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November 16

Published in On this Day listing

1986 Siobhán McKenna (63), Belfast-born stage and screen actor, died.
1965 W.T. (William Thomas) Cosgrave (85), politician, leader of Cumann na nGaedheal (1922–33), leader of Fine Gael (1934–44) and first president of the Executive Council of the Free State (1922–32), died.
1615 St Columbanus, monk and missionary from Bangor, Co. Down, died in Bobbio, northern Italy, the site of his most famous monastery.

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.