Nick Maxwell

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 … Read more

1920 Kevin Barry (18), IRA Volunteer, was hanged in Mountjoy Jail for his role in an attack on a British army unit in September 1919 in which three soldiers were killed.James Daly (22) of C Company, 1st Battalion, Connaught Rangers, and a member of the IRB, quartered in Jullundur, Punjab, was executed by firing squad … Read more

1970 The remains of three mutineers who were convicted for their roles in the Connaught Rangers Mutiny (1920)—Pte James Daly, who was executed, and Pte Peter Sears and Pte Patrick Smith, both of whom died of their wounds—were returned to Ireland for reburial. 1981 ‘Who here really believes we can win the war through the … Read more

1987 The Eksund, carrying 150 tons of armaments believed to be for the IRA, was seized by French customs authorities. 1984 Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, was assassinated in Delhi by Sikh members of her bodyguard. 1892 Eoin O’Duffy, IRA activist, first commissioner of the Garda Síochána (1922) and Blueshirt leader in the 1930s, born. … Read more

2001 Martin O’Hagan (51), an investigative journalist with the Sunday World who specialised in exposing paramilitary drug-dealing gangs, was shot dead by the Loyalist Volunteer Force in Lurgan, Co. Armagh. 1588 La Girona, a 700-ton galleass of the Spanish Armada, foundered and sank off Lacada Point, just east of Dunluce Castle in north Antrim. Some weeks earlier, … Read more