February 21

• 1919 John O’Connor Power, Fenian and MP for County Mayo (1874–80), who was considered a candidate for leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party in succession to Isaac Butt, died.
• 1922 Recruitment began into the police force of the Provisional Government. Patrick Joseph Kerrigan from County Mayo became the first member of the ‘Civic Guard’.
• 1917 The SS Mendi, a South African troop-carrier steamer, was struck by HMS Brisk in the English Channel; 646 lives were lost.
• 1916 The Battle of Verdun, in north-eastern France, between the French and the Germans began.
• 1910 Sir Edward Carson replaced Walter Long as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.