July 26

  • 1869 The Irish Church Act disestablished the Church of Ireland, a pivotal moment in the dismantling of Protestant Ascendancy.
  • 1987 Stephen Roche became the first Irish rider to win the Tour de France.
  • 1914 Arms and ammunition landed in Howth by Erskine Childers on the Asgard.
  • 1956 Egyptian leader Gamel Nasser announced the immediate nationalisation of the Suez Canal.
  • 1866 Mary Anne McCracken (96), sister of Henry Joy McCracken, revolutionary and philanthropist who championed Belfast’s poor, died.
  • 1866 Mary Anne McCracken, revolutionary, philanthropist and sister of Henry Joy McCracken (1767–98), died.
  • 1575 On the orders of the earl of Essex, English forces under Captain John Norris and Francis Drake massacred the Scots garrison on Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, along with hundreds of the Clan MacDonnell—mainly women and children, including the family of the clan leader, Sorley Boy MacDonnell (c. 1505–90), who had taken refuge on the island.