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May 14

Published in On this Day listing

1734 Richard Cantillon, Kerry-born economist regarded as the first major economic ‘theorist’ and acclaimed author of Essai sur la nature du commerce en général (c. 1730), was murdered in his London home by his cook.
1974 In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Workers’ Strike, aimed at toppling the Northern Ireland Executive and destroying the Sunningdale Agreement, began. The Executive collapsed a fortnight later.
1977 Robert Nairac (29), a military intelligence officer, was abducted from a public house in south Armagh and killed by the IRA.
1974 The Ulster Workers’ Council, a loyalist umbrella group opposed to the Sunningdale Agreement and the Council of Ireland, began a general strike.

On this Day

1920 Recruitment began, mainly from among demobilised British Army officers, into a new force—the ‘Auxiliary Division’—to augment the RIC.
1939 Michael Longley, poet, notable for ‘Gorse Fires’ (1991), ‘The Weather in Japan’ (2000) and ‘The Stairwell’ (2014), born in Belfast of English parents.
2004 Bob Tisdall (96), Olympic gold medal-winner in the 400m hurdles (Los Angeles, 1932) in a world record time of 51.7 seconds—which was not recognised under the rules at the time because he had hit a hurdle—died.
1866 The SS Great Eastern completed the laying of a transatlantic telegraph cable between Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.