DOMHNAIGH -- On November 10, 1896, Lady Mary Heath (born Sophie Catherine Pierce), pioneer aviator and athlete, was born in Newcastlewest, County Limerick. Sophie was brought up in Newcastlewest and Dublin, where she attended a boarding school. At the outbreak of World War I,…

DOMHNAIGH -- On October 20, 1881, the Irish National Land League was outlawed by the government. From the start (see below) the League had been a thorn in the side of government of British Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone. The passage of the second Land Act in 1818 failed to mollify many of the…

DOMHNAIGH -- On October 6, 1649 Owen Roe O'Neill (left), nephew of Hugh O'Neill and an officer in the Spanish army, died at Cloughoughter Castle on an island in Lough Oughter in County Cavan. Owen is thought to have been born in 1585, probably near Loughgall in County Armagh. He left Ireland…

DOMHNAIGH -- On September 8, 1798, Lord Charles Cornwallis and General Gerard Lake cornered French…

LUAIN -- On August 19, 1504, the battle of Knockdoe was fought northeast of Galway by the forces of Gerald Fitzgerald, 'The Great Earl,' and his Anglo-Irish allies, against those of his son-in-law, Ulick de Burgh, or Burke of Clanrickard, husband of his daughter, Eustacia.…

DOMHNAIGH -- On August 11, 1744, during the War of Austrian Succession, the Irish Brigade of Spain fought at the battle of Velletri, in Italy, against an Austrian army commanded by Irishman Field Marshal Count Maximillian Ulysses Browne, of Limerick. The surprise attack of Browne's…

MÁIRT -- On August 6, 1775, Daniel O'Connell , 'The Liberator,' one of the most influential men in Irish history was born near Cahirciveen, County Kerry. Raised by his uncle, Daniel learned the Irish language and Irish lore in Kerry. O'Connell did part of his schooling in France…

Down the hill from Francis O'Neill's homeplace of Tralibane, County Cork, is an 18th century stone bridge. If you closely read O'Neill's work, Tralibane bridge turns out to be personally very important to him, as a place and a tune. He wrote about the spot a number of times, particularly the "Pattern Dances" the community held there. No doubt this experience at a…

'The only position for women in the civil rights movements is prone.' 

     -- Stokely Carmichael, African American civil rights leader (1968)

'I have often said when Hillary Clinton…

DOMHNAIGH -- On July 21, 1861, at the battle of 1st Bull Run, the first major engagement of the American Civil War, the…

LUAIN -- On June 24, 1797, John Hughes, the first archbishop of New York, was born in Annaloghlan, County Tyrone. Hughes emigrated to the United States in 1817 and was ordained in Maryland in 1826. Appointed bishop in New York in 1842 and archbishop in 1850, Hughes was a fierce defender…

DOMHNAIGH -- On June 2, 1567, Shane "the Proud" O'Neill was murdered. The eldest son of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone, Shane became chief of the O'Neills in 1559. Shane alternately fought and negotiated with the English through the years. In 1562, Shane went to London to make peace…

DOMHNAIGH-- On May 26, 1706, Col. Charles O'Brien, 5th Viscount Clare, died from wounds suffered at the…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 5, 1981, Bobby Sands (right) died on hunger strike at Long Kesh prison. He had begun the strike on March 1, in…

DOMHNAIGH -- On April 28, 1916, as the rebels in Dublin were being squeezed harder and harder by the British and nearing the end of their resistance, outside the city the rebels were achieving a small victory. Led by Thomas Ashe, a group of Irish Volunteers ambushed a 40-man unit of the…

MÁIRT -- On April 23, 1014 the Battle of Clontarf, one of the most famous and important battles in Irish history, was fought just north of Dublin. It was a bloody stand-up battle, fought mainly with ax and sword, with Brian Boru's men prevailing. This battle would later enter Irish legend as the place where…

MÁIRT -- On April 1, 1776, Irish-born Edward Hand (right) was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Hand first came to the colonies as a surgeon's mate and later an ensign in the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of the British army. In 1774, he resigned from the army and settled…

LUAIN -- On March 25, 1846, Michael Davitt  (right), revolutionary and agrarian…

DOMHNAIGH -- On March 17, 1858, James Stephens founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Dublin at the same time as John O'Mahoney was founding the American branch of the revolutionary group. O'Mahoney gave the…

LUAIN -- On March 11, 1858, Irish revolutionary Thomas James Clarke was born of Irish parents on the Isle of Wight but the family moved to Dungannon, County Tyrone, shortly after that. His father, James Clarke, was a sergeant in the British Army. Thomas spent part of his early life in South Africa…