1992 In the Westminster election the Conservatives, under John Major, were returned to power. Joe Hendron (SDLP) ousted Gerry Adams (SF) in West Belfast. 1947 Desmond Fitzgerald, journalist and Cumann na nGaedheal politician who was minister for external affairs (1922–7), died. He was the father of Dr Garret Fitzgerald (1926–2011).
1959 During the Mau Mau uprising against British colonial rule in Kenya, eleven insurgent detainees were clubbed to death in the Hola detention camp. A further 77 sustained serious injuries. 1977 Brian Faulkner (56), last prime minister of Northern Ireland (March 1971–March 1972), was killed in a hunting accident, two days after his reception into … Read more
1937 Charlie Donnelly (27), poet and left-wing activist, was killed fighting on the Republican side on the final day of the Battle of Jarama.
1919 Sinn Féin members returned in the general election of December 1918 convened in the Mansion House to establish Dáil Éireann, the first parliament in Dublin since 1800. A Declaration of Independence and a ‘Message to the Free World’ were issued and a Constitution adopted. 1919 A local IRA unit led by Séamus Robinson, Dan … Read more
1960 Albert Camus (46), Algeria-born French philosopher, writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature (1957), died in a car crash. 1969 A People’s Democracy civil rights march from Belfast to Derry was violently attacked by loyalists and local members of the B Special Constabulary at Burntollet Bridge, near Claudy, Co. Derry, as an … Read more