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December 9

Published in On this Day listing

1968 Captain Terence O’Neill, prime minister of Northern Ireland, appealed for calm in his ‘Ulster at the Crossroads’ television address.
1960 D.A. Chart, archivist, historian and social scientist who was Deputy Keeper of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (1924–48), died.
1861 John O’Donovan, official with the Ordnance Survey (1830–42) and leading scholar in the areas of Irish topography, history, genealogy and language, died. His works include translations of the Brehon Laws and the Annals of the Four Masters (1848–51).

On this Day

2011 The last British troops pulled out of South Armagh. During the period 1970–97, the IRA killed 165 members of the British security forces in the area.
1870 (Robert) Erskine Childers, Sinn Féin politician and author of The riddle of the sands (1903), born in London but raised at the maternal home, Glendalough House, Co. Wicklow, along with his cousin, Robert Childers Barton (1881–1975)
1970 The Catholic hierarchy lifted the ban on Catholics attending Trinity College, Dublin.
1919 William Martin Murphy (75), founder of Independent Newspapers and leader of the Employers’ Federation during the lockout of 1913–14, died.
1970 The Irish Catholic hierarchy lifted its ban on Catholics attending Trinity College, Dublin.
1876 The Battle of Little Big Horn, Montana, USA. Of Custer’s 604-strong 7th Cavalry, some 128 were of Irish birth, representing 29 of the 32 counties. Half of the 215 men who died with him that day were Irish.