1920 Terence MacSwiney (41), lord mayor of Cork, died after 74 days of hunger strike in Brixton Prison, London.
2002 Richard Harris (72), actor and Oscar nominee for This sporting life (1963) and The field (1990), died.
1968 The New University of Ulster in Coleraine, Co. Derry, Ireland’s first new university in over 50 years, officially opened.
1960 Harry Ferguson, mechanic, inventor and the first man to build and fly his own aeroplane in Ireland (1909), died.
1925 Darrell Figgis, nationalist, politician and writer, died by suicide.
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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
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.
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