April

• April 1, 1295 - Robert Bruce, The Great Competitor and grandfather of King Robert the Bruce, died.

• April 1, 1329 - From April onwards there are risings by the native Irish in various parts of Munster and Leinster, and reprisals against them. This will continue into 1330

• April 1, 1571 - Dumbarton Castle, under siege since January 1570, captured by Captain Thomas Crawford scaling the walls.

• April 1, 1716 - The first Doggett Coat and Badge sculling race takes place on the Thames; one of the oldest sporting fixtures in the British sporting calendar, it is founded by Thomas Doggett, an Irish actor and theatre manager

• April 1, 1730 - Samuel Boyse, MP for Bannow, dies as a result of a duel at the age of 33

• April 1, 1776 - Irish-born Edward Hand is appointed a Brigadier General in the Continental Army

• April 1, 1839 - St. Clair Mulholland, Union Civil War General and Medal of Honor winner, is born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim

• April 1, 1848 - Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, is born in Dublin, Ireland

• April 1, 1911 - The Titanic is launched in Belfast, Ireland

• April 1, 1919 - DeValera is elected president of the first Dáil Éireann

• April 1, 1935 - Death of Francis Arthur Fahy from Kinvara, Co Galway, who wrote the ballad Galway Bay

• April 1st - Hunt the Gowk - Scottish equivalent of April Fools Day (gowk is a cuckoo).

• April 2, 1593 - Marischal College, second University in Aberdeen, founded.

• April 2, 1902 - Premiere of Yeats Cathleen ni Houlihan starring Maud Gonne

• April 2, 1970 - Several days of rioting following Easter rising commemorations in Ireland end on this date

• April 3, 1401 - Murder of Duke of Rothesay, heir of Robert III.

• April 3, 1603 - Banning of the Clan MacGregor by act of James IV of Scotland

• April 3, 1793 - Dionysius Lardner, scientific writer and lecturer, is born in Dublin

• April 3, 1798 - Writer John Banim, who was praised by Yeats as a writer who tried to make one see life plainly, is born in Kilkenny

• April 3, 1807 - Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry, resigns as Commissioner of the Treasury (UK) over the issue of Catholic relief

• April 3, 1825 - Thomas DArcy McGee, Young Irelander, journalist and promoter of Canadian Federation, is born

• April 3, 1843 - Birth of James McCudden, WWI ace

• April 3, 1846 - Death of Michael Moran, aka Zozimus, balladeer and storyteller

• April 3, 1900 - Queen Victoria arrives at Kingstown for a three-day visit to Ireland

• April 4, 1373 - Parliament held by King Robert II at Scone, resolved that his son, the Earl of Carrick should succeed his father as King (as Robert III although he was baptised John).

• April 4, 1384 - John of Gaunt, son of Edward III attacks Scotland.

• April 4, 1406 - King Robert III died and James I ascended the throne (but was not crowned until 1424 as he was a prisoner of the English).

• April 4, 1617 - John Napier, inventor of logarithms, died in Edinburgh.

• April 4, 1689 - Scottish Parliament declared that James VII had forfeited the Scottish throne.

• April 4, 1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, Irish author of Deserted Village died.

• April 4, 1818 - Mayne Reid, pseudonym of Thomas Mayne; soldier, journalist, and writer of boys stories, is born in Ballyroney, Co. Down

• April 5, 1603 - King James VI leaves Edinburgh to travel to London.

• April 5, 1806 - William Dool Killen, ecclesiastical historian, is born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim

• April 5, 1818 - Bernardo OHiggins defeats the Spanish at the battle of Maipo River, Chile

• April 5, 1820 - Scottish Insurrection of 1820 begins

• April 5, 1830 - Birth at Lesmahagow of composer Alexander Muir, creator of Maple Leaf Forever.

• April 5, 1855 - The Dublin-Belfast railway line is completed

• April 5, 1869 - Birth in Dublin of Margaret Tennant, née Abraham; trade unionist and campaigner for improved working conditions

• April 5, 1900 - Spencer Tracy, the son of an Irish father, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• April 5, 1902 - Disaster at English-Scottish football match at Ibrox Stadium when part of the flooring collapsed, killing 20, and injuring 200.

• April 5, 1916 - Patrick Pearse denies rumors of a possible rising to Irish Volunteer Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill

• April 5, 1994 - Celebration of Tartan Day approved by the US Senate, in recognition of the monumental achievements and invaluable contributions made by Scottish Americans.

• April 6, 1282 - Welsh Parliament declares war on England.

• April 6, 1320 - Declaration of Arbroath, For we fight not for glory nor for riches nor for honor, but only and alone for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life.

• April 6, 1830 - James Augustine Healy, the first black Roman Catholic bishop in America, was born to an Irish planter and a slave on a plantation near Macon, Georgia

• April 6, 1889 - Actor Barry Macollum is born

• April 6, 1926 - Birth in Armagh of Ian Paisley, clergyman and Unionist politician[

• April 7, 1941 - A Luftwaffe bomb kills 13 people in Belfast. Ultimately, the city is devastated by air raids; 700 people are killed and 400 seriously injured in what becomes known as Belfasts Blitz.

• April 6, 1944 - Pay As You Earn Income Tax introduced for the first time in Scotland

• April 6, 1947 - Death of Henry Ford, automobile production pioneer and son of Irish immigrants

• April 7, 1381 - Second treaty of Guerande between Yann IV of Brittany and Charles VI of France recognizes Breton Independence.

• April 7, 1720 - The Declatory Act defines the right of the British Parliament to legislate for Ireland and denies the appellate jurisdiction of the Irish House of Lords

• April 7, 1801 - The trial of United Irishman, Napper Tandy, begins

• April 7, 1861 - A census shows the population to be 5,798,967. Only 393 Jews are recorded

• April 7, 1922 - Special Powers Act is introduced in Northern Ireland

• April 7, 1926 - Mussolinis Irish wife breaks his nose

• April 7, 1927 - The world’s first ever paid te

• April 8, 1719 - Birth of Viscount Edmond Pery, speaker of the House of Commons from March 1771 to September 1785

• April 8, 1805 - Sir William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician and astronomer, is born in Dublin

• April 8, 1816 - Sir Frederick Burton, painter, is born in Corofin, Co. Clare

• April 8, 1834 - Sir Jonah Barrington - the Irish Parliaments leading opponent of the Union with Britain and author of The Rise and Decline of the Irish Nation, dies

• April 8, 1861 - John George Adair evicts 244 tenants on his estate at Derryveagh, Co. Donegal

• April 8, 1867 - A. E. (George Russell), pivotal Irish Renaissance poet, painter, journalist and mystic, is born

• April 8, 1886 - Home Rule Bill introduced in English Parliament by Gladstone

• April 8, 1923 - Edward Mulhare is born in Co. Cork; he grew up to become an actor and starring roles include Capt. Daniel Gregg in the 1968 release of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

• April 8, 1923 - Gretta Bowen, artist known as the Irish Grandma Moses, died.

• April 9, 1139 - Second Treaty of Durham in which David I is recognised as King of an independent Scotland by King Stephen of England.

• April 9, 1346 - Death of Ralph de Ufford, justiciar

• April 9, 1747 - Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat was beheaded for High Treason, at the age of Eighty, on Tower Hill, the last person to be so in Britain.

• April 9, 1793 - The Relief Act grants Catholics parliamentary franchise and certain civil and military rights

• April 9, 1807 - After resigning as Commissioner of the Treasury (UK) over the issue of Catholic relief, Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry states on this date that their war effort alone merits concessions to Irish Catholics

• April 9, 1837 - Edward Hallaran Bennett, surgeon, is born in Cork

• April 9, 1916 - The merchant ship Aud leaves Germany for Ireland with arms for the Irish Republican Brotherhood

• April 10, 1346 - Following the death of Ralph de Ufford, Roger Darcy is appointed justiciar

• April 10, 1512 - King James V was born at Linlithgow Palace, son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor

• April 10, 1650 - Cromwells New Model Army is victorious at Macroom, Co. Cork

• April 10, 1662 - A charter of Charles II replaces Cromwells charter of Londonderry

• April 10, 1726 - Birth of William Brownlow, parliamentarian and Volunteer

• April 10, 1816 - Birth of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, nationalist, in Monaghan

• April 10, 1838 - Fr. Theobald Mathew, with the support of William Martin, a quaker, founds the total abstinence movement in Cork

• April 10, 1865 - Oliver Sheppard, sculptor, is born in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone

• April 10, 1866 - Campobello New Brunswick Irish-American Fenians attack Campobello Island from Eastport, Maine; they are persuaded to leave by British warships and US agents

• April 10, 1867 - George William Russell (pseudonym A. E. Russell); poet, painter, writer, economist and mystic, is born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh

• April 10, 1917 - Yann Ber Kalloch, a great Breton poet dies in the First World War

• April 10, 1918 - British Parliament proposes conscription in Ireland

• April 10, 1988 - Sandy Lyle becomes the first Scottish (and British) golfer to win the US Masters tournament.

• April 11, 1240 - Llywelyn the Great died.

• April 11, 1603 - In the revolt of the towns, or recusancy revolt, Catholic worship is re-established in Kilkenny and the main Munster towns between this date and 10 May, in the hope that James I will grant religious toleration; Mountjoy marches south and forces the towns

• April 11, 1700 - Richard Levinge, an Irish MP and later a prominent Tory, who had been committed by the English House of Commons to the Tower of London on 16 January for speaking ill of his fellow Commissioners of Forfeited Estates is released on this date

• April 11, 1700 - Scottish settlement in Darien, Panama, abandoned.

• April 11, 1839 - John Galt, author, traveller, founder of Guelph, Ontario, died.

• April 11, 1878 - Kathleen Daly Clarke, Irish patriot, is born

• April 11, 1882 - Battle of the Braes in which crofters in Skye fought 50 policemen during a dispute over land rights.

• April 12, 1606 - Union flag adopted as the flag of England, Wales and Scotland.

• April 12, 1654 - The Ordinance of Union comes into effect, uniting Ireland and Scotland with England

• April 12, 1700 - Abandonment of Scotlands only New World Colony, Caledonia, at Darien, Isthmus of Panama

• April 12, 1816 - Sir Charles Gavan Duffy is born in Co. Monaghan. He is self, educated as a journalist and founds the Nation, a nationalist weekly journal with Thomas Davis and John Dillon in 1842; ultimately, he emigrates to Australia and while determined to avoid politi

• April 12, 1824 - An Act establishes free trade in manufactured articles between Britain and Ireland

• April 12, 1837 - Birth in Galway of Patrick Ford, journalist in the USA and fund-raiser for Irish causes

• April 12, 1847 - The American relief ship, Jamestown, lands supplies in Cork for famine victims

• April 12, 1861 - The American Civil War begins; 150,000 Irishmen will serve with the Union forces, and 40,000 with the Confederacy

• April 12, 1889 - Patrick McGilligan, pro-Treaty nationalist and politician, is born in Coleraine, Co. Derry-Londonderry

• April 12, 1913 - Flyweight boxing champion Benny Lynch born.

• April 12, 1928 - Madeleine Smith, found not proven for murder in 1857, died peacefully in New York.

• April 12, 1945 - The Scottish National Party gained their first electoral victory when they won the by-election in Motherwell and Wishaw by a majority of 617 votes.

• April 13, 1203 - Arthur I of Brittany assassinated by his uncle, John of England.

• April 13, 1593 - Birth of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford-Viceroy of Ireland

• April 13, 1722 - Charles Leslie, Irish controversialist, dies

• April 13, 1728 - Samuel Molyneux, former MP for the University of Dublin and son of the writer William Molyneux, collapses in the British House of Commons and dies on this date, aged 38

• April 13, 1742 - Handels Messiah is performed for the first time, conducted by the composer, at Mr. Neales Great Musick Hall, Fishamble Street, Dublin, before an audience of 700

• April 13, 1780 - Alexander Mitchell, civil engineer and inventor, is born in Dublin

• April 13, 1825 - Thomas DArcy McGee, Nationalist, writer, and Canadian politician is born in Carlingford, Co. Louth

• April 13, 1829 - The Catholic Emancipation Act receives royal assent on this date; it permits Catholic men who can afford the poll tax to enter Parliament and hold civil and military offices

• April 13, 1906 - Birth of Samuel Beckett in Foxrock, Co. Dublin

• April 13, 1920 - Liam Cosgrave, Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach, is born

• April 13, 1951 - The Stone of Destiny, which had been removed from underneath the Coronation Chair by Scottish nationalists on 25 December 1950, was returned to Westminster Abbey after being found at Arbroath Abbey.

• April 13, 1996 - George Mackay Brown, poet and novelist, died.

• April 14, 1582 - University of Edinburgh founded.

• April 14, 1661 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Thomas Molyneux, scientist, archaeologist, physician and MP; first to assert that the Giants Causeway is a natural phenomenon

• April 14, 1736 - Porteous Riots in Edinburgh take place after the hanging of a smuggler by the City Guard led by Captain Porteous. The Guard killed several people in the ensuing riot.

• April 14, 1848 - In Dublin, the tricolor national flag of Ireland is presented to the public for the first time by Thomas Francis Meagher and the Young Ireland Party

• April 14, 1886 - Jack Beattie, socialist politician and trade unionist, is born in Belfast

• April 14, 1903 - Aberdeen Football Club was founded.

• April 14, 1905 - An Oige, Irish Youth Hostel Association is established. At the end of that year, it has just 215 members and 2 hostels. Today, An Óige has well over 30 youth hostels located throughout Ireland

• April 14, 1912 - The Titanic, the worlds largest ship built at Belfasts Harland and Wolfe, hits an iceberg

• April 14, 1917 - Birth of actress Valerie Hobson in Larne, Co. Antrim

• April 14, 1919 - Limerick Soviet commences general strike in protest against English militarism in Ireland; for three weeks in April, the citys Trades Council takes over the entire running of the city, publishes their own newspapers and issues their own currency. The Sov

• April 14, 1922 - Led by Rory OConnor, forces against the Anglo-Irish Treaty seize the Four Courts in Dublin. The provisional government later attacks the garrison, which starts the civil war

• April 15, 1642 - Ormond defeats insurgents at Kilrush, Co. Kildare

• April 15, 1642 - A Scottish army under Robert Munroe lands at Carrickfergus

• April 15, 1707 - Birth of Sir Henry Cavendish, MP and incompetent Teller of the Exchequer who left chaos in his wake

• April 15, 1710 - Physicist William Cullen born.

• April 15, 1784 - First unmanned balloon in Ireland is launched by Richard Crosbie

• April 15, 1799 - Prof Joseph Black chemist, researcher, teacher, first to identify carbon dioxide, died.

• April 15, 1840 - The Repeal Association is founded by Daniel OConnell

• April 15, 1848 - On Abbey Street in Dublin, the tricolor national flag of Ireland is presented to the public for the first time by Thomas Francis Meagher and the Young Ireland Party

• April 15, 1864 - The first Dublin Horse Show is held

• April 15, 1882 - Mary Swanzy, painter, is born in Dublin

• April 15, 1908 - Birth in Greenock, Scotland of Dennis Devlin, poet, translator and diplomat

• April 15, 1912 - The Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage with the loss of 1,513 souls, many of them Irish; 732 survive

• April 15, 1912 - The Aud arrives at Banna Strand, Co. Kerry, from Germany with 20,000 rifles for use of the Volunteers in the Easter Uprising

• April 15, 1924 - Actor and comedian Rikki Fulton born in Glasgow. He was best known for his double act with Jack Milroy as Francie and Josie and as the Rev I M Jolly in Scotch and Wry.

• April 15, 1961 - Scotland defeated 9-3 by England at Wembley, a record score for a football match between the two countries.

• April 16,1660 - Sir Hans Sloane, physician and naturalist, is born in Killyleagh, Co. Down

• April 16, 1701 - Some MPs and gentlemen of Co. Carlow petition against the return and residence of Mark Baggot, a violent Papist, in that county, of which he was titular High Sheriff in 1689

• April 16, 1746 - Charles Edward Stewart defeated at Battle of Culloden, Scotland

• April 16, 1752 - The first regular stage-coach service between Dublin and Belfast commences

• April 16, 1782 - Irish Parliament declares its independence from the English Parliament

• April 16, 1850 - Samuel Butcher, scholar, is born in Dublin

• April 16, 1871 - John Millington Synge, poet, playwright, and student of Irish language and culture, is born in Dublin

• April 16, 1953 - Royal yacht Britannia launched at John Browns shipyard, Clydebank.

• April 17, 1172 - Henry II returns to Britain on this date, having granted a charter to Dublin, the first granted to an Irish town

• April 17, 1341 - Edinburgh Castle taken from English - reversing English encroachments against independent Scotland.

• April 17, 1656 - William Molyneux, statesman, philosopher and scientist, is born in Dublin

• April 17, 1766 - James Craigs winning entry for development of Edinburgh New Town was approved.

• April 17, 1783 - The British Renunciation Act acknowledges the exclusive right of the Irish parliament and courts to make and administer laws for Ireland

• April 17, 1847 - The Educational Institute of Scotland was founded to promote sound learning and advance the interests of education in Scotland.

• April 17, 1895 - Scotlands first cremation at Glasgows Western Necropolis.

• April 17, 1909 - Riot by fans after replay of Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park.

• April 17, 1937 - A British record attendance at a football match was set when 149,547 watched Scotland play England at Hampden Park, Glasgow. Until 1950, this was a world record.

• April 17, 1969 - Everyone in Britain over the age of 18 was allowed to vote in parliamentary elections. The minimum age of 21 had been set in 1928.

• April 18, 1608 - Sir Cahir ODoherty of Inishowen revolts and sacks Derry

• April 18, 1689 - Siege of Derry begins

• April 18, 1690 - Five regiments of Irishmen sail for France and form the nucleus of Frances Irish Brigade

• April 18, 1768 - Daniel Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, is born in Arklow, Co. Wicklow

• April 18, 1778 - William Bunbury, MP for Co. Carlow, dies after being thrown from his horse

• April 18, 1792 - Langrishes Catholic Relief Act allows Catholics to practice law, and Protestants and Catholics to intermarry

• April 18, 1802 - Robert Patterson, naturalist, is born in Belfast

• April 18, 1817 - Michael Roberts, Irish mathematician and author of the theory of invariants, covariants and hypereliptic functions, is born in Cork

• April 18, 1870 - Birth in Dublin of Robert Tressell, born Noonan, author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

• April 18, 1874 - Remains of David Livingstone interred in Westminster Abbey.

• April 18, 1875 - Novelist Katherine Cecil Thurston,née Madden, is born in Cork

• April 18, 1930 - Victor Conlon, Irish activist, is born

• April 18, 1949 - Ireland declared a full republic and withdrawn from British Commonwealth.

• April 18, 1992 - Final performance at the Grassmarket, Edinburgh premises of the Traverse Theatre comp

• April 19, 1689 - The Statute of Kilkenny

• April 19, 1390 - Robert II, grandson of Robert the Bruce, died at Dundonald Castle.

• April 19, 1689 - Earl of Angus forms the Cameronians into a regiment.

• April 19, 1780 - Henry Grattan moves resolutions in favor of legislative independence in Irish House of Commons

• April 19, 1798 - The Earl of Clare begins a 3-day visit to Trinity College, Dublin to purge United Irishmen; 19 are expelled

• April 19, 1825 - Robert Byron (later Lord Byron) died at Missolinghi, Greece.

• April 19, 1875 - Charles Stewart Parnell is elected MP for Co. Meath

• April 19, 1905 - Aviator Jim Mollinson who married Amy Johnson, was born in Glasgow.

• April 20, 1176 - Strongbow, Anglo-Norman lord, dies in Dublin

• April 20, 1608 - James I grants a license to the Old Bushmills distillery in Co. Antrim which is thought to date from at least 1276, the oldest distillery in the world

• April 20, 1696 - The Guild of Brewers and Maltsters is founded in Dublin; Richard Forster, former MP for Swords and a Dublin brewer, is a member

• April 20, 1772 - William Lawless, surgeon, United Irishman and general in Napoleon Bonapartes revolutionary army, is born in Dublin

• April 20, 1791 - William Tone, soldier, author and son of Theobald Wolfe Tone is born in Dublin

• April 20, 1809 - James David Forbes, physicist who devised first form of seismograph, born.

• April 20, 1812 - Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry, presents the Irish Protestant petition for Catholic relief and calls for measures against grain scarcity in Ireland

• April 20, 1829 - Margaret Anna Cusack, Irish Revolutionary Feminist nun and scholar, born

• April 20, 1857 - Sir Thomas Myles, surgeon, is born in Limerick

• April 20, 1879 - Robert Lynd, essayist and critic, is born in Belfast

• April 20, 1896 - A demonstration of the cinématographe is held in Dublin at Dan Lowreys Star of Erin theatre of varieties, now the Olympia Theatre

• April 20, 1912 - Death of Dublin writer Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula

• April 20, 1934 - Scottish National Party founded with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party.

• April 22, 1671 - An English Navigation Act prohibits direct importation of sugar, tobacco and other produce from the colonies to Ireland; act expires in 1681 but is renewed in 1685 and extended in 1696

• April 21, 1703 - Edinburgh Fire Brigade, one of the first in Scotland, formed.

• April 21, 1738 - A Mr Lorimer, receiver of Sir Arthur Acheson (MP for Mullingar), is killed in a duel

• April 21, 1816 - Daughter of an Irish father, Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three Bronte Sisters and author of Jane Eyre, is born

• April 21, 1838 - John Muir, pioneering conservationist and founder of Yosemite National Park, born in Dunbar.

• April 21, 1871 - John Fitzpatrick, Labor leader and Irish nationalist is born in Athlone, Co. Westmeath

• April 21, 1874 - Walter Wilson, mechanical engineer, designer of cars and tanks, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin

• April 21, 1875 - Michael, The ORahilly, Irish Volunteers leader, is born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry

• April 21, 1879 - Birth of novelist Maurice Walsh in Listowel

• April 21, 1901 - Death of James Stephens, Kilkenny-born founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood

• April 21, 1907 - The nationalist groups, Cumman na nGaedheal and Dungannon Clubs, combine to form the Sinn Féin (Ourselves) League

• April 21, 1926 - The future Queen Elizabeth II born. Her parents at that time were the Duke and Duchess of York.

• April 22, 1365 - Lionel returns to England, leaving Ormond as his deputy

• April 22, 1717 - John Marshall, a successful attorney and father of Robert Marshall, a future MP for Clonmel and an executor of Hester Vanhomrigh (Vanessa), commits suicide in Boate Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

• April 22, 1834 - Daniel OConnell introduces debate on Repeal of Union bill in the House of Commons

• April 22, 1838 - The 703-ton Sirius, built in Leith and carrying 90 passengers, reached New York, the first ship to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam. Shortage of fuel resulted in spars and furniture being burned towards the end of the 18-day voyage. Brunels steams

• April 22, 1869 - Rev Patrick Bell , inventor of mechanical reaper, died.

• April 22, 1905 - Capt. William OShea, politician and accuser of Parnell, dies in Hove

• April 22, 1918 - A general strike takes place throughout Ireland against the British governments attempts to introduce conscription

• April 23, 1014 - The Dublin Norse and the king of Leinster, with Viking allies from overseas, are defeated by Brian Borus army at Clontarf. Brian, now an old man, is killed.

• April 23, 1107 - King Alexander I crowned

• April 23, 1124 - King Alexander I died at Stirling Castle, succeeded by David I.

• April 23, 1357 - Four days after the end of his campaign against the O'Tooles, O'Byrnes and O'Nolans in Leinster, justiciar Thomas Rokeby dies in Kilkea, Co. Kildare

• April 23, 1661 - Charles II crowned at Westminster Abbey.

• April 23, 1723 - Mervyn Archdall, antiquary, is born in Dublin

• April 23, 1727 - Actress George Anne Bellamy is born in Fingal, Co. Dublin. The illegitimate daughter of Lord Tyrawley, British ambassador at Lisbon, her mother marries a Captain Bellamy and the child receives the name George Anne, by mistake for Georgiana. She grows up t

• April 23, 1792 - Thomas Romney Robinson, astronomer and physicist, is born in Dublin

• April 23, 1805 - James Henthorn Todd, scholar, is born in Dublin

• April 23, 1914 - Cumann na mBan - Irish womens republican movement founded

• April 23, 1918 - The Military Service Act18 April threatens conscription for Ireland - there is a one-day general strike in protest (except in Ulster) on this date

• April 23, 1926 - Son of irish immigrants, J.P. Donleavy, author of The Ginger Man, is born in New York; he emigrates to Ireland during World War II and becomes an Irish citizen. He now lives in Westmeath

• April 23, 1945 - Blackout restrictions in Scotland lifted as World War II heads to a conclusion.

• April 23, 1949 - 15 year-old John Burgess wins 2 senior and 2 juvenile

• April 23, 1968 - The new 5p and 10p decimal coins were introduced in anticipation of decimalization (in 1971). They were used as one shilling and two shilling coins until then.

• April 24, 1558 - Mary, Queen of Scots, married French Dauphin, Francis Valois (he was aged 14) at Notre Dame in Paris.

• April 24, 1567 - First printed book ever published in Gaelic. It was Forms of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Catechism of the Christian Faith, translated from English by Bishop John Carsewell of the Isles.

• April 24, 1596 - Pacificatie of Ireland drawn

• April 24, 1633 - Warrant issued by the Privy Council to Sir John Hepburn to raise a regiment of 1,200 men to fight in the French service. The corps ultimately became the First Regiment of Foot, The Royal Scots.

• April 24, 1718 - Nathaniel Hone, portrait painter, is born in Dublin

• April 24, 1764 - Thomas Emmet, nationalist and brother of Robert Emmet, is born in Dublin

• April 24, 1825 - Novelist R M Ballantyne, who wrote 90 books, the best known of which was The Coral Island, was born in Edinburgh.

• April 24, 1857 - William Thompson, journalist, is born in Derry-Londonderry

• April 24, 1906 - Son of an Irish father, William Joyce aka Lord Haw-Haw; fascist and broadcaster of Nazi propaganda in World War II is born in Brooklyn, New York

• April 24, 1912 - Irish novelist, historian and politician, Justin McCarthy, dies

• April 24, 1913 - Large supply of guns from Germany are landed at Larne for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)

• April 24, 1916 - On Easter Monday, the Irish Volunteers and Citizen Army seize the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin and demand Irish sovereignty

• April 24, 1949 - Chocolate and sweets were no longer rationed, a measure introduced at the start of World War 2. However, demand was so great that it had to be re-introduced.

• April 25, 1058 - Malcolm III (Canmore) crowned.

• April 25, 1185 - Henry II sends his son John to Ireland; John lands at Waterford on this date to assert control over Hugh de Lacy, but he fails to achieve this. Henry still suspects that de Lacy wants to be king of Ireland

• April 25, 1284 - At Caernarfon - Edward I of England declares his day old son as the Prince of Wales and thus the first pretender to the Welsh throne

• April 25, 1681 - Count Redmond OHanlon (outlawed chief) is shot dead by his foster-brother

• April 25, 1707 - Thomas Erle, MP for Cork city, commands the centre at the Battle of Alamanza and loses his right hand on this date; David Dunbar, later MP for Blessington, is wounded and captured in the same battle, and John Upton, later MP for Co. Antrim, distinguishes

• April 25, 1819 - Vere Foster, philanthropist and educationist, is born in Copenhagen; he is the inventor of copy books used in schools throughout Ireland until the 1950s

• April 25, 1861 - William Ford, who crossed the Atlantic from Ireland by steerage, marries fellow country woman Mary OHern. Their son Henry Ford, pioneered the mass manufacturing of the automobile

• April 25, 1877 - Ralph Henry Byrne, architect, is born in Dublin

• April 25, 1918 - Irish Labour Party declares one-day strike in protest over conscription act Anglo-Irish agreements on defense, finance and trade (25 April) end the Economic War - the Treaty ports are ceded by Britain; the Irish Government pays £10 million to settle fi

• April 26, 1711 - Philosopher David Hume born.

• April 26, 1718 - Thomas St Lawrence, 13th Baron of Howth, receives £215 14s 1 1-2d for the expense he incurs in building a quay at Howth for landing coals for the lighthouse

• April 26, 1745 - On this date, John Allen (3rd Viscount Allen), former MP for Carysfort, kills a dragoon in a street brawl. ‘His Lordship was at a house in Eustace Street. At twelve in the night, three dragoons making a noise in the street, he threw up the window and thre

• April 26, 1756 - John Ponsonby is unanimously elected Speaker of the Irish parliament

• April 26, 1784 - Death of Nano Nagle, Gods Beggar, founder of the Order of the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary

• April 26, 1808 - Benjamin Burton, son of William Burton (former MP for Gowran and Co. Carlow) fractures his skull in a fall from his horse while hunting but, having apparently recovered, goes out again with the hounds and dies from brain fever

• April 26, 1826 - Robert Adamson, who collaborated with D O Hill to produce early portrait photography, born.

• April 26, 1881 - Robert Williams Buchanan - a poet, novelist and dramatist, diet

• April 26, 1895 - The trial of Oscar Wilde for homosexuality, then a crime, begins at the Old Bailey

• April 26, 1904 - Edward VII begins a visit to Ireland on this date

• April 26, 1916 - Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, writer, suffragist, pacifist and patriot, is apprehended while trying to stop Easter Rising looting and is later executed by the British without a trial

• April 26 1923 - Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon married the Duke of York at Westminster Abbey, the first Royal wedding to take place there since 1383. The couple later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

• April 27, 1296 - Scots defeated by Edward I at Battle of Dunbar.

• April 27, 1650 - Battle of Carbisdale, Montroses last battle.

• April 27, 1696 - Act for encouraging the linen manufacture of Ireland - Irish linen gains duty-free access to the British market on this date

• April 27, 1739 - Lord Barry of Santry is tried by his peers in the parliament house for the murder of his former servant Laughlin Murphy in August 1738. They unanimously find him guilty, but recommend him to the royal mercy. The Lord Lieutenant endorses this plea, and San

• April 27, 1794 - James Bruce, explorer and author of Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile died.

• April 27, 1827 - Mary King Ward, Irish naturalist and astronomer is born

• April 27, 1852 - Robert Lochore, Scots poet, died

• April 27, 1880 - The Royal University of Ireland is founded by charter

• April 27, 1891 - The first ever Irish musical comedy, The Irish Girl, written by Percy French and William Collisson, is staged at the Queen’s Theatre, Dublin

• April 27, 1904 - Cecil Day-Lewis, poet, novelist, critic, and Irelands poet laureate from 1968 to 1972, is born in Ballintogher, Co. Sligo

• April 28, 1197 - Rhys ap Gruffydd - King of South Wales, died.

• April 28, 1714 - Sir Wentworth Harman, MP for Lanesborough, coming in a dark night from Chapel-Izod, his coach overturning, tumbled down a precipice, and he dies in consequence of the wounds and bruises he received

• April 28, 1742 - Henry Dundas, powerful politician, known as Uncrowned King of Scotland, born.

• April 28, 1794 - Rev. William Jackson, agent of French revolutionary government, is arrested in Dublin

• April 28, 1864 - Birth of William Ellison, clergyman and the sixth director of the Armagh Observatory. On his appointment in 1918, he donates the original late nineteenth-century telescope to the Observatory, an 18-inch Newtonian reflector, made by the famous English tele

• April 28, 1875 - Teresa Kearney, better known as Mother Kevin, missionary and founder of Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa, is born in Knockenrahan, Co. Wicklow

• April 28, 1898 - Poet William Soutar born in Perth.

• April 28, 1912 - Encircled by larger English forces, Pearse and Connolly agree to ceasefire after being forced ot of the Dublin General Post Office by artillery fire.

• April 28, 1922 - Nicky Rackard, Wexford hurler, is born in Killane, Co. Wexford

• April 28, 1936 - The Daíl introduces a bill awarding pensions to the Connaught Rangers who mutinied in India in 1920

• April 29, 1653 - Birth of John Whally, necromancer and charlatan

• April 29, 1665 - Birth of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde and an ancestor of Princess Diana. The Dublin-born Irish general becomes one of the most powerful men in the Tory administration, governing England in the early part of the 18th century from 1710 to 1714

• April 29, 1680 - The first stone of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham is laid by the Duke of Ormonde

• April 29, 1758 - Wide Streets Commission for Dublin is appointed by the Irish Parliament

• April 29, 1769 - Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, soldier and statesman, is born in Dublin

• April 29, 1803 - Paul Cullen, prelate, is born in Prospect, Co. Kildare

• April 29, 1874 - Conal ORiordan (pseudonym F. Norris Connell), writer and theatre manager, is born in Dublin

• April 30, 1428 - Sir John Sutton, Lord Dudley, is appointed lieutenant for two years from this date; he has some success against the various rebels

• April 30, 1728 - Royal Bank invents first overdraft, Wm Hogg overdraws by £1,000 (£66,000 at todays money).

• April 30, 1795 - Rev. William Jackson of the United Irishmen returns from France, unaware that his traveling companion, John Cockayne, is a spy; Jackson is arrested and found guilty of high treason; he commits suicide in the dock by taking poison

• April 30, 1891 - An Comunn Gaidhealach was formally instituted as a vehicle for the preservation and development of the Gaelic language.

• April 30, 418 - Pelagius - champion of Celtic view of Christianity, banned by Roman political enemies in the Church.