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December 21

Published in On this Day listing

1985 The Progressive Democratic (PD) Party was founded by Desmond O’Malley. The first public meeting took place the following month.
1948 The Republic of Ireland Act repealed the External Relations Act (1936), providing for the declaration of an Irish Republic.
1917 Heinrich Boll, author of Irish journal (1957) and Nobel Laureate (1972), born in Cologne.
1866 Maud Gonne MacBride, nationalist and suffragist, born near Aldershot, Hampshire, the daughter of a British Army officer of Irish background.
1815 Mary Letitia Martin, novelist known as the ‘Princess of Connemara’, born in Ballynahinch Castle, Co. Galway.

On this Day

1937 During the Spanish Civil War, the Basque town of Guernica, a bastion of Republican resistance, was pounded by the German Condor Legion with high-explosive bombs and at least 3,000 incendiary bombs. Over 1,600 people were killed in the subsequent firestorm.
1900 Queen Victoria concluded her final, three-week visit to Ireland, the purpose of which was to encourage Irishmen to join the British Army and fight in the Second Boer War. Nationalist opposition to her visit was led by Arthur Griffith and his newspaper, The United Irishman.
1974 Nineteen Old Masters paintings were stolen from the Blessington, Co. Wicklow, home of Sir Alfred and Lady Beit by a Provisional IRA gang which included Dr Rose Dugdale.