October

• October 1, 1263 - Invasion of Scotland by Hakon King of Norway attacked on beaches by gathering Scottish forces beginning the Battle of the Largs.

• October 1, 1568 - The Bannatyne Manuscript, the most extensive collection of early Scottish poetry in existence, was published by George Bannatyne, an Edinburgh merchant.

• October 1, 1600 - Robert Grave, Church of Ireland Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, and his family drown in Dublin Bay on their way home to Wexford by sea

• October 1, 1751 - Cornelius Bolton, politician, Volunteer and improving landlord is born

• October 1, 1761 - In the climate of sectarian tension created partly by the Mathew-Maude controversy, the Whiteboys, a violent agrarian protest movement, begins in Tipperary and spreads through Munster and West Leinster

• October 1, 1763 - Contract to construct the North Bridge, Edinburgh, signed.

• October 1, 1796 - The Royal College of St. Patrick. a Catholic seminary, is opened in Maynooth, Co. Kildare

• October 1, 1911 - Statue of Charles Stewart Parnell is unveiled in Dublin

• October 1, 1930 - Richard Harris, born

• October 1, 1930 - Actor Richard Harris is born in Limerick

• October 2, 1600 - ONeill engages Mountjoys forces in the Battle of Moyry Pass

• October 2, 1833 - Birth of Father William Corby who became Chaplain of the Irish Brigade in Detroit, Michigan

• October 2, 1852 - William OBrien, writer and nationalist, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork

• October 2, 1852 - Birth of Sir William Ramsay, Scottish chemist who discovered helium, xenon, neon, argon, radon and krypton.

• October 2, 1854 - Patrick Geddes - Scottish Botanist born.

• October 2, 1875 - Arthur Conway, mathematician and president of University College Dublin, is born in Wexford

• October 2, 1879 - Kate Coll arrives in New York from Ireland on board the SS Nevada. She later marries Juan Vivion de Valera, and gives birth to Éamon on October 14, 1882 in New York

• October 2, 1900 - Hubert Butler, writer and local historian, is born near Bennettsbridge, Co. Kilkenny

• October 2, 1931 - Death of Sir Thomas Lipton, grocer, tea merchant and contestant for the Americas Cup.

• October 2, 1947 - The new paddle steamer Waverley was launched from A. & J. Ingliss yard on the Clyde. After providing services on the Firth of Clyde she has been preserved and still takes passengers doon the watter as the oldest sea-going paddle steamer in the world.

• October 3, 1283 - Prince Dafydd III last native Prince of Wales executed by the English

• October 3, 1357 - Treaty of Berwick, freeing David II from imprisonment by the English.

• October 3, 1594 - Battle of Glenlivet, George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, defeated a Royalist force under, 7th Earl of Argyll.

• October 3, 1691 - Treaty of Limerick is signed by Ginkel and Sarsfield, ending the Williamite War in Ireland; the treaty allows evacuation of the Irish army to France and promises tolerance of Irish Catholics

• October 3, 1706 - Last Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh before the Union with Westminster.

• October 3, 1750 - James McLaine, gentleman highwayman born in Monaghan, is hanged at Tyburn

• October 3, 1871 - Gen. John ONeill and a small force of Fenians invade Canada at Pembina, Manitoba

• October 4, 1582 - Pope Gregory reforms the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45BCE - 4 October is followed by 15 October. However, the reform will not be implemented in Ireland till 1752

• October 4, 1693 - Irish Brigade of France fights in the battle of Marsaglia

• October 4, 1733 - Henry Boyle, the future Earl of Shannon, is unanimously elected Speaker of the Irish parliament. He will serve till 1756 - the longest-serving Speaker of the 1692-1800 parliaments

• October 4, 1741 - Edmund Malone, editor and Shakespearian scholar, is born in Dublin

• October 4, 1754 - William Bligh, Cornish man, Mutiny on the Bounty fame was born.

• October 4, 1780 - African explorer Alexander Laing, born.

• October 4, 1821 - Death of John Rennie, engineer who constructed the Crinan Canal.

• October 4, 1842 - Birth of heavyweight bare-knuckle boxer Jim Dunne in Co. Kildare. Dunne won the American heavyweight title from fellow Irishman Jim Elliot - the pair were jailed after the illegal event

• October 4, 1883 - Boys Brigade founded in Glasgow.

• October 4, 1886 - Lennox Robinson, playwright and one-time Abbey Theatre manager, is born in Douglas, Co. Cork

• October 4, 1929 - Most of United Free Church merged with Church of Scotland.

• October 5, 1263 - Battle of the Largs - Norwegians abandon invasion of ScotlandBattle of the LargsNorwegians abandon invasion of Scotland leaving ships and wounded on the beach.

• October 5, 1731 - Parliament meets at the new parliament house in College Green for the first time

• October 5, 1785 - Balloon flight by Italian aeronaut Vincenzo Lunardi from Heriots School, Edinburgh to Ceres in Fife.

• October 5, 1873 - Leslie Montgomery, comic writer under the pseudonym Lynn C. Doyle, is born in in Downpatrick, Co. Down

• October 5, 1878 - New York Gaelic Society is formed

• October 5, 1911 - Birth of Brian O’Nolan, aka Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen in Strabane, Co. Tyrone

• October 5, 1923 - Birth of Philip Berrigan - militant priest, Virginia, Minn

• October 5, 1924 - John Joe Barry, athlete who is known as the Ballincurry Hare, is born

• October 5, 1938 - Frank Patterson, tenor, is born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

• October 6, 1175 - Under the Treaty of Windsor, concluded on this date, Rory OConnor recognizes Henry as his overlord and agrees to collect tribute for him from all parts of Ireland. Henry agrees that OConnor can be king of the areas not conquered by the Normans. But OCo

• October 6, 1216 - The union of the diocese of Glendalough with that of Dublin, having been promulgated by Pope Innocent III last year, is confirmed by Pope Honorius III

• October 6, 1649 - Owen Roe ONeill dies

• October 6, 1798 - Grattan removed from Irish Privy Council, falsely charged with being a sworn member of United Irishmen

• October 6, 1891 - Death of Charles Stewart Parnell, champion of tenants rights and co-founder of the Land League; often called the Uncrowned King of Ireland

• October 6, 1901 - Birth of C. S. Todd Andrews, revolutionary and public servant, in Dublin

• October 6, 1903 - Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton is born at Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. He and Sir John Douglas Cockcroft were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles

• October 6, 1928 - Death of Galway man Pádraic Ó Conaire, who was among the first writers to develop a new modern literature in the Irish language

• October 6, 1928 - Maeve Kyle, athlete and hockey player, is born in Kilkenny

• October 6, 1946 - Birth of Gerry Adams

• October 6, 1871 - Mass demonstrations in Brittany to pressure French government to establish policy to maintain the Breton language.

• October 28, 1730 - The Danish East India Company ship, Golden Lyon, is stranded near Ballyheige, Co. Kerry

• October 7, 1731 - A complaint is made to the House of Commons that Mr Anthony Tenison did, in a violent and notorious manner, assault John Bourke, Esq., a Member of this House, by presenting a pistol to his breast, and threatening to shoot him, on the thirtieth of Decembe

• October 7, 1782 - Birth of Charles McLaren, one of the founders of the Scotsman newspaper.

• October 7, 1878 - Birth of Margaret (Gretta) Cousins, Irish womens rights activist.

• October 7, 1910 - Premiere of Percy French’s play The Immigrant’s Letter

• October 7, 1919 - A cabinet committee is appointed to consider Irish self government

• October 7, 1935 - Birth of Thomas Kineally, Irish Australian author of Schindler’s List which was originally called Schindlers Ark

• October 8, 1774 - Rev Henry Duncan, founder of the first savings bank, born in the Manse at Lochrutton.

• October 8, 1822 - Birth in Dublin of Richard DAlton Williams. He is educated at Carlow Academy and studies medicine at Saint Vincents Hospital, Dublin. He becomes a member of the Young Ireland movement and contributes poetry to The Nation under the pseudonym Shamrock.

• October 8, 1872 - John Cowper Powys, Welsh novelist, born.

• October 8, 1949 - Edith Oenone Somerville, Irish novelist, dies in Castletownshend, Co. Cork.In her late twenties, she meets her second cousin Violet Florence Martin who writes under the pseudonym Martin Ross. They become lifelong companions and literary partners, collabor

• October 9, 1506 - King James IV ratified the Charter incorporating the Surgeons and Barbers.

• October 9, 1651 - The Navigation Act provides that goods imported to any Commonwealth lands shall be carried in English ships only

• October 9, 1796 - William Ellis Jones Welsh bard known as Gwilym Cawrdaf was born

• October 9, 1849 - First tenant protection society established at Callan, Co. Kilkenny.

• October 9, 1913 - Birth of golfer Harry The Brad Bradshaw near Delgany, Co. Wicklow

• October 9, 1921 - SS Rowan sank off the Rhinns of Galloway, near Corsewall Point with, 34 casualties.

• October 9, 1935 - Ornithologist and painter Archibald Thorburn died.

• October 9, 1995 - Death of Lord Home of the Hirsel, also known as Sir Alec Douglas-Home, formerly Foreign Secretary and UK Prime Minister.

• October 10, 1084 - Patrick, Bishop of Dublin, dies in a shipwreck

• October 10, 1711 - The Linen Board meets for the first time

• October 10, 1771 - During his visit to Ireland, Benjamin Franklin attends a meeting of the House of Commons on this date

• October 10, 1790 - Birth in Co. Tipperary of Fr. Theobald Matthew, “The Apostle of Temperance” and campaigner against alcohol

• October 10, 1802 - Writer and geologist Hugh Miller born on the Black Isle, Cromarty.

• October 10, 1802 - The Edinburgh Review first published to erect a higher standard of merit, and secure a bolder and purer taste in literature, and to apply philosophical principles and the maxims of truth and humanity to politics.

• October 10, 1819 - Birth in Templemore, Co. Tipperary of Charles Stanley Monck, the first Governor General of Canada

• October 10, 1865 - Magee College is opened as a combined arts and Presbyterian theological college in Derry-Londonderry

• October 10, 1899 - Irish Transvaal Committee formed to aid Boers against the English.

• October 10, 1899 - Eoin O Grownley, Irish language scholar, dies

• October 10, 1907 - Brian O Nolan (Flann OBrien Myles na g Copaleen) - Irish writer born

• October 10, 1974 - Labour won the General Election with an overall majority of three seats and Harold Wilson became Prime Minister.

• October 11, 1297 - Letter from Wallace and Moray to the mayors of Lubeck and Hamburg saying that The Kingdom of Scotland has, by Gods Grace, recovered by battle from the power of the English.

• October 11, 1511 - Ship Great Michael launched for King James IV.

• October 11, 1649 - Massacre at Wexford when the town falls to Cromwell

• October 11, 1703 - John Asgill, newly elected MP for Enniscorthy, is expelled from the Irish parliament on this date on account of a pamphlet he published in Dublin in 1698, arguing that man may pass into eternal life without dying. The pamphlet is burned by the common hang

• October 11, 1741 - Birth of James Barry, painter, in Cork

• October 11, 1797 - The British fleet, under the command of Admiral Adam Duncan (born in Forfar in, 1731), defeated the Dutch off the village of Camperdown, Holland

• October 11, 1911 - Birth of writer Brian ONolan aka Myles na gCopaleen and perhaps better known as Flann OBrien

• October 11, 1921 - Anglo-Irish negotiations open with Griffith and Collins leading the Irish delegation

• October 11, 1922 - The Irish Constitution for the Free State, drafted by the Thomas Cosgrove Dáil, is adopted

• October 11, 2000 - Scotlands first First Minister Donald Dewar died suddenly after a fall on the steps of his official residence in Edinburgh.

• October 12, 1645 - Archbishop Rinuccini arrives in Ireland

• October 12, 1671 - Peter Drake, soldier and memoir author, is born in Co. Meath

• October 12, 1798 - French fleet intercepted off Donegal. Wolfe Tone captured when The Hoche strikes its colors

• October 12, 1866 - Ramsay MacDonald, first Labour Prime Minister of UK, born in Lossiemouth.

• October 12, 1876 - Jerome Connor, sculptor, is born near Anascaul, Co. Kerry

• October 12, 1911 - Birth in Portrush of Fred Daly, the only Irishman to win a golf major - the British Open in 1947

• October 12, 1929 - Birth of Magnus Magnusson, writer, broadcaster and question master in TV programme Mastermind.

• October 13, 1494 - Poynings lands at Howth and summons a parliament to Drogheda. He then campaigns in the north

• October 13, 1644 - Battle of Aberdeen, James Graham,, 1st Marquess of Montrose, sacked the city.

• October 13, 1713 - Birth of Allan Ramsay, painter and son of Allan Ramsay the poet.

• October 13, 1729 - William Conolly resigns as Speaker

• October 13, 1823 - Sara Atkinson, a writer on religious and historical subjects is born

• October 13, 1881 - Government crackdown on Irish Land League jails Parnell and other leaders

• October 13, 1881 - Charles Stewart Parnell and others are arrested for Land League activities

• October 13, 1923 - Republican prisoners in Mountjoy prison begin mass hunger strike

• October 14, 1285 - Second marriage of King Alexander III (to Yolanda de Dreux).

• October 14, 1318 - Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce, killed in a battle near Dundalk, Ireland.

• October 14, 1322 - Victory of Robert the Bruce of Scotland in Yorkshire.

• October 14, 1633 - Birth at St James Palace, London of King James VII, second son of King Charles I and brother of King Charles II.

• October 14, 1690 - After taking Cork on 28 September, Marlbourough takes Kinsale for the Williamites, who now control Munster

• October 14, 1693 - The Earl of Tyrone dies and apparently appears promptly to Lady Nicola Hamilton, the widow of Tristram Beresford MP; he makes a number of predictions that turn out to be correct; one of them was that she would die on her 47th birthday

• October 14, 1702 - Irish Brigade of France fights in the battle of Friedlingen

• October 14, 1763 - Birth of United Irish leader, Lord Edward Fitzgerald at Carton House in Co. Kildare

• October 14, 1767 - George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend, becomes Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

• October 14, 1783 - Edmond Sexton Pery is unanimously re-elected as Speaker of the Irish parliament

• October 14, 1788 - First steamboat tested on Dalswinton Loch by Patrick Miller and William Symington.

• October 14, 1791 - Wolfe Tone visits Belfast for the first time; the Society of United Irishmen is founded there on this date by Tone, Henry Joy McCracken, Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson

• October 14, 1814 - Birth of author and patriot, Thomas Osborne Davis in Mallow, Co. Cork

• October 14, 1842 - First issue of The Nation published

• October 14, 1880 - Nationalist and Gaelic League activist, Mary Ellen Spring-Rice is born

• October 14, 1881 - Eyemouth Fishing Disaster, nearly, 20 boats and, 129 men (1 in, 3 of the towns male population) lost their lives in a storm.

• October 14, 1882 - Eamon de Valera, nationalist campaigner, Fianna Fáil leader, Taoiseach and president of Ireland, is born in Brooklyn, New York of a Spanish father and an Irish mother

• October 14, 1920 - Tipperary IRA man, Sean Treacy, is killed in a gun battle in Talbot Street, Dublin

• October 14, 1932 - Between October 4 and this date, strikes, marches and protests are held in Belfast against low unemployment payments, temporarily uniting Catholic and Protestant unemployed; payments are raised

• October 14, 1939 - German submarine sank HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow, Orkney, with the loss of, 810 lives.

• October 14, 1969 - The, 50 pence decimal coin was first issued, replacing the ten shilling note.

• October 15, 1582 - Pope Gregory reforms the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45BCE - 4 October is followed by 15 October. However, the reform will not be implemented in Britain and Ireland till 1752

• October 15, 1686 - Birth of Scottish poet Allan Ramsay, father of Allan Ramsay the painter.

• October 15, 1880 - Dr Marie Stopes, founder of first modern birth control clinic, born Edinburgh.

• October 15, 1902 - Edinburghs Balmoral Hotel opened its doors for the first time.

• October 15, 1928 - Voting age for women reduced from, 30 to, 21, the same as for men.

• October 15, 1943 - Poet William Souter died in Perth.

• October 16, 1430 - King James II born.

• October 16, 1678 - Proclamations against Catholic clergy and schools in Ireland are issued

• October 16, 1774 - Robert Fergusson Scottish poet, died.

• October 16, 1827 - Cavan-born Thomas Baron von Brady, general in the Austrian army, dies in Vienna

• October 16, 1854 - Oscar Wilde, playwright, novelist and essayist is born in Dublin

• October 16, 1890 - Michael Collins is born in Clonakilty, Co. Cork

• October 16, 1921 - Poet George Mackay Brown born.

• October 16, 1939 - City of Glasgow Fighter Squadron (No, 602) shoots down the first enemy aircraft over Britain after an attack on the River Forth.

• October 16, 1954 - Former Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth born.

• October 17, 1171 - Henry II, fearful that Strongbow will grow too powerful in Ireland, lands at Waterford with an army. The Normans, Norse and Irish all submit to him, except for the most remote Irish kings

• October 17, 1346 - Battle of Nevilles Cross during which King David II was captured by the English.

• October 17, 1738 - In a duel at Mullingar, Arthur Rochfort, MP for Co. Westmeath, shoots Dillon Pollard Hampson in the stomach. Hampson, a former Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Irish Freemasons, recovers

• October 17, 1803 - Birth of Young Irelander, William Smith OBrien in Dromoland, Co. Clare

• October 17, 1850 - James Paraffin Young obtained a patent for the extraction of paraffin from shale, starting the chemical industry in West Lothian.

• October 17, 1882 - The Irish Nationalist League is founded

• October 17, 1886 - John Dillon announces Plan of Campaign for Irish tenants against unfair rents.

• October 17, 1995 - Bridge to the Isle of Skye opened.

• October 18, 1718 - Birth in Dublin of actress, Peg Woffington

• October 18, 1791 - First public meeting of the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast

• October 18, 1881 - A “no rents manifesto” is issued by the Land League under the guidance of Parnell

• October 18, 1900 - Sarah Makem, Irish traditional singer, is born

• October 18, 1958 - Denis Law became the youngest footballer to play for Scotland when he took part in the match against Cardiff when he was, 18 years and, 7 months old.

• October 19, 1342 - Edward III lands at Brest with English forces to seize part of Brittany.

• October 19, 1610 - Birth of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond; royalist soldier; and three times Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

• October 19, 1680 - Birth of John Aberneth, dissenting clergyman, near Moneymore, Co. Tyrone

• October 19, 1687 - First sedan chairs available for public hire introduced to Edinburgh.

• October 19, 1745 - Jonathan Swift dies

• October 19, 1751 - Birth in Dublin of Charles Edward Kilmaine who was a general in the French army

• October 19, 1913 - Irish historian, novelist and poet, Emily Lawless dies

• October 20, 1674 - Birth of James Logan, Colonial statesman and scholar in Lurgan, Co. Armagh

• October 20, 1775 - Two hundred passengers are lost in the shipwrecks of the brigs Trevor Totty and Nonpareil. Among the casualties are The Hononorable Major Francis Caulfield, MP for Charlemont, his wife and daughters; also lost is Mr French, Member for the County of Roscom

• October 20, 1794 - John Gustavus Crosbie, candidate in a parliamentary by-election for Co. Kerry, takes offence at some real or supposed breach of neutrality on the part of Sir Barry Denny, the sitting MP. A duel follows on this date; at the first fire Denny is shot fatally

• October 20, 1808 - Death of composer Michael William Balfe in Dublin. He is best known for his opera The Bohemian Girl

• October 20, 1836 - Daniel Owen considered the greatest Welsh language novelist author of Y Dreflan Rhys Lewis - Enoc Huws and Gwen Tomas was born

• October 20, 1881 - The Land League is outlawed

• October 20, 1892 - Birth near Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan of General Eoin O’Duffy, first commissioner of the Garda Síochána (Blue Shirts)

• October 20, 1971 - Explosion at Clarkston Toll shopping centre, killing, 12.

• October 21, 1803 - Execution of Thomas Russell, United Irishman, in Downpatrick for “high treason”

• October 21, 1805 - The Irish dead at the Battle of Trafalgar include Lieutenant William Ram, son of Abel Ram, MP for Co. Wexford, who is killed on board the Victory

• October 21, 1879 - Irish National Land League founded in Dublin.

• October 21, 1901 - Douglas Hydes Casadh an tSúgán - The Twisting of the Rope - is presented at The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin and becomes the first staged Irish-language play

• October 21, 1904 - Birth of poet Patrick Kavanagh in Inishkeen, Co. Monaghan

• October 21, 1983 - The Queen officially opened the Burrell Collection in Glasgows Pollok Country Park. The museums collection had been donated to the city nearly, 40 years earlier by the shipping magnate Sir William Burrell.

• October 22, 1389 - Thomas Mortimer who was appointed justiciar on 5 March is replaced by John de Stanley who lands at Howth on this date

• October 22, 1641 - Rory OMore, Lord Maguire and Sir Pheilim ONeill initiate a major revolt in Armagh. Known as the Ulster Rebellion, in the ensuing six months, at least 4, 000 Protestants are killed and Catholics are massacred in reprisals

• October 22, 1740 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Philip Francis, civil servant, duellist, and gambler; he may have been the author of the Junius Letters

• October 22, 1761 - John Ponsonby is unanimously re-elected Speaker of the Irish parliament

• October 22, 1861 - Foundation stones of main Post Office and National Museum of Scotland laid by Prince Albert in his last public engagement before his death.

• October 22, 1877 - A firedamp explosion at Blantyre Colliery killed, 207 miners.

• October 22, 1895 - Daniel Owen considered the greatest Welsh language novelist died.

• October 22, 1906 - Charles Lynch, pianist, is born in Parkgariff, Co. Cork. He gave his first public recital at nine and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, London, at fifteen. In addition to concert recitals he broadcast regularly with the BBC and in 1937 acte

• October 22, 1917 - John Boyd Dunlop Scottish inventor of the pneumatic rubber tire died.

• October 23, 1295 - Treaty between King John Balliol of Scotland and King Philippe IV of France which promised mutual help against the English, the start of the Auld Alliance.

• October 23, 1662 - The Irish parliament orders the annual observance of this date as a day of thanksgiving for deliverance from the 1641 rising; for over a century, church services on this day will remind Protestants of Catholic disloyalty

• October 23, 1707 - First meeting of the Parliament of Great Britain.

• October 23, 1766 - Birth of John Claudius Beresford, banker, MP, and controversial figure in 1798 rebellion, during which he was alleged to have flogged suspects at his riding house in Marlborough Street, Dublin; the slogan Mangling done here gratis by Beresford and Co. w

• October 23, 1771 - Benjamin Franklin ends his visit to Ireland

• October 23, 1773 - Birth of Francis Jeffrey, first editor of the Edinburgh Review.

• October 232, 1923 - Terence MacSwiney mayor of Cork died in an English prison on hunger strike.

• October 23, 1921 - Death of John Boyd Dunlop who re-invented the pneumatic tyre from the design of Robert W Thomson.

• October 23, 1931 - The IRA and other organizations are declared illegal in the Free State and the Catholic Church

• October 23, 1940 - Poet and dramatist Tom McGrath born in Rutherglen.

• October 24, 1642 - Irish Confederate rebels establish government at Kilkenny

• October 24, 1789 - Work begins on the construction of the Royal Canal

• October 24, 1796 - Artist David Roberts born in Edinburgh.

• October 24, 1854 - Birth of Sir Horace Plunkett, agricultural reformer and politician

• October 24, 1880 - Fanny Parnell launches the Ladies Land League in New York. Known as the Patriot Poet, Fanny Parnell is the leading spokeswoman throughout the United States for the organization

• October 25, 1212 - John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, dies and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral

• October 25, 1651 - Invasion of the Isle of Mann by Cromwellian forces.

• October 25, 1784 - A radical reform congress commences in William Street, Dublin

• October 25, 1818 - Birth of opera singer Catherine Hayes in Limerick

• October 25, 1899 - Birth of Micheál Mac Liammóir, actor and writer

• October 25, 1909 - The Engineering and Scientific Association of Ireland assures the population that flying machines will never be of any practical use

• October 25, 1920 - Terence MacSwiney, the Mayor of Cork, dies in a London prison after 73 days on hunger strike. His last words to a priest by his side were, I want you to bear witness that I die as a soldier of the Irish Republic.

• October 25, 1922 - The Dáil approves the Constitution of the Irish Free State

• October 25, 1951 - Conservatives won the General Election with a majority of, 26, beginning, 13 years of government.

• October 25, 1960 - Elvis Presley touched down at Prestwick airport, his only visit to Scotland.

• October 26, 1601 - A Spanish army under Don Juan del Aguila, which had landed at Kinsale on 21 September, is besieged by Lord Mountjoy on this date

• October 26, 1760 - George III crowned, beginning a 60 year reign, one of the longest in British history.

• October 26, 1771 - John (Juan) MacKenna, who would rise to fame in South America, was born in Clogher, Co. Tyrone

• October 26, 1791 - Founding of the United Irishmen movement

• October 26, 1831 - Birth of painter Nathaniel Hone in Dublin

• October 26, 1837 - James Lawlor Kiernan, Union general in Americas Civil War, was born in Mount Bellew, County Galway

• October 26, 1845 - Lady Caroline Nairne, songwriter and poet, died at Gask.

• October 26, 1911 - Poet Sorley MacLean born on the island of Raasay.

• October 26, 1932 - Margaret The Unsinkable Molly Brown, daughter of Irish immigrants, dies in New York

• October 27, 1651 - Surrender of Limerick

• October 27, 1673 - A proclamation declares the banishment of Catholic bishops and priest and the closure of religious houses and schools under Charles IIs reign

• October 27, 1728 - James Cook, circum-navigator of the globe, born to Scottish parents in Yorkshire.

• October 27, 1736 - James Macpherson Scottish translator of Ossianic poems born.

• October 27, 1854 - William Smith, founder of the Boys Brigade, born.

• October 27, 1878 - Between October 24 and this date, Fenians propose a New Departure - an alliance with the Parnellites

• October 27, 1905 - Birth in Dublin of Bryan Guinness, 2nd Lord Moyne; brewer and writer

• October 27, 1970 - David Jones Welsh poet and artist died.

• October 27, 1980 - Beginning of the Hunger Strike by seven Republican prisoners in the H Blocks at Long Kesh. They are later joined by three female prisoners at Armagh Prison

• October 28, 1562 - Battle of Corrichie, Earl of Moray defeated Catholic Gordons of Huntly who were attacking Aberdeen.

• October 28, 1659 - Birth of Nicholas Brad, Anglican clergyman and poet, in Bandon, Co. Cork

• October 28, 1758 - Edward Moore, 5th Earl of Drogheda and former MP for Dunleer, drowns with his son Edward, chaplain to the House of Commons, en route from England to Dublin

• October 28, 1794 - Birth of Robert Liston in Linlithgow who was to carry out the first operation in Britain with the aid of an anesthetic.

• October 28, 1875 - Death of William Howard Glover, composer and music critic

• October 28, 1880 - Dr Henry Faulds, a Scots medical missionary working in Japan, published a letter in Nature which gave the first evidence that fingerprints could be used as proof of guilt or innocence in legal cases.

• October 28, 1907 - John Harold Hewitt, poet who wrote the Glens of Antrim, is born

• October 28, 1909 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Francis Bacon, painter

• October 28, 1922 - Journalist and novelist Cliff Hanley (Dancing in the Streets etc) born in Glasgow.

• October 28, 1965 - House of Commons passed the Bill abolishing the death penalty for murder.

• October 29, 1312 - Treaty of Inverness with Norway

• October 29, 1740 - James Boswell, biographer of Dr Johnston, born at Blairs Land, Parliament Square, Edinburgh.

• October 29, 1835 - Michael William Balfes opera Siege of Rochelle is first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in London

• October 29, 1885 - Confederate Civil War Gen. Joseph Finegan, from Co. Monaghan, dies in Rutledge, Florida

• October 29, 1892 - Death of Clonakilty artist, William Hartnett

• October 29, 1922 - Birth of Neil Blaney, politician, in Rosnakill, Co. Donegal

• October 30, 1751 - Birth in Dublin of dramatist and orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan

• October 30, 1816 - Sir Richard Quain, physician to Queen Victoria, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork

• October 30, 1822 - Caledonian Canal opened.

• October 30, 1865 - Róis Ní Ógáin (Rose Mabel Young), Gaelic scholar and editor of Duanaire Gaedhilge, is born

• October 30, 1892 - Eoin ODuffy, revolutionary and organizer of the infamous Blueshirts, was born in Castleblayney, County Monaghan.

• October 30, 1925 - First moving image on a television screen when John Logie Baird transmitted the image of a, 15-year-old office boy in his London workshop.

• October 30, 1928 - Birth of Sir Charles Brett, architectural historian

• October 31, 1641 - The Ulster rebels take Dundalk

• October 31, 1804 - Morgan OConnell, soldier and politician, is born in Dublin

• October 31, 1838 - General Sir William Frances Butler, soldier and author, is born in Suirville, Co. Tipperary. He had a remarkable and often controversial military career spanning over 50 years. During the Land War he became a great personal friend of Charles Stewart Parne

• October 31, 1845 - A committee is formed to examine the extent of the potato crop failure and suggest remedies

• October 31, 1883 - Birth of Sara Allgood, stage and Hollywood actress, in Dublin. Considered one of the greatest character actresses of her time, the crowning point of her career came with her nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in How Green Was My

• October 31, 1888 - Pneumatic bicycle tires were patented by inventor John Boyd Dunlop from Ayrshire.

• October 31, 1903 - Hampden Park stadium opened in Glasgow as the home of Queens Park Football Club.

• October 31, 1930 - Birth of Michael Collins, an Irish American born in Rome, and pilot of the command module of the Apollo 10 lunar landing in 1969

• October 31 - Oíche Shamhna - Cetlic New Year Eve (Halloween)