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
1972 Minister for Justice Desmond O’Malley reintroduced the Special Criminal Court under Part V of the Offences Against the State Act (1939). 1900 Luke Dillon, a leading light in the Fenian dynamite campaign (1881–5), was sentenced to life imprisonment along with two others for attempting to bomb the Welland Canal in Canada, an important shipping … Read more
1921 In an operation involving almost 200 IRA Volunteers, the Custom House in Dublin, the centre of local government, was occupied and burnt. Five Volunteers were killed and over 80 arrested. 1315 The Bruce invasion of Ireland began when Edward, younger brother of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, landed in Larne, Co. Antrim, with 6,000 battle-hardened … Read more
1921 In the general election to the parliament of Northern Ireland, the first in the UK to be held under proportional representation, the Unionist Party won 40 seats, with Sinn Féin and the Irish Parliamentary Party taking six seats each. 1819 Birth of Queen Victoria, the last British monarch of the House of Hanover, who … Read more
2011 Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States, made a one-day visit to Ireland, during which he visited his distant cousins in Moneygall. Co. Offaly, and addressed a crowd of 25,000 in College Green, Dublin. 1770 ‘The Deserted Village’ (likely the village of Auburn, near Athlone) by Oliver Goldsmith was published. 1949 West Germany, officially … Read more