Irish History - Dec. 28 - Jan. 3

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

December 28
1673 - Birth of Marmaduke Coghill, lawyer, judge and MP
1795 - Lord Gosford, Governor of Armagh declares the Orange Order a "lawless banditti"
1880 - The trial of Parnell and others for conspiracy begins on this date
1883 - St John Greer Ervine, playwright, author, critic and manager of the Abbey Theatre from 1915 to 1916, is born in Belfast
1997 - The British government orders the deployment of the SAS in Mid-Ulster in a bid to thwart another Loyalist Volunteer Force outrage as IRA commanders in Tyrone meet in emergency session in an effort to keep the lid on the Provo ceasefire
2000 - Heavy snow and freezing temperatures are reported throughout the country. The heaviest snowfall in 18 years brings chaos to the North.

December 29
1766 - Richard Dawson, MP for Monaghan Borough, dies on this date. Before his death, his bank - Wilcox & Dawson of Dublin, which was established in 1747 - closes with debts thought to amount to £192,000
1829 - Fr. John B. Bannon, Confederate Army Chaplain, is born in Co. Leitrim
1864 - The National Association of Ireland is founded in Dublin, backed by the Catholic hierarchy and intended to foster cooperation with English radicals to promote disestablishment of the Church of Ireland
1876 - The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language is formed in Dublin
1902 - Birth of Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford; theatrical producer and dramatist
1932 - Eileen Desmond, Labour politician, is born in Kinsale, Co. Cork
1997 - Secretary of State Mo Mowlam holds day-long crisis talks with security chiefs and prison officials amid renewed calls for her resignation and fears that breakaway loyalist and republican terror bosses will ruthlessly exploit any political vacuum
1998 - Battered by gale-force winds and torrential rain, The Isle of Man ferry runs aground in Dublin Bay
1998 - More than 12,000 families across the country face their fifth day of candle-light and cold meals as the painstaking process of repairing storm-damaged electricity lines drags on
2000 - One of the coldest spells to grip the country in decades continues
2001 - Singer Daniel O'Donnell is awarded an honorary MBE in the Queen's honours list for his decades of service to the music industry. Fashion designer John Rocha is awarded a CBE.

December 30
1691 - Robert Boyle, pioneer chemist and physicist dies
1830 - William Lewery Blackley, cleric and social reformer, is born in Dundalk, Co. Louth
1975 - Mark Clinton, the Minister for Agriculture, notifies Trinity College that all future state funds for veterinary medicine would be allocated to University College
1997 - Key files from the Department of Defence, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General relating to the Arms Crisis of 1970 are discovered to be missing from the State archives
1997 - Thousands of loyalists pack the streets of Portadown for the funeral of LVF commander Billy Wright
2002 - To mark the 400th anniversary of the exodus of the O’Sullivan Beare clan from West Cork to Leitrim, a group of 40 people begins walking the entire 260-mile route which will take them through 11 counties and about two weeks to complete.

December 31
1602 - The O’Sullivan Beara’s are driven out of West Cork by the English who had defeated the combined Spanish and Irish forces at the Battle of Kinsale. Dónal Cam O’Sullivan, chieftain of the clan, begins the long march to Leitrim on this date, where he hopes to gain sanctuary with the O’Rourke’s of Breffni. Accompanying him are 1,000 men, women and children representing the first large-scale exodus of people from the Castletownbere region
1728 - Sylvester O'Halloran, surgeon, founder of Limerick Infirmary, and antiquary, is born in Limerick
1804 - Francis Mahony, 'Father Prout, priest and humorist, is born in Cork
1820 - Novelist Mary Anne Sadlier, née Madden, is born in Cootehill, Co. Cavan
1930 - The appointment of Letitia Dunbar-Harrison as Mayo County Librarian leads to controversy, for reasons related to her lack of Irish-language skill, her disregard of local patronage, and the fact that she's a Protestant; Mayo County Council is dissolved by ministerial order on this date
1961 - Radio Éireann's television service begins transmission on this date
1975 - The Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act establishes the right to equal pay for equal or like work and provides a system whereby this right may be attained and enforced
1999 - Thousands of people gather at celebrations in towns and cities throughout Ireland to ring in the new millennium.

January 1
1710 - Charles O'Conor, writer, historian and editor, is born in Kilmactranny, Co. Sligo
1767 - Maria Edgeworth, author of Castle Rackrent and one of the few women literary figures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, is born
1790 - James Wills, clergyman and writer, is born in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon
1801 - The Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain goes into effect
1801 - George Benn, historian, is born in Tandragee, Co. Armagh
1862 - Edward Harland's Belfast shipyard assumes the name 'Harland & Wolff'
1871 - Gladstone's Irish Church Act which disestablishes the Church of Ireland takes effect
1880 - Gretta Bowen, artist, is born in Dublin
1889 - Patrick McGill, navvy, novelist and poet, is born in Maas, Co. Donegal
1892 - Ellis Island becomes reception center for new immigrants. The first immigrant through the gates is Annie Moore, 15, of Co. Cork
1941 - On this date and through January 3, German bombs fall on counties Carlow, Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wexford and Wicklow
1990 - Northern Ireland Fair Employment Act becomes law
1998 - Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews urges all sides to show the "greatest possible restraint" in the wake of a sectarian bar-room gun attack which plunges Northern Ireland into an uncertain New Year
1999 - The world's oldest priest, the Venerable Archdeacon Patrick Lyons, passes away at Limerick Regional hospital, just two months before his 106th birthday
2001 - Retired garda sergeant John Fahy from Kinlough, Co Leitrim catches the first salmon of the season. The accomplished angler is also the first salmon fisherman to insert a blue bar coded tag into the gills and mouth of a freshly caught fish. For the first time, every salmon caught by commercial fishermen or leisure anglers will have to be tagged, as part of a new controls on salmon fishing which are in effect as of this date
2002 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern helps write history by spending euros in his local news-agent.

January 2
1602 - The Spanish force under Aguila surrenders Kinsale to Mountjoy
1793 - A Catholic Committee petition is presented to the king
1880 - Parnell begins his tour of the United States on this date
1910 - James Joyce and Eileen Joyce leave Dublin for Trieste, Italy
1920 - Recruitment begins for the 'Black and Tans', Britain's unofficial auxiliary army
1962 - Margaret Emmeline Conway Dobbs, Irish historian, language activist, and defender of Roger Casement, dies
1998 - Troops are ordered back on to the streets of Belfast and police patrols are intensified in a bid to foil loyalist attacks on Catholics in Northern Ireland
2000 - Patrick O'Brian, born Richard Patrick Russ, 85-year-old author of maritime novels dies in a Dublin hotel
2000 - A bronze life size statue of Fungi, the Dingle dolphin is unveiled in a special millennium ceremony
2001 - Ireland's third largest greyhound coursing meeting, Corn na Féile, is abandoned after saboteurs steal up to 30 hares.
2007 - Irish Becomes The 23rd Official Language Of the EU. It is accorded the status of a treaty language, which means it is regarded as an authentic text for treaties. As from 1 January, however, all key EU legislation are translated into Irish, with provisions put in place so that Irish can be spoken at council meetings. The move means the creation of 29 new posts in translation, revision and publication.

January 3
1663 - Thomas Crompton of Arklow, a clergyman, petitions the House of Lords that 'Constantine Neal of Wexford, merchant, refuseth to restore the bell belonging to the steepl (sic) of Arklow, which he saw in his possession'. An order is made for its restoration
1905 - Pádraic Fallon, poet and playwright, is born in Athenry, Co. Galway
1940 - Emergency anti-IRA legislation is introduced in the Free State
1999 - Economic history is created with the much-heralded arrival of the euro on the international currency markets. Its first day of trading gets off to a smooth start in Australia, at 6.00pm Irish time.
2007 - Michael Yeats, the only son of the poet W. B. Yeats dies at age 86. A former Fianna Fáil Senator, he served both as a Senator and as Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, and was also one of Ireland's first members of the European Parliament.

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