#OnThisDay 1915 The men of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles went over the top at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. They managed to take the village but at a deadly cost.Over the next three days they would lose nearly 460 men; 18 officers & 440 other ranks.
#OnThisDay 2015 John “Jack’ Harte passed away. Jack left Dublin at 16 to join the British Army during WW2. He joined the British Special Forces, the SBS & fought in Malta & the Middle East. Post War, he worked in Guinness & became a Labour senator.
#OnThisDay 1921 In response to the execution of two spies, masked RIC gangs raided homes in Thurles. They threw Larry Hickey, a republican sympathiser, down a stairs, breaking his neck & shot him dead. They also shot dead IRA Vol. William Loughnane in his bed.
#OnThisDay 1834 Colonel John O’Neill was born in Clontibret, Monaghan. O’Neill fought for the Union during the American Civil War but is best known for leading the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1866 & winning the Battle of Ridgeway. Though all invasions failed.
Eithne Ni Cumhaill (centre) from Donegal, helped set up Cumann na mBan branches in Roscommon. Arrested for spying on RIC barracks, Eithne spoke Irish & read the newspaper during her trial as she didn’t recognise the court. She was imprisoned in Mountjoy & escaped.
The Irish at War 