January 18
Published in On this Day listing- 1919 The Paris Peace Conference, better known as the Versailles Peace Conference, at which the victorious Allied Powers set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers, began.
- 1979 Leo Varadkar, TD for Dublin West since 2007 and taoiseach since June 2017, born in Dublin.
- 1987 T. Desmond Wilson, professor of modern history at UCD (1949–85) and editor of The Great Famine (1956) with Robert Dudley Edwards, died.
- 1937 John Hume, founding member of the SDLP, member of the British and European parliaments, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1998) and one of the architects of the Northern Ireland Peace Process, born in Derry.
- 1936 Rudyard Kipling (70), short-story writer, poet and novelist, who also wrote an acclaimed two-volume history of the Irish Guards (1923), died. His only son, John (18), was killed whilst serving with the Guards at the Battle of Loos in September 1915.
- 1934 Joe Devlin, the leading northern nationalist politician both before and after the Treaty of 1921, died. Devlin was the leading survivor of the rout of the Irish Party by Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election, in which he defeated Éamon de Valera in the Falls division of Belfast.
- 1811 Charles Kean, celebrated actor/manager on the London stage, born in Waterford.
Personal Histories
On this Day
February 6
- 1840
Above: Dubliner Frederick Edward Maning—sat as a judge in New Zealand’s Native Land Court, where his considerable knowledge of the Maori language, customs, traditions and prejudices served him well.
The Treaty of Waitangi proclaimed British sovereignty over New Zealand. Designed to safeguard the interests of the Empire and to appease sections of the native Maori population who sought Crown protection, the treaty was negotiated by the recently appointed lieutenant-governor, Captain William Hobson from Waterford. It was considerably flawed, however, not least because of differences in wording between the English and Maori versions. In any case, the pressures of the post broke Hobson’s health, sending him to an early grave two years later. Prominent amongst opponents of the treaty on the Maori side at the time was Dubliner F.E. Maning. A big man with considerable outback skills and a colourful personality, he had been adopted by the Maori as a ‘Pakeha Maori’—a European turned native—and had purchased a 200-acre farm and taken a Maori wife. Though he argued that the Maori would never willingly accept European domination, his opposition mellowed with time. When tensions over disputed land purchases eventually led to the New Zealand Wars (1845–72), he gave his support to the chief Hone Heke, one of the principal antagonists opposing the government, while at the same time using his influence with the Maori to intercede on behalf of settlers. By the end of the war he was firmly on the government side and sat as a judge in the Native Land Court, where his considerable knowledge of the Maori language, customs, traditions and prejudices served him well. His A history of the war in the north of New Zealand against the chief Heke (1862) and Old New Zealand (1863), partly a lament for the lost freedom enjoyed before European rule, are regarded as classics of New Zealand literature.
- 1971 Gunner Robert Curtis (20) of the Royal Artillery Regiment was shot by an IRA sniper during disturbances in north Belfast, the first serving British soldier to die violently in the Troubles.
- 1968 AWilliam Conor (c. 87), an artist renowned for his portrayals of working-class life in Ulster, died.
- 1958 A British European Airways aircraft bringing the Manchester United team home from Belgrade crashed on take-off at Munich airport. The 21 who died included team members, sports journalists and club officials.
- 1918 The Representation of the People Act gave the vote to all men over 21 and most women over 30 in the United Kingdom.
- 1911 Ronald Reagan, US Republican statesman and 40th president (1980–8), born in Tampico, Illinois. During his four-day visit to the Republic of Ireland in June 1984 Reagan visited Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, from where his paternal great-grandparents, Michael and Catherine Reagan, emigrated to Illinois in the early nineteenth century
- 1564 Christopher Marlowe, poet and dramatist, notably author of Doctor Faustus, born in Canterbury, Kent.