August 21: TODAY in Irish History:
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Snippets of Irish History by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks 
Conor is a Chicago based Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff.
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1861: Larne Gun Runner Frederick Crawford
Birth of Frederick Crawford. Crawford is one of the lesser known figures in Ulster Unionist history but one who was hugely influential because of his involvement in what is known as the Larne gun running incident when he was responsible for smuggling over 25,000 guns into the North on the night of April 24 1914.
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- Fred Crawford Larne Gun Runner
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By 1912, Ulster Unionists were prepared to take desperate measures to ensure Ireland (or at least Ulster) stayed under English rule and not, as Loyalists saw it, be taken over by a Catholic dominated “foreign” culture which is how Unionists saw the general Irish nationalist movement. To some extent, Loyalist thinking was similar to the States Rights logic of the Confederate United States. Robert E. Lee refused a command in the Union Army at the commencement of the Civil War to fight for his beloved Virginia.
Crawford summed up this sentiment in his book Guns for Ulster when he wrote about the Scottish Protestant immigrants who settled in Ulster in the 1600-1700s. ” From these settlers sprang a people, the Ulster-Scot, who have made themselves felt in the history of the British Empire and, in no small measure, in that of the United States of America.” (See for instance Andrew Jackson.) He went on to write “I am ashamed to call myself an Irishman. Thank God I am not one. I am an Ulsterman, a very different breed.”
Crawford was strongly supported by other Loyalist politicians including Edward Carson who ironically was born in Dublin. The weapons went to arm The Ulster Volunteer Force in very public defiance of the rule (ironically) of British law. Some weeks after the Larne incident, Irish nationalists led by Countess Markievicz would land guns at Howth, Co Dublin literally in view of English authorities who failed to understand the nuances of a nation where Loyalists were prepared to fight Britain to stay part of Britain and Nationalists were prepared to fight Britain to gain independence from Britain.
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1982: Bono Gets Hitched
Seduced by her Mysterious Ways, U2 frontman Bono marries Ali Stewart in Raheny, Dublin. He is twenty two. She is twenty one. Bono knew that Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own. After Ali told Bono Get On Your Boots and he said I Will Follow on that Beautiful Day, we can assume that when singing I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, the little Dublin lad does not mean Ali. For the last thirty years it seems as if Two Hearts Beat As One for a couple who have it seems have an Unforgettable Fire and who endeavor to do a Magnificent job for social justice.
Illustration of Bono by Mark Anderson in For the Love of Being Irish written by Conor Cunneen.
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READ: Article on Ali Hewson
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WATCH: A Short History of Ireland
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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