Having been crowned King of England, Scotland, and Ireland some 14 months earlier, on April 11th, 1689, William III of England landed in Ireland on this day to confront the Jacobite supporters of his father in law, the deposed King James II. A short military campaign that followed would lead to the Battle of the […]
This day 103 years ago – 8 June 1917 – an explosion in a copper mine in Butte, Montana, resulted in the death of 168 miners. 38 of them were from Ireland, by far the largest group of foreign-born workers. The fire in the Speculator Granite Mountain Mine shocked America and is still the worst […]
Ó Néill was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O’Neill dynasty of Ulster in Ireland.
I was ten in 1974. It was the year that I mainly remember for the fact that Dublin won the All-Ireland and I had been at my first big game – although not my first ever game – in Croke Park, when they beat Cork in the semi-final. The other main memory I have is […]
ON THIS DAY: 16th May 1920, Joan Of Arc was cannonised a saint “You Englishmen, who have no right in this Kingdom of France, the King of Heaven sends you word and warning, by me Jehanne the Maid, to abandon your forts and depart into your own country, or I will raise such a war-cry against […]
And the murder of Baothnalach MacAodhagáin (Catholic Bishop of Ross) The Battle of Macroom was a significant encounter that took place on the 10th May 1650, during the Cromwellian assault on Ireland. An English Parliamentarian force under the command of Roger Boyle (Lord Broghill) engaged a big Irish force that was commanded by Irish Confederate […]
In her biography of the 1916 proclamation signatory, Joseph Plunkett, Honor O Brolchain tells a fascinating story. A Dublin jeweller on the afternoon of May 3rd 1916 was attending to a young lady who was purchasing wedding bands. She bought two rings but seemed very upset. When he asked her what the matter was she […]
Thomas MacDonagh was born in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary in 1878 to schoolteacher parents. His parents were not supporters of nationalist politics and in fact the young Thomas was not interested in the burgeoning Irish language movements of the time. Like his parents he went into teaching. He also became involved in the cultural and literal […]
Easter Rising leaders: Pádraig Pearse, Thomas Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh were executed by a firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol. #gript
“My dear Mother, You will I know have been longing to hear from me. I do not know how much you have heard since the last note I sent you from the G.P.O. On Friday evening the Post Office was set on fire and we had to abandon it. We dashed into Moore Street and […]
Spectacular hoard
On April 28 1916, as the fierce fighting of Easter Week began to abate, one of the most notorious events of the rising took place. 15 civilians were killed in houses and business premises on North King Street by British soldiers. The street had been the scene of some of the stoutest resistance by the […]