August

• August 1, 1166 - Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster and ally of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, is defeated in battle by Rory OConnor and forced to flee from Ireland

• August 1, 1535 - John Travers, Chancellor of St Patricks Cathedral, is executed for high treason at Oxmantown Green for conspiring with Lord Offaly

• August 1, 1545 - Birth of Andrew Melville, true father of Presbyterianism in Scotland.

• August 1, 1649 - Jones defeats Ormond at Rathmines, ending royalist hopes of taking Dublin

• August 1, 1714 - Following the death of Queen Anne, George I accedes to the throne. The second Irish parliament of Annes reign is thereby dissolved

• August 1, 1746 - Act of Proscription

• August 1, 18 BC - Druids of Gaul recognize Roman authority in exchange for religous toleration.

• August 1, 1800 - The Act of Union dissolves the Irish parliament and transfers legislative powers to Westminster

• August 1, 1822 - Irish Constabulary Act sets up county police forces and salaried magistracy

• August 1, 1851 - The Ecclesiastical Titles Act forbids Catholic bishops to assume ecclesiastical titles taken from any place in the United Kingdom

• August 1, 1872 - Gladstones first Land Act, decreeing that tenants who were evicted be compensated for improvements and that tenant who were evicted for any reason other than nonpayment of rent should also be compensated

• August 1, 1967 - University of Dundee which was incorporated into the University of St Andrews in, 1890, constituted as a separate university.

• August 2, 1800 - The last session of the Irish parliament ends

• August 2, 1820 - John Tyndall, born

• August 2, 1894 - Death duties introduced for the first time in Britain

• August 2, 1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, died in Nova Scotia

• August 2, 1932 - Peter O'Toole, born

• August 2, 939 - Alan II Barbetorte (Twisted Beard) of Brittany defeats Normans.

• August 3, 1379 - Duke Yann IV lands in Dinard

• August 3, 1460 - King James II killed by an exploding cannon at the siege of Roxburgh Castle.

• August 3, 1573 - Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange, executed

• August 3, 1823 - Thomas Francis Meagher, born

• August 3, 1857 - George F. FitzGerald, born

• August 3, 1916 - Roger Casement, is hanged

• August 4, 1654 - Birth in Midleton, Co. Cork of Thomas Brodrick, politician in Irish and British Houses of Commons who led the inquiry into the South Sea Bubble

• August 4, 1789 - French National Assembly votes to abolish remnants of Breton autonomy

• August 4, 1805 - Birth in Dublin of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician and astronomer

• August 4, 1846 - The Great Southern & Western Railway line between Dublin and Carlow opens

• August 4, 1870 - Birth of the entertainer Sir Harry Lauder.

• August 4, 1878 - Birth of Margaret Pearse, teacher, politician and sister of Padraic Pearse, in Dublin

• August 4, 1900 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, born.

• August 5, 1305 - William Wallace betrayed and captured by the English.

• August 5, 1388 - James, Earl Douglas, died out of sight of his army, in a bush, at Battle of Otterburn in which Scots defeat Henry Percy, (Hotspur) but with the loss of the Earl of Douglas.

• August 5, 1695 - The Scottish Parliament established a General Post Office.

• August 5, 1704 - Act of Security passed by the Scottish Parliament. This allowed Scotland to choose a successor to Queen Anne, other than the one elected by the English Parliament, if Scottish conditions were not met. This precipitated the demands in London for an Act of

• August 5, 1722 - Birth of William Fortescuem, politician and sportsman, who tried unsuccessfully in the 1760s to introduce a bill to preserve partridges and hares and to take away the lives of above half the dogs in the nation

• August 5, 1745 - Charles Edward Stuart lands at Borradale, Scotland

• August 5, 1888 - Philip Henry Sheridan, the son of Irish immigrants from Cavan, dies in Nonquit, Massachusetts. He became an officer in the Federal cavalry and is infamously credited with the phrase - The only good Indian is a dead one

• August 5, 1891 - The Land Purchase Act further facilitates tenants purchase of acreage from former landlords and establishes a board to purchase and redistribute land at a local level in the west

• August 5, 1901 - Peter OConnor sets long jump record at 24 11 3-4. He was born in Ashford, Co.Wicklow, but he lived and worked as a solicitor in Waterford City for most of his life. He won his first title in 1899 at the age of 25 years and his last in 1906 - but that w

• August 6, 1312 - John de Wogan ceases to be justiciar; Edmund le Botiller will act as justiciar for the present

• August 6, 1678 - First Glasgow-Edinburgh coach service began from White Horse Inn, Edinburgh.

• August 6, 1761 - Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, MP for Fore, and still a teenager, dies of wounds he received after fighting a duel with a Mr Reilly on July 30

• August 6, 1775 - Daniel OConnell, Irish patriot, is born in Cahirciveen, County Kerry

• August 6, 1820 - Donald Alexander Smithlater Lord Strathcona born in Forres. A pioneer of the Hudson Bay Company in the North-West, he later championed the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway across Canada and drove the last spike at Craigellachie, British Columbia

• August 6, 1853 - Sir William Ridgeway, classical scholar, is born in Ballydermot, Co. Offaly

• August 6, 1881 - Birth of Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin.

• August 6, 1920 - The Dáil orders the boycotting of Belfast unionist firms

• August 6, 1927 - Poet Richard Murphy is born

• August 7, 1798 - Examination by secret committee of MacNeven, OConnor, Neilson, Thomas Emmet, and Bond begins in the House of Lords

• August 7, 1832 - The Parliamentary Reform Act increases Irish seats from 100 to 105 and introduces ten-pound franchise in the boroughs - the electorate is increased to 1.2% of the population (county electorate 60,000; borough electorate 30,000). 1 Irish urban dweller in 26

• August 7, 1892 - Birth of Tom Falcon Hazel, WWI Ace, in Clifden, Co. Galway

• August 7, 1916 - ONeil of the Glen, the first production released by the Film Company of Ireland, premiers at Dublins Bohemian Theatre

• August 7, 1932 - Secret society Gwenn ha Du bombs the momument representing the union of Brittany with France at Rennes, Brittany

• August 8, 1296 - King Edward I removed to England the Stone of Destiny on which generations of Scottish kings had been crowned.

• August 8, 1503 - King James IV married Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England. The marriage was known as the Union of the Thistle and the Rose.

• August 8, 1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English, with some Spaniards slain upon reaching the coasts of Ireland and some survivors remaining

• August 8, 1694 - Birth of Francis Hutcheson, Presbyterian philosopher, in Co. Down

• August 8, 1781 - James Gandon moves from London to Dublin; the first stone of his Customs House is laid on this date

• August 8, 1923 - The Civic Guard is renamed the Garda Siochana

• August 8, 1946 - Former World flyweight boxing champion Benny Lynch died.

• August 8, 1981 - Thomas McElwee, Irish polictical prisoner, dies on hunger strike in Maze prison, Northern Ireland.

• August 9, 1690 - First siege of Limerick begins

• August 9, 1757 - Civil engineer Thomas Telford born.

• August 9, 1850 - Irish Tenant League is founded

• August 9, 1971 - Indefinite Internment Without Trial or Charge instituted by England in six counties of Northern Ireland.

• August 10, 1316 - Battle of Athenry, Irish rising in support of Edward Bruce

• August 10, 1460 - King James III crowned at Kelso Abbey.

• August 10, 1624 - Death of Esther Inglis, calligrapher and miniaturist.

• August 10, 1636 - The Annals of the Four Masters is completed

• August 10, 1719 - The House of Commons proposes that all unregistered priests in Ireland should be branded on the cheek. The plan is ultimately abandoned.

• August 10, 1848 - Birth in Clonakilty of William Hartnett, master of still life painting

• August 10, 1854 - A statutory provision is made for the establishment of a national gallery of paintings, sculpture and fine arts in Ireland

• August 10, 1857 - Death of John Wilson Croker, Galway-born politician and writer

• August 10, 1872 - Education (Scotland) Act passed, providing elementary education for all children.

• August 10, 1886 - Death of Joseph Medlicott Scriven from Seapatrick, Co. Down, who wrote the words for What A Friend We Have In Jesus

• August 10, 1890 - Death of journalist and republican John Boyle O’Reilly

• August 10, 1920 - Death of actor James O’Neill, in Kilkenny. Remembered for his portrayal of the Count of Monte Cristo, he was also the father of playwright Eugene O’Neill

• August 10, 1928 - Peter Barry, Fine Gael politician, is born in Co. Cork

• August 11, 1306 - Battle of Dalry, Robert I, attacked and defeated John MacDougall of Lorne, kinsman of John Comyn.

• August 11, 1560 - Latin Mass prohibited in Scotland by Parliament as Protestant faith gained the ascendancy.

• August 11, 1691 - A Jacobite force under Patrick Sarsfield, guided by Galloping Hogan, destroys a Williamite siege train at Ballyneety, hampering the siege of Limerick

• August 11, 1835 - Henry Grattan Guinness, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin

• August 11, 1892 - Author and poet C M Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) born at Langholm, Dumfriesshire.

• August 11, 1894 - Dan Breen, nationalist revolutionary and politician, is born near Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary

• August 11, 1927 - After the Free State general election on June 9, de Valera and Fianna Fáil enter the Dáil as the largest opposition party; the Cosgrave administration brings the Farmers Party into government (independent Irelands first coalition government, though not

• August 11, 1927 - The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is established to control the Shannon hydro-electric scheme and take over all existing projects for the electrification of Ireland

• August 12, 1332 - Battle of Dupplin near Perth in which Edward Balliol defeated the Regent, Earl of Mar.

• August 12, 1646 - Archbishop Giovanni Rinuccini, papal nuncio to the Irish Confederate Catholics, condemns their adherence to Ormonds peace terms for failing to fully recognize Catholicism

• August 12, 1652 - Act of Settlement 1652 - allows for the transplantation to Clare or Connacht of proprietors whose land is confiscated by Cromwell to meet promises to adventurers and soldiers; also known as the To Hell or Connacht Act

• August 12, 1689 - Relief of Derry, Ireland, a major Williamite victory

• August 12, 1796 - Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin receives its first prisoners

• August 12, 1804 - Birth of James Whiteside, orator and Lord Chief Justice, in Delgany, Co. Wicklow

• August 12, 1821 - George IV begins his visit to Ireland; he is received enthusiastically by OConnell and others

• August 12, 1822 - Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, commits suicide by cutting his throat with a penknife

• August 12, 1870 - Sir Hubert Gough, soldier and participant in Curragh mutiny of 1914, is born in Gurteen, Co. Waterford

• August 12, 1898 - Irish Local Government Act sets up elective county and district councils

• August 12, 1899 - First issue of James Connollys Workers Republic

• August 12, 1914 - Death of John Holland, from Liscannor, Co. Clare, designer of the first submarine

• August 12, 1920 - Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, arrested by British; he immediately goes on hunger strike

• August 12, 1922 - Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Fein, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage

• August 12, 1922 - Popular character actor Fulton McKay was born.

• August 13, 1689 - The Duke of Schomberg lands at Groomsport with his 10,000 strong Williamite army

• August 13, 1819 - Birth of Sir George Gabriel Stokes, mathematician and physicist, in Skreen, Co. Sligo

• August 13, 1826 - Rene T.H. Laennec, Breton inventor of the stethoscope- died.

• August 13, 1826 - Explorer Alexander Gordon Laing became the first Christian to reach Timbuctu, Africa.

• August 13, 1846 - Birth of Otto Jaffe in Hamburg. Otto was the first non-Protestant to hold the office of Lord Mayor of Belfast — he was Jewish

• August 13, 1881 - First issue of United Ireland, Parnellite weekly

• August 13, 1887 - Special committee appointed to investigate Parnells ties to Phoenix Park murders

• August 13, 1888 - Birth of John Logie Baird, developer of television.

• August 13, 1898 - The first issue of Workers’ Republic

• August 13, 1947 - The Health Act extends the powers of county councils and provides maternity care

• August 13, 1974 - Kate OBrien, Irish writer, dies

• August 14, 1390 - King Robert III crowned at the Augustinian abbey of Scone.

• August 14, 1598 - High ONeill defeats the English at the Battle of Yellow Ford

• August 14, 1778 - Gardiners Catholic Relief Act is enacted and grants rights of leasing and inheritance to those who have taken the oath of allegiance - the first rolling back of the penal laws

• August 14, 1784 - Nathaniel Hone, painter and member of the Royal Academy at the time of its founding in 1768, dies

• August 14, 1814 - Mary OConnell is born in Co. Limerick. Known as Sister Anthony, she serves in the American Civil War as a nurse

• August 14, 1827 - Foundation is laid for the George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. It was not completed until, 1836 due to lack of funds.

• August 14, 1850 - The Irish Franchise Act is enacted and has the effect of increasing the electorate from 45,000 to 164,000

• August 14, 1903 - The Land Purchase Act (Wyndham Act) is enacted and allows for entire estates to be purchased by the occupying tenantry, subsidized by the state

• August 14, 1907 - H. Montgomery Hyde, author and unionist MP, is born in Belfast

• August 14, 1964 - University of Strathclyde was constituted in Glasgow, based on the Royal College of Science and Technology.

• August 15, 1040 - Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle by Macbeth at Pitgavney.

• August 15, 1057 - MacBeth killed by Malcolm, son of Duncan I, at Lumphanan-Mar, Scotland.

• August 15, 1649 - Oliver Cromwell arrives in Ireland as Commander-in-Chief and Lord Lieutenant with an army of 20,000, a huge artillery train and a large navy

• August 15, 1715 - On this date, Frederick Hamilton, former MP for Donegal, writes to George I that although the county is well affected, The great scarcity of armes in ye country is beyond anything I could have imagind till about three days ago that I had occasion to sen

• August 15, 1755 - Molesworth Phillips, sailor and companion of Captain James Cook, is born in Swords, Co. Dublin

• August 15, 1771 - Novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott born.

• August 15, 1803 - Edmund Rice opens a school for poor boys in Waterford - precursor of the schools run by the Christian Brothers

• August 15, 1840 - Foundation stone for the Monument to Sir Walter Scott is laid in Princes Street Gardens.

• August 15, 1843 - Daniel OConnell holds meetings for Repeal of the Union, attended by hundreds of thousands, at Trim and the Hill of Tara

• August 15, 1856 - Birth at Holytown of John Keir Hardie, coal miner and founder of the Labour Party.

• August 15, 1873 - John J. Flanagan, born

• August 15, 1880 - Five people drown in Derrybeg, Co. Donegal when a chapel is flooded during Mass

• August 15, 1882 - Unveiling of OConnell monument in Dublin

• August 15, 1917 - Birth of Jack Lynch, Taoiseach, in Co. Cork

• August 15, 1919 - Birth of Benedict Kiely, novelist, short story-writer and critic, in Dromore, Co. Down

• August 15, 1963 - The last hanging in Scotland -, 21-year-old Henry Burnett who was executed at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan.

• August 16, 1532 - Treaty of Union between Brittany and France, guaranteeing autonomy for Brittany.

• August 16, 1766 - Birth of Carolina Oliphant (Lady Nairne), poet and author of many Jacobite songs, including Charlie is my Darling. Her songs are second only in popularity to Burns.

• August 16, 1793 - The Convention Act bans representative bodies set up to campaign for a change in the law, i.e. putative rivals to the parliament

• August 16, 1832 - An Act is passed which allows for tithe payments to be commuted

• August 16, 1878 - The Intermediate Education Act grants female students the right to participate in public examinations and to enter into careers and professions

• August 16, 1879 - National Land League of Mayo is founded

• August 16, 1882 - Charles Stewart Parnell becomes a Freeman of the city of Dublin

• August 16, 1892 - National Literary Society is founded

• August 16, 1920 - Court-martial of Terence MacSwiney, Irish Volunteer and Lord Mayor of Cork

• August 16, 1921 - The first Dáil Éireann is dissolved and the second Dáil convenes

• August 17, 1648 - The Battle of Preston (17 August ? 19 August 1648), fought largely at Walton-le-Dale near Preston in Lancashire, resulted in a victory by the troops of Oliver Cromwell over the Royalists and Scots commanded by Hamilton. The Parliamentarian victory presage

• August 17, 1741 - George MacKenzie, Scottish patron of books, died.

• August 17, 1779 - William Corbet, United Irishman and soldier, is born in Ballythomas, Co. Cork

• August 17, 1786 - Birth of Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and son of an Irishman

• August 17, 1791 - Birth of Richard Lalor Sheil, dramatist and politician; first Catholic privy councillor, in Drumdowney, Co. Kilkenny

• August 17, 1822 - Visit of George IV to Edinburgh began, orchestrated by Sir Walter Scott.

• August 17, 1846 - Lord John Russells Whig administration decides not to interfere with internal or export markets for food

• August 17, 1878 - Birth of Oliver St. John Gogarty, writer, and the model for the stately, plump Buck Mulligan in Joyces Ulysses

• August 17, 1922 - RIC is disbanded to be replaced by the Garda Síochána

• August 17, 1947 - First Edinburgh International Festival opened.

• August 18, 1579 - Death of James Fitzgerald, rebel leader

• August 18, 1728 - James Caulfeild, 4th Viscount and 1st Earl of Charlemont; soldier and nationalist, is born in Dublin

• August 18, 1746 - William Boyd of Kilmarnock, Scottish Jacobite leader, executed by the English

• August 18, 1814 - Birth of David Moriarty, Catholic Bishop of Kerry and opponent of nationalism, in Kilcarah, Co. Kerry

• August 18, 1966 - Tay Road Bridge opened.

• August 18, 1944 - Red Hackle wins Intercontinental Highland Gathering, Toronto, Canada, 1974.

• August 19, 1504 - After Ulick Burke of Clanricard seizes Galway city, Edward Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, goes to Connacht and defeats Burke at Knockdoe. This is the largest battle ever fought between Irishmen, with 10,000 participants and 2,000 fatalities; however, mo

• August 19, 1561 - Mary Queen of Scots lands at Leith on her return from France, after the death of her husband, King Francis II

• August 19, 1745 - Jacobite - standard raised at Glenfinna - marking the start of the 45 Rising.

• August 19, 1745 - Charles Edward Stuart, raises his standard at Glenfinnan, at the start of the 45 uprising.

• August 19, 1792 - Edward Hincks, orientalist, is born in Cork

• August 19, 1839 - Act passed for the improvement of navigation on the Shannon

• August 19, 1876 - The ship Catalpa arrives in U.S. with Irish Fenian prisoners rescued from Australia

• August 19, 1887 - Birth of poet Francis Ledwidge in Slane, Co. Meath

• August 19, 1932 - Scottish aviator Jim Mollinson landed after the first East-West solo flight of the Atlantic from Portmarnock, Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick.

• August 19, 1994 - Graham Obree, from Irvine in Ayrshire, broke the world record and became the world pursuit cycle champion over, 4,000 metres in Hamar, Norway.

• August 20, 1488 - Treaty of Sable, Charles VIII of France makes peace with Fransez II of Brittany.

• August 20, 1778 - Birth of Bernardo OHiggins, of Co. Meath origins, first Chilean head of state

• August 20, 1798 - Richard R. Madden - writer, historian, traveller and abolitionist - is born in Dublin

• August 20, 1818 - Birth in Dublin of scientist and Alpine traveller, John Ball

• August 20, 1860 - An expedition led by Robert OHara Burke, an Irish policeman, leaves Melbourne with the intention of making the first European crossing of Australia. They will make the crossing, but Burke and fellow-explorer, William Wills, will die on the return journey

• August 20, 1872 - Sectarian rioting in Belfast which began on August 15 continues through this date

• August 20, 1876 - The Irish Republican Brotherhood Supreme Council withdraws its support from the Home Rule movement

• August 20, 1880 - Death of Ellen Kean, one of the greatest actresses of her time

• August 20, 1897 - Ronald Ross, the first Scot to win a Nobel prize (in, 1902) dissected a mosquito and established the link with malaria.

• August 20, 1919 - The Irish Republican Army is established by the Dail Eireann

• August 20, 1927 - The Currency Act establishes a separate currency for the Irish Free State

• August 21, 1689 - Battle of Dunkeld when the newly formed Cameronians defended the town against, 3,000 Highlanders.

• August 21, 1754 - Birth of William Murdoch who pioneered the use of coal-gas lighting in, 1792 in partnership with James Watt and Mathew Boulton.

• August 21, 1791 - Birth of the word quiz (allegedly and disputed). Richard Daly, a theatre proprietor in Dublin, makes a bet that within 48 hours he can introduce a new word into the English language.

• August 21, 1855 - Last ever Donnybrook Fair, held in Dublin since 1204. The general uproar of the annual event results in its suspension

• August 21, 1861 - Birth in Belfast of Frederick Crawford, militant unionist and organizer of Larne gun-running

• August 21, 1879 - A Vision of the Virgin Mary is witnessed by 15 villagers in Knock, Co. Mayo

• August 21, 1882 - Birth in Gloucester of Arthur Luce, a professor of philosophy and fellow of Trinity College in Dublin for 65 years

• August 21, 1911 - Irish Womens Suffrage Federation is formed

• August 21, 1920 - Birth in Belfast of Rinty Monaghan, world flyweight boxing champion

• August 21, 1930 - Princess Margaret, daughter of the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, born at Glamis Castle. She was the first Royal princess born in Scotland for, 300 years and the last Royal birth to be witnessed by the Home Secretary (a tradition started by Qu

• August 21, 1937 - Birth of Donald Dewar, former Secretary of State for Scotland and First Minister in the new Scottish Parliament.

• August 21, 1981 - Michael Devine, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike in maze prison, Northern Ireland.

• August 22, 1138 - Battle of the Standard at Northallerton in which King David I was defeated by the English.

• August 22, 1282 - Devorgilla, Countess of Galloway founded Balliol College, Oxford. She was mother of John Balliol (who acceded to the Scottish throne in, 1292).

• August 22, 1567 - James Stewart, Earl of Moray and a half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots, proclaimed Regent of Scotland.

• August 22, 1582 - James VI abducted and taken to the Castle of Ruthven by the Earls of Mar and Gowrie the so-called Ruthven Raid.

• August 22, 1642 - King Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham, initiating a Civil War in England between the Royalists (also known as Cavaliers) and Parliament (Roundheads).

• August 22, 1742 - Birth of Walter Hussey (Burgh), lawyer, politician and orator

• August 22, 1791 - Theobald Wolfe Tone publishes An argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland

• August 22, 1798 - A French force of 1,019 men under General Humbert lands at Killala, Co. Mayo

• August 22, 1798 - Frenchman General Humbert proclaims at Ballina, Co. Mayo, Union, liberty, the Irish Republic

• August 22, 1846 - John Keegan Casey , Fenian, poet and writer of Rising of the Moon is born near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath

• August 22, 1847 - Birth of Sir Alexander Campbell MacKenzie, musician and composer.

• August 22, 1850 - First Catholic Synod in Ireland since the Middle Ages in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Paul Cullen summons the synod which runs from this date through September 10

• August 22, 1881 - Second Gladstone Land Act introduces the three Fs - fair rent, fixity of tenure, free sale - and sets up the Land Commission

• August 22, 1887 - The Land Act gives courts the power to revise and fix rents

• August 22, 1889 - Birth in Belfast of Sean McEntee, Fianna Fail politician

• August 22, 1908 - Birth in Dublin of Mervyn Wall, writer who wrote under the pseudonym of Eugene Welply

• August 22, 1912 - Birth of Irish American actor Gene Kelly

• August 22, 1918 - Dublin-born WWI ace Dennis Latimer shot down. A Bristol Fighter pilot and the highest scoring ace in 20 Squadron, Latimer shot down 28 enemy aircraft between March and August of 1918. On this date, he and his observer, Lieutenant T.C. Noel, were shot down

• August 22, 1920 - Violent clashes in Belfast; 30 people are killed between August 23 and August 31; Catholics are expelled from shipyards and engineering works

• August 22, 1922 - Michael Collins - Irish general - killed

• August 22, 1933 - The National Guard is banned

• August 22, 1960 - Beyond the Fringe, an influential satirical revue, opened in Edinburgh.

• August 23, 1170 - Strongbow, a henchman of Henry II, arrives in Waterford at the behest of Dermot McMurrough, an event described in the Annals of Ulster as he beginning of the woes of Ireland

• August 23, 1305 - William Wallace, Scottish patriot, hanged, disemboweled, beheaded, and quartered in London

• August 24, 1210 - King John sails from Dublin for England. He had landed at Waterford in June and campaigned in Leinster; after a short siege, he captures Carrickfergus, where the de Lacys have made a stand. On 28 July he captures William de Braose and confiscates his land

• August 24, 1482 - Berwick on Tweed finally ceded to England (Edward IV) after changing hands, 12 times.

• August 24, 1565 - Earl of Murrays rebellion against Mary Queen of Scots failed.

• August 24, 1747 - Birth in Dublin of William La Touche, founder of the Bank of Ireland

• August 24, 1798 - Generals Cornwallis and Lake leave Dublin. Lake travels fast by road with a small force. Cornwallis travels with the main force down the Grand Canal

• August 24, 1803 - James Napper Tandy, Irish patriot, dies in exile in France.

• August 25, 1170 - Richard de Clare (Strongbow) marries MacMurroughs daughter Aoife, as part of an agreement made two years earlier

• August 25, 1645 - Edward Worcester, Earl of Glamorgan; aristocrat and inventor, is sent to Ireland to raise troops for the king, and makes two secret treaties with the confederates on this date and on 20 December

• August 25, 1764 - James Hope, a member of the United Irishman, is born in Templepatrick, Co. Antrim

• August 25, 1769 - Henry Flood, MP for Callan, kills James Agar, MP for Tulsk, in a duel. The Flood and Agar families had disputed the representation of Callan for many years

• August 25, 1776 - Philosopher David Hume died.

• August 25, 1778 - Last Pagan sacrifice conducted publicly in the Celtic world, at Loch Maree, Scotland

• August 25, 1798 - Humbert takes Ballina after token resistance by Government forces

• August 25, 1803 - The British capture Robert Emmet

• August 25, 1819 - James Watt, developer of steam power, died.

• August 25, 1819 - Birth in Glasgow of Alan Pinkerton, founder of the Chicago-based detective agency which bears his name.

• August 25, 1863 - Eugene OGrowney, priest and Irish-language revivalist, is born in Ballyfallon, Co. Meath

• August 25, 1865 - Robert Lloyd Praeger, botanist and writer, is born in Holywood, Co. Down

• August 25, 1882 - Birth of Sean O Ceallaigh, Irelands second president

• August 25, 1921 - Birth in Belfast of Brian Moore who is best known for his novel The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

• August 25, 1930 - Actor Sean Connery born.

• August 25, 1931 - Ramsay MacDonald formed a National Government.

• August 25, 1942 - Prince George, the Duke of Kent, brother of King George VI, killed when his flying boat crashed into Eagles Rock in Caithness, apparently en route to Iceland.

• August 26, 1651 - Manx invasion of England turned back at Battle of Wigan.

• August 26, 1725 - Five Dublin children receive the first recorded smallpox innoculations in Ireland

• August 26, 1798 - Humber leaves Ballina bound for Castlebar. He takes an indirect route through the mountains

• August 26, 1875 - John Buchan, Novelist and statesman, born in Perth.

• August 26, 1904 - Lord Dunraven forms the Irish Reform Association to campaign for some devolution; the following December, unionists form a United Unionist Council to resist Dunravens plan

• August 26, 1913 - Also known as The Great Dublin Lockout, the Dublin Transport Strike, led by Jim Larkin and James Connolly, begins

• August 26, 1921 - Re-election of Éamon de Valera President of Dáil Éireann. He is proposed and seconded by Commandant Sean MacEoin and General Richard Mulcahy — both of whom later line up against him in the Civil War

• August 26, 1940 - German aircraft bomb a creamery at Campile, Co. Wexford; three women are killed

• August 27, 1695 - The second Irish parliament of William III is called in Dublin; Robert Rochfort is unanimously elected Speaker

• August 27, 1784 - First balloon ascent in Britain by James Tytler, Edinburgh.

• August 27, 1798 - Humbert appears outside Castlebar. The Government forces are deployed to cover the direct route and Humbert unexpectedly appears on their flank. Humbert attacks. French advance causes Militia to run. Government defence collapses and Humbert takes the town

• August 27, 1825 - African explorer William Blake born.

• August 27, 1870 - The Oceanic, a liner built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line, is launched

• August 27, 1908 - Birth of Niall Ó Dónaill, Irish-language scholar and lexicographer, in the Rosses, Co. Donegal

• August 27, 1920 - Birth of James Molyneaux, Ulster Unionist Party leader

• August 27, 1928 - The Galway Gaelic Theatre - afterwards called the Taibhdheare Theatre - opens with Micheál Mac Liammóirs production of Diarmuid agus Gráinne

• August 27, 1937 - The first traffic lights in the Free State are installed at the junction of Merrion Square and Clare Street

• August 28, 1170 - Richard de Clare marries Aoife Ní Mhurrachadha and sets a precedent for Norman rule in Ireland

• August 28, 1296 - Edward I of England held a parliament at Berwick to which he summoned all Scottish landholders to sign the Ragman Roll.

• August 28, 1710 - A board of trustees for linen manufacture is established

• August 28, 1741 - Earl of Wintoun died, aged, 100.

• August 28, 1788 - Sir Aubrey de Vere, poet, is born in Adare, Co. Limerick

• August 28, 1788 - James Digges La Touche, banker and philanthropist, is born in Dublin

• August 28, 1798 - Cornwallis reaches Athlone; Humbert entrenches in Castlebar

• August 28, 1814 - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, novelist and journalist, is born in Dublin

• August 28, 1815 - Mary Letitia Martin, Princess of Connemara, novelist, philanthropist and daughter of Humanity Dick Martin is born in Ballynahinch Castle, Co. Galway

• August 28, 1860 - Napiers and Deasys Land Acts are passed

• August 28, 1872 - The first horse drawn tram cars enter service in Belfast

• August 28, 1877 - Charles Stewart Parnell becomes president of Home Rule Confederation

• August 28, 1896 - Birth of Liam OFlaherty

• August 28, 1929 - Health And Efficiency becomes the very first publication banned by the Irish Free State

• August 28, 1969 - Welsh Office approves limited use of bilingual road signs in Wales

• August 29, 1729 - Birth of David La Touche, banking magnate and MP

• August 29, 1797 - Battle of Tranent in which a demonstration against conscription under the Militia Act was broken up by the Cinque Ports Dragoons and East Lothian Yeomanry with the death of, 12 participants.

• August 29, 1798 - Cornwallis reaches Tuam

• August 29, 1803 - Samuel Neilson, co-founder of the United Irishmen, dies

• August 29, 1844 - Death of Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Irish Christian Brothers Order

• August 29, 1871 - Birth of Jack B. Yeats, painter and author, in London

• August 29, 1890 - The Science and Art Museum and The National Library of Ireland open

• August 29, 1930 - Island of St Kilda evacuated.

• August 29, 1975 - Eamon DeValera, Irish statesman, died

• August 30, 1559 - Lord Sussex, is sworn in as Lord Deputy

• August 30, 1690 - First siege of Limerick ends

• August 30, 1708 - Penal Laws passed in 1695 restricting Catholics rights are strengthened for the second time

• August 30, 1709 - All registered Catholic priests in Ireland are required to renounce the claims of the Stuarts to the thrones of England and Ireland — only 33 out of 1,089 comply

• August 30, 1820 - James Wilson - Scottish patriot, died

• August 30, 1841 - The Cork Examiner, now The Irish Examiner, hits the streets for the first time

• August 30, 1855 - Birth of Feargus Edward O’Connor, Chartist leader

• August 30, 1870 - Birth of golf course designer Dr Alister Mackenzie; he was responsible for Augusta National and Cypress Point, among others.

• August 30, 1874 - Michael Banim, storywriter, dies; along with his brother and co-author John, he sought to create sympathetic, yet non-stereotypical Irish characters in his stories

• August 30, 1875 - National synod of Catholic bishops begins at Maynooth; they renew condemnation of Queens Colleges and condemn Trinity College

• August 30, 1901 - Scottish born Hubert Cecil Booth patented his design for a vacuum cleaner which sucked in the dust and retained it by means of a filter.

• August 30, 1911 - The Chamber of Commerce calls for Ireland to adopt Greenwich Mean Time — 25 minutes behind Irish Standard Time

• August 30, 1928 - William Trevor, pseudonym of William Trevor Cox, short-story writer and novelist, is born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork

• August 30, 1991 - Liz McColgan won the World Athletics Championship, 10,000 metres in Tokyo by a margin of, 20 seconds.

• August 31, 1644 - Second Battle of Lostwithiel, 1644, the last major victory for Charles I and the Royalist side in the English Civil War. Major defeat of Cromwellian army at Fowey, Cornwall by Cornish royalists.

• August 31, 1767 - Birth in Belfast of Henry Joy McCracken, United Irishman and leader of Ulster insurgents in 1798 rebellion

• August 31, 1803 - French Irish Legion organized in Brittany

• August 31, 1806 - Birth in Dublin of Charles Lever; fiction writer who was famous for his rendering of Trinity Colleges privileged atmosphere

• August 31, 1830 - William Fitzpatrick, biographer and historian, is born in Dublin