This Day In History..., Celtic events around the world

[Keltic]

February 4, 1880 - A centuries old feud ended in the death of five members of the notorious Donnelly family (The Black Donnellys) in Biddulph, Ontario. The feud preceded their emigration from County Tipperary, Ireland. The members of this southwestern Ontario family who were known for their brawling and thievery were shot and brutally beaten by vigilantes. The vigilantes, led by James Carroll, killed 4 family members before burning the house down and moving on to kill the fifth family member at another home. Dead were James, his wife Johanna, two sons and his niece. Nobody was ever convicted of thecrimes.

The story in song by Stompin' Tom

[Keltic]

February 5, 1846 - John Boyd Dunlop was born in Ayrshire. Dunlop patented the pneumatic tyre in 1888, unaware that Robert William Thomson of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, had patented a design in 1845. But it is the name of Dunlop that is now synonymous with tyres.

[Keltic]

February 8, 1631 - Charles I granted Cape Breton Island to Robert Gordon and his son Robert of Lochinvar, Scotland

February 8, 1587 - Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) was executed for her implication in the Babington plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and restore Roman Catholicism in England. The execution took place at Fotheringay Castle, in Northamptonshire.

[Keltic]

February 10, 1306 - John 'the Red' Comyn, Lord of Badenoch died after being stabbed by future king, Robert the Bruce. Robert the Bruce stabbed 'the Red' Comyn by the high altar at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries.

February 10, 1802 - Scottish explorerer Alexander Mackenzie, most famous for his overland crossing of North America to reach the Pacific Ocean, was knighted. He reached the Pacific ocean by crossing Canada in 1793, more than 10 years before the Lewis and Clark expedition.

[Keltic]

February 11, 1869 - Suspected Fenian sympathizer, Patrick Whelan publically hanged in Ottawa for the murder of one of Canada's founding fathers, Thomas D’Arcy McGee. It was the last public execution held in Canada. Whelan maintained his innocence right up to his death. His last words were ‘God save Ireland and God save my soul’ in front of the 5,000 who gathered to witness the hanging.

[Keltic]

February 13, 1692 - The Massacre of Glencoe occurred on this day in 1692, in which 34 men, two women and two children, members of the Macdonald clan, were slaughtered by Campbells and other soldiery on government orders after inadvertent failure of clan chief to sign allegiance to William III. Many more died of exposure after their homes were burned.

Massacre of Glencoe by the Corries

[Keltic]

February 20, 1472 - Orkney and Shetland annexed to the crown of Scotland. The islands were pledged by Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway, as security for the dowry of his daughter Margaret, who married James III of Scotland in 1469. The money was never paid and the islands have remained a part of Scotland ever since.

[Keltic]

March 1, 1546 - Protestant reformer George Wishart, after a 'show trial' by Cardinal David Beaton, was executed by being burnt at the stake at St. Andrew's in Scotland.

March 1, 1729 - Welsh immigrants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania first celebrated St. David’s Day, celebrating the patron Saint of Wales. These immigrants formed the Society of Ancient Britons.

March 1, 1847 - Three people were killed and numerous injured as a by-election in the Belfast district of Prince Edward Island, Canada ended in a riot. The district had been split along ethnic, religious and political lines and had a history of disturbances on voting day. The violence started as Scottish and Irish voters attacked each other with clubs. One observer noted “The field was as if a number of butchers had been extensively at work”.

[Keltic]

March 3, 1847 - Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh on this day in 1847. Bell is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Among other inventions were the metal detector and hydrofoils. A commonly used unit of sound, the decibel, is named after Bell.

Bell died of complications arising from diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, at age 75.

[Keltic]

March 13, 1846 - "The Ballinlass Incident" saw the eviction by the landlord, Mrs. Gerard, of the entire population of Ballinlass, a village in the County Galway. In order to turn the property over for grazing, which was more profitable, she evicted the seventy-six families, comprising 300 individuals. Despite the widespread condemnation of the act, the order was not rescinded.

[Keltic]

March 17, 1765 - St. Patricks Day was celebrated for the first time in Canada at Quebec City

[Keltic]

March 19, 1813 - Scots explorer and missionary David Livingstone was born in the village of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire. Livingstone was the first European to see Victoria Falls, which he named after the then queen. His meeting with H. M. Stanley in October 1871 gave rise to the popular quotation "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

[Keltic]

March 21, 867 - Ælle, King of Northumbria, attempted to regain York from Danish armies, but only managed to penetrate the walls before being killed. He was a major character in the saga Ragnarssona þáttr (The Tale of Ragnar's sons).

[Keltic]

March 24, 1603 The crowns of England and Scotland were united when Queen Elizabeth I of England was succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland. He ascended the throne of England as King James I.

[Keltic]

March 25, 1603 - Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland at Scone on this day in 1306. After the controversial death of one of his main rivals - who was murdered on a church altar - Bruce was made king but still had to contend with the power of English monarch Edward I ("Hammer of the Scots"). Bruce eventually defeated Edward's son at the battle of Bannockburn.

Scots Wha Hae