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.
1973 John Charles McQuaid (77), controversial archbishop of Dublin (1940–72), died.
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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
1920 General Tom Barry’s Cork No. 3 (West Cork) Brigade wiped out an eighteen-man Auxiliary patrol at Kilmichael, on the Macroom–Dunmanway road, Co. Cork.
1979 John Hume MEP was elected leader of the SDLP in succession to Gerry Fitt.
1990 Margaret Thatcher, Conservative prime minister of the UK since May 1979, resigned. She was succeeded by John Major.
1979 John Hume succeeded Gerry Fitt as leader of the SDLP, a position he held until 2001.
1905 The Sinn Féin movement—the name famously coined by Máire Butler, a cousin of Irish unionist leader Sir Edward Carson—was launched by Arthur Griffith with the aim of re-establishing the independence of Ireland by withdrawing from the Westminster parliament and setting up a government in Dublin.
1863 First edition of the Fenian newspaper the Irish People. Circulating chiefly in Dublin, it was suppressed by the authorities in September 1865.
1977 Following a strike (from 3 August) at the Ferenka steel cord factory in County Limerick, the plant was closed with the loss of 1,400 jobs.