Events for February 03

February 3, 1801

Prime Minister William Pitt resigns over royal veto on Catholic emancipation

William Pitt the Younger, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, did tender his resignation in 1801, in part due to the issue of Catholic emancipation and a related royal veto. Pitt, in office from 1783 to 1801 and then again from 1804 until his death in 1806, was a prominent political figure whose tenure was marked by major events including the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

February 3, 1896

Lady Jane Wilde (Spiranza), poet, nationalist and the mother of Oscar, dies in London

Lady Jane Wilde, known by her pen name “Speranza,” was a notable Irish poet, nationalist, and the mother of Oscar Wilde, one of the most famous playwrights and literary figures of the late 19th century. She passed away in London on February 3, 1896.

February 3, 1911

Robert Noonan, author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, dies

Robert Phillipe Noonan (17 April 1870 – 3 February 1911), born Robert Croker, and best known by the pen name Robert Tressell, was an Irish writer best known for his novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.

February 3, 1744

Lord Netterville, indicted for the murder of Michael Walsh, is acquitted by his Parlimentary Peers

Nicholas Netterville, 5th Viscount Netterville (1708–1750) was an Irish peer, who is mainly remembered for having been tried and acquitted by his peers on a charge of murder.