#OnThisDay 1922 William Twaddell, MP in Stormont was assassinated by the IRA in Belfast. Twaddell was associated with the Imperial Guards, one of the loyalist militias incorporated into the Ulster Special Constabulary who openly discriminated and killed Catholics. Following this, the Unionist Government introduced internment & 350 republicans are immediately detained. All republican organisations are declared illegal. Over 700 republicans were interned until 1924.
#OnThisDay 1870 Irish poet, artist & suffragist Eva Gore-Booth was born in @LissadellHouse Sligo. Eva campaigned for workers’ right and for abolishing the death penalty. She helped overturn her sister, Constance Markiewicz’s sentence to life imprisonment after the Easter Rising. She tried to had Roger Casement’s sentence overturned also, but was unsuccessful in this attempt.
#OnThisDay 1863 during the Siege of Vicksburg, Donegal man, Menomen O’Donnell performed actions that would lead to him receiving the Medal of Honor, while serving with Company A, 11th Missouri Infantry, in action at Vicksburg, Mississippi. First Lieutenant O’Donnell voluntarily joined the colour guard in the assault on the enemy’s works when he saw indications of wavering and caused the colours of his regiment to be planted on the parapet.
This combined with a later action as the only mounted officer in a Union attack on Confederate lines in Louisiana saw O’Donnell receive this award.
#OnThisDay 1805 Michael Doheny was born in Fethard Tipperary. A trained lawyer and multi-linguist, after the failed 1848 Young Irelander rebellion he fled to New York & in 1849 he was instrumental in forming the Fenian Brotherhood and the famous 69th Infantry Regiment aka “The Fightin 69th”. Both organisations helped the upkeep of the fighting Irish tradition.
#OnThisDay 1921 Two Royal Marines were killed by the IRA when their party of 10 Marines (Not in pic) was ambushed as they marched from the Ballyvaughan Coast Guard Station, in Clare, to the local post office to collect official mail. The IRA party numbers about 21 armed with rifles and shotguns and were waiting on the signal from a post office worker called Ms Grant. When the Marines showed, the IRA fired upon them killing two and injuring two more. They also captured two or three rifles.
Deceased are:
Isaac Robert Bolton
Henry Chandler
The Irish at War 