October 21: TODAY in Irish History:
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Curated by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks 
Conor is a Chicago based Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff.
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1805: Irish at Battle of Trafalgar
Over 4,000 Irish fight in British forces at the Battle of Trafalgar where Lord Nelson famously declared, “England confides that every man will do his duty”.
In The Fighting Life of H.M.S. Victory, author Iain Ballantyne writes about the death of one young Irishman – twenty-one-year-old Irish Midshipman William Ram,who died from “multiple injuries that left him in indescribable agony.”
In 1808, Nelson’s Pillar was erected in Dublin which generated conflicting insights from Irish parties.
Nelson’s victory was greeted with praise by certain sectors of the Irish population.
“Our country, but more particularly the metropolis on the arrival of a period, which, while it commemorates the achievements of a great naval commander, fully evinces that the Irish people entertain as lively a sense as their fellow subjects, of the gratitude they owe to the memory of Lord Nelson” (The Freeman’s Journal, 16th February 1808).
An alternative view was provided by The Irish Magazine in 1809.
We have changed our gentry for soldiers, and our independence has been wrested from us, not by the arms of France, but by the gold of England. The statue of Nelson records the glory of a mistress and the transformation of our senate into a discount office.
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READ: Building of Nelson’s Column
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Nelson’s Column was blown up by Irish nationalists in 1966.
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1879: The Irish National Land League is founded at the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, Mayo. Charles Stewart Parnell was elected president of the league. Its primary aim was to provide basic rights for tenant farmers and allow them to purchase the land they worked on.
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1982: Gerry Adams wins Election
In the first time, Sinn Fein contests elections in Northern Ireland since The Troubles began, Gerry Adams is elected MP for West Belfast. Martin McGuinness wins election in Derry. Sinn Fein continued its abstentionist policy in terms of parliamentary attendance and neither Adams nor McGuinness took their seats.
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Want to learn more about Ireland? See these images and more in the acclaimed For the Love of Being Irish
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This history is written by Irish author, business keynote speaker and award winning humorist IrishmanSpeaks – Conor Cunneen. If you spot any inaccuracies or wish to make a comment, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the comment button.
Visit Conor’s YouTube channel IrishmanSpeaks to Laugh and Learn.
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Today In Irish History 