January 15: TODAY in Irish History:
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Humanity Dick Martin
Snippets of Irish History presented by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks
Conor is a Chicago based Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff.
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1754:Animal Rights Activist Colonel Richard Martin
Colonel Richard Martin
Colonel Richard Martin is born in Galway. Martin was a politician and animal rights activist who introduced the first animal cruelty legislation in the UK and in 1824 was one of the founders of what went on to become the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, thus acquiring the nickname “Humanity Dick” Martin.
The website MartinIrishClan suggests that Martin was quite an interesting character. ” He was a colonel of the County Galway Volunteers. He survived two shipwrecks. He fought over a hundred duels with sword and pistol and earned the nickname “Hairtrigger Dick”. He travelled extensively in Europe and the Americas during the 1770s and was in New England when the American Revolutionary War began. He initiated Galway’s first theatre in 1783. He employed as tutor to his younger half-brothers Theobald Wolfe Tone, who had an affair with Martin’s wife. Martin was in Paris when the French Revolution began during 1789.”
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1800: Henry Grattan and the Act of Union
Henry Grattan makes an impassioned plea in the Irish House of Commons against the Act of Union which was to see the dissolution of the Irish parliament and direct rule by England for the following 122 years. This was the final day of the Irish parliament.
Irish House of Commons in session
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1861: Death of Young Irelander Terence Bellew MacManus.
Thirteen years previously Bellew had been sentenced to death for treason following the misbegotten Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848. His sentence was commuted in 1849 and he was transported to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in Australia. He escaped in 1852 and fled to the United States.
Terence Bellew McManus
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McManus was one of a number of Irish rebels who were deported following the 1848 Young Ireland Rebellion. It was a very small scale poorly organized uprising which took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, County Tipperary. McManus apparently never acclimated to life in exile in the United States and he died in poverty. His remains were returned to Ireland to a hero’s reception.
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1920: Proportional Represention
Proportional Representation(PR) is used in Ireland for the first time in the local elections of 1920. PR differs from the widely used first past the post voting system in that the seats won tend to be representative of total votes cast thus encouraging participation even from minority communities. In the 1921 Northern Ireland general elections, when PR was used, every seat was contested. However, after Northern Ireland reverted to first past the post system, numerous seats went uncontested by nationalists who knew they had no chance of winning seats. In the 1933 general election, fought under the British first past the post system, only 19 of 52 seats were contested. Gerrymandered voting districts plus first past the post saw Unionists gain 36 of 52 seats in the election. this can be contrasted with the 1920 local elections when Sinn Fein won control of 10 of 12 urban councils.
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READ: PR in Ireland.
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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.
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