1961 Barack Hussein Obama, 44th and current president of the United States and great-great-great-grandson of Fulmouth Kearney of Moneygall, Co. Offaly, born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1927 John Dillon (75), land agitator and Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) MP (1880–1918) who made a famous speech in the House of Commons in defence of the leaders of the 1916 Rising (11 May 1916), died.
1914 At 8am German troops invaded Belgium. At 11pm Britain declared war on Germany. ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe, and we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime’—Sir Edward Grey, British foreign secretary.
1812 Robert Peel, MP for Cashel, was appointed chief secretary for Ireland.
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Personal Histories
Personal Histories is an initiative by History Ireland,
which aims to capture the individual histories of Irish
people both in Ireland and around the world. It is hoped
to build an extensive database reflecting Irish lives,
giving them a chance to be heard, remembered and to
add their voice to the historical record.
Click Here to go to the Personal Histories page
1931 Chuck Feeney, businessman and philanthropist who gave away his fortune of $8 billion over a 38-year period, including $1.3b to projects in the Republic of Ireland and $570m to projects in Northern Ireland, born to Irish-American parents in New Jersey.
1971 C.B. (Cyril Bentham) Falls, military correspondent of The Times (1939–53), historian and author notably of The history of the 36th (Ulster) Division (1922), based on his own experiences, died.
1970 St Enda’s, Rathfarnham, the bilingual school founded by Patrick Pearse in 1908, was presented to the nation as a Patrick Pearse Museum.
1918 A general strike against conscription, organised by the Labour movement and supported by Sinn Féin, the IPP and the Catholic hierarchy, paralysed the country.
1616 William Shakespeare (52), dramatist and poet, died.
1014 The Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin. Brian Boru, claimant to the high kingship of Ireland, and his Munster forces defeated an army of Leinster Norse, supported by their kinsmen from Northumbria, the Isle of Man and the Orkneys.
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