1971 A 15lb. Provisional IRA bomb exploded at the Electricity Board of Northern Ireland’s offices in Belfast’, killing Harry Beggs (23), a close schoolfriend of Peter Robinson, later first minister of Northern Ireland (2008–16), and injuring 35 others. Robinson disclosed years later that it was Beggs’s death that prompted him to enter politics.
1819 Alan Pinkerton, emigrant to the United States who founded the national detective agency that bears his name, born in the Gorbals, Glasgow.
1997 The McCracken Tribunal reported that former taoiseach Charles J. Haughey had received £1.3m from supermarket co-owner Ben Dunne and that his evidence, under oath, was either ‘unacceptable’ or ‘unbelievable’ on eleven different points.
1986 Hurricane Charley, one of the century’s worst storms, caused extensive damage, particularly in the east of the country.
1580 Battle of Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow. Crown forces under George Moore were heavily defeated by rebels.
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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
1971 Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act (1960) was invoked to prevent RTÉ from reporting on the activities of illegal organisations.
1925 Denis Henry, first lord chief justice of Northern Ireland and the last Catholic to hold a unionist parliamentary seat, died.
1911 The Parnell monument by Dublin-born sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, featuring an 8ft statue of the nationalist leader in heroic pose and wearing two coats, as was his custom, was unveiled before a massive crowd in Sackville Street by John Redmond.
1840 Cardinal Michael Logue, archbishop of Armagh (1887–1924) and cardinal (1893), born in Carrigart, Co. Donegal.