1980 Five adults and five children died in a fire at the Central Hotel, Bundoran, Co. Donegal.
1969 Bulmer Hobson, leading member of the Irish Volunteers and IRB prior to the Easter Rising, died.
1966 The Chinese Communist Party central committee endorsed Chairman Mao Zedong’s ‘Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’, which was to claim the lives of between 1.5m and 2m people.
1958 Brendan Bracken, County Tipperary-born publisher, Conservative Party MP, parliamentary private secretary to Winston Churchill 1939–40, died.
1918 The Battle of Amiens began, marking the beginning of the Hundred Days (Allied) Offensive that led to the end of the First World War.
1914 The Endurance, commanded by Sir Ernest Shackleton, set off on its celebrated expedition to the Antarctic.
1910 Harry Ferguson flew a distance of three miles at Dundrum Bay, Newcastle, Co. Down, winning him a prize of £100. In December the previous year he had flown some 130 yards at Hillsborough, Co. Down, becoming the first man to build and fly his own plane in Ireland.
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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
2012 Mike Nesbitt (54) was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.
1976 The Cork–Dublin mail train was robbed of c. £150,000 near Sallins, Co. Kildare.
1711 Eight women from nearby Island Magee were charged in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, with witchcraft. All were found guilty and sentenced to twelve months in prison and ordered to stand four times in the pillory in Carrickfergus. It was the last trial for witchcraft held in Ireland.