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June 2, 2022

OTD: Daniel Pollen (2 June 1812 - 18 May 1896)

Daniel Pollen, the 9th Premier of New Zealand, was born in Ringsend in Dublin on the 2nd of June, 1812. Little is known of his early life until he arrived in New South Wales in Australia in the 1830s before moving on to Auckland, New Zealand in 1840…

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June 1, 2022

OTD: John Thomand O'Brien (24 June 1786 - 1 June 1861)

John Thomand O'Brien was born in Baltinglass, Wicklow on the 24th June 1786. He emigrated to Brazil in 1811 where he attempted to set up a number of businesses in Brazil and then Argentina. O'Brien's efforts in the commercial domain proved to be uns…

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May 31, 2022

OTD: Danny La Rue (26 July 1927 - 31 May 2009)

Dany La Rue (1927 -2008) was born Daniel Patrick Carroll on 26 July 1927 in Cork. He is best remembered as a theatrical artist who performed both in and out of drag. Here he is performing in 1976 in The Good Old Days, a BBC TV series which recreate…

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May 29, 2022

OTD: Birth of Thomas Moore - 28 May 1779

Poet, lyricist, and writer Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852) was born on Aungier Steet in Dublin City in 1779. He was born into a prosperous Catholic family and attended private school supplemented by private tutoring. In 1795, he entered Trinity College f…

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May 27, 2022

OTD: Francis Beaufort (1774 - 1857)

Francis Beaufort was born in Navan Meath on May 27, 1774. He served in the British Navy for over 50 years rising to rear admiral and appointed as Hydrophager of the Navy. He is best remember for the Beaufort Scale which relates wind speed to observe…

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May 26, 2022

OTD: The Battle of Tara Hill - 1798

Some 4,000 United Irishman gathered at the Hill of Tara in County Meath in late May of 1798. They camped on the hilltop with the intention of controlling the main Ulster to Dublin road and also likely occupied the site due to its cultural significan…

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May 25, 2022

OTD: Battle of Clontibret - 1595

The Battle of Clontibret, part of the Nine Years' War began on May 25, 1595. It would prove to be a two-day rolling engagement between the Irish forces of Hugh O'Neill (1550 - 1616) and the English troops of Henry Bagenal (1556 - 1598) Bagenal an…

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May 24, 2022

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington (1877 - 1946)

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington (1877 - 1946), suffragette, feminist, nationalist, and socialist was born in Kanturk Cork on 24 May 1877. On marrying her husband, Francis Skeffington, in 1903, they took each other's last names as a demonstration of equalit…

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May 23, 2022

William Drennan (1754 - 1820)

William Drennan (1754 - 1820) republican, polemicist, poet, and physician was born in Belfast on May 23, 1754. Inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment and the American and French revolutions, he was one of the primary movers in the United Irishma…

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May 22, 2022

Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852 - 1932)

Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852 - 1932) was born in Galway on March 15, 1852. Despite being born into an Anglo Irish family, Lady Gregory would have a profound nationalist impact on Ireland. While a gifted writer, Lady Gregory’s most pro…

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