1919 RIC District Inspector Michael Hunt was shot dead by Irish Volunteers in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the most senior RIC officer to be killed up to that date. 1916Nationalist delegates at a convention in Belfast were persuaded by the Irish Parliamentary Party’s leadership to accept, by 475 votes to 265, ‘temporary partition’ as a wartime … Read more
1972 Ranger William Best (19), a soldier serving with the Royal Irish Rangers in Germany, was shot dead by the Official IRA whilst home on leave visiting his family in Derry’s Creggan estate. The Official IRA called a ceasefire a week later. 1980 After the first of their two summits that year, Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey … Read more
1970 The Alliance Party, drawing support from moderate unionists, Catholic liberals and the New Ulster Movement, was founded by Oliver Napier and Robert Cooper. 1926 Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary), the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland (May 2011), born, the eldest daughter of King George VI. 1918 Manfred von Richthofen, the … Read more
1922 The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was formed. Including the Ulster Special Constabulary, by the early summer there were some 50,000 employed as regular or part-time policemen in Northern Ireland. 1869 Margaret Tennant, pioneer in public social work, who was chief adviser on women’s welfare in the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War, … Read more
1878 Murder of William Sydney Clements (72), 3rd earl of Leitrim. In 1854, after a career in the army in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and a period in politics as MP for County Leitrim (1839–47), Clements inherited over 94,000 acres, including an estate of over 54,000 acres in Milford, north Donegal. … Read more