1920 in Ireland

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Events

• 27 February - The text of the Home Rule Bill to be introduced in the British House of Commons is published. It provides for the establishment of a 128-member parliament in Dublin and a 52-member parliament in Belfast.
• 20 March - The Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomás Mac Curtain, is murdered when armed Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men break into his house.
• 22 March - Thousands gather to pay their respects to the murdered Tomás Mac Curtain. Over 8,000 Irish Republican Army (IRA) Volunteers line the route to St. Finbarr's Cemetery.
• 2 May - Viscount Fitzalan is sworn in as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the first Catholic to hold the viceroyalty since the reign of King James II.
• 22 May - In Rome, Pope Benedict XV beatifies Oliver Plunkett.
• 31 July - Bishop Daniel Mannix is detained onboard ship off Queenstown and prevented from landing in Ireland.
• 19 August - Following his arrest, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, goes on hunger strike in Brixton Prison.
• 28 September - There are disturbances at Mallow, County Cork, when a raid on a military barracks by Liam Lynch and Ernie O'Malley is followed by a sack of the town by British soldiers.
• 25 October - Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, dies in Brixton Prison on the 74th day of his hunger strike.
• 31 October - Terence MacSwiney is buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery in his native Cork City. Arthur Griffith delivers the graveside oration.
• 1 November - An 18-year-old medical student, Kevin Barry, is executed in Mountjoy Prison for the killing of a British soldier.
• 12 November - A hunger strike in Cork Prison is called off after the Sinn Féin President, Arthur Griffith, intervenes.
• 21 November - Bloody Sunday: The Irish Republican Army, on the instructions of Michael Collins, shoot dead fourteen British undercover agents in Dublin, most in their homes. Later that day the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary open fire on a crowd at a Gaelic Athletic Association Football match in Croke Park, killing 12 people and wounding 60. Three men are shot that night in Dublin Castle "while trying to escape".
• 28 November - Kilmichael Ambush: The flying column of the 3rd Cork Brigade IRA, led by Tom Barry, ambushes and kills sixteen Auxiliaries at Kilmichael, County Cork, which leads to a system of martial law and official reprisals.
• 11 December - British forces set fire to some 5 acres (20,000 m²) of the centre of Cork City, including the City Hall, in reprisal attacks after a British auxiliary is killed in a guerilla ambush.
• 23 December - Government of Ireland Act passed by the British Parliament.

Arts and literature

• May - W. B. Yeats concludes a lecture tour (begun in October 1919) in the United States and returns to settle in Oxford.^[1] In this year also he publishes The Second Coming.^[2]
• Hamilton Harty becomes chief conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester.

Sport

Football

• International

14 February Ireland 2 - 2 Wales (in Belfast)^[3]

13 March Scotland 3 - 0 Ireland (in Glasgow)^[3]

23 October England 2 - 0 Ireland (in Sunderland)^[3]

• Irish League

Winners: Belfast Celtic

• Irish Cup

Winners: Shelbourne (final not played). Disorder at the other semi-final which is abandoned means both potential opponents are excluded from the competition and the Irish Football Association award the cup to Shelbourne.

Gaelic Games

• The All-Ireland Champions are Dublin (hurling) and Tipperary (football)

Golf

• British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is held at Royal County Down Golf Club, (winner: Cecil Leitch.

Births

January to June

• 15 February - Bill Collins, footballer (died 2010).
• 7 March - Eilís Dillon, author (died 1994).
• 13 April - Liam Cosgrave, former Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael.
• 30 April - Duncan Hamilton, motor racing driver (died 1994).
• 19 May - Joe Cahill, former Chief of Staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (died 2004).
• 21 May - John V. Luce, classicist (died 2011).
• 22 May - Oliver J. Flanagan, former Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister (died 1987).
• 27 May - Joseph Caprani, cricketer.
• 15 April - Jim McFadden, ice hockey player (died 2002).
• 2 June - Michael O'Hehir, sports commentator and journalist (died 1996).
• 5 June - Cornelius Ryan, journalist and author (died 1974).
• 12 June - Eoin Ryan, Fianna Fáil Seanad Éireann member (died 2001).

July to December

• 17 August - Maureen O'Hara, actress.
• 21 August - Rinty Monaghan, boxer (died 1984).
• 27 August - James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, Unionist politician and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 1979 to 1995.
• 12 October - Christy Ring, Cork hurler (died 1979).
• 16 October - Paddy Finucane, RAF fighter pilot, youngest Wing Commander in RAF history, killed in action (died 1942).
• 17 October - John Godley, 3rd Baron Kilbracken, author and journalist (died 2006).
• 18 October - Alec Cooke, Baron Cooke of Islandreagh, businessman and politician (died 2007).
• 24 October - Robert Greacen, poet (died 2008).
• 8 November - Charles Mitchel, actor and television newsreader, read the first Telefís Éireann news bulletin in 1961 (died 1996).
• 25 November - Patrick J. Reynolds, Fine Gael TD and Senator, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann 1983–1987 (died 2003).
• 10 December - Michael Russell, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore (1965–1993) (died 2009).

Full date unknown

• Emma Groves, blinded by a rubber bullet in 1971, became a leading campaigner for banning the use of plastic bullets, co-founder of the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets (died 2007).
• Mike Hoare, soldier and mercenary.
• Daniel O'Neill, artist (died 1974).

Deaths

• 24 January - Percy French, civil engineer, songwriter, entertainer and artist (born 1854).
• 20 March - Tomás Mac Curtain, Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, murdered on his 36th birthday by the Black and Tans (born 1884).
• 21 May - James Plunkett, novelist, author of Strumpet City. (died 2003)
• 10 August - James O'Neill, actor, father of the American playwright Eugene O'Neill (born 1847).
• 11 August - Joe Murphy, member of Irish Republican Army, died on 76 day hunger strike during the Irish War of Independence (born 1895).
• 17 October - Michael Fitzgerald, Irish Republican Army member, died after 67 days Hunger strike at Cork Jail.
• 25 October - Terence MacSwiney, playwright and poet, member of 1st Dáil, Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, died on 74th day of hunger strike (born 1879).
• 1 November - Kevin Barry, executed for his part in an Irish Republican Army operation resulting in the deaths of three British soldiers (born 1902).
• 6 November - James Gildea, soldier and philanthropist, founded the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association (born 1838).
• 9 November - Daniel Gallery, politician in Canada (born 1859).
• 21 November - Dick McKee, Irish Republican Army member in Easter Rising, shot by Crown forces (born 1893).

Full date unknown

• George J. Gaskin, singer (born 1850s).
• Denis Grimes, Limerick hurler (born 1864).
• T. W. Rolleston, writer, poet and translator (born 1857).

References