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#OnThisDay 1941 The SS St. Patrick, was sank by the Luftwaffe 12 miles out from Fishguard port. The SS St Patrick was a passenger ferry on the Rosslare to Fishguard line. The German bombs hit the fuel tanks and the ship exploded in two. 30 of the 50 passengers were killed including 17 year old John Joe Brennan from Wexford. Brennan’s father Mosie died a year previous on the St Patrick when strafed  by a German plane’s machine-guns.
The SS St Patrick was a joint owned ship, owned by Rosslare and Fishguard, but it sailed under a British ship which made it an enemy vessel in the eyes of a Luftwaffe pilot.
Another father and son to perish on the ship was the Captain Jim Faraday and his 20 year old son Jack. Jack had worked hard to save many of the passengers in the water but when he tried to rescue his father, both of them drowned.

#OnThisDay 1916 Pte Abraham Percy Huggard was killed in action while fighting with the 3rd Btn Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment) at the Battle of Mont Sorrel. Huggard, born in Galway (but whose parents address at his time of death was in  Kerry), moved to Canada in 1912 and worked as a labourer. He lived with his aunt in Calgary. He died 13 months after enlisting.
He is listed on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

#OnThisDay 1798 The United Irishmen in Co. Down were defeated at the Battle of Ballynahinch by Crown forces. This battle had started on the evening of the 12th and continued in to the night.
Munro did not wish to have an early morning attack on the Crown camp as he though that unchivalrous. The Crown forces came upon the rebels in a two pronged attack. The Irish could not stand the withering fire from cannon and musket and began to flee.
The Crown troops followed the masses and burned over 50 houses & killed hundreds of the rebels, most famously Betsy Gray. She had her hand cut off before they beheaded her.
U.I. leader Munro was captured after being sold out by a farmer whom he paid to keep his whereabouts a secret. On the 15th, he was  hanged in front of his house in Lisburn.