1871 The Irish Church Act (1869), whereby the Church of Ireland ceased to exist ‘as an establishment’, came into law. 1892 Ellis Island, the US government’s busiest immigrant inspection station for over 60 years, officially opened. One can only speculate as to how Annie Moore (17) from Cobh, Co. Cork, came to be the first … Read more
2006 Saddam Hussein was hanged in Baghdad, having been found guilty of crimes against humanity after a twelve-month trial. 1916 Grigori Rasputin (47), Russian peasant, faith healer and favourite of Czar Nicholas II and his family, was poisoned with wine and tea cakes, shot and drowned in the River Neva. 1691 Robert Boyle (64), chemist … Read more
1919 Lady (Nancy) Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the Westminster House of Commons. 1956 Ronnie Delaney (21) won a gold medal for Ireland in the 1,500 metres at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, the first since Bob Tisdall in 1932. 1666 Sir James Ware (72), antiquary and historiographer, author notably … Read more
1967 Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (39), Argentine Marxist revolutionary, was captured and summarily executed by CIA-backed Bolivian forces. 1966 David Cameron, Conservative MP for Witney since 2001 and prime minister of the United Kingdom (2010–16), born in Marylebone, London, the son of a stockbroker. 1958 Pope Pius XII (82), head of the Catholic Church during the … Read more
1919 Detective John Hoey, who identified Seán MacDiarmada for the military in 1916, was shot dead outside police HQ in Brunswick Street, Dublin. 1819 James Hack Tuke, Quaker, best remembered for his philanthropic work in Ireland during the Great Famine, born in York. 1968 The first Merriman Summer School opened in Ennis, Co. Clare. 1916 … Read more