Today in Irish History, November - World Cultures European

November 22
1773 - Lord John Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, is born in Dublin
1830 - Justin McCarthy, politician, novelist and historian, is born in Cork
1869 - Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, Fenian, contests and wins a Tipperary by-election in abstentia, but is declared ineligible as a convicted felon
1912 - Birth in Dublin of poet, dramatist and lawyer Donagh MacDonagh, son of Thomas MacDonagh
1919 - Birth of Máire Drumm, Irish Republican, in Newry, Co. Armagh
1963 - C. S. Lewis, Irish writer, dies
1963 - The first Roman Catholic president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, is assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1974 - Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Robert Hunter, Noel McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker, who become known as “The Birmingham Six” are charged in connection with pub bombings which took place earlier in the week. Nineteen people were killed.
They are found guilty in August 1975 of carrying out the bombings and sentenced to life imprisonment. But they are released after 16 years in jail when their convictions are quashed by the Court of Appeal in May 1991. The real bombers are never prosecuted and no group has ever admitted planting devices. Three detectives are charged with perjury and conspiracy in connection with the investigation, but their trial is halted in 1993 on the grounds of prejudicial media coverage. The six men finally agree undisclosed compensation settlements in June 2002 - more than 10 years after they are freed.
1998 - Security forces in Northern Ireland brace themselves as fears grow over a new bomb-blitz alert, the first since the Omagh massacre
1999 - The North’s politicians are given an ultimatum when the British Government warns it will pull the plug on the planned Stormont institutions if the IRA fails to decommission its arms
1999 - A timetable for the transfer of power to an inclusive Northern Ireland executive is outlined to the House of Commons
2000 - Blockades by taxi drivers brings the threat of serious confrontation with gardaí, mainline train services are paralysed by strike, and secondary schools are again closed
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams meets with Bertie Ahern on the forth coming Irish Budget
Photo Credit: Chris Bacon
November 23
1074 - Donatus (or Dunan), the first Bishop of Dublin, dies and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral. Patrick, his successor, is sent to Canterbury for consecration. (Some records say he died on May 6)
1702 - Birth of Sir Richard Cox, politician and pamphleteer
1819 - Birth in Waterford of Margaret Aylward, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Faith
1841 - Birth in Co. Cork of Richard Croker, Boss of Tammany Hall, New York
1845 - Charlotte Grace O'Brien, social reformer who campaigned against conditions on emigrant ships, is born
1865 - Birth of Herbert Trench, poet, dramatist and theatre producer, in Avonmore, Co. Cork
1867 - Fenians Michael Larkin, William Philip Allen, and Michael O'Brien - the "Manchester Martyrs" - are executed
1876 - Sir Richard Dawson Bates, unionist politician and minister in Northern Ireland is born in Belfast
1913 - Irish Citizen Army is founded in Dublin by James Larkin
1923 - Tomás Ó Fiaich, cardinal, historian and Catholic Primate of All Ireland, is born in Cullyhanna, Co. Armagh
1927 - Birth of journalist and BBC political editor, John Cole
1941 - Birth of poet, Derek Mahon, in Belfast
2000 - The Opel Corsa is named the Semperit Irish Car of the Year 2001 by the Irish Motoring Writers Association
2000 - Traffic in Dublin comes to a standstill as hundreds of taxi drivers protest against the decision to deregulate the industry
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Columbanus.
November 24
1713 - Lawrence Sterne, clergyman, humorist, and author of the experimental novel Tristram Shandy, is born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
1807 - Henry Blosse Lynch, soldier and explorer, is born in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo
1820 - Arthur French, MP for Co. Roscommon, dies 'of excessive fox-hunting'
1865 - Two weeks after being arrested, James Stephens escapes from Richmond prison, Dublin
1922 - Irish republican Erskine Childers is executed by the Free State government
1940 - Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, dies peacefully at his home on this date and is succeeded by the Minister of Finance John Andrews
1942 - Death of Peadar Kearney, writer of the Irish National Anthem, "A Soldier's Song"
1965 - The Government imposes an experimental 70mph speed limit on motorways
1972 - The RTÉ authority is replaced by the government after RTÉ broadcasts a radio interview with IRA leader Seán Mac Stiofáin
1982 - General election in the Republic leads to a Fine Gael-Labour coalition government
1998 - The national 24-hour stoppage by train drivers costs Dublin City centre traders about £1·5m in lost sales, with Irish Rail losing substantial revenue from more than 60,000 stranded travellers
1999 - Father Aengus Finucane, CSSp, former chief executive of Concern Worldwide, is conferred by the University of Limerick with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in recognition of his outstanding work with the world’s disadvantaged peoples
2002 - Ireland’s TDs and Senators, lose 3-2 to their Scottish counterparts in a friendly football match. The ‘Clash of the Celts’ inter-parliamentary match was held to highlight the Irish-Scottish bid to host the Euro 2008 football championships.
November 25
1713 - The second Irish parliament of Queen Anne sits from this date to 24 December. The Whig Alan Brodrick is elected Speaker for the second time, in place of John Forster, after a stormy contest with the government's Tory nominee, Sir Richard Levinge
1764 - Birth of Henry Sirr, Dublin town head of police
1784 - Napper Tandy asks for parliamentary reform for Ireland
1858 - John Smyth Crone, physician and editor, is born in Belfast
1906 - Birth in Belfast of Saidie Paterson, trade unionist and peace activist
1913 - The Irish Volunteers, a militant nationalist splinter of the Irish Parliamentary Party and nationalist version of the 18th-century Ulster Volunteers, is founded by Eoin MacNeill at a mass meeting at the Rotunda, Dublin
1947 - Birth of former Liverpool and Irish international footballer Steve Heighway
1999 - Mystery surrounds the identity of two human skeletons discovered on the site of the former Carnegie school in Killorglin, Co. Kerry. According to experts, the remains of a child and an adult are at least 100 years old and could date to medieval times
2002 - JP McManus, the man who never liked school, receives a doctorate from the University of Limerick. The reluctant schoolboy is now an internationally-renowned financier, racehorse owner and part-proprietor of soccer giants Manchester United
2002 - Hundreds of Irish tourists are left stranded in France as a series of transport strikes threaten to bring chaos to roads, rail, and air traffic.
2005 - James McLoughlin the former bishop of Galway, dies at the age of 76.
November 26
1624 - Birth in Dublin of John Stearne, founder and first president of the College of Physicians
1791 - First convicts from Ireland arrive in New South Wales, Australia
1852 - Aeneas Coffey, inventor of the Coffey Still, dies
1873 - Birth in Cork of Celtic scholar Osborn Joseph Bergin
1885 - Birth in Belfast of Thomas Andrews, chemist and physicist
1926 - Rugby player Karl Mullen is born in Courtown Harbour, Co. Wexford
1955 - Saor Uladh (Free Ulster) a splinter group of the IRA, attacks the police barracks in Rosslea, Co. Fermanagh
1972 - RTÉ Journalist Kevin O'Kelly is imprisoned for contempt of court arising out of an interview with then Provisional IRA chief Séan MacStiofáin. Mr O’Kelly had refused to identify his interviewee in court
1972: Eight armed men protesting against the imprisonment of IRA leader Sean MacStiofain try to rescue him from a Dublin hospital. Police foil the attempt
1998 - Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a historic address to the Houses of the Oireacthas.
November 27
784 - Fergil, the Geometer, Irish educator, dies
1612 - Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, is the first of 40 new boroughs to be incorporated
1774 - John Kyan, inventor, is born in Dublin
1857 - Birth in Clogher House, Kilmore, Co. Roscommon of Thomas Heazle Parke, surgeon, military officer and author. Educated at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, he serves with the British Army in Egypt during Arabi`s 1882 revolt and on the 1884-1885 Nile expedition, to relieve General Gorden in Khartoum. In 1887, he volunteers as Medical Officer on an expedition led by Henry Morten Stanley. This journey takes them right across the Congo. He writes a book "My personal experiences in Equatorial Africa " which becomes a bestseller. He dies suddenly in 1893 at the early age of 36 years. His body is brought back to Clogher House and he is buried with full military honours in Drumsna graveyard
1876 - Henry Robinson Allen, tenor and composer, dies
1878 - Birth of Sir William Orpen, painter, in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
1906 - Death of Michael Cusack, one of the founders of the GAA.
1953 - Playwright Eugene O'Neill dies
1963 - The Buchanan Committee warns of future chaos as traffic in cities multiplies
1975 - Guinness Book of Records co-founder and editor Ross McWhirter dies of wounds inflicted by Irish gunmen; an outspoken critic of the IRA, the BBC Records Breaker presenter had recently offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of IRA bombers.
November 28
1727 - William Connolly is unanimously re-elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons
1856 - Birth of Cardinal Patrick O'Donnell near Glenties, Co. Donegal
1863 - Foundation of the Fenian newspaper, "Irish People"; John O'Leary is the editor
1871 - The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, opens with a performance of She Stoops to Conquer
1899 -Irish units in the Boer army fight in the battle of Modder River
1905 The Irish political party Sinn Féin is founded in Dublin by Arthur Griffith
1920 - An entire patrol of 18 auxiliaries at Kilmichael, west Cork, is wiped out by a flying column under the command of General Tom Barry in what would be one of the most effective and bloody IRA ambushes of the war.
1934 - Birth of travel writer Fervla Murphy
1959 - Birth of Tour de France winner, Stephen Roche
1967 - All horse racing in Britain has been cancelled indefinitely to help prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease
1969 - Birth of Olympic medalist Sonia O'Sullivan in Cobh, Co. Cork
2008 - Mrs McAleese was welcomed at the hall by Orange Order County Grand Master for Cavan Henry Latimer, who she praised as a “good Orangeman” and a “good Irishman”. “Perhaps here in Brakey Orange Hall this morning it’s a good time and place to acknowledge how far we have come in the last 10 years, since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and to pledge that the journey of peace-building and peace-making will and must continue.” “We are fortunate to have been witnesses to things that seemed very unlikely just a short time ago,” said the President.
November 29
1330 - Edward III, on attaining his majority, executes Mortimer on this date and banishes his own mother, Isabella. This revolutionizes the political situation in Ireland and England
1521 - William Rokeby, Archbishop of Dublin, dies
1641 - The Ulster rebels defeat the government forces at Julianstown Bridge
1740 - Edward Sewell, a "couple-beggar" - i.e. a clergyman who conducts illegal marriages involving Catholics and Protestants - is hanged at Stephen's Green
1783 - Ulster Volunteers' parliamentary reform bill is rejected by the Irish Parliament at College Green
1895 - Death of Denny Lane, Young Irelander, author and poet
1898 - Birth of novelist C.S. Lewis in Belfast
1993 - The Conservative government has come under attack in the Commons over the revelations it has had secret contacts with the IRA
1998 - IRA leaders are on the brink of making a goodwill gesture which could kick-start the stalled North peace process
1999 - Pressure grows on the Provisional IRA to hand over weapons in the wake of Northern Ireland’s first power sharing Government in 25 years
2002 - Hurling in Cork is thrown into chaos after the county’s senior squad goes on strike.
November 30
1667 - Birth in Dublin of Jonathan Swift, poet, satirist and clergyman 1670 - Birth in Inishowen, Co. Donegal of John Toland, deist and philosopher
1864 - Cork-born Confederate General Patrick Cleburne is killed in command of his division at a battle in Franklin, Tennessee
1869 - Birth of James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn and first Governor of Northern Ireland
1900 - Death of Oscar Wilde in Paris
1909 - Lloyd George's People's Budget is rejected by the House of Lords, the first money bill to be rejected by Lords in 200 years. The Lords' loss of power to veto subsequent bills comes as good news to the Irish Nationalist Party because a third Home Rule Bill looked likely now that the Liberals are back in power and dependent on their support.
1930 - Death of Cork-born union organizer and human rights activist, Mary Harris - "Mother" Jones"
1933 - Birth of Eamon Campbell of the Dubliners
1960 - Catherina McKiernan, athlete, is born in Cornafean, Co. Cavan
1967 - Death of poet Patrick Kavanagh
1970 - Birth of Phil Babb, Irish soccer international
1995 - Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland on this date - the first serving US president to do so
2000 - Tributes are paid in the Supreme Court to former Chief Justice, Mr Justice Liam Hamilton, who passes on in the early morning hours on this date
2000 - With forecasters saying rainfalls in September, October and November are the highest in living memory, severe storms again lash the country. Munster and South Leinster get the worst of the weather as gales of up to 80 mph batter parts of Cork, Tipperary, Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford.

Sources:
The Celtic League
This organization publishes the annual Celtic Calendar. To order your own copy, visit: The Celtic League.
Irish Abroad
Somewhat sporadic, but they often highlight an important date in Irish history. To visit, please click: Irish Abroad.
The Wild geese
They update Irish history weekly. To visit their keydates page, please click: The Wild Geese.

We also refer to an assortment of references. Among them are the Books of Days - see right margin on this page.