1.
1911 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1911 in Ireland. 5 January – Protestant church leaders condemn the Ne Temere Papal decree on mixed marriages,2 April – the national census is taken. 16 May – Cunarder SS Ivernia strikes a rock on entering Queenstown harbour,27 May – the first issue of the Irish Worker is published. The paper is the organ of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and is edited by James Larkin. 31 May – the RMS Titanics hull is launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and it is the largest ship afloat. Her sister RMS Olympic sails for Liverpool the same day to take up transatlantic service,22 June – as George V is crowned in London a Sinn Féin meeting at the Customs House in Dublin condemns Irish participation in the coronation ceremonies. 8–12 July – George V and Queen Mary make a 5-day royal visit to Dublin which will be the last to the city this century, on 8 July they officially open the College of Science in Merrion Square and on 10 July they visit St Patricks College, Maynooth. 9 August – a statue of Charles Stewart Parnell is hoisted onto its pedestal in Sackville Street,17 August – Dublin County Council votes in favour of using Greenwich Mean Time. The councillors hear that Irish time, being 25 minutes behind Greenwich, is a handicap for trade. 18 August – the Parliament Act removes the House of Lords power regarding budgets and restricts their power over other bills to a two-year suspensive veto and this makes Irish Home Rule a possibility in the future. 21 August – Irish Womens Suffrage Federation founded,26 August – Wexford foundry workers locked out for attempting to join the I. T. G. W. U. The lockout continues until February 1912,23 September –70,000 unionists and Orangemen march from Belfast to Craigavon House to protest against Home Rule. 1 October – the monument to Parnell is officially unveiled in Upper Sackville Street, full date unknown Strike of women workers at Jacobs biscuit factory in Dublin organised by Rosie Hackett. Royal Arch Purple is formed, the organisation is separate but closely linked to the Orange Institution, bellevue Pleasure Gardens, a public park and recreational area, is opened on the slopes of Cavehill, Belfast. 16 April – St. John Greer Ervines Mixed Marriage premieres at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. 16 December – the Imperial Copyright Act confirms the library of Trinity College, Dublin, the Kalem Company of New York shoots a film based on the play The Colleen Bawn on location in Ireland with Canadian Irish director Sidney Olcott. Publication of Patrick MacGills Songs of a Navvy, publication of Adam Lynns Ulster Scots dialect Random Rhymes frae Cullybackey. Publication of W. F. Marshalls poems Ulster Sails West, publication of Ave, the first of novelist George Moores three-volume autobiographical Hail and Farewell in the same year that he leaves Dublin to settle in London
2.
1910 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1910 in Ireland. 8 January - Sinéad Flanagan marries Éamon de Valera in Dublin,21 February - Irish Unionist members of the Westminster Parliament elect Sir Edward Carson as party leader, replacing Walter Long. 23 February - St Patricks College, Maynooth, becomes a college of the National University of Ireland. June - Bridget Dowling elopes to London with Alois Hitler, Jr. a kitchen porter at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, August - First passenger flight in Ulster, Harry Ferguson pilots Miss Rita Marr. 29 August - The Aero Club of Ireland holds its inaugural meeting at Leopardstown Racecourse. 11 September - English-born actor-aviator Robert Loraine makes a flight from Wales across the Irish Sea. 20 October - RMS Olympic is launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, at 45,324 gross tons, she is the largest ship afloat. Her sister ship RMS Titanic will be launched in sixteen months time, November - Reconstruction of the original city bridge over the River Suir in Waterford begins, it will be opened by John Redmond in 1913. 3 December - Sir Edward Carson and James Campbell are re-elected unopposed as Unionist Members of Parliament for Trinity College Dublin, non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland created by merger of the Presbytery of Antrim and Remonstrant Synod of Ulster. Lilian Bland builds and flies her own glider, the first built in Ireland, from Carnmoney Hill, soon afterwards fitting an engine. 13 January - Deirdre of the Sorrows by J. M. Synge is performed for the first time at the Abbey Theatre,5 May - Padraic Colums play Thomas Muskerry is premiered at the Abbey Theatre. 7 May - Annie Horniman withdraws financial support from the Abbey Theatre in protest at its refusal to close on the death of Edward VII the previous day and this is the first production by an American film studio to be shot outside the United States. September - Lord Dunsanys short story collection A Dreamers Tales is published,3 November - Foundation of The Kilfenora Céilí Band in Kilfenora, County Clare, the oldest céilí band in Ireland. Terence MacSwineys first play, The Last Warriors of Coole, is produced, ella Youngs first book of stories, Celtic Wonder Tales, is published with illustrations by Maud Gonne. 4 July - George Otto Simms, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin,1 August - Cathal Gannon, harpsichord maker and fortepiano restorer. 8 August - Bobby Kirk, ice hockey player,14 August - Eddie Ingram, cricketer. 1 November - Michael Lyons, Fine Gael TD and Senator,15 November - Geoffrey Toone, actor. 19 November - Manliff Barrington, motorcycle racer,26 November - Cyril Cusack, actor
3.
1909 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1909 in Ireland. 31 October - The Royal University of Ireland is dissolved,14 December - In the large hall of the National University in Dublin, Ernest Shackleton delivers a lecture entitled Nearest the South Pole. 31 December - Harry Ferguson becomes the first person to fly an aircraft in Ireland, mater Infirmorum Hospital in Belfast is officially recognised as a university teaching hospital. Commencement of fieldwork for the multidisciplinary Clare Island Survey, under the direction of Robert Lloyd Praeger,24 March - J. M. Synge, author and playwright, dies in Dublin aged 38 of Hodgkins disease. His only comedy The Tinkers Wedding has its première on 11 November at His Majestys Theatre in London,1 April - Lennox Robinsons first play, The Cross Roads, is performed at the Abbey Theatre of which he becomes manager later in the year. 22 July - Widowed Irish-born painter John Lavery marries Irish American painter Hazel Martyn,20 August - The famous tenor Enrico Caruso performs at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. 20 December - The first dedicated cinema in Ireland, the Volta Cinematograph, herbert Hughes collection of folk songs, Irish Country Songs, including She Moved Through the Fair with words largely composed by Padraic Colum, is published. Ella Youngs first work of Irish folklore, The Coming of Lugh, is published,30 January - George Crothers, cricketer. 1 February - Timothy McAuliffe, Labour Party politician,8 March - Francis MacManus, novelist. 3 April - Knox Cunningham, barrister, businessman and Ulster Unionist politician,19 April - Conel Hugh ODonel Alexander, cryptanalyst, chess player and chess writer. 24 April - Robert Farren, poet,30 April - F. E. McWilliam, sculptor. 4 June - Robert Dudley Edwards, historian,24 July - Geoffrey Bing, lawyer and Labour politician in UK.31 July - Martin White, Kilkenny hurler. 1 August - W. R. Rodgers, poet, essayist, book reviewer, radio broadcaster, scriptwriter, lecturer, teacher,4 October - Paddy Moore, soccer player. 7 October - Michael ONeill, nationalist politician and MP.20 October - James Patrick Scully,28 October - Francis Bacon, painter. 4 November - Sir Basil Goulding, 3rd Baronet, cricketer, squash player, jack Stanley Gibson, surgeon and writer. Gabriel Hayes, sculptor, designer of Irish coins, W. R. Rodgers, poet and writer. Cecilia Thackaberry, Presentation Sisters nun, killed in Nigeria performing relief work,10 January - John Conness, United States Senator from California from 1863 till 1869. 4 February - James Lynam Molloy, poet, songwriter and composer,24 March - William Lundon, Irish Parliamentary Party MP.24 March - John Millington Synge, dramatist, poet and writer
4.
1908 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1908 in Ireland. 17 February - Statue of Queen Victoria unveiled at Leinster House,19 April - The Guildhall, Londonderry, is largely destroyed by fire. 19 May - Work begins on a monument to Charles Stewart Parnell in Upper Sackville Street,31 July - Irish Universities Act receives Royal Assent in the Parliament of the UK. This ultimately leads to the establishment of the National University of Ireland,8 September - Padraic Pearse opens Scoil Eanna school for boys in Cullenswood House, Ranelagh. It would be moved to the Hermitage, Rathfarnham. 11 November - Irish Womens Franchise League is formed with Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington as secretary,29 December - Irish Transport Workers Union is formed with James Larkin as general secretary. January - Hugh Lane founds the Dublin City Gallery in Harcourt Street, yeats, produces its first publication, Poetry and Ireland, essays by W. B. Yeats and Lionel Johnson, the siblings sister Lily runs a workshop as part of Cuala Industries. Murray, Con OLeary and Daniel Corkery found the Cork Dramatic Society J. M. Synges only comedic play,1908 Summer Olympics, Ireland competes as a separate country in field hockey and polo, winning silver medals in both. 10 March - Patrick Shanahan, Fianna Fáil TD.27 April - Patrick Shea,10 June - Gerard Sweetman, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister. 20 July - Mad Dog Coll, born Uinseann Ó Colla,24 July - Roger McHugh, professor, author and playwright. 18 August - Sam English, soccer player,26 September - Hugh Delargy, Labour Party politician and MP.6 December - Con Cremin, diplomat. Niall Ó Dónaill, Irish language lexicographer and writer,17 January - Eyre Massey Shaw, Superintendent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. 3 February - Thomas Mellon, entrepreneur, lawyer, and judge,23 March - Frederick Falkiner, lawyer, judge and author. 10 June - John F. Finerty, U. S,6 July - Thomas William Moffett, scholar, educationalist and President of Queens College Galway. 5 August - Caesar Litton Falkiner, Irish Unionist Party politician, barrister, writer and historian
5.
1907 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1907 in Ireland. 2 January - A new system of rail cars running from Dublin Amiens Street station to Howth is introduced,5 January - The first motor show under the auspices of the Irish Automobile Club opens at the Royal Dublin Society. 6 January - The Sunday provisions of the new Licensing Act come into operation in Dublin, Sunday opening hours will be from 2pm to 5pm. 26 January - The first performance of J. M. Synges play The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin triggers a week of rioting,4 May - The Irish International Exhibition opens in Dublin. 7 May - Augustine Birrell introduces the Irish Councils Bill, rejected by a Nationalist convention on 21 May,6 July - The Crown Jewels of Ireland, valued at £50,000, are stolen from the safe in Dublin Castle. 10–11 July - State visit of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to visit the Irish International Exhibition in Dublin,26 July - A large rally is held in Belfast City Hall in support of the ongoing Dockers and Carters Strike. 4 September - An Irish Parliamentary Party meeting in the Mansion House,17 October - The Marconi transatlantic wireless telegraphy service between Galway and Canada is opened. Messages are exchanged without a hitch,9 November - The Irish International Exhibition ends after six months. An estimated 2.75 million people visited it, including a number from abroad. Early - 7-year-old Elizabeth Bowen moves with her mother from Ireland to the south of England,26 January - Large sections of the audience boo the opening performance of J. M. Synges The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre. 28 January - Another performance of The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre is interrupted by the audience who continue to boo, hiss,4 February - In a public debate at the Abbey Theatre, the poet W. B. Yeats denies trying to suppress audience distaste during a performance of The Playboy of the Western World, may - Publication of James Joyces poems Chamber Music. Publication of Padraic Colums poems Wild Earth, peadar Kearney and Patrick Heeney write A Soldiers Song, it will become Amhrán na bhFiann, the national anthem of the Republic of Ireland. Publication of County Cork-born retired Chicago chief of police Francis ONeills collection The Dance Music of Ireland,21 February - Colville Deverell, cricketer and politician. 15 May - John Galvin, Fianna Fáil TD.2 June - Dan OKeeffe,29 June - Paul ODwyer, lawyer and politician in the United States. 13 July - John David Gwynn, cricketer, montgomery Hyde, barrister, author and Ulster Unionist MP.14 September Janet McNeill, novelist and playwright Edel Quinn, lay missionary. 8 October - J. G. Devlin, actor,28 October - John Hewitt, poet. 1 November - Bill Loughery, cricketer,26 November - Theodore William Moody, historian
6.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
7.
1913 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1913 in Ireland. 13 January – Edward Carson founds the Ulster Volunteer Force by unifying several existing loyalist militias,30 January – at Westminster the House of Lords rejects the 3rd Home Rule Bill by 326 to 69. 10 February – John Redmond opens the replacement city bridge over the River Suir in Waterford that will be named after him,7 July – the Home Rule Bill is once again carried in the House of Commons, despite attempts by Bonar Law to obstruct it. 31 August – Dublin Lock-out, the Dublin Metropolitan Police kill one demonstrator,1 September – protest by locked-out workers lead to serious riots in Dublin. Shops are looted and attempts made to tear up tram lines,3 September – a meeting of 400 employers with William Martin Murphy pledges not to employ any persons who continue to be members of the Irish Transport & General Workers Union. 7 September – a large meeting in Sackville Street asserts the right of speech, trade union representation. 17 September In Newry, Edward Carson says that a Provisional Government will be established in Ulster if Home Rule is introduced, in Dublin, labour unrest grows with a march 5,000 through the city. 27 September –12,000 Ulster Volunteers parade at the Royal Ulster Agricultural Societys show grounds at Balmoral in protest at the Home Rule Bill,27 September – in Dublin the food ship, The Hare, arrives bringing forty tons of food raised by British trade unionists. 6 October – an official report on the lockout suggests that workers should be reinstated without having to give a not to join the ITGWU. 16 October –4,000 men and women march through Dublin in support of James Larkin,27 October – James Larkin of the ITGWU is sentenced to seven months in prison for seditious language. 1 November Kingstown trade unionist James Byrne, arrested for his part in the lockout,10 November – the Dublin Volunteer Corps enrolls over 2,000 men. They declare they will preserve the civil and religious liberties of Protestants outside Ulster in the event of Irish Home Rule,19 November – the Irish Citizen Army is founded by James Connolly to protect workers in the general lockout. 25 November – the pro-Home Rule Irish Volunteers are formed at a meeting attended by 4,000 men in Dublins Rotunda Rink. 28 November – Andrew Bonar Law addresses a huge unionist rally in the Theatre Royal in Dublin, declaring that if Home Rule is introduced Ulster will resist, george A. Birminghams comedy General John Regan is premièred in London and New York City. Winifred Mary Letts publishes Songs from Leinster, conal Holmes OConnell ORiordan produces his play Rope Enough. Pádraig Ó Siochfhradhas story An Baile S’Againne is published, katharine Tynans Irish Poems is published. Yeats poem September 1913 is published in The Irish Times during the Dublin Lock-out and his Poems Written in Discouragement is also published this year. English music hall comedian Arthur Lucan meets and marries 16-year-old actress Kitty McShane in Dublin,19 January – Matt OMahoney, international soccer player
8.
1914 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1914 in Ireland. 17 January – Edward Carson inspects a parade of the East Belfast Regiment of the Ulster Volunteers,20 February – the Fethard-on-Sea life-boat capsizes on service off the County Wexford coast, nine crew are lost. 26 February – HMHS Britannic, designed as the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner, is launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast,1 March – three outbreaks of foot and mouth disease are confirmed in County Cork. 9 March – the British Prime Minister proposes to allow the Ulster counties to hold a vote on whether or not to join a Home Rule parliament in Dublin, the government backs down and they are reinstated. 2 April – Cumann na mBan, the Irish republican womens paramilitary organisation, is formed in Dublin as an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers,6 April – the second reading of the Home Rule Bill is carried in Westminster. 25 May – the House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Irish Home Rule Bill,23 June–14 July – the Government of Ireland Bill passes through the House of Lords. It allows Ulster counties to vote on whether or not they want to come under Dublins jurisdiction, the wishes of Fermanagh and Tyrone are eventually ignored. 10 July – the Provisional Government of Ulster meets for the first time in the Ulster Hall and it vows to keep Ulster in trust for the King and the British constitution. 21 July – a conference is opened at Buckingham Palace by the King and it is hoped that unionists and nationalists attending will break the impasse over Home Rule. 24 July – the Buckingham Palace conference ends in failure, nationalists and Unionists present cannot agree in principle or detail. 26 July – Howth gun-running, Erskine Childers and his wife Molly sail into Howth in his yacht Asgard,4 August – World War I, Declaration of war by the United Kingdom on the German Empire. September – Ulster Division formed as a division of the British New Army from Ulster Volunteers,20 September – in a speech at Woodenbridge, County Wicklow, John Redmond calls on members of the Irish Volunteers to go wherever the firing line extends. The majority do so, fighting in the 10th and 16th Division alongside their counterparts from the 36th Division. 18 October – the British Royal Navys Grand Fleet takes shelter in Lough Swilly while Scapa Flow is secured against submarine attack. 27 October – World War I, Royal Navy super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious, is sunk off Tory Island, north-west of Ireland,5 December – the Irish Volunteers appoint a headquarters staff, with Eoin MacNeill as chief of staff. Welsh evangelist George Jeffreys establishes his first church in Belfast, predecessor of the Elim Pentecostal Church, February James Joyces semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man commences serialization in The Egoist. Lord Dunsanys collection Five Plays is published in London,4 February – a staging of George A. Birminghams comedy General John Regan at Westport Town Hall provokes a riot. June – James Joyces Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories depicting the Irish middle classes in, Terence MacSwineys contemporary play The Revolutionist is published
9.
1915 in Ireland
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March – construction of St Colmans Cathedral, Cobh, concludes with completion of the spire. 4 April –25,000 National Volunteers assemble at the Phoenix Park, John Redmond takes the salute from under the statue of Charles Stewart Parnell on Sackville Street. In Dublin the Irish Parliamentary Party approves John Redmonds decision not to join,29 July – Republicans, led by Patrick Pearse, take over the Gaelic League at its Dundalk conference. Douglas Hyde resigns as its President,1 August – ODonovan Rossa is buried at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, and Pearse delivers the graveside oration. 26 December – the Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council decides to stage an Easter Rising in 1916, the Elim Pentecostal Church is founded in Monaghan by Welsh evangelist George Jeffreys. 1 February – Helen Waddells first play, The Spoiled Buddha, is premiered at the Opera House, Belfast, francis Ledwidges poems Songs of the Fields published. James Stephens poems The Adventures of Seumas Beg, the Rocky Road to Dublin, the first dramatic film made in Ireland, Fun at Finglas Fair, is directed by F. J. McCormick. It is never released as all prints are destroyed in the Easter Rising of April 1916, Irish League Winners, Belfast Celtic Irish Cup Winners, Linfield 1–0 Belfast Celtic 11 January – Paddy Mayne, international rugby union footballer and decorated soldier. 13 January – Kit Ahern, Fianna Fáil TD.21 January – Andy OBrien,25 January – Liam Cunningham, Fianna Fáil TD.7 February – Mark Clinton, Fine Gael TD, Minister for Agriculture and MEP.15 February – Sam Kydd, actor. 15 March – Micho Russell, tin whistle player and collector of traditional music,9 April – Leonard Wibberley, author. 3 May – Walter Macken, novelist, dramatist and actor,17 May – Oisín Kelly, sculptor. 6 August – Tom OReilly, Cavan gaelic footballer and independent TD for Cavan 1944–194828 August – Patrick Hennessy,16 September – Eddie Filgate, Fianna Fáil TD.18 September – James Tully, Labour Party TD and Cabinet Minister. 7 November – Bill Hayes, soccer player,20 December – Noel Browne, politician, Cabinet Minister. Full date unknown John Graham, Irish Republican Army activist in the 1940s, George Harrison, member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and alleged gun-runner. 20 January – Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, businessman, politician,26 January – Michael Sullivan, physician, professor and politician in Canada. 28 January – David Dickson Rogers, politician in Ontario,14 February – Cornelius Coughlan, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1857 at Delhi, India. 24 April – Frederick William Hall, soldier, posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium,7 May – on board RMS Lusitania OBrien Butler, composer. Hugh Lane, established Dublins Municipal Gallery of Modern Art,29 June – Jeremiah ODonovan Rossa, Fenian leader
