Nick Maxwell

1972 Following the resignation of the Northern Ireland prime minister, Brian Faulkner, and his cabinet over the transfer of security to Westminster, Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that the Northern Ireland government would be suspended and replaced by direct rule from Westminster, with William Whitelaw as secretary of state. 1922 Uniformed police officers broke into … Read more

1960 Sixty-nine people were killed and 189 others injured when police opened fire on a crowd of c. 5,000–7,000 protesting against pass laws outside the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville. 1920 An t-Athair Peadar Ó Laoghaire (81), scholar and author, notably of Mo scéal féin (1915), died. 1978 Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (66), jurist and president of … Read more

1972 Seven people were killed and c. 150 injured when a 200lb IRA car bomb exploded in Donegal Street, near Belfast city centre. 1971 Major James Chichester-Clarke resigned as prime minister of Northern Ireland. He was succeeded by Brian Faulkner, who defeated Bill Craig by 26 votes to four. 1920 Thomas MacCurtain, lord mayor of … Read more

1921 Tom Barry led 104 members of the flying column of the Cork No. 3 (West) Brigade against over 1,000 soldiers of the Essex and Hampshire Regiments in Crossbarry, Co. Cork, killing 39 and wounding 47. IRA losses were three dead and four wounded in one of the biggest engagements of the War of Independence. … Read more

1820 John Scanlon was executed in Limerick for the murder of Ellen Hanley (15), ‘the Colleen Bawn’, the previous summer. 1988 Loyalist gunman Michael Stone opened fire and threw grenades at mourners attending the funeral of the Gibraltar Three. Three were killed, including IRA member Kevin Brady (see 19th). 1968 US troops led by Lt. William … Read more