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April 15

Published in On this Day listing

1972 Joe McCann (25), a prominent figure within the ranks of the Official IRA, was shot dead in disputed circumstances by members of the Parachute Regiment close to his home in the Markets area of Belfast.
1972 Joe McCann (24), legendary Official IRA leader, was shot dead by British paratroopers in Belfast.
1941 A week after their first raid on the city, in which the industrial heartland around the docks was attacked with the loss of thirteen lives, a squadron of 180 German bombers returned to Belfast. The congested housing areas of the New Lodge, Lower Shankill and Antrim Road in the north of the city bore the brunt of the attack. At least 900 lives were lost.
1912 The White Star liner Titanic, on her maiden voyage, sank at 2.20am, having struck an iceberg at 11.40pm the previous evening off the Grand Banks, Newfoundland, with the loss of 1,517 lives. There were 706 survivors.

On this Day

1933 The eighth Dáil Éireann assembled: Eamon de Valera formed his second government, with a one-seat majority.
1929 James Connell, County Meath-born Fenian, Land Leaguer and writer of the British Labour Party anthem The Red Flag, died.
1926 The Plough and the Stars by Seán O’Casey opened in the Abbey Theatre. During the fourth performance there was a full-scale riot when the audience protested at what they perceived to be a slanderous distortion of historical events.
1912 The British home secretary, Winston Churchill, shared the platform with John Redmond at a Home Rule meeting in Celtic Park, Belfast. The organisers had been refused the use of the Ulster Hall, where Churchill’s father, a quarter of a century earlier, had warned that Home Rule could come upon them ‘as a thief in the night’.