May 24

  • 1921 In the general election to the parliament of Northern Ireland, the first in the UK to be held under proportional representation, the Unionist Party won 40 seats, with Sinn Féin and the Irish Parliamentary Party taking six seats each.
  • 1819 Birth of Queen Victoria, the last British monarch of the House of Hanover, who reigned for 63 years (1837–1901).
  • 2007 In the general election Fianna Fáil secured 41.6% of first preference votes, leading to the appointment of Bertie Ahern to a third successive term as taoiseach.
  • 1964 A riot during a football match at the National Stadium, Peru, led to mass panic and the deaths of over 300 people—the biggest disaster in the history of sport
  • 1923 The Irish Civil War ended with the order by Frank Aiken, chief of staff of the anti-Treaty IRA, ‘to dump arms’.
  • 1921 Elections to the two Irish states (Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland) set up under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act (December 1920) were held. In Northern Ireland all 52 seats were contested. Forty Unionists, six Sinn Féin and six Nationalists were returned. In the South, 124 Sinn Féin candidates and four Unionists (for Trinity College) were elected unopposed.
  • 1818 John Henry Foley, the leading sculptor of his day, notably of the O’Connell monument (1864–82) in O’Connell Street, born in 6 Montgomery Street, Dublin.
  • 1923 The Civil War ended when the new chief-of-staff, Frank Aiken, ordered the IRA to dump arms.