1960 Sixty-nine people were killed and 189 others injured when police opened fire on a crowd of c. 5,000–7,000 protesting against pass laws outside the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville.
1920 An t-Athair Peadar Ó Laoghaire (81), scholar and author, notably of Mo scéal féin (1915), died.
1978 Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (66), jurist and president of Ireland (1974–6), died.
1961 Joseph Holloway, architect and theatrical enthusiast, born in Lower Camden Street, Dublin. Over a 50-year period Holloway attended every theatre performance in the city and kept a journal in which he wrote some 28 million words on Dublin’s theatre world.
1960 South African police opened fire on black protesters at Sharpeville, a black township near Johannesburg, killing 69 and injuring over 180.
1924 Machine-gun attack on British soldiers vacating Spike Island near Cobh. One soldier was shot dead and eighteen soldiers and five civilians were wounded.
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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
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.
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