Irish History - February 3

This day in Irish History the following occurred:

February 3
1537 -Thomas FitzGerald, Lord of Offaly and five of his uncles are executed in London. This is the end of the FitzGeralds as a major power 1744 - Lord Netterville, indicted in August 1743 for the murder of Michael Walsh, is tried by his peers in the parliament house and honourably acquitted
1801 - Prime Minister William Pitt resigns over royal veto on Catholic emancipation
1881 - Irish Land League organizer Michael Davitt is arrested again in Dublin
1896 - Lady Jane Wilde (Spiranza), poet, nationalist and the mother of Oscar, dies in London
1911 - Death of Dublin-born Robert Noonan, better known as Robert Tressell, author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
1919 - Harry Boland and Michael Collins engineer Eamon de Valera's escape from Lincoln Jail in England. He is dressed as a woman
1929 - Val Doonican, entertainer, is born in Waterford
1939 - Amanda M'Kittrick Ros, novelist and poet, dies
1998 - Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, warns that substantive progress in the Northern peace talks would not be made by Easter unless the parties start discussing a single document containing the outline proposals for an agreement
1998 - Northern Ireland politician, Billy Hutchinson, facing a death threat from the Loyalist Volunteer Force brands the outlawed terror group as "a bunch of thugs, drug dealers and police informers"
2001 - It is announced that Irish celebrities in showbusiness, sport and the world of writing are among the top earners in England and Ireland. The Irish stars on the rich list include U2, The Corrs, Enya, Ronan Keating, Pierce Brosnan, Eddie Irvine, Roy Keane, Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy
2001 - The Department of the Marine appeals for help in identifying a long legged deep sea creature, which was netted off the Kerry coast. A seasoned specialist on rare fish says he is baffled by the strange grasshopper like specimen found in nets 220 miles from the shore
2002 - British abortion providers are taking legal advice after Golden Pages inform them they are pulling ads for their services from its 2003 directory
2002 - Gales of up to 65 miles per hour ground flights at Dublin Airport and cause a Delta flight carrying 167 passengers and 14 crew to overshoot the main runway. No passengers are injured.

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