August 27: 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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1874: Irish Sculptor John Henry Foley
: Death of celebrated Irish sculptor John Henry (JH) Foley. Foley’s work features in Dublin and London. His sculpture of Daniel O’Connell dominates Dublin’s main thoroughfare O’Connell Street. His most prominent work in London is the statute of Prince Albert at the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. Foley died before the Albert statue was finished, but the design and concept is his..
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- O’Connell monument Dublin
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1979: IRA Bomb Kills Lord Mountbatten
An IRA bomb kills the Queen’s cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten in County Sligo.
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- Lord Mountbatten 1900-1979
Mountbatten regularly holidayed in the West of Ireland. The bomb exploded on his boat some minutes after he and family friends had departed the little port of Mullaghmore. Mountbatten’s grandson Nicholas, 14, and fifteen year old local, Paul Maxwell, 15, employed as a boat boy were also killed. Another passenger, the Dowager Lady Brabourne, 82, dies the day after the attack. Thomas McMahon was convicted of the killings. He was released in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement.
Although hard for many people to swallow, participants on both sides of the Troubles were released under the Good Friday Agreement and proved a watershed in rapprochement between Republican and Loyalist elements.
The Assassination of Lord Mountbatten
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1979: Warrenpoint Massacre. 18 British Soldiers Killed
The IRA inflicts the single-day largest loss of life on British military personnel in Northern Ireland killing eighteen troops in a two-explosion operation. Six members of the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment were killed when a flat bed trailer containing at least 500lbs of explosives was detonated. A rapid response unit from the Queen’s Own Highlanders set up an incident center close the carnage, just as the IRA had anticipated. Thirty two minutes after the first explosion, another huge bomb hidden in milk churns killed twelve more troops. Not since Arnhem 1944 had the paras suffered so many casualties in a single contact with enemy forces. The IRA’s previous most successful attach on British forces had occurred in 1920 at Kilmichael, Co. Cork during the Irish War of Independence.
The bombs were detonated by IRA members who were literally yards away – across a narrow stretch of water in the Irish Republic where British troops could not pursue them. Gardai arrested two men close the scene who were later released later due to lack of evidence. One of the released men Brendan Burns, was killed in a premature explosion while loading an IRA bomb into a van near Crossmaglen, County Armagh in 1988.
Press photographer Peter Boyle who was in the area by chance heard the explosion and took photos that were seen around the world. In These are the Last Photos I ever took, he provides a harrowing account of what he saw. (Warning: This article is extremely graphic)
- Remains of Army vehicle
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READ: Para Officers recollection of the day (Warning: Again extremely graphic)
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READ: Website dedicated to IRA volunteer Brendan Burns
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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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