Ianroad Eireann management of an unofficial dispute by locomotive operators
1999 - One hundred and fifty Irish war veterans gather for the annual commemoration ceremony at the Royal Kilmainham Hospital in honor of Irish soldiers killed on UN peace keeping duties and on foreign battlefields
2000 - The world's top golfers, including Tiger Woods and David Duval, begin play at the JP McManus Invitation Pro Am in Limerick
2000 - A public health seafood scare leads to a temporary ban on the collection and harvesting of shellfish in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
2000 - For the first time in its history, the Dáil elects to appoint a parliamentary law adviser. Miss Lia O’Hegarty is chosen to fill the position.
2007 - Artist Patrick Scott is honoured by President Mary McAleese as Saoi in Aosdána at the Arts Council office, in Merrion Square, Dublin. The President presented Scott, a founder member of Aosdána, with a gold torc, the symbol of the office of Saoi. No more than five members may hold this honour at any one time. Born in Kilbrittain, Co Cork, in 1921, Scott worked on the mosaics in Busáras and has painted full-time since 1960.

July 12
1690 - Battle of the Boyne and victory for William of Orange
1691 - Ginkel is victorious over James II's Jacobites at Aughrim; it is the bloodiest battle ever fought in Ireland
1722 - A patent is granted to William Wood to coin copper halfpence for circulation in Ireland 1796 - The Orange Order hold its first 'Twelfth of July' demonstration, commemorating the Battle of Aughrim
1812 - Charles Patrick Meehan, priest, writer and translator, is born in Dublin
1813 - The first recorded "Twelfth of July" sectarian riots erupt in Belfast
1841 - William James McNeven, United Irish leader, dies
1849 - As many as 20 Catholics are killed by soldiers during an Orange Parade at Dolly's Brae, near Castlewellan, Co. Down
1935 - Violence in Belfast lasting two months commences on this date; eleven people are killed 1942 - Máire Ni Aodán (Mary Hayden), Irish historian, dies
1998 - The three Quinn brothers, Richard, 11, Mark, 10, and Jason 9, are burned to death by a Loyalist firebomb in Ballymoney, 40 miles northwest of Belfast
1999 - An armed gang steals a 40ft container of cigarettes valued at more than £1m from a freight train at Dunleer, Co. Louth
2000 - Violence erupts as Portadown Orangemen pledge to continue Drumcree protest
2000 - Plans to introduce pedestrianisation in Killarney on an experimental basis are confirmed.



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