#OnThisDay 1923 Michael Fitzgerald & Patrick O’Reilly were executed in Waterford Barracks by the Free State Government for illegal arms possession. Fitzgerald had served with the Royal Navy in WW1 but his service start date with the IRA was either 1920 or 1922.
#OnThisDay 1917 HMS Laurentic hit two mines in Lough Swilly, Donegal & sank. Though the crew of 475 got into lifeboats, 354 men perished from the exposure in temps of -13 degrees.£5 million worth of gold sank too though most but not all of it was recovered.
#OnThisDay 1921 Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Gilmartin wrote of the IRA Volunteers who had recently ambushed & wounded some Auxiliaries: “They have broken the truce of God, they have incurred the guilt of murder & fired their few cowardly shots”.
#OnThisDay 1900 Irish men of John MacBride’s Irish Transvaal Brigade fought alongside the Boers to defeat the British army (including some Irish Regiments, e.g. Connaught Rangers & Dublin Fusiliers) at the Battle of Spion Kop during the Second Boer War.
#OnThisDay 1862 Miles Byrne passed away in Paris. Byrne was a leader in the 1798 Rebellion, joined Michael Dwyer in Wicklow afterwards & Robert Emmet in 1803. Dwyer left for France & joined Napoleon’s Irish Legion where he retired as Lt.Colonel.
The Irish at War 