Nick Maxwell

1969 Robert Briscoe (75), Dáil deputy for 38 years and the first Jewish lord mayor of Dublin (1956), died. 1914 The Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Ireland sank on the St Lawrence River after colliding with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad; 1,012 passengers and crew died. 1972 The Official IRA ordered a cessation of hostilities … Read more

1972 Eight people, including four members of the IRA and two women, were killed when an IRA bomb exploded prematurely in the Short Strand area of East Belfast. 1970 Former ministers Charles J. Haughey and Neil Blaney, along with Captain Kelly and Albert Luykx, were arrested and charged with conspiring to import arms and ammunition into … Read more

1940 ‘Operation Dynamo’, the evacuation of c. 338,000 Belgian, British and French troops over nine days from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, began. 1564 John Calvin (54), influential French theologian during the Protestant Reformation, died. 1911 The first edition of the Irish Worker, organ of the ITGWU and edited by James Larkin, was issued. Averaging 20,000 … Read more