Chronological history of Dublin, 1800-1899.

**1800.

Henry Grattan** wounded the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Isaac Corry, on February 15 1800 in a duel over the allegation that Grattan had encouraged the 1798 rebellion in Ireland.

The first ordination of priests in Maynooth took place on June 6 1800.

The Act of Union between Ireland and Britain came into effect on January 1, 1801 - the last sitting of the Irish parliament was in August 1800.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland assembled for the first time on 2 February 1801 - the first time that Ireland had been represented in the British parliament.

At a meeting on 8 May 1801 in St. Thomas’s Church, Marlborough Street, the residents and property-owners of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, met to petition Parliament “to enclose the waste space central to the Square”.

The ‘Sham Squire’, Francis Higgins, 56, owner of the Freeman’s journal and informer on the United Irishmen in 1798, died on 19 January 1802.

Robert Emmet, 25, led a rising in Dublin, issuing a Proclamation of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, on June 23 1803. Lord Kilwarden and his son-in-law, Rev. Richard Wolfe, were dragged from their carriage and killed. Emmet, who had spent the two previous year in France with the exiled leaders of the United Irishmen, went into hiding as the rising collapsed.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin imposed a curfew (9pm to 6am) on the city on August 21 1803 after Robert Emmet’s abortive rising. He also ordered that inhabitants post their names on their doorways.

Robert Emmet was arrested at the home of Mrs. Palmer on August 25 1803.

Robert Emmet, Irish patriot, was hanged and decapitated on September 20 1803.

The foundation stone of the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, was laid on March 17 1806

The Prince of Wales packet ship and the military transport Rochdale sank in a storm in Dublin Bay on November 19 1807, killing nearly 385 people. The Prince of Wales ran onto rocks off Blackrock - the Captain and crew took to the only lifeboat, abandoning the troops onboard. The Rochdale suffered a similar fate near Seapoint, just 20 feet from the shore. In atrocious weather conditions it was impossible for would-be rescuers to achieve their aim and all aboard perished. Less than half of the bodies were recovered. A memorial stone to all who died stands in St. Begnet’s Graveyard, Dalkey. Within 10 years work had begun on the creation of an asylum harbour at Dun Laoghaire.

Work started on building Nelson’s Pillar, O’Connell Street, Dublin, on January 30 1808.

The Duke of Richmond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, laid the first stone of Nelson’s Pillar, Dublin, on February 15 1808. The inscription on a plate placed on the stone read: “By the blessing of Almighty God, to commemorate the transcendant heroic achievements of the Right Hon. Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronti, in Sicily, Vice-Admiral of the White Squadron of his Majesty’s Fleet, who fell gloriously in the Battle off Cape Trafalgar, on 21st day of October 1805; when he obtained for his Country a victory over the combined Fleets of France and Spain, unparalled in Naval History; the first stone of this Triumphal Pillar, was laid by his Grace, Charles, Duke of Richmond and Lennox.”

Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital, Dublin, opened on November 7 1809.

**1810

**James Sadler attempted the first crossing of the Irish Sea by balloon on October 1 1812. The flight, from Dublin, brought him to Anglesey but he was blown out to sea, ditched and had to be rescued. His son, William, made the first successful crossing five years later.

The first stone of the G.P.O., O’Connell Street, Dublin, was laid on August 12 1814. It was the first Irish building specifically designed as a post office.

Daniel O’Connell killed John D’Esterre, a Dublin councillor and provision merchant, in a duel at Bishopscourt, near Naas, on February 2 1815. D’Esterre fired first and missed, O’Connell’s shot hit D’Esterre in the hip. He died the following day, absolving O’Connell from any blame. O’Connell offered an annuity to the widow which she refused, but he continued to pay money to D’Esterre’s daughter until his death. The duel was fought over comments in January to a Catholic meeting in Dublin by O’Connell to which the Orange D’Esterre took exception: “I am convinced that the Catholic cause has suffered by neglect of discussion. Had the Petition been last year the subject of debate, we should not now see the beggarly Corporation of Dublin anticipating our efforts by a Petition of opposite tendency.” Having failed to obtain an apology from O’Connell, D’Esterre attempted to provoke a duel by threatening to horse-whip him, and indeed spent a week turning up in the Four Courts armed with a whip in search of him

The Archbishop of Dublin, John Thomas Troy, laid the first stone of St. Mary’s Metropolitan Chapel (the Pro-Cathedral) in Marlborough Street on 28 March 1815. It opened in 1825.

Mother Mary Aikenead was appointed superior-general of the Irish Sisters of Charity on September 1 1815.

Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan (School for Scandal) died on July 7 1816.

The first stone of the pier was laid to begin the building of Dun Laoghaire harbour on May 31 1817.

The first stone of the Wellington Monument in The Phoenix Park, Dublin, was laid on June 17 1817 - work on the monument was finished, though the original plan, and much larger, plan was never completed.

William Sadler made the first ever balloon crossing of the Irish Sea on July 22 1817. He flew from Portobello Barracks, Rathmines, to Anglesey, Wales, in six hours.

**1820

**The Theatre Royal opened in Hawkins Street, Dublin, on 18 January 1821.

George VI began a three week visit to Ireland on August 12 1821. Dunleary was renamed Kingstown in his honour (now Dun Laoghaire).

Sir John Newport, Waterford, spoke in the House of Commons on June 27 1822 on the horrors of the famine then affecting Ireland. He described a parish in his neighbourhood where 15 people had already died of hunger; 28 more were, he said, past all hope of recovery, and 120 were prostrated by famine fever. He spoke of another parish where the priest had gone around and administered extreme unction to every man, woman and child.

The Dublin to Liverpool packet ship Albert sank with the loss of 70 lives on March 26 1823.

The Dublin to Liverpool packet ship Robert sank with the loss of 60 lives on 16 May 1823.

Former United Irishman Michael Dwyer, 53, transported to Australia, died on August 23 1825 in New South Wales where he had become police chief.

The Dublin lighting system was first powered by gas on 5 October 1825.

On 21 March 1829 the Duke of Wellington, 60, fought a bloodless duel with the Earl of Winchelsea over the Duke’s support for Catholic emancipation. Wellington was both Prime Minister and leader of the Tory Party at the time.

Daniel O’Connell was elected, unopposed, MP for Clare, on July 30 1829. His previous election victory in Clare had come to nothing when he was refused permission to take his seat in the House of Commons because the Catholic Relief Bill, which permitted Catholics to enter Parliament, was not retrospective.

**1830

Daniel O’Connell** became the first Catholic in modern times to take his seat in the British House of Commons on February 4 1830.

At a meeting called and chaired by the Duke of Leinster in the Rotunda, Dublin, on 10 May 1830 it was decided to establish The Zoological Society of Dublin “to form a collection of living animals, on the plan of the Zoological establishment of London.”

Dublin Zoological Gardens, the third oldest public zoo in the world, opened to the public on September 1 1831. In the first 14 months there were 36,497 visitors who contributed £508 in subscriptions and £912 in entrance fees. The Zoo had 46 mammals, including 15 monkeys, and 72 birds.

A meeting and procession by the trades of Dublin to be held on 27 December 1831 to compliment Daniel O’Connell on his advocacy of an Irish Parliament was banned by Lord Anglesea. The bands were to form at Phibsborough and match with the banners into the city where they planned to deliver an address to O’Connell.

The first interment in Glasnevin cemetery was on 22 February 1832.

An act passed on 24 March 1832 directed that tobacco grown in Ireland should be purchased by the government and destroyed.

In the early days of Dublin Zoo a cottage on the site was occupied by a Mrs. O’Rourke. Relations between the two parties gradually soured and on 20 April 1832 entry from the lodge into the Zoo was cut off. A later letter cautioned her “not to hang any more of her washing within sight of the visitors to the Garden.”

St. Vincent’s Hospital, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, opened under the auspices of the Sisters of Charity on 23 January 1834.

Daniel O’Connell brought forward to Parliament on April 23 1834 the question of repealing the Union between Ireland and Britain. After a four day debate the motion was voted down.

The Dublin Police Act of July 4 1836 established the Dublin Metropolitan Police.

Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin, was consecrated on 19 September 1836.

More than 200 houses were blown down and many others burnt in Limerick, Galway and Athlone during the “Night of the Big Wind” on Sunday, 6 January 1839. Up to 300 people died in the biggest storm of the century. Dublin, which missed the worst of the storm, had 400 houses destroyed and 4,848 chimneys blown down. In country areas many thatched mud huts disintegrated. According to folklore it was the night “the English fairies came and invaded Ireland, and that the Irish fairies raised the big wind and blew them out of it”.

**1840

**The William Huskisson steamer between Dublin and Liverpool sank on 11 January 1840. The crew of the Huddersfield saved 93 passengers.

The Dublin to Liverpool steamer Thames sank with the loss of 56 people near St. Ives on 4 January 1841.

The Governor Fenner, sailing from Liverpool to America, was run down and sunk by the Nottingham steamer, sailing from Dublin, off Holyhead on 19 February 1841. 122 people died.

Anthony Trollope, novelist, arrived in Ireland as deputy post office surveyor on September 15 1841.

Daniel O’Connell was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin on November 1 1842.

All Hallows College, Dublin, was formally opened on November 1 1842.

The first issue of the Irish nationalist paper ‘The Nation’ was published on October 15 1842.

The Sean Bean Bocht was first printed, in The Nation, on October 29 1842.

One of the last of the great ‘Monster Meetings’ organised by Daniel O’Connell was at Tara on 15 August 1843. Estimates of the numbers ranged from 300,000 to 750,000.

Daniel O’Connell’s mass public meeting in Clontarf was banned by the Government on 7 October 1843. Thousands of people had turned up at more than 40 similar ‘monster meetings’, usually held in places of historical nationalist significance such as Tara where O’Connell promised reforms after the Act of Union with Britain was repealed. The Government, however, drafted extra troops into Dublin and O’Connell backed down. It was a clear indication to the British that O’Connell would not pursue confrontation. The move weakened O’Connell’s bargaining position and, although he retained his immense popularity in Ireland, repeal under O’Connell became a spent force.

The ‘atmospheric railway’ between Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) and the quarries at Dalkey opened on March 29 1844. Later converted to steam, the railway ran until 1854.

The Dublin to Drogheda railroad was opened on 26 May 1844.

Some of the groups involved in faction fighting in Ireland were named in the 18 June 1845 edition of The Tipperary Vindicator. They include the Caravats and Shanavests, the Three Year Olds and the Four Year Olds, the Gate and Pudding Lane Boys, Poleens and Gows, Black Hens and Magpies.

David Moore, curator of the Botanic Garden in Dublin noted on August 20 1845 that leaves of some potato plants in the institution were showing signs of blight. His was the first known scientific observation in Ireland of the fungus Phytophora infestans.

The arrival of the potato blight, cause of the later famine, was first reported in the Dublin Evening Post on 9 September 1845.

The Dublin to Carlow railway was opened on 10 August 1846.

‘The Liberator’, Daniel O’Connell, 72, already terminally ill made his last appearance in the House of Commons on 8 February 1847.

‘The Liberator’, Daniel O’Connell, 72, died in Genoa, while travelling to Rome, on May 15 1847.

Some 60 Irishmen, members of the St. Patrick’s Brigade, were sentenced to death by General Winfield Scott in Mexico City on September 12 1847. The men had deserted from the United States army and joined with Mexican forces which were defeated at the Battle of Churubusco on August 20. The Mexican leader, General Santa Anna, had earlier called on Catholic Irishmen to desert the American army and receive “rich fields and large tracts of land”. In the event Mexico lost Texas and California, some 55% of its territory. 71 men were sentenced to be hung, some, however, were spared and sentenced to hard labour after being publicly given 50 lashes and having the letter ‘D’ branded on their cheeks. Each year the Irish flag is unfurled on this date in San Jacinto Plaza, Mexico City, and a short ceremony celebrates the Irish soldiers who died for Mexico.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s atmospheric railway, run on compressed air, closed down on September 9 1848.

The first train from Dublin to Cork arrived at Mallow on October 18 1849. Among those on board was Charles Bianconi, the stage coach pioneer.

**1850

**The Great Western Railway, linking Dublin and Galway, opened on 1 August 1851.

The Duke of Wellington died on 14 September 1852.

The Irish-born Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley) was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral on November 18 1852 after a massive state funeral.

The Queen Victoria sank in a snowstorm off Howth on February 2 1853 - 55 people died.

The Boyne Viaduct, carrying the Dublin-Belfast railway line, carried its first train on 11 May 1853. The viaduct was not fully completed until 1856.

The ‘atmospheric railway’ between Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) and the quarries at Dalkey closed on April 12 1854. It had earlier been converted to steam.

Donnybrook Fair, held since 1204, began for the last time on August 21 1854.

Ireland played its first ever cricket international on September 11 1855 - beating England by 107 at the Phoenix Park Cricket Club, Dublin.

James Stephen’s founded the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood in Dublin on 16 March 1858.

Thousands of people mobbed the Rotunda Rooms, Parnell Street, Dublin, on August 28 1858 to hear a reading by novelist Charles Dickens. Up to £5 a ticket was offered by fans desperate to hear the novelist of his age.

The first issue of The Irish Times appeared on 29 March 1859.

**1860

French College** (later Blackrock College), Dublin, opened on September 5 1860.

Foundation stone of the new College of Physicians in Kildare Street laid by the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Lieutenant, on July 7 1862.

The foundation stone for Synge Street Christian Brothers School, Dublin, was laid on April 28 1863.

St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, opened to the public on November 13 1863.

A statue of Oliver Goldsmith was inaugurated by the Lord Lieutenant on January 5 1864.

The National Gallery of Ireland opened on January 5 1864.

The New Richmond Hospital, to be called the “Carmichael School of Medicine” founded by Lord Carlisle (Mr. Carmichael, the surgeon, bequeathed £10,000 to it) on March 29th 1864.

The foundation stone of the O’Connell Monument in Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) was laid on August 8 1864. An estimated crowd of 500,000 attended.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral reopened on February 24 1865 after its restoration through the munificence of Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness. bart., at a cost of over £150.000.

The office of the Irish People in Parliament street were forcibly entered by the Dublin police on September 15 1865. The types, presses, etc., seized, and the persons found on the premises arrested and charged with being members of the Fenian Brotherhood and engaged in a treasonable conspiracy against Her Majesty’s Government.

Owing to the discovery of concealed arms, the county and city of Dublin was “proclaimed” from January 6 1866: no person was allowed to appear with firearms, and the police were empowered to search for arms.

Great fire in Dublin on June 7 1866. Six persons died and the fire brigade was blamed.

The Dublin Port Act of June 17 1867 set up the Dublin Port and Docks Board.

Two policemen were shot in Dublin on October 31 1867. Fenians blamed.

The Constabulary of Ireland was renamed the Royal Irish Constabulary on 12 September 1867.

Allen, Larkin and O’Brien (‘The Manchester Martyrs’) were executed on November 23 1867 at Salford jail, Manchester, for the shooting dead of Sergeant Chares Brett during an attempted rescue of Fenian leaders on 18 September.

Funeral demonstrations in Dublin on December 8 1867 for the Fenians, Allen, Larkin and O’Brien.

The last man to be publicly hanged in Britain was Michael Barrett, sentenced for his part in a Fenian bombing in 1868 which killed 13 people. He was hanged on 26 May 1868 at Newgate prison in front of a large crowd - public executions were abolished under the Capital Punishment Amendment Act three days later.

The Vartry waterworks were completed on July 15 1968; the entire city, together with the Pembroke and Blackrock townships, supplied with Vartry water, and the old Canal supplies discontinued.

Public** **entry of Earl Spencer as Lord Lieutenant on January 16 1869.

Monster “Fenian Amnesty Meeting” held at Cabra, Dublin, on October 10 1869.

**1870

**Statue of Smith O’Brien unveiled in Dublin on December 26 1870.

Census of the population of Dublin taken on April 2 1871. Number of inhabitants within the Municipal Borough, 115,618 males and 130,708 females; total, 246,326, inhabiting 23,896 houses.

State funeral on June 16 1871 of Lord Mayor Bulfin who died in office.

The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, opened on November 27 1871 - the first play was ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ by Oliver Goldsmith.

Street** tramways** opened** in Dublin from Nelson Pillar to Rathmines and Terenure on February 1 1872; on June **3rd, to and from Kingsbridge and the Dublin Exhibition; and on October 1st to and from Sandymount

New Docks opened on April 15 1872 at North Wall (constructed by the Midland Great Western Railway Company) by the Lord Lieutenant, and named Spencer Dock in his honour. On this occasion Mr. Ralph Cusack, Chairman of the Railway Company, was knighted.

Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition opened in Dublin by the Duke of Edinburgh on June 5 1872.

Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, writer of ‘In A Glass Darkly’, died on 7 February 1873.

Trinity College, Dublin, abandoned all religious tests for entry into the college from May 26 1873 - with the exception of the Divinity faculty.

Great fire in Dublin on June 7 1873 which resulted in rioting. The** **military had to be called in.

Conference on “Home Rule” was held in the Rotunda, Dublin from November 18-21 1873.

Essex Bridge, which had been rebuilt by the Dublin Port and Docks Board, from the plans of their engineer, B. B. Stony, was re-opened on October 1 1874. (25 feet broader than the old bridge opened in 1755).

International** rifle** match at Dublin between, Ireland and America on June 29 1875. The Americans won.

The centenary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell was celebrated in Dublin on August 6 1875 with a grand procession of the trades and other bodies. A grand musical performance took place in the Exhibition Palace, in connection with the centenary. Professor Glover’s National Oratorio, “St. Patrick of Tara,” was performed with a band and chorus of 500 performers.

Statue of Henry Grattan unveiled in Dublin on January 6 1876.

Charles Stuart Parnell caused uproar in the British House of Commons on June 30 1876 by defending the executed ‘Manchester Martyrs.’ who had been called the ‘Manchester Murderers’ by Sir Michael Hicks Beach.

Isaac Butt, Q.C., was given the Freedom of the City of Dublin on 4 September 1876.

Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, P.C., M.P., was given the Freedom of the city of Dublin on 1 November 1877.

Michael Davitt and other released Fenians received a tumultuous public welcome when they arrived back in Ireland at Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) on January 13 1878.

May 1st - Re-opening of Christ Church Cathedral on May 1 1878, which had been restored by Mr. G. E. Street, at the expense of Henry Roe, Junior, at a cost exceeding £200,000.

British Association met** **in Dublin for the third time on August 14 1878.

3,000 people paid 6d each to listen to ‘The Chief’, Charles Stuart Parnell, in the Rotunda Rooms, Parnell Street, Dublin, on October 23 1878.

Death of Cardinal Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin (since 1851) on November 28 1878: his successor was Monsignor McCabe.

Centenary of the birth of Thomas Moore celebrated in Dublin on May 29 1879.

The first Irish Open was held at Fitzwilliam Tennis Club on June 4 1879.

The Irish Land League was formed in Dublin on October 21 1879 by Parnell, Davitt and others.

**1880

**The Irish Rugby Football Union was formed on February 5 1880.

The Theatre Royal was totally destroyed by an accidental fire on February 9 1880. The manager, Mr. Egerton, and five others perished.

Carlisle Bridge was re-opened and renamed O’Connell Bridge by the Corporation on August 6 1880.

St. Stephen’s Green was opened as a public park through the generosity of Lord Ardilaun on August 6 1880.

Edward E. Potter, Captain of the Relief Ship, Constellation, U.S. Navy, was given the Freedom of the city of Dublin on 26 April 1880.

Carlisle Bridge, Dublin, was reopened on May 6 1880 under the new name of O’Connell Bridge.

The Irish Football Association was formed on November 18 1880.

A** Census** of the population of Dublin was taken on April 5 1881. The number of inhabitants within the Municipal Borough was 249,486, inhabiting 24,261 houses.

Some of Dublin’s streets were lighted on May 25 1881 for the first time with electricity.

The O’Connell Statue was unveiled in O’Connell Street, Dublin, and the exhibition of Irish Arts and Manufacturers was opened by the Right Hon. Charles Dawson, M.P., Lord Mayor of Dublin on August 15 1881.

Some police were dismissed for holding a public meeting in Dublin. All the police of the city resigned; order was maintained by the military who charged on rioters on the evening of September 1 1881. Special constables were sworn in on September 2nd; resignations were withdrawn penitently with respectful petition September 3rd; 208 reinstated September 6th-7th.

Charles Stuart Parnell and others were sent to Kilmainham Gaol on October 13 1881 for inciting people to intimidate tenants taking advantage of the Land Act.

There was fierce rioting in Dublin on October 16 1881 after the arrest of John Dillon, M.P., and other Land Leaguers.

James Joyce was born at 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar on February 2, 1882. The family moved in 1884 to 23 Castlewood Avenue, Ranelagh, to 1 Martello Terrace, Bray in 1887, to 23 Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, in 1892. to 14 Fitzgibbon Street and 29 Hardwicke Street in 1893, 1894 saw the family move to 2 Millbourne Avenue, Drumcondra,  a year later it was time to move into 17 North Richmond Street, for three years, from 1896 to 1899 the Joyce family could be found at 29 Windsor Avenue, Fairview, 1900 saw a move to 8 Royal Terrace (Inverness Parade), Fairview, 1902 was the time for a move to 32 Glengarriff Parade, North Circular Road and later in the year to 7 St. Peter’s Terrace. Phibsboro.

Eamon De Valera was born in the New York Nursery and Child Hospital, Lexington Avenue, on 13 October 1882.

Eamon De Valera was baptised in St. Agnes’ Church, New York, on 3 December 1882. He was actually registered as George De Valera, a fact only discovered by his mother, Kate (nee Coll), in 1916 when she was trying to prove his American citizenship.

James Carey, the man who informed on the Phoenix Park murderers (The Invincibles), was shot dead by Patrick O’Donnell (executed 17 November) on July 30 1883 while on board the Melrose Castle off Cape Town.

A banquet was given to Charles Stewart Parnell, M.P., in the Rotunda, Dublin, on December 11 1883, at which he was presented with a testimonial of £38,000.

An abortive attempt was made to blow up Ship Street Barrack on April 25 1884.

The Channel Squadron, in command of the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived in Dublin Bay on August 27 1884 and anchored in the Channel opposite the East Pier, Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire).

The accelerated mail service began on October 1 1884.

The new Free Libraries opened by the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of Dublin on October 1 1884.

The first women graduated from the Royal University of Ireland on 22 October 1884.

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was formed at a meeting in Hayes’s Commercial Hotel, Thurles, on November 1 1884.

Foundation stone of Dublin Science and Art Museum laid by the Prince of Wales on April 10 1885. Degree of Doctor of Laws publicly conferred on the Prince by the Royal University.

Kevin Izod O’Doherty was given the **Freedom of the city **of Dublin on 10 August 1885.

William O’Brien MP and Patrick A. Collins, US Senator, were given the Freedom of the City of Dublin on 22 July 1887.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, T. D. Sullivan, appeared in full state at the police court to answer charge of offence against the Crimes Act by publication in his paper, “The Nation”; discharged through insufficient evidence on October 6th; on appeal, the objection set aside by the Exchequer Division, November 10th; sentenced to two months imprisonment as first-class misdemeanant, on December 2 1887.

Timothy Daniel Sullivan, M.P., was given the Freedom of the city of Dublin on 10 December 1887.

His Eminence Cardinal Moran was given the Freedom of the City of Dublin on 1 October 1888.

The Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Ripon, P.C., and the Rt. Hon. John Morley, M.P., were given the Freedom of the City of Dublin on 16 January 1888.**

**The first All Ireland Hurling Final took place at Clonskeagh, Dublin, on 1 April 1888. Limerick beat Dundalk 1-4 to 3 points.

The first recorded parachute jump in Ireland was by a Mr. Spencer on September 14 1889 from a balloon over Clonturk Park, Drumcondra.

Lady Sandhurst was given the Freedom of the City of Dublin on September 19 1889.

1890

The new Science and Art Museum and National Library in Kildare Street opened on August 29 1890 by the Lord Lieutenant, on which occasion Mr Thomas Deane, the architect received the honour of knighthood.

The Rt. Hon. James Stansfeld, P.C., M.P., was given the Freedom of the City of Dublin on September 19 1890.

On the centenary of the Rev. Theobald Mathew, October 13 1890, the great apostle of temperance, the top stone of a monument in his memory in Sackville (now O’Connell) street was laid by the Right Hon. E. J. Kennedy, Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Census of population of Dublin taken on April 6 1891. Number of inhabitants within the Municipal Borough. 245,001, inhabiting 25,764 houses.

The City of Dublin Junction Railway (Loop Line) opened for traffic on May 1 1891.

The South City Markets. South Great George’s Street, Dublin, almost totally destroyed by fire on August 27 1891.

Dublin Corporation’s first electricity station opened in Fleet Street on September 23 1892.

The Rt. Hon. Stuart Knill, Lord Mayor of London, was given the Freedom of the city of Dublin on 23 December 1892.

Unprecedented drought. Scarcity of water at Roundwood Reservoir. Grand Canal supply resorted to on October 16 1893.

The National Lying-In Hospital in Holles Street opened to the public on St. Patrick’s Day 1894. The ‘Freeman’s Journal’ noted that the opening was ‘practical and business-like” affair, complete with a letter of encouragement from the Archbishop promising £1,000, the equivalent of 20 years’ earnings of the average working man.

The Irish Trades Union Congress met for the first time on April 27 1894.

A meeting in Alexandra College, Dublin, on October 22 1894 between the Dublin women’s hockey clubs passed a motion “that it would be advisable to form a Ladies’ Hockey Union on the same lines as the Men’s Hockey Union’. The meeting proceded to form the Irish Ladies Hockey Union came into being

The clipper ship Palme, seven days out of Liverpool, was battling heavy seas on 24 December 1895 when the captain, Axel Emanuel Wirren, 23, decided to make for Kingstown Harbour (Dun Laoghaire). The ship, loaded with ballast, missed the harbour entrance, but found shelter outside the end of the West Pier. By 9am, however, the ship was pitching violently, attempts to launch a ship’s boat proved fruitless, and signals were sent up requesting assistance. The distressed ship was watched by a crowd which gathered at the end of the pier - ideally placed to watch a tragedy unfold. One of the two anchors broke in the gale and the ship, sending up distress signals, by 11am, was grounded on Razor Bank. Two lifeboats, the Hannah Pickard and Civil Service No. 1 were launched. As the Civil Service No. 1 reached the Palme it overturned, and although designed to right herself she failed to do so. The 15 crew, some of whom managed to clamber onto the hull were, one by one, swept off. The Palme attempted to launch a boat but it was immediately dashed to pieces against the hull. The Hannah Pickard, approaching the scene, also capsized, but righted herself and three crewmen who had gone overboard, were taken back in. It was apparent that nothing could be done and the lifeboat headed for the shore. As evening fell the shore was crowded with friends and relatives of the lifeboat crew. By morning the scale of the disaster was clear, the lifeboat and some bodies were found at Merrion strand - by evening the death toll had risen to 13 (the bodies of two crew members, William Dunphy and Alexander Williams, were not found until some days later) - the greatest single diaster ever to befall the RNLI. The crew of the Palme had no option but to sit out the gale, an attempt to get the Poolbeg lifeboat to the scene on Christmas Day had to be abandoned. On Stephen’s Day the weather improved and the Irish Lights tender, Tearaght, rescued the crew.

The new Leinster Hall opened on the site of the old Theatre Royal, Hawkins Street, on November 2 1886; proprietor, Mr. Michael Gunn.

Richard Pigott, appearing as a witness before the Special Commission (20-22 February 1889), was exposed, through his misspelling as forger of the letter in which Parnell condoned the Phoenix Park Murders.

The Lord Lieutenant and Marchioness of Londonderry opened the new coast road from Dalkey to Killiney on June 3 1889.

Richard Pigott, forger of the Parnell letters, betrayed by his spelling mistakes, shot himself in Madrid on March 1 1889.

Capt. W. H. O’Shea filed for divorce on December 24 1889, citing Charles Stuart Parnell.

A divorce court found on November 17 1890 that Mrs. Katherine O’Shea had committed adultery with Charles Stuart Parnell - custody of her children was awarded to her husband.

Charles Stuart Parnell, 45, the ‘uncrowned king of Ireland’, died on 6 October 1891 in Brighton. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral from Dublin City Hall to Glasnevin Cemetery five days later.

The Rev. George Salmon, D.D., Provost of Trinity College Dublin was given the Freedom of the city on 14 March 1892.

The Rev. Thomas McNamara, co-founder of Castleknock College, founder of the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in Cabra, Dublin, died on March 8 1892.

The first specially erected synagogue in Dublin, at Adelaide Road, was consecrated on 4 December 1892.

Horace Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society on April 18 1894.

The block of buildings, owned by the firm of Arnott & Co. Ltd., extending from Henry Street to Prince’s Street, totally destroyed by fire on May 14 1894.

Oscar Wilde was arrested on April 5 1895 at the Cadogan Hotel, London, for homosexual offences with Lord Alfred Douglas, son of the 8th Marquis of Queensbury.

The Old Bailey trial of Oscar Wilde for homosexuality, which was then a crime, began on April 26 1895. Wilde was released on bail.

The line of the Electric Tramway from Haddington Road to Dalkey was formally opened by the Right Hon. R. F. McCoy. Lord Mayor of Dublin on May 16 1896.

On May 25 1896 Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labour for homosexual offences.

The Irish Socialist Republican Party, secretary James Connolly, was founded on May 29 1896.

The steamer “Ulster” paid her first trial trip from Holyhead to Kingstown in the time of 2 hours 26 minutes on February 9 1897.

The new Dublin Fish Market opened on May 11 1897.

The foundation stone of a monument to Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen laid in St. Stephen’s Green on August 15 1898.

The foundation** **stone of a monument to Charles Stewart Parnell was laid in Upper Sackville (O’Connell) Street, Dublin, on October 8 1899.

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