March

• March 1, 1546 - George Wishart, a Protestant martyr, was burned at the stake in St Andrews.

• March 1, 1682 - The Advocates Library (known as the National Library of Scotland since 1925) opened by its founder, Sir George Mackenzie, the Lord Advocate, electorate not voting.

• March 1, 1703 - Birth of Philip Tisdall, politician and Attorney General noted for his lavish hospitality

• March 1, 1726 - Abraham Shackleton, a Quaker, opens a school at Ballitore, Co. Kildare. Edmund Burke will later be a pupil

• March 1, 1794 - Statutes of Dublin University amended to allow Catholics to take degrees

• March 1, 1848 - Augustus St. Guadens, Irish sculptor of Dublins Parnell monument, is born

• March 1st - St. Davids Day - The patron Saint of Wales

• March 2, 1316 - Birth of Robert II of Scotland ensures royal succession of Robert the Bruce

• March 2, 1718 - Birth of John Gore. Baron Annal, lawyer, politician and Chief Justice of the Kings Bench from1764 to 1784

• March 2, 1838 - Clydesdale Bank founded in Glasgow.

• March 22, 1841 - The Irish Emigrant Society is founded in New York

• March 2, 1871 - Gladstone gives his first speech in the House of Commons on Home Rule

• March 2, 1888 - Birth in Dublin of Cyril Bentham Falls, military historian and journalist

• March 2, 1990 - The Queen officially inaugurated Glasgows year as Cultural Capital of Europe.

• March 3, 1592 - A charter incorporates the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, near Dublin, later to become known as Trinity College

• March 3, 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Castle of Inverness

• March 3, 1766 - Four pirates are found guilty in Dublin of murdering on the high seas Captain Cochrane, Captain Glass and others, and of plundering and scuttling the Lord Sandwich; they are executed in St Stephens Green on this date and later hanged in chains near the L

• March 3, 1792 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect, died.

• March 3, 1831 - In the tithe war, 120 police move in to Graiguenamanagh to seize cattle in payment of the tithe

• March 3, 1847 - Alexander Graham Bell - Scottish Inventor of telephone - born

• March 4, 1461 - King Henry VI of England is deposed.

• March 4, 1704 - Penal law to prevent the further growth of popery restricts landholding rights for Catholics; gavelkind is reimposed on Catholics (unless the eldest son converts to Protestantism, in which case he inherits the whole); a sacramental test for public off

• March 4, 1756 - Sir Henry Raeburn, renowned for painting the portraits of many of the citizens of Edinburgh, born.

• March 4, 1771 - John Ponsonby resigns as Speaker of the Irish parliament for political reasons; Edmond Sexton Pery is elected to replace him

• March 4, 1778 - Robert Emmet, one of Irelands most famous revolutionaries, is born in Dublin

• March 4, 1794 - William Carleton, novelist, is born in Prillisk, Co. Tyrone

• March 4, 1800 - Dr. William Price - self styled Welsh Druid and Chartist who introduced cremation to the British Isles - born

• March 4, 1864 - Daniel Mannix, Archbishop of Melbourne and advocate of Irish independence, is born in Charleville, Co. Cork

• March 4, 1867 - Fenian national uprising begins in Ireland

• March 4,1888 - Grace Gifford Plunkett, Irish patriot, is born in Rathmines, Dublin

• March 4, 1890 - Forth Rail Bridge opened by Prince of Wales.

• March 4, 1902 - Ancient Order of Hibernians is revived at unity council

• March 4, 1916 - First Irish Race Convention is held in New York City. Serves as immediate call for the Easter Rebellion in Dublin

• March 4, 1936 - Jim Clark, Formula I World motor racing champion, born Fife.

• March 5, 1133 - King Henry II of England, born.

• March 5, 1323 - King David II Bruce of Scotland, born.

• March 5, 1389 - Thomas Mortimer is appointed justiciar, Ireland

• March 5, 1716 - Martin Bladen, soldier, politician, civil servant, gambler and writer, is given leave in the British House of Commons to bring in a bill to continue the privilege of exporting Irish linen cloth to British plantations without the duty payable by exporters

• March 5, 1790 - Flora MacDonald, who helped to save Prince Charles Edward Stewart during his flight after the defeat at the Battle of Culloden, died in Kingsburgh, Skye

• March 5, 1867 - Fenian Rising begins in Co. Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Tipperary

• March 5, 1911 - Birth in Portaferry, Co. Down of actor Joseph Tomelty

• March 5 1929 - David Dunbar Buick, founder of the Buick Manufacturing Company which later became General Motors, died in Detroit. He was born in Arbroath in 1854.

• March 5, 2005 - St. Iran’s Day Patron Saint of Cornwall Cornwalls national day

• March 6, 1457 - King James II decreed in an Act of Parliament that there should be regular target practice and military parades and that football and golf be utterly cried down and not used. This was the first time that the games had been mentioned in Scottish document

• March 6, 1725 - Last claimant to the Stuart throne - Henry I of Scotland - (Henry IX of England) - younger brother of Charles Edward born

• March 6, 1791 - John McHale, Archbishop of Tuam; nationalist campaigner and writer, is born in Trawler, Co. Mayo

• March 6, 1831 - Philip Sheridan, general on Federal side in American Civil War and Commander-in-Chief of the US army, is born in Clinkered, Co. Cava

• March 6, 1861 - Patrick McCall, songwriter, is born in Dublin

• March 6, 1918 - Death of John Redmond, Chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party

• March 6, 1923 - BBC Scotland founded.

• March 7, 1777 - Sir Philip Crampon, surgeon, is born in Dublin

• March 7, 1864 - Archbishop Paul Cullen issues a pastoral for St. Patricks Day denouncing Fenianism

• March 7, 1905 - Creation of the Blue-Burg, a Breton cultural organization.

• March 7, 1905 - Francis MacManus, novelist, is born

• March 7, 1920 - Ellis Dillon, novelist and childrens writer, is born in Galway

• March 7, 1921 - Limerick Mayor George Clancy is shot and killed in his home by disguised members of the Black and Tans

• March 7, 1923 - Eight republican prisoners are executed by use of a mine at Ball seedy, Co. Kerry

• March 7, 1936 - Freddie Gillen, amateur boxer, is born in Belfast

• March 7, 1937 - Tomas O Criomthain, Irish author of An t-Oileanach (The Islandman), died

• March 7, 1966 - Nelson Pillar blown up, Dublin

• March 7, 851 - Nominee, ruler of Brittany, died

• March 8, 1574 - Captain William Martin lays siege to Grace OMalley in Rockfleet castle

• March 8, 1594 - English expedition sets out from Galway to kill pirate queen, Grace OMalley

• March 8, 1700 - Year is uncertain, but it is on this date that Anne Bonny, née Cormac, pirate, is born in Co. Cork

• March 8, 1702 - William III dies when his horse stumbles on a molehill; Anne accedes to the throne of Britain and Ireland. She was the daughter of King James VII.

• March 8, 1742 - William Crotty, outlaw of the Comeragh mountains, is tried in Waterford on this date and later hanged, drawn and quartered

• March 8, 1770 - Mary Anne McCracken, radical and philanthropist, is born in Belfast

• March 8, 1834 - General John ONeill, Irish Fenian leader, is born

• March 8, 1854 - Birth in Co. Cork of Tom Horan, the greatest of the many top class Australian cricketers to be born in Ireland

• March 8, 1859 - Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows born in Edinburgh.

• March 8, 1899 - Novelist Eric Linklater, son of an Orkney master mariner, born in Wales.

• March 8, 1903 - Charles Gavan Duffy, Young Irelander, is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

• March 8, 1921 - Sir James Comyn, lawyer, is born in Dublin

• March 8, 1925 - Paddy Devlin, socialist politician, is born in Belfast

• March 8, 1942 - Mary MacSwiney, Irish patriot, dies

• March 9, 1566 - David Rizzio, Italian singer-secretary of Mary Stuart, murdered by Ruthven in the Palace of Holyrood.

• March 9, 1770 - Haggis was served on board Captain James Cooks ship Endeavour, anchored off New Zealand

• March 9, 1771 - Birth in Dublin of Thomas Reynolds, United Irishman whose information enables authorities to arrest Leinster Committee in 1798 1825. The Catholic Association is dissolved in accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act.

• March 9, 1776 - Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith published

• March 9, 1895 - Soprano Dame Isabella Baillie, opera star, born in Hawick.

• March 9, 1914 - Prime Minister Asquith offers a compromise on Home Rule electors in the North could vote to be excluded from an independent Ireland for six years

• March 9, 1932 - Éamon de Valera is elected President of the Executive Council of Ireland

• March 10, 1478 - John De La Pole, the Duke of Suffolk, is appointed lieutenant of Ireland for 20 years on this date, but does not take office

• March 10, 1615 - St John Ogilvie, a Banffshire-born Jesuit priest, was hanged for refusing to renounce the supremacy of the Pope. He was the only Roman Catholic martyr in Scotland and was canonized in 1976.

• March 10, 1653 - Sir Phelim ONeill is executed by Parliament forces in Dublin, after refusing to state that Charles I authorized the 1641 rebellion

• March 10, 1748 - John Playfair, clergyman, geologist, mathematician, born.

• March 10, 1810 - Birth in Belfast of Sir Samuel Ferguson, Celtic scholar and a poet best known for his rendering of Irish legends in English verse

• March 10, 1883 - Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha, writer under the pseudonym An Seabhac and promoter of the Irish language is born in Dingle, Co. Kerry

• March 10, 1888 - Birth in Dublin of William Joseph Shields, aka Barry Fitzgerald, actor

• March 10, 1894 - Ireland collects its first ever Triple Crown, defeating Wales in Belfast

• March 10, 1916 - Birth of James Heriot, author of All Creatures Great and Small

• March 10, 1932 - IRA prisoners in the Free State are released

• March 10, 1945 - Birth of Donal Lunny, the founder of Planxty, the Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts

• March 10, 1951 - Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, died.

• March 10, 560 - St Kessog Day - the patron saint of Scotland prior to the adoption of St Andrew

• March 11, 1605 - A proclamation declares all persons in the realm to be free, natural and immediate subjects of the king and not subjects of any lord or chief

• March 11, 1747 - Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams), Welsh Poet, antiquarian, druid, founder of the modern Eisteddfod, born

• March 11, 1812 - Composer William Vincent Wallace, best known for his opera, Maritana, is born in Co. Waterford

• March 11, 1858 - Irish revolutionary Thomas James Clarke is born of Irish parents on the Isle of Wight

• March 11, 1880 - On the last day of his tour of the United States, Parnell launches the Irish National Land League of the USA

• March 11, 1926 - Eamon de Valera resigns as head of Sinn Féin

• March 11, 1954 - Margaret (Gretta) Cousins, Irish womens rights activist, died.

• March 12, 1286 - Queen Margaret, Maid of Norway (daughter of King Erik II) crowned.

• March 12, 1295 - Richard de Burgh is released by the council in parliament at Kilkenny

• March 12, 1685 - George Berkeley - Irish philosopher and Anglican bishop- born

• March 12, 1689 - James II lands at Kinsale and proceeds to Dublin

• March 12, 1708 - French Jacobite invasion of Scotland aborts landing at Firth of Forth

• March 12, 1798 - Having been betrayed by Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster Directory of United Irishmen leaders is arrested

• March 12, 1832 - Birth of Capt. Charles Boycott, despised English estate manager in Ireland, from whose name the word boycott is taken

• March 12, 1873 - Gladstones Irish University Bill is defeated

• March 12, 1875 - After being barred as an undischarged felon from taking his seat as elected MP for Tipperary, John Mitchel is re-elected on this date. He dies eight days later

• March 12, 1937 - Blitz of Clydebank by German Luftwaffe

• March 13, 1708 - French fleet abandons attempted Jacobite invasion of Scotland

• March 13, 1784 - Reform Bill in Irish House of Commons

• March 13, 1791 - Thomas Paines The Rights of Man (part 1) a reply to Burkes Reflections on the Revolution in France and a major influence on Irish radicals is published

• March 13, 1865 - Birth of Patrick Nally in Balla, Co Mayo. An athlete, he was a major inspiration in the founding the GAA in 1884 by Michael Cusack. The Nally stand in Croke Park is named after him

• March 13, 1873 - Scottish Football Association founded. The initial clubs were Queens Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Third Lanark, Eastern, Granville and Kilmarnock.

• March 13, 1922 - George Bernard Shaws Back to Methusaleh V premieres in New York

• March 13, 1947 - The classic Lerner and Loewe, Broadway musical Brigadoon opened at the Ziegfeld in New York.

• March 13, 1973 - Scotland played Brazil to mark centenary of Scottish Football Association.

• March 13, 1974 - Billy Fox, Prostestant Irish Nationalist senator from Monaghan, assassinated

• March 13, 1996 - Sixteen primary school children and their teacher murdered in Dunblane.

• March 14, 1689 - Convention of Estates without royal representation meets in Edinburgh

• March 14, 1705 - An English act permits direct export of Irish linen to American colonies

• March 14, 1732 - Birth of Sackville Hamilton, politician and civil servant

• March 14, 1738 - John Beresford, unionist politician, is born in Cork

• March 14, 1822 - Richard Boyle, civil engineer, is born in Dublin

• March 14, 1894 - William Earle Moley Molesworth, WWI Ace, is born

• March 14, 1902 - The Irish Association of Women Graduates and Candidate-Graduates, an organization open to those interested in promoting womens education, is launched

• March 14, 1952 - First television program broadcast in Scotland.

• March 15, 1672 - The first Declaration of indulgence; suspending penal laws against Catholics and dissenters is issued by Charles II

• March 15,1689 - Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh founded Advocates Library equipped with works written by lawyers.

• March 15, 1764 - Charles OConor, antiquary and historian, is born in Belanagare, Co. Roscommon

• March 15, 1773 - Oliver Goldsmiths She Stoops to Conquer is performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London

• March 15, 1774 - Isaac Weld, author, is born in Dublin

• March 15, 1813 - In the British House of Commons, Sir Eyre Coote (the younger), MP for Ballynakill and Maryborough, proposes the abolition of flogging in the army

• March 15, 1852 - Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (née Persse), playwright, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, is born in Roxborough, Co. Galway

• March 15, 1878 - Sir Robert McCarrison, medical scientist and honorary physician to King George V from 1928 to 1935 is born in Portadown, Co. Armagh

• March 15, 1879 - F. Jaffrennou (Taldir), Breton writer, born

• March 15, 1886 - Low-level platforms at Glasgows Queen Street Station opened.

• March 15, 1904 - Birth of George Brent, actor, in Dublin

• March 15, 1921 - First women jurors in Glasgow Sheriff Court.

• March 16, 1309 - King Robert the Bruce convened his first parliament, at St Andrews.

• March 16, 1618 - Richard Archdekin, Jesuit, educator and missioner to Ireland, is born in Louvain

• March 16, 1640 - Charles Is second Irish parliament meets

• March 16, 1690 - French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland

• March 16, 1789 - Francis Rawdon Chesney, soldier and explorer, is born in Annalong, Co. Down

• March 16, 1815 - William Reeves, Church of Ireland bishop and antiquary, is born in Charleville, Co. Cork

• March 16, 1828 - Patrick Cleburne, American Civil War Confederate General, is born in Cobh, Co. Cork

• March 16, 1839 - John B. Yeats, painter and father of William Butler and Jack B. Yeats, is born in Tullylish, Co. Down

• March 16, 1864 - Richard Roberts Welsh inventor and developer of textile machinery died

• March 16, 1935 - John J R Macleod, Scottish-Canadian physiologist and winner of Nobel Prize (in 1923) died.

• March 17, 1328 - Treaty of Edinburgh between King Robert I and Edward III which recognised Scotlands independence, ending the 30 years of Wars of Independence.

• March 17, 1473 - King James IV born.

• March 17, 1746 - Lord George Murray and Cluny Macpherson (chief of the clan) fell upon the Campbell militia posts in the Braes of Atholl, at the head of Strathtay, and wiped them out. A brilliant feat of arms, it aroused a blaze of Jacobite optimism.

• March 17, 1777 - Patrick Brontë, originally Brunty; clergyman and father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, is born in Ballynaskeagh, Co. Down

• March 17, 1794 - Sir Thomas Maclear, astronomer, is born in Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone

• March 17, 1800 - Charles James Patrick Mahon, high-ranking soldier in Russia, Turkey, South America and France; duellist; & politician, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare

• March 17, 1820 - Patrick Edward Connor, Union General, is born in Co. Kerry

• March 17, 1852 - Patrick Sheehan, Canon Sheehan, priest and writer, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork

• March 17, 1853 - The Ossianic Society is founded to preserve and publish manuscripts of the Fionn cycle

• March 17, 1858 - James Stephens founds the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Dublin

• March 17, 1864 - Charlotte Milligan Fox, collector of folk music, is born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone

• March 17, 1877 - Michael OHanrahan, author and revolutionary, is born in New Ross, Co. Wexford

• March 17, 1889 - Harry Clarke, artist, known chiefly for stained-glass work, is born in Dublin

• March 17, 1899 - First issue of Gaelic Leagues An Claidheamh Soluis is published

• March 17, 1903 - St Patricks Day becomes a bank holiday

• March 17, 1951 - The cartoon character Dennis the Menace appeared for the first time in the Beano comic.

• March 17, 1969 - Longhope lifeboat sank in the Pentland Firth with the loss of eight men on board, all from the small island of Hoy.

• March 17, 1984 - Scotland won Rugby Grand Slam at Murrayfield the first time in 59 years.

• March 17, 1990 - Scotland beat England 13-7 at Murrayfield to win the rugby Grand Slam.

• March 17th - Happy St. Patricks Day - Patron Saint of Ireland and Mann

• March 18, 1258 - Scottish earls pledge common cause with Llywelyn ap Gruffudd against the English

• March 18, 1689 - Earl of Leven raises a Border regiment to hold Edinburgh against the Jacobites. It later becomes the Kings Own Scottish Borderers.

• March 18, 1736 - The Irish House of Commons condemns tithe of agistment on pasturage for dry and barren cattle

• March 18, 1800 - Harriet Smithson, actress and wife of the composer Hector Berlioz, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare

• March 18, 1801 - Ambrose OHiggins, Viceroy of Peru, dies in Lima

• March 18, 1825 - In accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act, the Grand Orange Lodge advises its members that further meetings would be in violation of the law

• March 18, 1857 - William Henry Playfair, architect, died.

• March 18, 1932 - The order outlawing the IRA is allowed to lapse

• March 18th - Sheelahs Day

• March 19, 1286 - Alexander III of Scotland died after crossing the river Forth to Fife at Queensferry.

• March 19, 1641 - Foundation stone of Hutchesons Grammar School laid by Thomas Hutcheson as a residential school for the poor in Glasgow.

• March 19, 1642 - Charles Is Adventurers Act offers confiscated Irish land in return for investment in the reconquest

• March 19, 1721 - Novelist Tobias Smollett born. Books included The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.

• March 19, 1813 - David Livingstone, missionary and explorer, born Blantyre.

• March 19, 1821 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Richard Francis Burton, adventurer, writer, swordsman, scholar and explorer

• March 19, 1824 - William Allingham, poet and diarist, is born in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

• March 19, 1861 - Joseph MacRory, Catholic Primate of all Ireland and cardinal, is born in Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone

• March 19, 1920 - Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork for Sinn Féin and inventor of the famous Flying Column, is killed by Black & Tans disguised as policemen. The inquest into his death returns a verdict of willful murder against the RIC, and indicts Lloyd George and th

• March 19, 1921 - Tom Barry and the West Cork Flying Column routs a superior force from the Essex Regiment at Crossbarry

• March 20, 1141 - Malcolm IV, King of Scotland, was born

• March 20, 1724 - Duncan Bain Macintyre, Scottish Gaelic poet, born

• March 20, 1729 - John Law, financier and founder of New Orleans, died aged about 57.

• March 20, 1761 - Robert Simms, a founder of the United Irishmen and proprietor of the Northern Star, is born

• March 20, 1780 - The firm of James Watt and Co was established to manufacture the worlds first duplicating machines.

• March 20, 1780 - Miles Byrne, United Irishman and officer in Napoleons Irish Legion, is born in Monaseed, Co. Wexford

• March 20, 1814 - Birth of Dr John Goodsir in Anstruther, Fife, who showed in 1842 that bacteria was the cause of disease and that it could be eliminated with selective poisons 18 years before Louis Pasteur, who is usually credited with the discovery.

• March 20, 1884 - Tomás MacCurtain, revolutionary and Lord Mayor of Cork is born in Ballyknockane, Co. Cork

• March 20, 1914 - After 60 cavalry officers at the Curragh resign their commissions an incident known as the Curragh mutiny the War Secretary states that the army will not be used to coerce Ulster into Home Rule

• March 20, 1927 - Birth in Dublin Zoo of Cairbre, the lion used to introduce Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer films

• March 21, 1181 - John Cumin (or Comyn) is elected archbishop of Dublin and consecrated by the pope at Velletri on this date. He is the first Englishman to be appointed to an Irish see

• March 21, 1656 - Death of Bishop James Ussher. The Dublin-born cleric deduced from biblical studies the exact date of the Creation (October 23rd,4004 BCE), and the date of the end of the world - November 4, 1996. The Bishop had a cult following until then

• March 21, 1689 - Derry-Londonderry declares allegiance to William III

• March 21, 1763 - William James McNeven, physician, United Irishman and writer, is born in Aughrim, Co. Galway

• March 21, 1859 - National Gallery of Scotland opened in Edinburgh.

• March 21, 1881 - The Peace Preservation Act, controlling possession and importation of arms, is enacted

• March 21, 1993 - Pope John Paul sanctifies John Duns Scotus, philosopher, theologian (but the first dunce).

• March 21st - ALBAN EILIR - Welsh bardic name for Spring Equinox

• March 22, 1421 - Scottish and French troops under the command of the Earl of Buchan defeated English forces at Baugé in Anjou, France.

• March 22, 1686 - With the return of a Catholic monarchy James II payments to the Catholic hierarchy are authorized; Catholics are appointed to government positions; replacement of Protestant by Catholic soldiers intensifies

• March 22, 1727 - Neil Gow, first of a famous family of Fiddle players and composers, born Strathearn, Ross & Cromarty.

• March 22, 1768 - Melasina Trench, writer, is born in Dublin

• March 22, 1829 - Sir Richard Sankey, soldier and engineer, is born in Cashel, Co. Tipperary

• March 22, 1848 - Birth of artist Sarah Purser in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin

• March 22, 1868 - Last fully public hanginghanging in Scotland that of Joseph Bell at Perth.

• March 22, 1899 - Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh, The Manx Gaelic Society, Formed

• March 22, 1912 - Birth of actor Wilfrid Brambell in Dublin

• March 22, 1929 - Sixty-six horses run in Irish Grand National Sweepstakes; Alike wins the race

• March 23, 1402 - Yann V becomes Duke of Brittany and his forty three year reign provides a period of economic prosperity and artistic creativity.

• March 23, 1847 - Choctaw Indians collect money to donate to starving Irish Hunger victims

• March 23, 1848 - First Scottish settlers arrive in Dunedin, New Zealand.

• March 23, 1889 - Robert Gibbings, illustrator and writer, is born in Cork

• March 23, 1893 - Birth in Dublin of Cedric Gibbons, designer of the coveted Oscar statuette

• March 23, 1917 - Birth of singer Josef Locke (Joe McLaughlin) in Derry

• March 24, 1603 - Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland on the death of Queen Elizabeth I and the succession of King James VI of Scotland.

• March 24, 1796 - The Insurrection Act imposes curfews, arms searches, and the death penalty for oath-taking

• March 24, 1866 - Birth in Co. Cork of light-heavyweight boxing champion, Jack McAuliffe

• March 24, 1909 - Death in Dublin of John Millington Synge. The plays of Irish peasant life on which his fame rests are written in the last six years of his life. In 1904, Synge, Yeats and Lady Gregory found the famous Abbey Theatre. Two Synge comedies, The Well of the Sai

• March 24, 1939 - Erith Gwyn Nicholls, Welsh star rugby player and author of The Modern Rugby Game and How to Play it, died.

• March 25, 1306 - Robert the Bruce crowned at Scone

• March 25, 1437 - Coronation of King James II.

• March 25, 1635 - A shower of hailstones, with stones as large as four inches in circumference, is reported in Castletown, Co. Offaly; a hen is killed and a woman is injured

• March 25, 1735 - Birth of James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden and politician

• March 25, 1738 - Irish harpist and composer, Turlough OCarolan, dies at Alderford House, the home of his patron Máire MacDermott Roe, in Ballyfarnan, Co. Roscommon

• March 25, 1810 - The Commercial Bank of Scotland was founded in Edinburgh by John Pitcairn, Lord Cockburn and others.

• March 25, 1831 - Arthur Kavanagh, politician and progressive landlord, is born in Borris, Co. Carlow

• March 25, 1840 - Birth of Myles Keogh in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow. Soldier in the US army, it is said by the Sioux that he is the last man killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn, where his horse is the only US survivor

• March 25, 1846 - Michael Davitt, known universally as The Father of the Land League, is born in Straid, Co. Mayo

• March 25, 1847 - Pope Pius IX issues an encyclical called On aid for Ireland

• March 25, 1876 - First Scotland v Wales football international. Scotland won 4-0.

• March 26, 1787 - The Tumultuous Risings Act imposes penalties for rioting and for interference with the collection of tithes

• March 26, 1838 - William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian and philosopher, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin

• March 26, 1854 - Harry Furniss, caricaturist, is born in Wexford

• March 26, 1856 - William Massey, New Zealand statesman and Prime Minister from 1912 to 1925 is born in Limavady, Co. Derry-Londonderry

• March 26, 1922 - An IRA anti-treaty army convention announces it will no longer accept the authority of Free State Minister for Defense Richard Mulcahy

• March 26, 1934 - Car driving tests introduced in Scotland for the first time.

• March 27, 1306 - King Robert I (The Bruce) crowned at Scone.

• March 27, 1351 - The Combat of the Thirty

• March 27, 1371 - King Robert II crowned at Scone.

• March 27, 1599 - Robert Devereux becomes Lieutenant-General of Ireland

• March 27, 1625 - Charles 1 becomes king of England, Scotland and Ireland

• March 27, 1650 - Kilkenny surrenders to Cromwell

• March 27, 1725 - The first number of Faulkners Dublin Journal is published

• March 27, 1766 - First publication of The Vicar Of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

• March 27, 1782 - A Whig administration comes to power in Britain

• March 27, 1839 - Birth in Glenavy, Co. Antrim, of John Ballance, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The eldest son of a tenant farmer, John is not interested in farming and goes to Belfast to stay with his uncle. At eighteen, he goes to Birmingham and earns a living in the ir

• March 27, 1871 - First Scotland-England rugby international, 20 a side, played at Raeburn Place. (Scotland won).

• March 27, 1872 - Mary MacSwiney, Maire Nic Shuibhne, Irish patriot, is born. Educated in the Ursuline Convent, she later trains as a teacher at Cambridge University. She teaches in Cork where she becomes a founding member of the Munster Womens Franchise League and a memb

• March 27, 1943 - Aircraft carrier HMS Dasher blew up and sank off the island of Arran in the Firth of Clyde with the loss of 350 crew; there were 149 survivors.

• March 28, 1318 - King Robert the Bruce captured Berwick on Tweed

• March 28, 1646 - Peace between the confederates and James Butler, the Marquis of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, leads to a split within the confederation, i.e. between confederates and royalists

• March 28, 1719 - John Cairnes, son of David Cairnes, former MP for the city of Londonderry, is killed in a duel in Newcastle, England

• March 28, 1772 - An Act to repress Steelboy disturbances in five Ulster counties is passed

• March 28, 1820 - Sir William Howard Russell, war correspondent, is born in Tallaght, Co. Dublin

• March 28, 1874 - Joseph McGarrity, Irish patriot, is born in Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone

• March 28, 1879 - Terence MacSwiney, Irish patriot and Lord Mayor of Cork, is born

• March 28, 1881 - Birth of Martin Sheridan, the world’s greatest athlete, in Bohola, Co. Mayo. Although largely unpublicised, Sheridan’s achievements in field athletics undoubtedly put him amongst the greats - in three successive Olympics he wins 5 gold medals, 3 silver a

• March 28, 1932 - Birth of Richard Burke, Fine Gael politician and EC Commissioner

• March 29, 1613 - A charter incorporates Derry as the city of Londonderry and creates the new county of Londonderry

• March 29, 1783 - The Royal Society of Edinburgh incorporated by charter.

• March 29, 1793 - Charlotte Brooke, author of Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry, dies

• March 29, 1850 - The SS Royal Adelaide sinks in a storm with the loss of 200 lives

• March 29, 1859 - First publication of The Irish Times

• March 29, 1869 - James MacNeill, Governor-General of the Irish Free State from 1928 to 1932, in Glenarm, Co. Antrim(May have been March 27)

• March 29, 1873 - Peig Sayers, Blasket Island storyteller, is born in Dunquin, Co. Kerry

• March 29, 1898 - The Registration Act allows women and peers to vote in local government elections

• March 29, 1901 - James Stephens, Fenian leader, dies

• March 29, 1913 - Birth in Dublin of actor Niall MacGinnis

• March 29, 1915 - Jazz trombonist George Chisholm born.

• March 29, 1924 - Charles Villiers Stanford, composer-writer, dies

• March 29, 1960 - Cheapside docks fire, Glasgow, 19 firemen killed.

• March 30, 1406 - King James I captured by English near Flamborough Head on his way to France.

• March 30, 1493 - Kildare, who has been suspected of supporting Perkin Warbeck, is given a general pardon

• March 30, 1603 - After a long battle against English rule, Hugh ONeill, the Earl of Tyrone, submits to Lord Mountjoy at Mellifont. ONeill is pardoned; the Treaty of Mellifont ends the Nine Years War

• March 30, 1798 - Privy Council proclaims Ireland in state of rebellion and imposes martial law

• March 30, 1824 - Thomas Devin Reilly, journalist and editor, is born in Co. Monaghan

• March 30, 1851 - A 1851 census shows the population of Ireland to be 6,552,385 - it has declined by one-fifth since 1845.

• March 30, 1873 - Richard Church, of Co. Cork, soldier and liberator of Greece, dies in Athens

• March 30, 1880 - Birth of playwright Sean OCasey in Dublin

• March 30, 1896 - An Irishman wins an Olympic gold medal for the first time, when John Pius Boland triumphs in tennis

• March 30, 1920 - Jack White, journalist and author, is born in Cork

• March 30, 1922 - Craig-Collins Pact is signed in London. Irish Free State formally recognizes Northern Ireland government

• March 31, 1652 - Scottish Regalia were saved from invading army of Oliver Cromwell after being smuggled from Dunnottar Castle.

• March 31, 1711 - Seven women from Island Magee, Co. Antrim are imprisoned and pilloried for bewitching a woman named Mary Dunbar, who has experienced strange fits and visions

• March 31, 1790 - A quarrel between John Philpot Curran (MP for Kilbeggan) and Robert Hobart (MP for Portarlington) results in a duel in which Hobart allows Curran to fire and then refuses to return fire

• March 31, 1855 - Charlotte Bronte, daughter of an Irish-born father (Patrick) and eldest of the Bronte sisters, dies during pregnancy

• March 31, 1859 - The independent Irish party splits and the Tenant League breaks up

• March 31, 1871 - Birth in Dublin of Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin and co-signatory of Anglo-Irish treaty

• March 31, 1896 - Women become qualified for election as poor law guardians (welfare administrators) under the Poor Law Guardians Act

• March 31, 1901 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 4,458,775; this is the last census to be taken on the basis of baronies

• March 31, 1903 - Jack Doyle, boxer and singer, is born in Cóbh, Co. Cork

• March 31, 1920 - British parliament accepts Irish Home Rule-law

• March 31, 1938 - David Steel, (Lord Steel of Aikwood), politician and former leader of the Liberal party, born.

• March 31, 1950 - The actor Robbie Coltrane was born.