On this day 7 May in Irish History

7 May 1689: James II opened the Parliament of Ireland in Dublin. ‘Leaving Dublin Castle, over which floated the national flag, James proceeded in full procession to the King's Inns, where the Parliament sat, and the Commons having assembled at the bar of the Peers, James entered, ‘with Robe and Crown,’ and addressed the Commons in a speech full of manliness and dignity.’ - The Irish Parliament of James II (Author: Thomas Osborne Davis)


7 May 1805: The death occurred in London of The Earl of Shelburne, British Prime Minister 1782/1783. He was born in Dublin in 1737 and spent his early life ‘in the remotest parts of the south of Ireland’.

7 May 1915: The liner Lusitania (New York to Liverpool) was torpedoed off the Old head of Kinsale by the German submarine U20. She sank within 18 minutes. (Two explosions rocked the ship. The first was clearly caused by a torpedo from U-20. The cause of the second explosion has never been definitively determined and remains the source of much controversy.) Of those on board, 761 were rescued, while 1,198 perished, including 115 US Citizens.

7 May 1966: The UVF carried out a petrol bomb attack on a Catholic owned bar and off-licence in Upper Charleville Street in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. The attackers missed their intended target and set fire to the home of Matilda Gould (77), a Protestant civilian, who lived next door to the public house. Ms Gould was severely injured in the attack and died on 27 June 1966 as a resulted of her injuries.

I wonder was the Earl of Shelbourne an Irish speaker? If so would he have been the only British Prime Minister to be an Irish speaker? The reason why I would think that he might would be the fact that the family had lands in Kerry and that he was born in the Mid-18th Century when to communicate with the poorer classes and even many of the middle class would have necessitated knowing Irish.

anmajornarthainig wrote:

I wonder was the Earl of Shelbourne an Irish speaker? If so would he have been the only British Prime Minister to be an Irish speaker? The reason why I would think that he might would be the fact that the family had lands in Kerry and that he was born in the Mid-18th Century when to communicate with the poorer classes and even many of the middle class would have necessitated knowing Irish.

A very interesting point!

Quite possibley he had at least a working knowledge of the Irish language.

Elizibeth I had an Irish phrasebook.

Lord Castlereagh was big into the Gaeilge as well.

905 wrote:

Elizibeth I had an Irish phrasebook.

She had a way with words...

905 wrote:

Elizibeth I had an Irish phrasebook.

Did she use it when Grainne Uaile called on her in her bedroom in Greenwich? Or perhaps did they both speak Latin ?

They spoke Latin to each other as far as I know.