8 September 1798: The Battle of Ballinamuck/ Béal Átha na Muc - the Mouth of the Ford of the Pigs - was fought on this day. It was the last battle on Irish soil of the 1798 Rising. A vastly superior British force under General Lake cornered a small Franco-Irish Army under the command of General Humbert. After a desultory exchange of fire the French accepted terms and laid down their weapons. No such considerations were offered to the Irishmen who had accompanied him on his march on Dublin. Armed for the most part with pikes and agricultural instruments they were shot and cut down in their hundreds as a general massacre began.

General Humbert was a soldier of Revolutionary France & saw much action in the Republic’s wars against its enemies. He had served in the ill fated Bantry Bay expedition to Ireland in 1796 and narrowly escaped drowning when his ship was attacked by the British navy.

When word reached Paris in the summer of 1798 that a Revolution had broken out in Ireland the Directory hastily organised expeditions to sail to Ireland to give what assistance they could to those Irish in arms against Britain. General Humbert was given a command of some 1,000 men which he successfully brought ashore at Killala Co Mayo on the 23 August. His tiny command  chiefly consisted of infantry of the 70th demi-brigade with a few artillerymen and some cavalry of the 3rd Hussars. It was the only force to make it ashore.

Undaunted at hearing from the Irish that the main rising had already been defeated he decided to strike inland and take the town of Castlebar. Before he conducted his advance he clothed and armed those amongst the population who wished to join him in the endeavour. The numbers are not exactly known but it would appear that about one thousand Irishmen joined him on his march.

Striking across the mountains he surprised the local garrison  on 27 August at Castlebar and against the odds defeated them. Thereafter the battle was known to the locals as the ‘Races of Castlebar’ so hasty was the exit of the Crown Forces after their defeat. The General here took the opportunity the declare ‘The Republic of Connacht’ which however lasted a matter of days after his departure.

Humbert crossed the Shannon at Ballintra on 7 September and stopping at Cloone that evening, he was halfway between his landing-point and Dublin. But by now the British had him well marked and with two large armies under General Lake and Viceroy Lord Cornwallis with a combined force of over 25,000 men closing in for the kill it could only be a matter of time before the inevitable happened.

While terms were offered to the French Army no such consideration was offered to the Irish in arms against His Majesty King George III. That day as the Irish stood defenceless on Shanmullagh Hill overlooking the village, volleys of musket shot was poured into them, followed by a cavalry charge, and an estimated five hundred souls perished in the carnage. After it was all over their bodies were gathered together and unceremoniously buried in a mass-grave, known ever since as the ‘Croppies grave.’ Their final resting place is marked by a modest cross, erected by the local people who care for the site on a voluntary basis. A memorial stone marks the spot.

96 French officers and 748 men were taken prisoner at Ballinamuck. British losses were initially reported as 3 killed and 16 wounded or missing, but the number of killed alone was later reported as 12. Approximately 500 Irish lay dead on the field, 200 prisoners were taken in the mopping up operations, almost all of whom were later hanged, including Matthew Tone, brother of Wolfe Tone. The prisoners were moved to Carrick-on-Shannon, St Johnstown, today's Ballinalee, where most were executed in what is known locally as Bully's Acre.

Humbert and his men were taken by canal to Dublin and repatriated to France in exchange for British POWS held by the French. After the battle the British army slowly spread out into the rebel held "Republic of Connaught" in a brutal campaign of killing and house burning which reached its climax on 23 September when Killala was stormed and retaken with much slaughter.

 

7 September 1948: An Taoiseach John A Costello announced in Ottawa, Canada that the Irish Free State would leave the Commonwealth by repealing the 1936 External Relations Act and declaring Ireland a Republic. This shock announcement at a Commonwealth Conference was greeted at home with some puzzlement, as he had given no indication before his departure that such an action was contemplated.

Rumour circulated that Costello had been piqued when at a Dinner hosted by Earl Alexander, the Governor General of Canada and a dyed in the wool Ulster Unionist, the Taoiseach had looked down the barrels of table top sized miniatures of the guns that had held Derry in 1689! Specifically a miniature replica of the famous ‘Roaring Meg’ cannon [above].Chagrined at this insult he had called hastily arraigned press conference and announced his momentous decision.

Whatever the truth of the matter (and Costello denied this tale) when he returned home he brought forward a Bill that he claimed:

Was not conceived nor is it brought into this House in a mood of flamboyant patriotism or aggressive nationalism, nor in a spirit of irresponsible isolationism…

The Bill was passed and the Republic of Ireland came into being on 1 January 1949 with the State leaving the British Commonwealth as a result.

 

6 September 868: The Battle of Killineer/  Cath Cell ua nDaigri on this day. This clash of arms was fought just a few miles north-west of Drogheda, Co Louth but the exact location is now lost to us. The opponents were the forces of the King of Tara, Áed Findliath (‘light-grey’) of the Cenél nÉogain branch of the northern Uí Néill, against his dynastic rivals the Uí Néill of Brega [east Meath] who had as allies the Vikings of Dublin and the men of Laigin [south Leinster]. His own his nephew Flann son of Conaing was amongst his foes on the day of battle.

King Aed had for support King Conchobor of Connacht who seems to have contributed the bulk of the warriors. The northern king appears to have brought south with him just a picked force of about one thousand men. Aed was faced with what was an alliance by the kings of greater Leinster against his hegemony – as they all feared dominance by a king as powerful and as skilful as he.

In the event he defeated his enemies in what was probably a hard fought battle. It looks like the men of the East were the ones who opened the battle but were held in check. As both sides had more or less equal numbers its probable that the contest was a long drawn out affair. It certainly was a bloody one as the King of Brega and his ally Diarmait mac Etarscéle, the King of Loch Gabor were amongst the fallen. Many of the Vikings were also put to sword. But King Aed lost from amongst his own cousin Fachtna mac Mael Dúin, (the man selected to succeed him in the North) when he launched his own counter assault upon his enemies.

King Aed was one of the most successful kings to rule in Ireland in the 9th Century. He drove the Vikings out of the North and checked their power in north Leinster. He was also adept at keeping Irish rivals from usurping him from his seat. He died a peaceful death at the Monastery of Dromiskin, some 30 miles north of where this great battle was fought, in the year 879.

Aed (the son of Niall) who was the king of Temair [Tara], and Conchobor (the son of Tadc) who was the king of Connacht, won a battle at Cell ua nDaigri on the 8th of the Ides [6th of September] against the Uí Néill of Brega and the Laigin, and a large force of foreigners, i.e. three hundred or more.

Flann son of Conaing had five thousand and Aed Finnliath had one thousand,

Flann son of Conaing, king of all Brega, and Diarmait son of Etarscéle, king of Loch Gabor, fell in this battle.

Very many of the heathens were slaughtered there and Fachtna (the son of Mael Dúin), heir designate of the North, fell in the counterattack of the battle.

Chronicon Scotorum 868 AD

 

5 September 1926. The Drumcollogher/ Drom Collachair Cinema Tragedy on this day. The village of Dromcollogher is nine miles south-west of the town of Charleville, Co Cork but situated just to the north of the Limerick/ Cork border in the County of Limerick. On the night in question 48 people lost their lives when a candle overturned and caused film to ignite during a showing of The Ten Commandments. A room in the centre of the town, which was being used as a temporary cinema in Dromcollogher, caught fire when the candle ignited a reel of film carelessly left nearby.

'This was on the upper floor of a building used for storing hardware and access to it was by an external timber ladder, fixed to the wall to form a stairs. The hall, which had been used for meetings and entertainments for a number of years, was a rectangular room with a separate small dressing room area in the right-hand rear corner. The show began about 9.15pm after Benediction had finished in the local church, at which many of the audience had been present.

Estimates of the attendance varied but it appears that at least 150 people crowded into the hall, many of them children. At around 10.00 pm as the second film was showing, one of the reels, which lay unprotected on a table near the door, went on fire when a candle on the table overturned and set it alight. The people immediately rushed to the single narrow door from which the ladder/stairs descended. Those seated nearest the exit escaped as the fire spread rapidly. Others fled to the rear of the hall where the two windows were located and crowded into the small dressing room area. Some got out through the window here but unfortunately it was blocked when a woman became trapped in it. Within minutes the floor of the hall collapsed and the victims were hurtled to the ground where they died from the combination of burns, asphyxiation and shock. Forty six people were dead within 15 minutes. Two survivors later died from their injuries.'

https://sites.google.com/site/dromcollogher/cinemadisaster

The fire spread rapidly resulting in the deaths of 46 people, which included a family of six, with two more dying later in hospital. The 46 original victims of the tragedy—often referred to locally as ‘the Dromcollogher Burning’— are buried in a large grave in the grounds of the local church. The bodies of the victims were buried in a communal grave. A large Celtic cross was erected as a memorial to the victims of this tragedy.

 

4 September 1828: The Annaghdown/Anach Cuain Boat Tragedy. Eleven men and eight women were drowned on the river Corrib aboard an old and decrepit boat the Caisleán Nua. The tragedy was the subject of a poem by Anthony O’Rafferty 'Anach Cuain'. On September 4th, 1828 the boat left Annaghdown Pier bound for a fair at Galway City. On board were some sheep, which were for auction at the fair, and some thirty men and women who had intended to make a holiday out of the visit to Galway. Some two miles from the city on the river Corrib tragedy struck.

It is not quite certain what caused the boat to sink, but the story is told that one of the sheep on board got restless and poked his hoof through the floor of the boat. One of the men on board tried to stuff the hole with a piece of clothing but only succeeded in knocking a plank out of the boat which caused the water to pour in. Nineteen men and women on board drowned in the ensuing panic and scarcely a family in the village of Annaghdown remained unaffected by the tragedy.

The boat and passengers proceeded without obstruction until they arrived opposite Bushypark, within two miles of the town, when she suddenly went down and all on board perished except twelve persons who were fortunately rescued from their perilous situation by another boat. 

Galway Advertiser 6 September 1828

One man on board was named John Cosgrave who was a strong swimmer. He saved several people and went back to save the woman he was shortly to marry. Some desperate people clung to him in a desperate bid to save themselves but only succeeded in drowning him also.

The recovered bodies of those who drowned were brought ashore near Menlo/Mionnloch Castle, [above] itself the scene of a tragic fire in 1910. It is now a ruin.

 3 September 1821, King George IV  of Great Britain and  Ireland departed from Dunleary Dublin, aboard the Royal Yacht OTD. He reached his London residence of Carlton House on the 15 September. He had been away for some 40 days, 23 of them which he spent on this island. His first and only visit to Ireland  as a Monarch had begun over three weeks earlier when he disembarked at the West Pier in Howth on 12 August. It had been an eventful few weeks for him in a year packed with drama, farce and tragedy. 

                                           

He was not really a happy man in this life, plagued as he had been with parents he could not stand, a terrible arranged marriage with Caroline of Brunswick, a dead daughter [Princess Charlotte - and thus no heir] & the responsibilities of Monarchy now thrust upon him. . Indeed so bad had been his relations with his estranged spouse that upon being told in May that year that ‘his greatest enemy was dead’ [Napoleon Bonaparte] he had reportedly replied ‘is she begod’? 

He would in modern parlance be described as having a severe ‘personality disorder’ magnified in the public eye by his eminent position as the Prince Regent [1811] and now as the Royal Sovereign - a role which he was clearly not suited to or capable of fulfilling to just about anyone’s satisfaction.

His father had died in January 1820, mad and deranged and thus at last the Prince Regent was in line  to be coronated as king of these islands. That ceremony took place in Westminster Abbey on 19 July 1821. It was a huge and lavish affair reputedly the most opulent & expensive ever held before or since that time . His wife tried to gain entrance to the proceedings & claim her place as rightful ‘Queen Consort’ but George expressly forbade her entry and she was blocked from coming in - as she had no ticket! She was dead within 3 weeks, believing herself to have been poisoned. The general public were mortified & disturbed by these events and he started his reign as deeply unpopular as he had ever been. What better than to get away from it all and try his luck amongst the Irish and see if they loved him any better for being the flawed man he clearly was?

He arrived off our shores on Sunday 12 August at Howth to the north of Dublin on the new steam packet ship the 'Lightning’ [later sunk in a storm] after having crossed from Holyhead where he had received the sombre news of Queen Caroline’s death. It must have been a relief but for reasons of decorum he had to go through the motions of mourning her passing. 

He therefore decided to avoid landing in Dunleary to the south of Dublin where he was expected and make for Howth to the north of the city and discreetly disembark before proceeding in haste to the vice regal lodge in the Phoenix Park to lay low for a few days. Of course word soon got out and crowds awaited him when he came ashore. He had spent the crossing in gorging goose pie and copious drafts of Irish whiskey punch and was in ‘high spirits’ by the time he waddled ashore. 

The passage to Dublin was occupied in eating goose-pie and drinking whisky, of which his majesty partook most abundantly, singing many joyous songs, and being in a state on his arrival to double in sight even the number of his gracious subjects assembled on the pier to receive him.

http://oreald.com/b19/ch6/p6.html

On setting ashore he shook hands with many of the multitude who turned up to see him, of whatever rank or station in this world, calling them all either ‘Jack’ or ‘Tom’ which enamoured many of the lower orders to him with his overthrowing of royal protocol and treating all his ‘subjects’ with equanimity. 

On reaching the Vice Regal Lodge in the Phoenix Park [today Áras an Uachtaráin ]  he addressed the crowd:

I have travelled far, I have made a long sea voyage; besides which, particular circumstances have occurred, known to you all, of which it is better at present not to speak; upon those subjects I leave it to delicate and generous hearts to appreciate my feelings. This is one of the happiest days of my life.

 I have long wished to visit you; my heart has been always with the Irish; from the day it first beat I have loved Ireland. This day has shown me that I am beloved by my Irish subjects. Rank, station, honours, are nothing; but to feel that I live in the hearts of my Irish subjects is to me exalted happiness.

http://oreald.com/b19/ch6.htm

And indeed it was probably was the happiest day of his life. Here he was surrounded by hundreds of his Irish subjects who wished him well - unlike the booing & hissing mobs he regularly had to face in London. Finally and at last he was the crowned king of Britain & Ireland.  He was now also a free man unburdened by a woman he loathed and to cap it all off it was his 59th Birthday! What more could a Man ask for?

However The King then retired to his chambers with his current mistress Lady Conyingham and layed low for a few days to recover and at least observe some respect for his late wife Caroline. It was a remarkable entry for a King with commenters noting that it was the 1st time a Monarch from England had arrived here without an army to protect him. King George did it without so much a policeman to clear the way!

On the Friday following, the 17th, he was ready to make his formal entry to the 2nd city of his Empire and the royal carriage made it’s way to the top of Sackville st [now O’Connell St] where a triumphal arch had been erected and a symbolic ‘gate’ installed through which the formalities of a royal request to enter the city was given and accepted by the Lord Mayor. 

As the King made his way down the magnificent thoroughfare that it then was the whole street erupted in an outpouring of adulation and of rapturous applause for the royal personage. King George wore a large bunch of shamrock on his hat which he continually clutched as a token of his love for Ireland and her people. The crowd went ecstatic & cheered him even more as he made his way across Carlisle bridge [now O’Connell Bridge] to Dublin Castle. 

It was a lovely sunny day and as he stood up in his open carriage, waving his hat, pointing significantly to the big bunch of shamrock attached to its brim, and then laying his hand on his heart, the immense crowds roared their welcome.

George IV Regent and King  Christopher Hibbert

The press engaged in gushing prose. “No monarch on the earth ever received a more enthusiastic tribute of devotional attachment to the royal person than the king received from his faithful Irish people on the ever-memorable 17th August,” the Freeman’s Journal declared. “The splendid ovation, the pompous triumph of ‘olden time,’ were but the shadow of a shade to the stupendous spectacle — the magnificent entry of the British Monarch into the capital of his Kingdom of Ireland. Dublin yesterday exhibited a display of pomp and pageantry, and pride, unsurpassed by anything in modern London.”

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20147278.html

With that tremendous reception out of the way His Royal Highness began a whirlwind tour of places in and around the Dublin region. It would be a book in itself to describe all the people he met on his visit but here is a list of the places he went:

The King's Arrival and Reception at Howth - Public Entry into Dublin - Review in the Phoenix Park - Christ's Church Cathedral - Levée at the Castle - The Drawing-room - The Theatre Royal - The Linen Hall - The Bank of Ireland - The Corporation Banquet - The Royal Dublin Society - Visit to Slane Castle - Chief Justice Bushe - The Dublin University - Installation of the Knights of St. Patrick - Ball at the Rotunda - The Curragh of Kildare - The Castle Chapel - Visit to Powerscourt - The King's Departure - The King's Message of Conciliation to his Irish Subjects- The Effect of the Royal Visit on the Country.

He caused Scandal by retiring to Slane Castle with his current mistress the Mrs Conyngham. He was besotted with her, constantly "kissing her hand with a look of most devoted submission." This on top of the very recent death of his wife Caroline just added to the sense of outrage that many of his subjects felt towards him though more so in England than Ireland. However the Ladies loved him and at the State Reception held in Dublin Castle he kissed all 1,000 that were presented to him. He then retired for the evening - but was called back to kiss 300 more!

The Irish, or at least the Catholics amongst them [the great majority at that time] felt he was sympathetic to their cause. Indeed as a Prince he had secretly and illegally married a Roman Catholic - Mrs Fitzherbert in 1785, but he eventually rejected their relationship as it was impossible for him as heir to the throne to publicly acknowledge it. Though when he died in 1830 he was buried with her locket on him to remind him of a love that never  really went away.

Eventually the day came for him depart from our shores and as it so happened never to return here again.

The King departed from Dun Laoghaire, which was renamed Kingstown in his honour, on 3rd September. As His Majesty hauled his portly self back onto the Royal yacht, he promised that ‘Whenever an opportunity offers, wherein I can serve Ireland, I will seize it with eagerness’. Many assumed the emancipation of the Catholics would follow swift. In the end, it took eight more years, with George proving deeply reluctant to sign it.

https://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_irish/history_irish_georgeiv.htm

Indeed while the visit had been a tremendous success for the King he had played to the gallery as it were and  deliberately sought popular adulation, more like a politician than a sovereign. Who could blame as he was only human?  But he was also recognised as the King of these islands and the font of all legislation that he had at the end of the day to personally approve of. He raised hopes here that were politically explosive and he had not the willpower or the commitment to carry through on. He had even met Catholic Bishops in Dublin Castle who had done him homage - an unheard of event since the ‘Glorious Revolution’ and the War of the Two Kings [1688-1691]! It looked like Catholic Emancipation was now on the cards. Alas the King was a weakling in these things and blew hot and cold over the issue and was only eventually pushed into signing a Bill in 1829 to sanction it under severe pressure from his Ministers most notably the Duke of Wellington himself.

Following the visit, the Albany became the Theatre Royal, Dunleary became Kingstown until 1921 when it was rechristened Dún Laoghaire, a new Liffey crossing was named Kingsbridge and his footprints at Howth were encased in masonry.

In 1823, an obelisk was erected in Kingstown to commemorate the visit. It has been damaged on a number of occasions but still stands.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/royal-appointment-denis-fahey-on-george-iv-s-visit-to-ireland-1.4636332

George IV [‘Prinny’ was his nickname] was probably the worst king that ever sat upon the throne of England in terms of personality. He was a coward, a glutton, a philanderer, a drunkard and a spendthrift. He was also capable of great charm, wit and sociability when he wanted to be so - though by no means always especially to those he considered too fond of their own importance.  He was a huge patron of the arts & architecture. But he was not remembered with much fondness by many of his subjects, least of all by those who knew him best. He always wanted to be popular with his subjects but he more drove them away than anything else with his behaviour & carry on. However that day in Dublin when he was conveyed down Sackville St in Regal splendour to the adulation of the multitude must have been one he would never forget as a moment in time that he seemed to have finally made it - even if it was only for just one day....

Pictures 

1: George IVs arrival at Howth 12 August 1921

2: His footprints encased at Howth

3: His entry into Dublin 17 August 1821

4: Memorial to The King's Departure at Kingstown 3 September 1821

 

 2 September 1022 AD: The death of the King of Mide [Meath] & Ard Rí [High King]  of Ireland, Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, on this day. His passing marked the end of an era in Irish History. Since the Battle of Ocha in circa 483 AD the southern and northern O’Neill’s had shared the title of King of Temair (Tara) [above] between them on a more or less continual basis. This made the holder of the title the most influential king in Ireland - if he had the wherewithal to make use of the status the title gave him.

For it was believed that in ancient times Ireland had been ruled from the Royal seat of Tara. The O’Neills believed that any man who held that hallowed ground was the heir to a lost Kingdom. However Brian Boru of Munster in 1002 had pushed aside King Máel and had himself recognised as the superior king in his stead.

It was only with the death of King Brian at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 that Máel Sechnaill had regained his position. But by then he was an old man and Ireland had changed greatly since his predecessors had established their dual kingdoms all those centuries before. After him Mide(Meath) would no longer be the force it was in Irish Wars and Politics.

Mael Sechnaill son of Domnall son of Donnchad, overlord of Ireland, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the western world, died in the 43rd year of his reign and the 73rd of his age on Sunday the fourth of the Nones 2nd of September, the second of the moon.

Annals of Ulster 1022 AD

Mael Sechnaill son of Domnall, son of Donnchad, overking of Ireland, the

flood of honour of the western world, died in Cró-inis of Loch Aininne in

the forty-third year of his reign on the 4th of the Nones 2nd of September,

that is, on Sunday, the second day of the moon, the one thousandth and

twenty-second year after the Lord's Incarnation, and died penitent and at

peace, with the successors of venerable saints Pátraic and Colum Cille and

Ciarán present and assisting him.

Chronicon Scotorum