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April 7

Published in On this Day listing

1922 The Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Bill became law, giving the minister for home affairs authority to detain suspects and to set up courts of summary jurisdiction.
1719 Death of Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (67), French priest and Catholic saint (canonised in 1900) who founded the De La Salle schools.
1868 Thomas D’Arcy McGee (42), Young Irelander, writer, politician and one of the fathers of the Canadian Confederation (1867), was assassinated in Ottawa by a Fenian sympathiser, Patrick J. Whelan.Thomas D’Arcy McGee, former Young Irelander and one of the ‘Fathers’ who negotiated the confederation of the Canadian provinces (1867), was assassinated at his home in Canada. Patrick Joseph Phelan, former British soldier and Fenian, was subsequently hanged for his murder.
1861 The census, the first to inquire into religious denominations in Ireland, showed that out of a population of 5,800,000 (a decrease of 11.5% since 1851) Catholics accounted for 4.5 million and Anglicans for just under 700,000, almost two thirds of whom lived in Ulster.

On this Day

2011 The last British troops pulled out of South Armagh. During the period 1970–97, the IRA killed 165 members of the British security forces in the area.
1870 (Robert) Erskine Childers, Sinn Féin politician and author of The riddle of the sands (1903), born in London but raised at the maternal home, Glendalough House, Co. Wicklow, along with his cousin, Robert Childers Barton (1881–1975)
1970 The Catholic hierarchy lifted the ban on Catholics attending Trinity College, Dublin.
1919 William Martin Murphy (75), founder of Independent Newspapers and leader of the Employers’ Federation during the lockout of 1913–14, died.
1970 The Irish Catholic hierarchy lifted its ban on Catholics attending Trinity College, Dublin.
1876 The Battle of Little Big Horn, Montana, USA. Of Custer’s 604-strong 7th Cavalry, some 128 were of Irish birth, representing 29 of the 32 counties. Half of the 215 men who died with him that day were Irish.