1876 James McKnight (75), journalist and agrarian reformer, died. McKnight came to national prominence in 1847 as spokesman for the thousands of Presbyterian tenant farmers who flocked to join the Ulster Tenant Right League, which sought to give legal protection to the Ulster Custom. Regarded at the time as the leading Presbyterian layman, it was … Read more
1921 Patrick Maher and Ned Foley were executed for the killing of two policemen during the rescue of Seán Hogan at Knocklong railway station in May 1919. They were the last to be executed prior to the Truce. 1970 Dr Owen Sheehy-Skeffington (61), humanist and academic, died. 1917 The start of the Battle of Messines … Read more
1861 Patrick Bronte (84), clergyman, poet and social campaigner, died. By the time he reached his mid-70s, Bronte was a lonely widower in failing health, who had lost most of his family—first his wife, Maria, followed four years later by his daughters Maria (11) and Elizabeth (10), and then, over just an eight-month period, his son … Read more
2002 Alex Maskey (50) became the first Sinn Féin lord mayor of Belfast. 1981 It was reported that five men in California were suffering from a rare form of pneumonia that was found in patients with weakened immune systems—the first recognised cases of AIDS, which was to kill over 30 million worldwide. 1920 Cornelius Ryan, war … Read more
1820 Henry Grattan (74), politician and orator who unsuccessfully introduced a bill for Catholic Emancipation in the Irish parliament (1794), died. 1989 Protesters demanding greater democratic freedoms were fired on by police and troops in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Several thousand were killed. 1820 Henry Grattan, outstanding orator and dominant figure in the Irish parliament (1782–1800), died. … Read more