O’Rorke is born as William Francis Breffni O’Rorke at 2 Esplande Villas in Dollymount, Clontarf, Dublin, on June 26, 1889. He is baptised at Clontarf Parish Church on August 1, 1889. His father, Frederick O’Rorke, is a cork merchant, and his mother, Jane Caroline O’Rorke (née Morgan), is an actress. He has an older brother, Frederick, who is twelve years older than him.
O’Rorke begins studying acting with his mother and makes his professional début in 1912 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, in a production of George Bernard Shaw‘s John Bull’s Other Island. In 1916, while still living in Dublin, he meets and marries Alice Cole, a chorus-girl turned actress, who had divorced her first husband and immigrated from South Africa with her young son. Thus O’Rorke becomes the stepfather of Cyril Cusack. Other theatre roles include the title role in Finn Varra Maa (1917), a musical “pantomime” or light opera written by Thomas Henry Nally with music by Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer.
National Television starts in October 1936, initially broadcast just two hours a day. The station stops broadcasting at the start of World War II, and does not restart until 1946. Plays, like everything else, can last just one hour maximum, but some are only 25 minutes long. Also, there is no recording possible, so any repeat is really a new broadcast, as in The Advantages of Paternity.
O’Rorke is a busy character actor up to his death on November 11, 1946, and his legacy lay not only in several memorable performances but also, to some extent, in the subsequent success of his stepson. From the late 1940s thru the 1980s, Cyril Cusack is one of the most renowned stage actors of his generation, as well as an acclaimed film actor, and he founds an acting dynasty to rival that of the Redgrave family through his actress daughters.
Seven prominent Englishmen, known as the “Immortal Seven,” invite William to intervene, framing it as a defense of Protestantism and constitutional government. William, James’s nephew and son-in-law, sees the invasion as both a political opportunity and a strategic move to counter French expansion.
William assembles one of the largest fleets in European history, with 14,000–21,000 troops and a powerful navy. On November 5, 1688, he lands at Brixham in Torbay with his army. The campaign is marked by low casualties and minimal fighting, as James’s forces begin to collapse and many defect to William’s side.
By late November, James retreats from Salisbury and flees to France on December 23, 1688. William enters London without significant resistance, leading to the constitutional settlement in 1689, in which Mary II and William III become joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The Glorious Revolution is often described as a “bloodless” revolution because it avoids large-scale battles, but it is a decisive political change that establishes parliamentary supremacy and lays the foundation for constitutional monarchy in Britain. William’s invasion is also notable as one of the last successful invasions of England.
In summary, on November 1, 1688, William III of Orange’s departure from Hellevoetsluis is the start of a swift and politically decisive campaign that ends James II’s reign and reshapes the British monarchy.
(Pictured: William III landing at Brigham on November 5, 1688)
As a result of Boyle’s death before his father the Irish Viscountcy of Dungarvan and the English Barony of Clifford pass to his eldest son,Charles Boyle (bef. 1669–1704), who later becomes the 3rd Earl of Cork and 2nd Earl of Burlington upon the death of his grandfather in 1698. By his mother Lady Elizabeth Clifford’s death in 1691, he has already inherited the Barony of Clifford, which then also passes to his son.
At the time of his death, Charles leaves behind six children from his two marriages:
Arethusa Boyle (born 1688), daughter of his second wife Lady Arethusa Berkeley, married James Vernon
Boyle’s death In 1694 ensures the continuation of the Boyle family legacy through his children, particularly his eldest son, who consolidates the family’s English and Irish peerages. He is buried in Londesborough later that same month.
Although Boyle has a distinguished career as a Member of Parliament and as a Fellow of the Royal Society, his early death precludes him from inheriting the earldoms. Nevertheless, through strategic marriages and succession, the Boyle family maintains their prominent position in Anglo-Irish nobility.
Watt is born on November 4, 1853, to Samuel Watt of Thornhill House, then on the northern outskirts of Derry, and his wife Jane Newman, daughter of Captain Robert Newman, R.N.. He is educated at Foyle College in Derry and then at home by tutors. The Watt family are Ulster Scots gentry who had arrived at Claragh, on the outskirts of Ramelton in the north of County Donegal, during the Plantation of Ulster.
Watt is the owner of Watt’s Distillery, located on Abbey Street in the Bogside in Derry, one of the largest distilleries in Ireland, and the creator of many whiskies, including the famous Tyrconnell, which he names after his racehorse that wins the National Produce Stakes against the odds of 100 to 1. The horse itself is named after Tyrconnell (Irish: Tír Chonaill), the ancient túath or Gaelic kingdom that once covered most of what is now County Donegal in the west of Ulster.
During industrial unrest in 1921, brought about by World War I, prohibition in the United States, and the Irish War of Independence, Watt’s workers at the distillery in Derry are made redundant after challenging his authority. He is said to have stood on a barrel outside the gates to his distillery in the Bogside, while the workers are on strike, and shouted, “Well men, I shall put it to you like this …what is it to be? Will you open the gates?” To which the workers retorted, “The gates stay shut!” This prompts Watt to reply, “Shut they are, and shut they shall remain!” He subsequently closes down Watt’s Distillery, at great economic expense to Derry and neighbouring areas of County Donegal.
On October 7, 1875, Watt marries Violet Flora de Burgh, daughter of George de Burgh and Constance Matthews, with whom he had four sons and two daughters.
Watt serves as High Sheriff of County Londonderry from 1886 to 1887. He is a member of Boodle’s. He dies at Easton Hall in Lincolnshire, where he lives in England after he left Ireland. Easton Hall is later demolished in 1951.
King Richard II of England lands at Waterford, County Waterford, on October 2, 1394, at the head of the largest English military force ever to enter an Irish port. This marks the beginning of his first major expedition to Ireland, a campaign aimed at reasserting royal authority and implementing sweeping administrative reforms.
By 1394, England has secured peace with both France and Scotland, allowing Richard to focus on Ireland. The Lordship of Ireland is in decline, with Gaelic lords like Art Óg Mac Murchadha Caomhánach of Leinster resisting English overlordship. Richard’s stated goal is to secure the submission of the great Gaelic lords and to integrate them into the English legal and political system, making them equal subjects of the Crown.
Richard arrives with an army of about 8,000–9,000 men, a force far larger than any previous English intervention in Ireland since the late twelfth century. The campaign is both military and political: while he seeks to subdue resistance, his primary aim is reform of the Irish administration rather than total conquest.
The expedition moves through lower Leinster, encountering resistance from Mac Murchadha Caomhánach. Historical accounts note a dramatic near-capture of the king’s enemies at a place called Laveroc, where the Earl Marshal almost seizes Mac Murchadha Caomhánach and his wife in their beds. Despite these skirmishes, Richard manages to reconcile most of the major Gaelic lords to his overlordship by promising access to royal justice and arbitration.
Richard’s 1394–95 Irish campaign is the first visit by a reigning English monarch to Ireland since King John in 1210. It demonstrates the king’s ambition to centralize control over the entire lordship, but it also highlights the limits of English power in the face of Gaelic resistance and administrative challenges.
In summary, Richard II’s arrival in Waterford on October 2, 1394, is a pivotal moment in medieval Irish history — a show of royal might, a test of political reform, and a reminder of the enduring challenges of governing a diverse and resistant Ireland.
McCarthy’s early career was meteoric: his first book, An outline of Irish history from the earliest times, appears in 1883 and is a fast-moving, strongly worded, nationalist sketch of Irish history. This is followed by a heavy-handed dramatic poem, Serapion (1883), about the early Christian era. In June of the following year he is returned as the Home Rule LeagueMP for Athlone on the death of the sitting member, and also publishes, to excellent reviews, England under Gladstone, which runs to a second edition within a year. In November 1884, his first play, The Candidate, is an overnight success in the Criterion Theatre in London. Its plot is thin but the humour and political badinage ensures it a long run.
At the 1885 United Kingdom general election McCarthy is elected nationalist MP for Newry, and he holds this seat until 1892. In the two years after his election he writes a number of novels, translates works from Persian, and writes Ireland Since the Union (1887), which is well researched, nationalist and impassioned in tone, showing a flair for biographical sketches. During this period he is known for his good attendance in the House of Commons though he does not speak much – throughout his life he is more an observer than a participator – and he is said by William O’Brien to conceal “under the gentlest of exteriors the fire of the ‘Spirit of the Nation’ ballad” (New Ireland Review, 523). In London he is well known for his controversial drama reviews in The Gentleman’s Magazine and the Sunday Sun, and in Dublin for his numerous verse and prose contributions to United Ireland. Although he makes a name for himself as a brilliant young man, he never fulfills his early promise.
In later years McCarthy continues to publish prolifically but produces only ephemeral works, and his parliamentary attendance slackens off. His political commitment is soured possibly by the party’s split in 1890. He originally sides with Charles Stewart Parnell, emphasizing in a speech on December 1, 1890, that he believes in the old-fashioned theory of personal loyalty to a leader. However, five days later he causes a minor drama by rising at the last minute to follow his father and the forty-three other anti-Parnellites, claiming that he feels he must abide by the decision of the majority. Two years later he leaves politics for good without standing in the 1892 United Kingdom general election. A sympathetic profile of him in the New Ireland Review in 1894 remarks that “no man of equal talents made so slight an impression on the political world.”
Thereafter McCarthy has less involvement in Irish affairs and writes no more Irish history books, though his novels continue to have Irish themes. He lives in London in Putney Common, and continues to travel widely. In 1894, he marries in some haste a popular comic actress, Cecilia Loftus, and the event is widely reported in the English press. However, the marriage is dissolved in the United States five years later. In 1908, his second marriage is to Loullie, daughter of Henry Killick of Budapest. He continues to enjoy success as a dramatist and has five plays, four sketches, and three duologues performed in London in the 1890s. However, he concentrates increasingly on historical fiction, which he produces at breakneck speed. In the first decade of the twentieth century he writes over twelve novels based on periods in English, Italian, French, and Irish history. The Illustrious O’Hagan (1906), The O’Flynn (1910), and The King Over the Water (1911) pointedly contradict English stereotypes of the “stage Irishman.” The Fair Irish Maid (1911) is an allegory of the Irish Parliamentary Party‘s political marriage to the ordinary Irish people rather than to the Anglo-Irishascendancy.
McCarthy dies at home in Putney on March 20, 1936 aged 79, although his obituaries all put his age at 75.
(From: “McCarthy, Justin Huntly” by Bridget Hourican, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009)
Annesley is a prominent figure in Irish politics during the late 1690s. Initially aligned with the Whig faction, he later moves closer to Tory interests, particularly in his opposition to Catholic influence and the growing presence of ScottishPresbyterians in Ulster. His political stance and actions in the Irish Parliament draw criticism from certain factions.
The “Report of the Commissioners” is a formal parliamentary document produced by a committee tasked with examining Ireland’s governance, economic conditions, and political tensions. Annesley’s involvement in drafting or presenting parts of this report is seen by some as politically damaging or controversial. The exact nature of his contribution is not fully detailed in surviving records, but it is sufficient to trigger his expulsion.
The early 1700s in Ireland are marked by ongoing sectarian tensions between Protestants and Catholics, political maneuvering between Whig and Tory factions in the Irish Parliament and economic hardship and poor governance conditions, which are themes in the commissioners’ report.
Annesley’s expulsion reflects the sensitivity of political discourse in Ireland at the time, where even well-intentioned inquiries can be used to target opponents.
Following his expulsion, Annesley continues his political career in England, being returned as MP for Preston in 1705 and later for Westbury. He remains active in Parliament until 1734, when he does not stand for re-election in the 1734 British general election.
In summary, on September 28, 1703, Francis Annesley is expelled from the Irish House of Commons for his part in the “Report of the Commissioners,” a move that underscores the political risks of engaging in sensitive parliamentary inquiries during a volatile period in Irish history.
On September 16, 1920, the British double agent John Henry Gooding, operating under the alias F. Digby Hardy, makes a dramatic overture to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Hardy, a habitual criminal with a long record of forgery, fraud, and petty crime, has been recruited by British intelligence to infiltrate the IRA’s intelligence network and capture Michael Collins.
Born in 1868 in Devonport, Plymouth, England, Hardy has a troubled life marked by multiple imprisonments, bigamy, and a career in petty crime. After deserting the Royal Navy in 1888, he adopts the alias “Frank Hall” and lives in Surrey before moving to London. By 1920, he is a known criminal with a five-year fraud sentence in 1918, partially served until his release in 1919.
Hardy approaches IRA intelligence, offering to betray his British superior, Basil Thomson, to the IRA. The plan is for him to infiltrate the IRA’s network and hand over information on Collins. However, the operation is foiled when Arthur Griffith, a leading Irish republican, intercepts Hardy’s mission.
Griffith arranges a staged meeting in Dublin attended by international journalists. Hardy is confronted and, upon presentation of evidence, confesses his mission and criminal background. The exposure embarrasses British intelligence and draws international attention.
Rather than being executed, Hardy is given until the next morning to leave Ireland. He flees, resuming petty crimes until his death in 1930. The September 16, 1920 incident becomes a notable example of how British intelligence’s reliance on unreliable agents could backfire during the Irish War of Independence.
In summary, on September 16, 1920, F. Digby Hardy (John Henry Gooding) attempts to betray his British handler to the IRA, but is exposed and forced to flee Dublin after being misled by Arthur Griffith into revealing his mission to reporters.
The alarm is raised around 2:30 BST when the vessel begins taking on water rapidly. Captain Colm Newport reports a sudden ingress of water that causes a critical loss of stability. Despite emergency pumps, the flooding is uncontrollable, and the crew and trainees abandon the ship in an orderly evacuation.
Five crew members and twenty trainees (most Irish, but also including Britons and Italians) transfer to life rafts within minutes. The evacuation is completed in about four to five minutes, with all twenty-five people safely moved away from the sinking vessel.
French coastguard vessels, along with assistance from Haldoz and Arklow Venus, rescue everyone. They are taken to a hotel on Belle-Île, where they are cared for and contact their families. The Irish Ambassador to France, Anne Anderson, also arrives to meet them.
The exact cause of the sinking remains unclear. The Marine Casualty Investigation Board finds the vessel well-maintained beyond statutory requirements and no evidence of negligence. One theory, supported by some accounts, is that the ship may have collided with a submerged container, fracturing its keel timbers. However, the captain and officials refuse to speculate.
Plans are made to raise the ship, with an estimated cost of €3.8 million, but by February 2009 the Irish government decides against recovery, citing the risk of further damage from storms and fishing nets. The wreck rests upright on a sandy seabed at about eighty metres depth, with one hull plank damaged.
The loss of Asgard II is a significant blow to Ireland’s sail training tradition, prompting discussions about replacing the vessel.
Cromwell’s death is the result of a painful urinary tract infection that leads to blood poisoning. He has been in declining health for some time, and his final days are marked by illness and discomfort. His death comes just over nine years after the Siege of Drogheda in Ireland, which begins in August 1649 and becomes one of the most infamous episodes of his military career.
The Siege of Drogheda, in which Cromwell’s forces execute thousands of Irish defenders, remains a major point of controversy in his legacy. His death in 1658 is met with celebration by many in England, as it paves the way for the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660. After his death, his body is exhumed in 1661 and publicly hanged in chains before being thrown into a pit to ensure he is dead.
Cromwell is remembered as a decisive military leader who helps restore England’s status as a leading European power, but also as a controversial figure whose actions in Ireland leave a lasting scar on Anglo-Irish relations. His death on September 3, 1658, thus marks both the end of his political and military influence and a turning point in the post-Civil War period in Britain.
