Events for March 12

March 12, 1974

Billy Fox, Prostestant Irish Nationalist senator from Monaghan, assassinated

Billy Fox, a Protestant Irish nationalist senator and member of the Fine Gael party from County Monaghan, was assassinated on March 12, 1974. Fox was a vocal supporter of civil rights and peace in Northern Ireland during a period of intense sectarian violence known as the Troubles, which spanned from the late 1960s through to 1998.

March 12, 1875

MP for Tipperary, John Mitchel is re-elected on this date, dies eight days later

John Mitchel, an Irish nationalist, journalist, and political figure, was re-elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tipperary on April 16, 1875. His re-election was notable because it was a strong demonstration of support from his constituents, despite Mitchel being in failing health at the time. However, Mitchel’s victory was short-lived; he died just eight days later, on May 20, 1875.

March 12, 1832

Capt. Charles Boycott, despised English estate manager in Ireland, born

Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, the English land agent in Ireland whose name became synonymous with ostracism, was born on March 12, 1832, in Norfolk, England. Boycott worked as an estate manager for Lord Erne in County Mayo, Ireland. During the Irish Land War in the late 19th century, a period marked by agrarian unrest and the struggle for land reform in Ireland, Boycott became a focal point of conflict due to his role in enforcing evictions and high rents on behalf of the absentee landlord.

March 12, 1295

Richard de Burgh is released by the council in parliament at Kilkenny

Richard de Burgh, also known as the Red Earl of Ulster, was a prominent Anglo-Norman nobleman in Ireland during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. His release by the council in parliament at Kilkenny would refer to an event within the complex political and military context of medieval Ireland, where the Anglo-Norman presence was contested by native Irish kingdoms and other Norman lords.