Irish History - January 8

This day in Irish History the following occurred:

January 8
1547 - Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin; it will not be restored until 15 June 1555
1860 - The Church of St Andrew in Suffolk Street, Dublin, is destroyed by fire
1871 - James Craig, Ist Viscount Craigavon, Unionist politician and PM of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1940, is born in Belfast
1873 - Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain is founded
1876 - Lucien Bul, inventor of the electrocardiograph, is born in Dublin
1916 - Evacuation of Gallipoli Peninsula in the Dardanelles is completed; there are100,000 casualties, mostly Australian, New Zealanders and Irish, in the eight-month campaign
1922 - Arthur Griffin is elected second president of Ireland by Dáil Éireann
1979 - An oil tanker explodes at Whiddy Island oil terminal on Bantry Bay, Cork, killing at least 50 people
1998 - The first licensed drug to treat mild to moderately severe Alzheimer's disease is launched in Ireland
1999 - French, Irish, English and Dutch relatives gather at the hilltop granite memorial sculpture in Bantry's Abbey Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of those who perished when the oil tanker Betelgeuse blew up at the Whiddy Island oil terminal
1999 - The British Government comes under pressure to stop the early release of prisoners in Northern Ireland after an upsurge in paramilitary shootings and beatings
2000 - Thousands of acres are still flooded, roads blocked and farmyards remain under water after the River Shannon bursts its banks
2001 - All schools are to receive a CD ROM of one of the masterpieces of Western art — the Book of Kells. On behalf of the schools, the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Michael Woods, accepts the CD ROMs from Trinity College Library in Dublin and leading internet company, X Communications
2002 - Thousands of commuters experience delays after fallen cables knock out DART services at some of Dublin's busiest stations
2002 - Former Soviet leader Gorbachev sinks a pint of Guinness with Dublin Lord Mayor Michael Mulcahy in the famous Doheny and Nesbitt pub in Baggot Street.
2007 - Northern ireland’s Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine dies at age 53 after suffering a heart attack and later a stroke and a brain haemorrhage. A former UVF prisoner and a key figure in brokering the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire of 1994, a party statement is quoted as saying: "Unionism has lost the most progressive voice of this generation. Politics has lost a statesman. Our peace process has lost its most optimistic advocate and Ulster has lost a devoted son.”

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