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Dr William Arthur Lee (1870–1931)

William Lee was fifteen years of age when he joined the Liverpool postal service as a telegraphist, rising through the ranks of the department to become its chief superintendent. He […]

Desmond Greaves’s formative years at the Birkenhead Institute, 1925–31

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Revisiting the demography of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Ireland

By Chris Colvin and Eoin McLaughlin The year 2020 witnessed the first major global pandemic in over a century. Policy-makers and analysts around the world scrambled to find meaningful historical […]

Armoured trucks in the Irish War of Independence

By Lar Joye The Irish War of Independence was the first time that guerrilla fighters attacked trucks and cars, which were becoming more common on Irish roads. After an initial […]

The Canadian trial of the century—the story of ‘cracked Shortis’ (1875–1941)

By Cian Manning On 14 February 1875 the wealthy couple Francis and Mary Shortis, of 31 The Mall, Waterford, became the parents of Francis Valentine Cuthbert Shortis, known as Valentine […]

May 03

1921 The Government of Ireland Act (1920) came into effect, creating the jurisdictions of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
1469 Machiavelli, Renaissance writer, playwright and poet, author notably of The Prince (1513), born in Florence.
1968 The ‘May ’68’ civil unrest in France began with a series of student protests against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism and conservative values.
1916 Patrick Pearse (36), Tom Clarke (59) and Thomas MacDonagh (38) executed.
Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland since 1907, resigned.
1916 Patrick Henry Pearse, aged 34, poet, writer, founder of Scoil Eanna (St Enda’s) in 1908 and commander-in-chief of the forces of the Irish Republic during the Easter Rising, was executed in Kilmainham Jail.
1814 Louis XVIII became king of France following 22 years of revolution and conquest under Napoleon Bonaparte.
1933 The Constitution (Removal of Oath) Act removed the oath of allegiance from the constitution of the Irish Free State.

Dr William Arthur Lee (1870–1931)

Desmond Greaves’s formative years at the Birkenhead Institute, 1925–31

Revisiting the demography of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Ireland

Armoured trucks in the Irish War of Independence

The Canadian trial of the century—the story of ‘cracked Shortis’ (1875–1941)

Personal Histories

On this Day

May 03