Kevin Barry became the first Volunteer of the Irish Republican Army to be executed by the British after the Easter Rising #OnThisDay in 1920

''It is nothing, to give one's life for Ireland. I'm not the first and maybe I won't be the last. What's my life compared with the cause?” - Kevin Barry

The Púca are shape shifting creatures from Irish folklore. Some tales describe them as bloodthirsty beings, often doing harm to unwary travelers. However on 1st November, the "Púca's Day", it behaved courteously, and delivered sage advice to willing listeners.

A photo of the official handover of the treaty port of Fort Dunree on Lough Swilly from Britain to Irish forces.
3rd October 1938
80 years and a month ago.

On November 1st 1920 George Lennon & the Waterford IRA attacked an RIC barracks in order to lure out a British army convoy into a trap. The ambush was successful & 30 British POWs were taken as well as nearly 30 rifles & an assortment of weapons & ammo.
http://www.waterfordmuseum.ie/exhibit/web

November 3rd 1920: Sean MacEoin & Longford IRA men defend the village of Ballinalee from 11 truck loads of Black and Tans. The fight began at 11pm on the 2nd & the Black and Tans pulled out at 5am. The Irish suffered no casualties.

'I am right in saying that we stand in the holiest place in Ireland, for it must be that the holiest sod of a nation’s soil is the sod where the greatest of her dead lies buried.'

P.H Pearse pictured with Na Fianna Éireann at the grave of Wolfe Tone, 1913.

A map stolen from an off duty UDR man in Armagh City in 1987 showing the locations of people suspected of involvement with the Republican movement in the town. It is understood the UDR gave the map out to Loyalist paramilitaries.(UDR = Ulster Defence Regiment)

Potential family member spotted.

A page stolen from the British Army of their 30 most wanted IRA members in the Armagh area in 1975

Note that Thomas 'Slab' Murphy was so reclusive that they couldn't even source a photo of him. Some in the photo like Seamus Grew were actually members of the INLA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_Liberation_Army

In Irish folklore, the banshee is a female spirit that heralds the imminent death of a family member by shrieking. She may also 'keen,' an Irish lament for the dead.

An interesting eclectic history channel i just stumbled upon. Be sure to give it a look, you may find something of interest.

''Sell my country’s independence to France! And for what? A change of masters? Were the French to assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independence, it would be the signal for their destruction.'' - Robert Emmet

"The blood-soaked graves of the Belgian frontiers the spirits of murdered Irish soldiers of England call to Heaven for vengeance upon the Parliamentarian tricksters who seduced them into the armies of the oppressor of their country." - James Connolly

#OnThisDay 1917 George Hanna from Belfast, was shot for desertion. Hanna's defence was that he wasn't deserting as he'd already served three years & that he'd lost three brothers in the war & hadn't been on leave since 1914 during WW1.

#OnThisDay 1650 Owen Roe O'Neill died. O'Neill was a member of the great northern O'Neill family. O'Neill was a soldier in Spain but returned to Ireland during the War of the Three Kingdoms. O'Neill died just after Cromwell's arrival sparking rumours he was poisoned.

'Going to Mass' (1939) by James Humbert Craig

The Belfast-born painter was a landscape artist whose figures largely appear minuscule. His work draws on aspects of the newly independent Ireland, like faith, frugality and community.

Galway Fisher Folk
James Humbert Craig
(1877-1944)