Dublin Diary #OnThisDay

1 June 1815 – The Molyneux Asylum for Blind Females, Peter Street, Dublin was opened for the reception of destitute blind females.

1 June 1852 – Electric telegraph laid down between Dublin and Holyhead.

1 June 1881 – A 3ft. gauge tramway opened and ran from Conyngham Road to Chapelizod.

1 June 1886 – Meeting in Dublin to establish national organisation of the Irish Protestant Home Rule Association.

1 June 1941 – Three persons killed as two Dublin houses collapse in Old Bride Street. Fifteen others were treated in hospital for their injuries.

1 June 1949 – The Minister for Industry and Commerce, Daniel Morrissey, T.D., with the Lord Mayor of Dublin John Breen, officially opened the new factory premises of Aspro (Ireland) Ltd. at Inchicore, Dublin.

1 June 1950 – The Grand Canal Company was dissolved and vested in Coras Iompair Eireann.

2 June 1723 – Death of Esther Van Homrigh, known as ‘Vanessa’, aged 36. Her remains were interred near those of her father, Bartholomew Van Homrigh in St Andrew’s Church, Suffolk Street, Dublin. He had been Lord Mayor in 1697 and 1714.

2 June 1772 – Dublin Foundling Hospital and Workhouse Act (11 & 12 Geo. III, c.11).

2 June 1774 – ‘Act for paving the streets…of Dublin (13 & 14 Geo. III, c.22), appointing paving board.

2 June 1986 – Six nuns die in fire at Loreto Convent, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

29 May to 2 June 1995 – The 47th meeting of the International Whaling Commission was held in Dublin, and attended by 33 countries.

3 June 1862 – The Dublin Corporation Fire Brigade Act became law. The main provision of the Act was to vest the fire-fighting services for Dublin in the Corporation, thus effectively abolishing the parish fire services, and those supplied from the DMP barracks at Kevin Street. The Act contained 13 clauses and incorporated the Dublin Waterworks Act (1861).

3 June 1873 – St. Kevin’s Roman Catholic church, designed by George Ashlin, facing onto Heytesbury Street, Dublin, was opened for public worship, on the feast of St. Kevin. Cardinal Paul Cullen had dedicated the church on 3 June 1872. The parish of St. Kevin’s was created from St. Catherine’s in 1855. Ashlin also worked churches in Inchicore, Rathfarnham and Tallaght. He was associated with Pugin.

3 June 1922 – The last King’s Review was held in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. General Macready and his officers were received with a general salute and parade.

3 June 1946 – At Dalymount Stadium, Belfast Celtic beat Shamrock Rovers 1 – 0 in the second leg of the Inter City Cup, though Rovers won the match and the Cup (for the second time) 3 –2 on aggregate.

3 – 5 June 1958 – A Bazaar in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel was held in the Mansion House courtesy of Lord Mayor Senator James O’Keeffe.

3 June 1966 – The Lord Mayor of Dublin Eugene Timmons welcomed the director of the Arab League, Tahseen Basheer, to the Mansion House. Mr. Basheer was in Dublin to lecture on Arab economics and culture.

3 June 1980 – At the invitation of Dublin City Council a group of Derry City Councillors visited Dublin for two days. Lord Mayor William Cumiskey of Dublin welcomed Lord Mayor of Derry City Pat Devine and his colleagues to a civic reception at the Mansion House. Discussions centred around co-operating on economic, cultural and social issues.

4 June 1879 – The first Irish lawn tennis open championship was held at Fitzwilliam Tennis Club.

4 to 6 June 1928 – The Ireland cricket eleven beat the West Indies by 60 runs at College Park, Dublin.

5 June 1767 – Rotunda Assembly Rooms opened.

5 June 1842 – Death of Dublin-born poet and barrister Thomas Kennedy. He was the eldest son of Macanus John Kennedy of Killester, Co. Dublin, and was admitted to Gray’s Inn in May 1830, aged 23. His poem on Emmet’s grave, ‘The Uninscribed Tomb’ appeared in The Comet early in 1831. He started and contributed to the Irish Monthly Magazine of 1832-4. He died at his residence, 15, Upper Rutland Street, Dublin, aged 39.

5 June 1924 – McClean’s Lane, off Hogan Place, was re-named Meade’s Terrace – after Alderman Joseph Meade, Lord Mayor of Dublin, 1891-92, who had built houses on it.

5 June 1946 – As strong gales and driving rain lashed the capital, and imports of tomatoes came into effect, Dubliners were able for the first time since the Emergency to buy bananas, while imports of foreign strawberries were also available to purchase on the streets of Dublin.

5 June 1974 – Death of Dublin-born landscape and townscape painter Phyllis Eason. She was the daughter of William Waugh Eason, bookseller. She was educated in England and during the War attended the National College of Art, Dublin. She was closely associated with the White Stag group of artists. She held a one-man show at the White Stag Gallery, Merrion Row, Dublin, in 1946. By 1950 she lived at 3 Herbert Street, Dublin. She died in Dublin.

6 June 1980 – Lord Mayor William Cumiskey officially opened the tenth Liberties Festival.
7 June 1647 – The Viceroy, Marquis of Ormonde, handed over Dublin to Parliamentary Commissioners. Colonel Michael Jones was appointed Governor of Dublin.

7 June 1866 – Great fire at the premises of Bennett brush manufacturer, 7 South Great George’s Street, Dublin – six lives lost.

7 June 1880 – Death of John Brougham, dramatist. He wrote libretti for three operas, and many songs. He was born in Dublin on 19 May 1814, and became an actor of note and theatre manager.

7 June 1891 – Charles Stewart Parnell addressed a large crowd at an election meeting on the lawn of Inchicore House.

7 June 1911 – Patrick Geddes’ City and Town Planning Exhibition ends at the Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge. Some 160,000 attended.

7 June 1925 – Death of Matt Talbot (69). He was born into poverty in the North Strand. He overcame a long battle with alcoholism and became a devout Catholic, and trade unionist. He died on a Dublin street and was discovered with chains tied to his body. He was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery.

7 June 1932 – The re-constructed Butt Bridge was officially opened by Dr. Edward Byrne, Archbishop of Dublin.

7 to 11 June 1937 – Housing Exhibition at the Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin.

7 June 1960 – Some 400 men on two vessels of the German naval fleet, the training frigates Graf Spee and Hipper, arrived in Dublin port on a four-day courtesy visit. The ships had been built in Glasgow and first went to sea under the Royal Navy ensign. The commanding officers paid a courtesy visit to Lord Mayor P.A. Brady at the Mansion House.

8 June 1936 – Sir John Purser Griffith granted Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin.

8 June 1948 – The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. P.J. Cahill, received a group of 100 scientists at the Mansion House, Dublin. The scientists were members of the Food Group of the British Society of Chemical Industries.

9 June 1867 – Death of John Martin Anster, aged 73, poet, barrister and essayist. He wrote many pieces for Dublin University Magazine. He graduated B.A., from T.C.D. in 1816.

9 June 1937 – A timber yard belonging to building contractor P.F. Fearon and Company, at Montague Place, Ranelagh, was destroyed by fire – two sections of Dublin Fire Brigade fought the blaze which threatened to engulf adjoining houses.

10 June 1858 – Death of Sir Philip Crampton, Dublin-born surgeon, Surgeon-General to the Forces in Ireland, and president of the Zoological Society.

10 June 1912 – A motion was carried by Dublin City Council to change the name of Johnson’s Court to Parnell Place.

10 June 1917 – Inspector John Mills, DMP 9300, was hit with a stick while making an arrest near Store Street – he died at Jervis Street Hospital on 12 June. He was born at Dysart, Co. Westmeath in 1866 and had over 30 years’ DMP service.

10 June 1949 – The premises of Factor’s Sawmills, Great Strand Street, Dublin, was destroyed by fire, with the loss of 35 jobs. Dublin Fire Brigade attended the fire as 20 families were evacuated from nearby homes.

10 to 16 June 1969 – The Second International James Joyce Symposium was held in Dublin.

11 June 1766 – The Magdalen Asylum, Lower Leeson Street, was opened. It was funded by Lady Arabella Denny, for unfortunate females abandoned by their suitors.

12 June 1792 – The first stone of the Female Orphan House, on Dublin’s north circular road, was laid by Mrs. Elizabeth LaTouche.

13 June 1865 – Birth of William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist, at Sandymount Avenue, Dublin.

13 June 1934 – The U.S.S. Nantucket, a U.S. Navy training barque, entered Alexandra Basin, Dublin, on a courtesy visit.

14 June 1727 – Dublin bank Mead & Curtis suspends payments.

14 June 1837 – Death of Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Cuyler, chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, aged 40. His remains were interred at St. Paul’s Churchyard, North King Street, Dublin.

15 June 1914 – James Joyce’s collection of short stories Dubliners published in London.

15 to 16 June 1967 – The First International James Joyce Symposium was held in Dublin. The original door of 7 Eccles Street, immortalised in Joyce’s Ulysses, was unveiled at the new Bailey restaurant, Duke Street, Dublin.

15th June 1979 Unveiling in O’Connell Street of Oisín Kelly’s statue of trades unionist and socialist James Larkin.

15 June 1996 – The inaugural IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was made at a gala dinner in Dublin Castle to Australian author David Malouf for his book, Remembering Babylon. Malouf was presented with a cheque for £100,000 and a Waterford Crystal trophy.

16 June 1773 – First stone laid for King’s Hospital in Black Hall Place, Dublin (Blue Coat Hospital) designed by Thomas Ivory.

16 June 1871 – State funeral of Dublin Lord Mayor Patrick Bulfin, who died in office.

16 June 1885 – Inaugural meeting at Trinity College Dublin of Dublin Hermetic Society, chairman William Butler Yeats.

16 June 1904 – The original Bloomsday.

16 June 1919 – Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown arrive in Dublin by train from Galway after their transAtlantic flight. Dublin University students succeeded in kidnapping Alcock – the flight had been sponsored by press baron Arthur Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe, who was born in Chapelizod in 1865.

16 June 1937 – Eamon de Valera, and Ministers Sean MacEntee (Finance) and Oscar Traynor (Posts and Telegraphs) address some 10,000 people in O’Connell Street, Dublin as the general election campaign gets under way.

16 June 1954 – 50th Anniversary of Bloomsday – the Dublin Joyce Society is formed.

16 June 1962 – The James Joyce Museum opened at the Martello Tower, Sandycove, by Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company.

16 June 2003 – The James Joyce Bridge was officially opened. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava Valls designed the four-lane bridge. Harland & Wolff, Belfast, welded high-tension steel hangers, and a glass deck on either side of the bridge provided pedestrian access. Calatrava had, in 1995 designed the Ark at Meeting House Square, Temple Bar.

16 June 1977 – In the general election to the 21st Dáil, there were 13 Dublin constituencies: Dublin Artane, Dublin Ballyfermot, Dublin Cabra, Dublin Clontarf, Dublin Finglas, Dublin North-Central, Dublin Rathmines West, Dublin South Central, Dublin South-East, Dublin Mid-County, Dublin North County, Dublin South County, and Dublin West County.

17 June 1681 – An elephant was burnt in Dublin on ‘Fryday’, part of a scientific anatomical enquiry.

17 June 1729 – Election of John Page as Lord Mayor of Dublin City, following the resignation of Henry Burrowes.

17 June 1817 – The foundation stone of the Wellington monument, Phoenix Park was laid by Lord Lieutenant, Lord Whitworth, on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. The 205ft. high monument was designed by Greek Revival architect Robert Smirke (see also 18 June 1861). It His plan was one of six submitted to the 74-man monument committee. Smirke later designed the British Museum. Interest waivered as money became scarce. On Wellington’s death in 1852 an attempt was made to erect a monument.

17 June 1867 – Dublin Port (Docks) Act (30 Vict., c.lxxxi, 1867) sets up Dublin Port and Dock Board and Commissioners of Irish Lights. The Ballast Office Board was abolished.

17 June 1909 – Death in Dublin of Co. Cork-born writer Denis J. Downing, aged 38. He was a well-known journalist who wrote for the Sport and the Evening Herald, etc., over the signature ‘Dr. Dick.’ He wrote many songs for pantomimes and for the Dublin press, and several are included in the volume Irish Sport and Play (Dublin, 1911).

17 June 1935 – Sir John Lavery, R.A., R.H.A., granted Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin.

17 June 1938 – In the General Election for the 10th Dail, the Dublin South constituency elected Sean Lemass, James Lynch, Robert Briscoe and Thomas Kelly (Fianna Fail), Myles Keogh, Peadar Doyle and James Beckett (Fine Gael), and Joseph Hannigan (Independent). The total valid poll was 55,082 and the quota was 6,886. Lemass was the poll-topper.

18 June 1819 – Death of painter George Grattan, aged 32. His Beggarwoman and Child hangs in the Royal Dublin Society. His remains were interred at St. Mobhi’s Churchyard, Church Lane, Glasnevin.

18 June 1861 – The Wellington monument in the Phoenix Park was opened to the public without formal ceremony.

18 June 1892 – Lord Ardilaun’s statue in St. Stephen’s Green, from the Farrell studio, was unveiled by Lord Mayor J.M. Meade, P.C.

18 June 1979 – William Cumiskey took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

19 June 1933 – The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Parnell Square, Dublin, was opened by Lord Mayor Alfred Byrne. Alderman Thomas Kelly presided. He was chairman of the Lane Bequest Claim Committee. The building contractors were H. & J. Martin of Dublin. The Corporation had acquired the building, formerly known as Charlemont House, in 1927 and City Architect Horace O’Rourke drew up the plans to convert it to a municipal art gallery. The house was sold to the government by the third Earl Charlemont in 1865 and from the early 1870s the house was used as the General Registry Office for births, deaths and marriages. By 1922 the house was vacant and was formally handed over to Dublin Corporation in 1927.

19 June 1941 – Irish government announced that the German government has expressed regret for bombing of Dublin, and promised compensation. The German government paid £327,000 compensation in 1958.

20 June 1775 – The Hibernian Marine Society in Dublin was incorporated by charter, to maintain, educate and apprentice the orphans and children of decayed seaman of the Royal Navy, and the merchant service.

20 June 1876 – Death of Dublin City Council Alderman Philip Redmond, aged 64.

20 June 1980 – Lord Mayor of Dublin William Cumiskey and members of City Council’s Special Committee for the Inner City completed a three-day study tour of Belfast, with a lunch at City Hall hosted by Belfast Lord Mayor Alderman John Carson.

20 June 1986 – A new £300,000 Motor Tax office was officially opened at Nutgrove Shopping Centre, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, by Minister for State at the Department of the Environment Fergus O’Brien, T.D.

21 June 1762 – Work started on Poolbeg lighthouse (completed in 1768).

21 June 1884 – Grafton Theatre, also known as the Bijou and finally the Savoy, at South Anne Street, closed. The theatre had flourished during the 1870s.

22 June 1736 – Election of George Forbes as Lord Mayor of Dublin City, following the death of Sir Richard Grattan.

22 June 1791 – The foundation stone for Island or Sarah or Kilmainham Bridge was laid by Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmoreland, wife of the Lord Lieutenant, with a silver trowel presented to her by Sir John Blacquire. The bridge was designed by Scottish engineer Alexander Stevens and cost £6,000.

22 June 1860 – Alexander Farquhar elected Town Clerk of Dublin, until 1864.

22 June 1932 – The 31st Eucharistic Congress opened in Dublin.

22 June 1937 – Strike by 3,000 Dublin clothing trade workers ends after six weeks.

22 June 1984 – Resolution of Dublin City Council grants Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin to actor Noel Purcell, and to actress Maureen Potter (O’Leary); both signed roll on 28 June 1984.

22 June 2000 – Mary Upton (Labour Party) won the Dublin South Central Dáil constituency by-election. The electorate was 72,154; her first preferences totalled 5,637 votes (28.02%). Upton reached the quota of 10,059 and was elected on the eighth count.

23 June 1780 – John Lambert, jointly with Benjamin Taylor, were appointed Town Clerks of Dublin, until 1784.

23 June 1943 – In the General Election for the 11th Dail, the three-seater Dublin North East constituency elected Oscar Traynor (Fianna Fail), Alfie Byrne (Independent), and James Larkin (Labour). The total valid poll was 39,012 and the quota was 9,754.

23 June 1960 – Local elections held for Dublin Corporation.

23 June 1825 – birth in Dublin of author Annie French. Under the pseudonym Mrs. Alexander, she published over forty novels, and was hugely popular in the UK and America.

24 June 1879 – A marble statue, by Thomas Farrell, of the late Sir John Gray, M.P., was erected in Sackville Street, Dublin.
24 June 1886 – Death of editor and poet Robert Keningale Cook. He was born near Rochdale in 1845 and was at one time proprietor and editor of Dublin University Magazine.

24 June 1949 – Death of Roisin Walsh, chief librarian, Dublin Municipal Libraries. She had been ill for some time and died at her home in Templeogue. After she had spent some time as children’s librarian in Rathmines Public Library, she went to Galway County Library. After two years, she returned to Dublin to initiate and organise the Dublin County Library Service.

24 June 1963 – Sean Moore took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

24 June 1973 – Eamon de Valera attended a ceremony at Boland’s Mill, Grand Canal Street, Dublin, to mark his retirement from the Presidency and public life.

25 June 1731 – Royal Dublin Society founded, in the rooms of the Trinity College Dublin Philosophical Society.

25 June 1733 – Burton’s Bank, Dublin, closed.

25 June 1783 – The Bank of Ireland opened for the first time, at St. Mary’s Abbey. The first governors were David La Touche junior and Theophilus Thompson. The premises was previously a synagogue and in 1803 the Bank purchased the vacant Parliament building on College Green.

25 June 1919 – Death of William Martin Murphy, founder of Independent Newspapers, Abbey Street, Dublin.

25 June 1934 – Alderman Alfred Byrne, T.D., elected Lord Mayor of Dublin. He was proposed for the position by Councillor Patrick Belton, T.D., and seconded by Councillor Maud Walsh.

25 June 1962 – James O’Keefe took office as Lord Mayor as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

25 June 1969 – Death of Sean Dunne, 51, Dublin South West Labour T.D, only seven days after being returned to the Dáil at the general election.

26 June 1789 – The Irish Whig Club was formed in Dublin.

26 June 1826 – Sandford Church of Ireland church, Ranelagh was opened.

26 June 1945 – Alderman P.S. Doyle, T.D. (Fine Gael) was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin City.

26 June 1961 – Robert Briscoe took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

26 June 1972 – Death of Colm O Lochlainn, proprietor, the Three Candles Press. He was born William Gerard, the son of John O’Loughlin of Kilkenny and Delia Carr of Limerick, on 11 October 1892 in Drumcondra. His papers are in U.C.D. Library.

27 June 1908 – Death of Sir Edmund T. Bewley, author of various legal and antiquarian works. He was born at Moate, Co. Westmeath on 11 January 1837, and was educated at T.C.D. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1862, appointed Q.C. in 1882 and Bencher, King’s Inns 1886. He was Regius Professor of Feudal and English Law at T.C.D. 1884-90 and Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission 1890-98. He was J.P. for Counties Dublin, Carlow and Wicklow, and was knighted at the Vice Regal Lodge, Dublin, on 5 January 1898.

27 June 1917 – Death of London-born David James O’Donoghue, librarian of University College Dublin since 1909, and co-editor of the Catalogue of the Gilbert Library (1918). He was vice-president of the Irish Literary Society.

27 June 1939 – Mrs. Kathleen Clarke, widow of 1916 rebel Tom Clarke, elected Lord Mayor of Dublin City.

28 June 1977 – Death of Arthur Luce, Professor of Philosophy at T.C.D. He was 94, and an international authority on Berkeley.

28 June 1886 – Upper Mecklenburgh Street was changed to Tyrone Street – later to Waterford Street.

28 June 1948 – John Breen (Labour Party) took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

28 June 1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy laid a wreath at the memorial at Arbour Hill, Dublin.

28 June 1974 – Seven people escaped when a three-storey apartment house at 39 Lower Rathmines Road was badly damaged by fire. Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene.

28 June 1974 – Councillor James O’Keeffe elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, the first since 1969.

28 June 1982 – Daniel Browne (Labour Party) took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

29 June 1815 – Great illuminations in Dublin in honour of the victory at Waterloo.

29 June 1841 – Death of Frederick Darley, Dublin City Assembly Alderman, builder and magistrate. He was born in Dublin, the son of a well –known Dublin stonemason, Henry Darley, in 1764. Frederick Darley won the contract for the stonework to the Carlisle Bridge (1791-1794). He was a member of Dublin’s Merchant Guild and was an Alderman from 1800. He was also Lord Mayor (1808 – 1809). He was married in 1785 to Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of the first Arthur Guinness.

29 June 1959 – Philip A. Brady took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

30 June 1832 – First issue of Dublin Penny Journal, founded and edited by Rev. Caesar Otway with George Petrie.

30 June 1887 – Killiney Hill opened as a public park by Prince Albert Victor.

30 June 1893 – Death of John Beveridge, Town Clerk, Dublin City Council since 1878.

30 June 1898 – Death of Dublin-born poet Thomas Stanislaus Cleary. He was born in 1851 and was a poetical contributor for years to various Irish and American papers, especially the United Ireland, Boston Pilot, Nation, etc. In 1888 he published Songs of the Irish Land War. After returning to Dublin from his editorship of the Clare Independent he wrote for the Weekly Irish times, Irish Society, Dublin Figaro, etc. He died suddenly at Killaloe, Co. Clare and was buried at Glasnevin.

30 June 1903 – The Iveagh Trust Act (1903) amalgamated the Guinness Trust (Dublin) Fund with the Dublin Improvement (Bull Alley Area) Scheme.

30 June 1911 – Dublin Employers’ Federation formed.

30 June 1922 – The Four Courts in Dublin destroyed by fire.

30 June 1936 – Polling day for Dublin Corporation local elections. Of the total poll of 137,749 votes, Lord Mayor Alfie Byrne, T.D., and those candidates he endorsed, polled 72,658, beating Fianna Fail into second place.

30 June 1947 – Patrick Joseph Cahill took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

30 June 1962 – The Theatre Royal, Hawkins Street, closed (see also 18 January 1821; 9 February 1880; 13 December 1897; and 23 September 1935).

30 June 1980 – Fergus O’Brien (Fine Gael) took office as Lord Mayor of Dublin.

© Dublin City Council.