May 22

  • 1922 W.J. Twaddell, MP for Woodvale, West Belfast, was shot dead in Belfast city centre—the only MP to be assassinated in Northern Ireland until the murder of the Revd Robert Bradford in 1981.
  • 1971 Members of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement held a protest against the law banning the importation of contraceptives by travelling to Belfast by train, purchasing contraceptives and waving them at customs officials on their return to Connolly Station, Dublin. No arrests were made.
  • 1998 Referendum on the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. In Northern Ireland 71% voted in favour, in the Republic 94%.
  • 1971 Following a train trip to Belfast, members of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement brandished contraceptives they had bought there on their return to Connolly Station, as a protest against the law banning their importation.
  • 1922 W.J. Twaddell, MP for Woodvale, was shot dead in Belfast, the only MP to be assassinated in Northern Ireland until the murder of Revd Robert Bradford in 1981. During that month some 44 Catholics and 22 Protestants died in violence in the city.
  • 1600 A week after disembarking at Culmore, where he built a fort, Sir Henry Docwra advanced up the Foyle and laid the foundations of the modern city of Derry.
  • 1923 Stanley Baldwin (Conservative) succeeded Andrew Bonar Law as British prime minister.
  • 1998 Referendum on the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. In Northern Ireland over 70% voted in favour, whilst in the Republic of Ireland the referendum on the Agreement and on changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the constitution resulted in over 94% voting in favour.