1941 Sixteen soldiers were killed in an explosion while conducting tests with anti-tank mines in the Glen of Imaal, Co. Wicklow—the worst disaster in the annals of the Irish Defence Forces.
1968 African-American athletes Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos raised black-gloved fists as the Star-Spangled Banner played during their medal ceremony at the Olympic Games in Mexico City. The gesture was not a ‘Black Power’ salute, Smith later declared, but a ‘human rights salute’.
1964 Harold Wilson (Labour) became British prime minister.
1859 John Brown, American abolitionist, with 21 followers seized the US armoury at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
1854 Oscar Wilde born in Dublin.
1888 Birth of playwright and Nobel laureate Eugene O’Neill in New York. He is best known for the epic (and autobiographical) Long day’s journey into night, depicting the travails of a ‘lace-curtain’ Irish-American family.
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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
1921 The Government of Ireland Act (1920) came into effect, creating the jurisdictions of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
1469 Machiavelli, Renaissance writer, playwright and poet, author notably of The Prince (1513), born in Florence.
1968 The ‘May ’68’ civil unrest in France began with a series of student protests against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism and conservative values.
1916 Patrick Pearse (36), Tom Clarke (59) and Thomas MacDonagh (38) executed.
Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland since 1907, resigned.
1916 Patrick Henry Pearse, aged 34, poet, writer, founder of Scoil Eanna (St Enda’s) in 1908 and commander-in-chief of the forces of the Irish Republic during the Easter Rising, was executed in Kilmainham Jail.
1814 Louis XVIII became king of France following 22 years of revolution and conquest under Napoleon Bonaparte.
1933 The Constitution (Removal of Oath) Act removed the oath of allegiance from the constitution of the Irish Free State.
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