On This Day Posts

Sculptor Jerome Connor (1874 - 1943) was born in Coumduff near Anascaul in Kerry on February 23, 1874. At age 14, he emigrated with his family to Holyoke in Massachusetts. Jerome’s father, Patrick, appears to have worked as a stonecutter, and …

John Thomand O'Brien was born in Baltinglass, Wicklow, on the 24th of June 1786. He emigrated to Brazil in 1811 where he attempted to set up several businesses in Brazil and then Argentina. O'Brien's efforts in the commercial domain proved unsuccess…

Rory Gallagher, a rock guitarist, was born in Ballyshannon, Donegal, on the 2nd of March, 1948.  He is frequently cited as the greatest rock guitarist you've never heard of, a testament to his unwillingness to compromise on the types of music h…

Charles Algernon Parsons (1854 - 1931) was born in London, the youngest child of William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Ross. Like his remarkable father, who built the Leviathan Telescope at the family seat in Birr Castle, Charles decided to pursue a care…

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington c. 1920 Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, suffragette, nationalist and feminist was born Johanna Mary Sheehy into a nationalist family in Kanturk, Cork on May 24th, 1877. She was educated in Dublin receiving both a batchelors and m…

Oisín Kelly was born, Austin Ernest Kelly, into a protestant family on May 17th, 1915. His father, William Kelly, was a school teacher and the family lived on James Street in the heart of working class Dublin on the south side of the River Li…

Daniel Pollen, the 9th Premier of New Zealand, was born in Ringsend in Dublin on the 2nd of June, 1813. Little is known of his early life, although some accounts indicated he initially emigrated to the United States where his father worked on the co…

Artificial Intelligence rendering of the Battle Of Farsetmore Likely more than a 1,000 men lay dead on the shores, or in the tidal waters of the river Swilly near Letterkenny in Donegal. The encounter at the ford of Farsetmore (Fearsaid Súil…

Mainie Jellett (1897 - 1944) Despite her short life, Mainie Jellett, made significant contributions to the arts in Ireland. Mainie was a pet name; she was born Mary Harriet Jellett on April 29, 1897, into a prosperous Dublin family at 37 Fitzwilli…

On April 24th, 1916, a group of Men enter the General Post Office in Dublin and took control of the building. That act and the proclamation of the Republic of Ireland spelled the begining of the 1916 Rising. Many refer to the these events as the Eas…