Nick Maxwell

1966 A republican bomb destroyed the top half of Nelson’s Pillar in O’Connell Street, Dublin. 1869 Death of Hector Berlioz, French romantic composer, best known for his Symphonie Fantastique (1830), dedicated to Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he later married (1833). 1917 The February Revolution in Russia led to the establishment of a provisional government and the … Read more

1972 Two women were killed and c. 70 injured, many losing limbs, when an IRA bomb exploded without warning in the crowded Abercorn Bar in Belfast’s city centre. 1804 The Castle Hill (New South Wales) convict rebellion. Under cover of darkness, over 200 convicts (mainly Irish) escaped from Castle Hill government farm, some 30km west … Read more

1985 Nine police officers were killed and 37, including 25 civilians, injured in an IRA mortar attack on Newry RUC station, the biggest single loss of police personnel during the Troubles. 2001 The Northern Ireland minister for agriculture, Brid Rodgers, ordered the slaughter of sheep at a farm in Meigh, South Armagh, because of a … Read more

1914 The Britannic, the third and largest ocean liner of the White Star Line and sister ship to RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, was launched in Belfast. She was sunk by an underwater mine in the Aegean Sea in November 1916—the biggest ship lost during the First World War. 1962 The IRA announced the termination … Read more

1920 The Government of Ireland Bill, primarily an attempt to settle the Ulster question, was introduced in the House of Commons. 1915 Eleven British army soldiers and a French mill-owner were executed by the Germans at the fort of Guise in Aisne, northern France. The soldiers were amongst the many who ‘disappeared’ after becoming detached … Read more