Irish History - January 26

This day in Irish History the following occcurred:

January 26
1316 - At the battle of Ardscull, Co. Kildare, Edward the Bruce defeats the army of Justiciar Edmund Butler. The Scottish dead are buried in the graveyard attached to the Dominican Priory in Athy which occupies the area on the east bank of the River Barrow. Among those buried are two Scottish chiefs, Lord Fergus Andressan and Lord Walter de Morrey
1699 - The second session of William III's second Irish parliament ends on this date
1716 - Birth of Lord George Sackville (-Germain), soldier, politician and MP for Portarlington
1799 - Thomas Charles Wright, officer in Bolivar's army and founder of the Ecuadorian naval school, is born in Drogheda, Co. Louth
1871 - Sir Arthur du Cros, pioneer of pneumatic tyre industry, is born in Dublin
1904 - Birth of Seán MacBride, IRA leader, politician, head of Amnesty International, and recipient of Nobel and Lenin peace prizes
1907 - Synge's Playboy of the Western World is performed for the first time at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; the audience riots because of the bad language and negative perspective on Irish peasant life
1998 - Fears of a backlash heighten in the North due to the removal from the peace talks of the Ulster Democratic Party because of the recent spate of sectarian murders
1998 - The trial of a Dublin man accused of the murder of journalist, Veronica Guerin, is adjourned until June by the Special Criminal Court
1999 - Irish swimming takes its first step towards a fresh beginning following a series of child sex abuse scandals with the creation of a new identity, Swim Ireland
2000 - Tánaiste Mary Harney announces that the new minimum pay rate of £4.40 per hour will apply from April 1
2000 - Amid reports that Britain is drawing up emergency legislation to re-impose direct rule on Northern Ireland, the IRA faces renewed pressure to start decommissioning its arsenal
2000 - Supporters of ancient herbal remedies stage a wake in Dublin mourning the death of the free availability of the herb St John’s Wort, which can now only be obtained on prescription
2001 - Motorists crossing Dublin’s East and West Links will have to pay an extra 20p following a VAT hike
2001 - AN Bord Pleanála gives the go ahead for a £35 million leisure, residential and shopping development in Limerick.

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