1771 Charles Lucas (58), apothecary and MP for Dublin since 1761 and one of the earliest campaigners against abuses in the sale of drugs, died.
2001 On the recommendation of the Patten Report (1999), the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
1979 Iranian students broke into the American embassy in Teheran and took 63 American hostages. They would be released, they declared, if the Shah werereturned to Iran for trial.
2001 The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) following a ten-year reform plan for policing set up under the terms of the Belfast Agreement (1998).
1918 Wilfred Owen (25), war poet, notably of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, was killed during the crossing of the Sambre-Oise Canal in France.
1650 William of Orange (William III) born in The Hague.
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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
1931 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who held an hour of talks with Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey and government ministers during a stopover in Shannon on his way to Cuba in the spring of 1989, born to a poor peasant family in Privolnoye, southern Russia.
1989 The first Soviet–Irish summit. During a stopover in Shannon on his way to Cuba, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev held an hour of talks with Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey and government ministers.
1917 President Woodrow Wilson delivered a war address to Congress. Four days later the US declared war on Germany.
1982 In a continuing dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the islands, Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands (pop. c. 2,000) and, the following day, South Georgia.