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December 5

Published in On this Day listing

1922 The Irish Free State Constitution Act and the Consequential Provisions Act received the royal assent; the king approved T.M. Healy as governor-general designate of the Free State. Saorstát Éireann (the Irish Free State) came into existence the following day.
1967 Michael P. O’Connor, writer and broadcaster, died.
1914 The Endurance, captained by Sir Ernest Shackleton with Tom Crean as second in command, set out from South Georgia with the objective of crossing the Antarctic continent.
1923 Edward Martyn (64), playwright, musician and promoter of Irish culture who founded the Palestrina Choir (1903), co-founded Feis Ceoil, and sponsored and guided An Túr Gloine, died.

On this Day

1968 Denis McCullough (85), co-founder of the Dungannon Clubs (1905) with Bulmer Hobson and director of the IRB in Ulster at the time of the Easter Rising, died.
1954 Robert Smyllie, influential editor of the Irish Times, died.
1922 The Local Government Act (NI) abolished PR for local elections and required a declaration of allegiance from persons elected to or working for local authorities.
1910 Robert Loraine, British actor and Boer War veteran, in his Henry Farman biplane became the first man to fly across the Irish Sea.
1741 Arthur Young, English agricultural theorist and traveller, and author of the acclaimed A Tour of Ireland (1780), born.
1922 The Local Government Act (NI) abolished PR, introduced by Westminster three years earlier as a ‘minority safeguard’, for local elections and required a declaration of allegiance from persons elected to or working for local authorities.
1954 Robert ‘Bertie’ Smylie (61), editor of the Irish Times since 1934, who transformed the paper from an Ascendancy viewpoint to one with a non-partisan profile, died.