1996 Mícheal Ó Hehir (76), sports commentator, journalist and ‘the voice of Gaelic games’, died.
1940 James Craig, Lord Craigavon, prime minister of Northern Ireland since 1921 and the architect of the Orange state, died.
1926 The first Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis was held.
1922 Erskine Childers (52), anti-Treaty republican, arrested a fortnight earlier and found to be in possession of a revolver (a present from Michael Collins), was executed by a Free State Army firing squad while awaiting appeal.
1859 Charles Darwin’s The origin of species by means of natural selection was published.
1922 Erskine Childers (52), widely regarded as de Valera’s ‘right-hand man’, who was in custody for possession of a small-calibre pistol, a present from Michael Collins, was executed in Beggar’s Bush Barracks while awaiting the hearing of his appeal.
1972 The RTÉ Authority was replaced by the government after broadcasting a radio interview with Provisional IRA chief-of-staff Seán MacStiofáin in breach of Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. The radio reporter, Kevin O’Kelly, who conducted the interview was subsequently sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for contempt of the Special Criminal Court.
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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
1937 During the Spanish Civil War, the Basque town of Guernica, a bastion of Republican resistance, was pounded by the German Condor Legion with high-explosive bombs and at least 3,000 incendiary bombs. Over 1,600 people were killed in the subsequent firestorm.
1900 Queen Victoria concluded her final, three-week visit to Ireland, the purpose of which was to encourage Irishmen to join the British Army and fight in the Second Boer War. Nationalist opposition to her visit was led by Arthur Griffith and his newspaper, The United Irishman.
1974 Nineteen Old Masters paintings were stolen from the Blessington, Co. Wicklow, home of Sir Alfred and Lady Beit by a Provisional IRA gang which included Dr Rose Dugdale.
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