May 23-4 1798: The outbreak of the Rising. Overnight mail coaches were attacked on the roads to Dublin to signal the start of revolutionary action. In the City itself attempts to trigger an outbreak were thwarted as the British Army moved to seize strategic assembly points and thus nip things in the bud. Small crowds of men had set out from the poor districts of the city of Dublin to seize the Castle and other key public buildings. Agents of the Crown had infiltrated their revolutionary organization, the United Irishmen, and had already arrested several of their key leaders, Lord Edward FitzGerald being the most important of them. The militia mobilized before the rebels could assemble in large groups and what their leaders had hoped would be an almost bloodless coup turned into a debacle. Outside the City though the insurgents fared better and many gathered in rural areas of County Dublin as well as southern County Meath, northern County Kildare and northern and western County Wicklow. These groups attacked towns and villages in their respective localities and stopped and destroyed some of the mail coaches that were making their way out to the provinces.
24 May 1487 Lambert Simnel, 15, claiming to be Earl of Warwick, but in reality the son of a baker, was crowned ‘King Edward VI of England’ in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Henry VII produced the real Warwick from the Tower of London and made young Lambert a scullion in the royal kitchen on his eventual capture.
24 May 1795: New Constitution for United Irish Society accepted by existing clubs.
24 May 1858 – Death of politician John O’Connell (son of Daniel O’Connell), at his Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin residence.
24 May 1921: General Election held in the 26 Counties. 124 Sinn Féin candidates were returned unopposed from 26 constituencies and the National University of Ireland. Dublin University returned four Independent Unionist candidates, also unopposed. All SF candidates were deemed elected to the 2nd Dail.
Elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland were held on the same day. 52 candidates were returned from ten constituencies, all of which were contested. The only Sinn Féin candidate who was elected in the North without also being elected to a constituency in the 26 counties was Sean O’Mahony for Fermanagh - South Tyrone who also took his seat in the 2nd Dáil .
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