1920 An IRA unit led by Eoin O’Duffy and Ernie O’Malley captured the RIC barracks at Ballytrain, Co. Monaghan, and seized all its arms and ammunition.
1929 The St Valentine’s Day massacre in Chicago, USA. In retaliation for a gun attack by Kerryman George ‘Bugs’ Moran’s North Side gang on his Lexington Hotel HQ the previous week, Al Capone sent gunmen to the SMC Company Garage on 2112 North Clark Street, where they murdered seven of Moran’s men. Though Moran escaped—having nicked himself shaving, he was late to arrive at the garage—the incident marked the end of his criminal ambitions.
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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
1969 Robert Briscoe (75), Dáil deputy for 38 years and the first Jewish lord mayor of Dublin (1956), died.
1914 The Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Ireland sank on the St Lawrence River after colliding with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad; 1,012 passengers and crew died.
1972 The Official IRA ordered a cessation of hostilities following the killing, four days earlier, of Ranger William Best while visiting his family.
1660 Charles II entered London, marking the restoration of the monarchy. He had been proclaimed king of Ireland on 14 May.
1917 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States (1961–3), born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the second of nine children of businessman Joe Kennedy and philanthropist/socialite Rose Fitzgerald.