Browse all events for May 22.

Death of Augusta Persse, better known as Lady Augusta Gregory, Irish dramatist
Death of Augusta Persse, better known as Lady Augusta Gregory, occurs on May 22, 1932. Born in Roxborough, County Galway, she was a leading figure of the Irish Literary Revival—a dramatist, folklorist, and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Britains worst train disaster at Quintinshill
Britain’s worst train disaster occurs at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green, on May 22, 1915. Involving three trains, the tragedy results in the deaths of 227 people, most of them soldiers from the 7th Battalion, Royal Scots Regiment, en route to fight in World War I.

Jack White, journalist and author, is born in Cork
Captain James Robert “Jack” White, DSO (1879–1946) was an Irish republican and libertarian socialist.


Sir Conan Doyle, Scottish author - born
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.

Birth in Edinburgh of Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle is born in Edinburgh on May 22, 1859, the eldest of ten children born to Irish parents, Charles Doyle and Mary Foley. A trained physician, he would go on to achieve global fame as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, one of literature’s most enduring and iconic detectives. Doyle’s Irish heritage and upbringing in a creative, if financially troubled, household influenced both his worldview and his prolific literary output, which spanned detective fiction, historical novels, science fiction, and spiritualist writings.


Novelist, Maria Edgeworth, dies in Mostrim, Co. Longford
Novelist Maria Edgeworth dies in Mostrim, Co. Longford. She is laid to rest in a vault at Edgeworthstown Church. The Great Famine, which decimates the people she loves, mars her final years. Even in her late seventies, she works strenuously for their relief.