Nick Maxwell

1970 The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was founded by a coalition of political figures who had been prominent in the civil rights struggle of the late 1960s. The first leader was the West Belfast MP Gerry Fitt. 1976 The remains of William Joyce, ‘Lord Haw Haw’, Nazi propagandist executed for treason in 1946, … Read more

1919 In Dáil Éireann, a motion proposed by Cathal Brugha that its members, its officials and the Irish Volunteers swear allegiance to the Dáil and the Irish Republic was passed. The Irish Volunteers thereby became the standing army of the Irish Republic—the Irish Republican Army (IRA). 1988 Eight soldiers from the Light Infantry Regiment, aged … Read more

1908 In one of Britain’s worst mining disasters, a gas explosion ripped through the Maypole colliery in Wigan, Lancs., starting a fierce fire that led to further explosions. Though 76 miners lost their lives, it could have been substantially worse: over 500 miners from the day shift had finished work a short while earlier. The … Read more

2006 The MorrisTribunal report, on a range of allegations against the Garda Síochána in County Donegal (1993–9), was published. It was to bring about the biggest overhaul in policing in the history of the Irish state.   1987 Rudolph Hess (93), German Deputy Führer (1933–41), committed suicide in Spandau Prison, West Berlin.   1878 Oliver … Read more

1921 Sinn Féin members who were returned in the election to the parliament of Southern Ireland under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act constituted themselves as the Second Dáil Éireann. 1819 In the Peterloo Massacre, St Peter’s Fields, Manchester, eighteen were killed when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 who had gathered … Read more