Irish History - December 21 - 27

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

December 21
1796 - A French fleet under General Hoche with Wolfe Tone, 43 vessels and 14,500 men sails from Brest in December and is scattered by storms; 36 ships arrive at Bantry Bay but do not attempt a landing and return to France, thus preventing what might have been an Irish/French victory over the English
1821 - Birth in Co. Carlow of Samuel Haughton, scientist, mathematician and doctor; he is "famous" for calculating the drop required to kill a hanged man instantly
1915 - Violet Martin, an Irish novelist who wrote under the pen name, Martin Ross, dies. Edith Somerville continues to list her as co-author
1919 - Dáil Éireann meets for the first time and elects Eamon de Valera as President of Ireland
1924 - Golfer Christy O'Connor is born in Knocknacarragh, Co. Galway
1934 - An Anglo-Irish 'cattle and coal' pact is signed
1948 - Republic of Ireland Act passed by Dáil
1985 - Progressive Democrats founded by Dan O'Malley, Mary Harney, and other former members of Fianna Fáil, following split within party
1998 - Clear skies over Co. Meath guarantee one of the best winter solstice displays ever witnessed at the Newgrange burial tomb
2001 - University College Cork is awarded a £62.2m research grant, the highest research funding ever secured under the Government's prestigious Programme for Research at Third Level Institutes
2001 - The pedestrian Ha'penny Bridge across Dublin's River Liffey is reopened after a multimillion pound restoration.

December 22
1691 - Patrick Sarsfield and The Wild Geese sail out of Cork harbour for France
1740 - Joseph Stock, bishop and author, is born in Dublin
1919 - "The Better Government of Ireland Bill" proposes two home rule parliaments, for the six north-eastern counties and the remaining 26, to come into effect in May 1920
1943 - The government announces that henceforth bus-queuing is compulsory throughout Ireland if more than five people are waiting at a bus-stop
1948 - Birth of TV presenter, Noel Edmonds
1961 - Marcus O'Sullivan, athlete, is born in Cork
1965 - The Succession Act secures to widows a third of the estate (half if they have no children) and empowers the court to make provisions for children
1974 -The London home of the Conservative leader and former Prime Minister Edward Heath is damaged from the impact of a bomb planted by the IRA. The attack comes just hours before a Christmas truce is due to come into effect
1989 - Death of Samuel Beckett
1997 - Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam battles to save the Stormont talks from total collapse as four Ulster Unionist MPs withdraw their support for their party's continuing participation in the negotiations
1997 - The funeral of former Minister for Agriculture, Jim Gibbons, takes place in his native Kilkenny
1998 - Legislation to ensure the compilation of a full record of the country's important buildings and monuments which should be protected is circulated by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle de Valera
2002 - The Minister for the Marine, Dermot Ahern, warns about the possibility of a "war on the seas" as a result of the failure by the European Union to agree on a policy relating to the Irish Box fishing area.

December 23
1686 - Samuel Madden, writer, economist and philanthropist, is born in Dublin
1688 - James II is deposed and flees to France
1770 - The Steelboys or Hearts of Steel, a Protestant agrarian protest movement, is involved in conflict in Ulster - 500 Steelboys release a prisoner in Belfast on 23 December
1864 - Death of James Bronterre O’Brien, Longford-born leader of the British Chartist movement
1900 - Noel Purcell, actor, is born in Dublin
1920 - The Government of Ireland Act enforces the secession of the six Northern Irish counties from the rest of Ireland
1950 - A bank strike that will last eight weeks begins on this date
2002 - The second 55ft section of the Spire of Dublin — better known as The Spike — is hauled into place.

December 24
1601 - The Battle of Kinsale. Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell are heavily defeated by Mountjoy
1701 - Captain Thomas Bellew fights a duel with Major-General William Stewart on Christmas Eve - both men's right hands are disabled as a result of war wounds, and Bellew has served under Stewart. Stewart fires from two yards and blows Bellew's hat off, whereupon Bellew throws his pistol away, saying he does not wish to kill Stewart
1709 - Alan Brodrick, Speaker of the House of Commons, is appointed Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench
1713 - The second Irish parliament of Queen Anne sits from 25 November to this date. The Whig Alan Brodrick is elected Speaker for the second time (having served 21 September 1703 to 19 May 1710), in place of John Forster, after a stormy contest with the government's Tory nominee, Sir
Richard Levinge
1810 - John O'Connell, politician, is born in Dublin
1889 - Captain William O'Shea files for divorce, citing Parnell as his wife Kitty's lover, thus causing moral outrage and the subsequent loss of Parnell's political power
1895 - The 15-man crew of a Dun Laoghaire lifeboat crew is lost in a gale while attempting a rescue from a stricken vessel off Blackrock
1921 - Gerard Victory, composer, is born in Dublin
1942 - Psychiatrist and broadcaster Dr. Anthony Clare is born in Dublin
1997 - In one of the worst storms in living memory, seven people die and many others are injured as hurricane-force winds wreak havoc across the country
1998 - After 26 years, an exceptional era in broadcasting comes to a close on this date when Gay Byrne does his final morning radio show on RTE Radio One.
2002 - President Mary McAleese breaks her ankle in a skiing accident in Austria

December 25
1185 - Around Christmas, a crown that Henry had sought from the papacy for John's use as king of Ireland is delivered, but will never be used
1351 - William Ó Ceallaigh, chief of Uí Mhaine, holds a great Christmas feast for the bards of Ireland
1715 - Joshua Dawson sells the Mansion House with its gardens and park to Dublin Corporation for £3,500 plus 40 shillings per annum and a 'loaf of double refined sugar of six pounds weight' which is to be paid to the Dawsons every Christmas
1744 - Sir John Parnell, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, is born in Co. Laois
1781 - John Ward, mystic and religious writer, is born in Queenstown, Co. Cork
1824 - William Lawless, United Irishmen and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, dies in Paris
1829 - Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, bandmaster and composer, is born in Co. Dublin
1831 - Christopher Palles, judge and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland is born in Dublin
1844 - Rev. William Steel Dickson, Presbyterian minister and United Irishmen supporter, is born in Co. Antrim
1860 - Patrick Dinneen (Pádraig Ó Duinnín) priest, lexicographer and editor, is born in Rathmore, Co. Kerry
1873 - Patrick Gallagher aka 'Paddy the Cope', cooperative society developer, is born in Cleendra, Co. Donegal
1881 - Sir John Greer Dill, Field-Marshalis born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1916 - Irish prisoners interned at Frongoch are released
1941 - Jim Bolger, racehorse trainer, is born in Co. Wexford
1974 - Harry Kernoff, Irish artist in oils and woodcuts, dies
1999 - While most parts of the country experience heavy rain and winds, the snow capped Knockmealdown and Comeragh mountains in Co Waterford are picturesque on Christmas Day, particularly for punters who had a flutter on a White Christmas. The presence of snow in many areas costs bookmaker Paddy Power £50,000
2000 - Swimmers around the country brave icy seas and teeth chattering winds as the annual Christmas fund raising swims get off to a chilly start. Temperatures in coastal areas range from zero to four degrees
2002 - Ireland experiences its mildest Christmas in over a decade.
In the liturgical calendar, today celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.

December 26
1381 - The sudden death of Edmund Mortimer at Cork leaves the colony without effective leadership and prompts a military crisis
1820 - Dion Boucicault, dramatist and actor, is born in Dublin
1823 - John Cairnes, economist, is born in Castle Bellingham, Co. Louth
1950 - James Stephens, writer, dies
1997 - St. Stephen's Day fox hunts are marked by major animal welfare protests with Gardaí forced to separate hunt supporters and animal welfare activists
1998 - Thousands of homes and businesses in the northern half of the country are without electricity as hurricane-force gales and gusts of over 100 miles per hour send poles crashing to the ground and entangle wires in fallen trees. Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal are the worst affected counties
1998 - Former IRA Chief of Staff, Cathal Goulding, dies in a Dublin hospital
1999 - Hundreds of people walk through the Glen of the Downs in a show of solidarity with eco warriors, despite a Government order closing off the nature reserve to the public
2001 - Politicians from all parties join in mourning the passing of Mark Clinton, who was a major figure in Irish public life over three decades. Mr. Clinton died peacefully at Lucan Lodge Nursing Home, in Lucan, Co Dublin, on December 23, after a lengthy illness
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Stephen. (see our article: St. Stephen's to New Years Eve)

December 27
1601 - Red Hugh O'Donnell leaves Ireland for Spain; Hugh O'Neill withdraws to Ulster
1727 - Arthur Murphy, actor and playwright, is born in Cloonyquin, Co. Roscommon
1791 - 68 conservative members secede from the Catholic Committee, which thereby becomes more militant
1821 - Lady Jane Francesca Wilde is born in Co. Wexford. Author, poet and the mother of Oscar Wilde, she is also known as Speranza.
Note: Many sources give the year of birth as 1826
1849 - James Fintan Lalor, Young Irelander, dies
1904 - Séamus Byrne, lawyer and playwright, is born in Dublin
1904 - The Abbey Theatre opens with productions of Yeat's "On Baile's Strand" and "Cathleen ni Houlihan", as well as Lady Gregory's "Spreading the News"
1904 - George Bernard Shaw's John Bull's Other Island is performed in London
1960 - Death of Elizabeth Crotty, Irish traditional musician and activist for Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann
1969 - Dan Breen, IRA leader during War of Independence dies
1997 - A leading protestant paramilitary, Billy Wright, is shot dead at the maximum security Maze prison in Northern Ireland
1999 - After a five-year delay, the construction of the £204 million Dublin Port tunnel is finally approved
2000 - A White Christmas arrives late in many parts of the country. The post Christmas whiteout leaves the west and north west blanketed in snow with even offshore islands, where snow rarely lies, covered to a depth of several inches
2001 - Sales fever drives bargain hunters from their beds to join pre-dawn queues as the nation goes on a record £1bn consumer splurge
2002 - A young man is “executed” in north Belfast as the simmering feud among loyalist paramilitaries erupts
2002 - Leopardstown loses up to €500,000 in revenue. Day two of the big Dublin race meeting is cancelled because of water-logging.

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