The following are a collection of events that are connected to the history of Limerick or people from Limerick during the month of October.
1 October – Richard Harris the award winning actor was born in Limerick city on this day in 1930.
2 October – Princess Cristina di Belgiojoso of Italy visited Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick on this day 2 Oct 1839.
- On this day, 2 Oct 1799, the following notice appeared in the Limerick Chronicle. Fitzgerald was using the newspaper to squash rumours of a public squabble between himself and William Joseph Holland.
3 October – The signing of the Treaty of Limerick took place on this day in 1691 ending the Williamite War. Chunks of the Treaty Stone were often chipped off by souvenir hunters until it was raised on a pedestal.
4 October – The engineer Christopher Colles drafted this plan of Limerick, including the unbuilt Newtown Pery in 1769. He died on this day in 1816 in New York. He continued his work as an engineer and planner in New York.
5 October – On this day in 1851, a tornado ripped through the heart of Limerick city. An eye witness wrote “Two women who were passing over the bridge (Sarsfield) in a donkey-cart were lifted out of the cart, blown across the bridge”
6 October – On this day in 1853, Thomas George Shaughnessy was born in Ashford, Co. Limerick. In 1916, he was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Shaughnessy, of the City of Montreal in the Dominion of Canada and of Ashford in the County of Limerick.
7 October – On this day in 1579, the Earl of Desmond wrote “Sir Nicholas Malbay camped within the Abbey of Askeaton, and there most maliciously defaced the ould monuments of my ancestors, fired the Abbey, the whole town and the corn thereabouts…“
8 October – On this day in 1972, the President of Ireland, Eamon de Valera officially opened a museum in his honour at the old school house in Bruree, Co. Limerick where he grew up.
9 October – On this day 9 October 1899, Hubert O’Grady opened his play “The Famine” at the Queen’s Theatre, Dublin. The Limerick-born actor died before the year was out.
- On this day, 9 October 1911, Annie Wheeler of Pallasgreen died. For many years, she and her sisters lived on their family farm. All five of them were unmarried and their ages on the 1911 census ranged from 48 to 33.
10 October – Father Theobald Mathew was born on this day in 1790 in Thomastown Castle, Co Tipperary. He was the founder of the Temperance Movement and Mathew Bridge in Limerick was named after him.
11 October – Kate O’Callaghan was born on this day, 11 October 1885 in County Cork. She became the first and one of only two women to ever represent Limerick in the Dáil.
- On this day in 1842, Mrs S. C. Hall gave advice to the married ladies of the city in the columns of the Limerick Reporter.
12 October – On this day in 1952, President of Ireland, Sean T O’Ceallaigh unveiled a memorial to Brigadier Sean Wall and the other Volunteers who died in the War of Independence 1920 -1921 in Bruff, Co. Limerick
13 October – On this day in 1915, James Bowman, the 21-year-old son of Mrs. Mary Bowman, of 4 Whites Lane, Parnell Street, died in action in France while serving with the Royal Munster Fusiliers.
14 October – Edward Herbert Maunsell was born on this day in 1855 in Ballywilliam, Co. Limerick. He emigrated to Canada in 1874, where he immediately joined the North-West Mounted Police His older brother George Wyndham was also a Mountie.
15 October – On this day in 1970, the flight crew of the Apollo 13 space mission, James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise, visited Limerick.
16 October – On this day in 2016, Irish rugby union player and head coach of Munster, Anthony ‘Axel’ Foley, passed away in Paris aged only 42 years old.
17 October – On this day, in 1908 the Limerick-born opera singer Joseph O’Mara (1864-1927) landed in New York on his American tour. He received the Freedom of Limerick earlier that month.
18 October – The Fenian Mayor of Limerick John Daly was born on this day in 1845. He was the uncle Ned Daly and uncle-in-law to Thomas Clarke who were both executed for their roles in the Easter 1916 Rising.
19 October – On this day in 1888, Con Colbert was born in Castlemahon, County Limerick. On 8 May 1916, for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising, he was shot by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin.
20 October – On this day in 1936, Anne Sullivan Macy passed away. Anne was the daughter of a Limerick mother and an Irish father (possibly from Limerick or Clare) who immigrated to America. She became famous as the teacher and companion of Helen Keller.
21 October – On this day in 1805, Horatio Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar. By his side was Limerick man Walter Burke who acted as purser on board the Victory.
22 October – The pianist Franz Liszt was born on this day, 22 Oct 1811. In January 1841, he visited Limerick, where he gave performances at the Swinburn’s Hotel (on what is now Sarsfield Street).
- On this day 22 Oct 1966, Limerick man Sean Bourke, assisted KGB spy George Blake escape from Wormword Scrubs before they both escaped to Russia.
23 October – Limerick silversmith Jonathan Buck died in Cork on this day in 1762. This silver sugar bowl attributed to either him or his son by the same name was valued at €7,000.
24 October – Robert Maunsell was born at Milford, Limerick on this day in 1810. He emigrated to New Zealand where he was the first minister to conduct a Christian service in Auckland, in 1840. He was the first to translate the Bible into the Māori language
25 October – On this day in 1901, Captain Thomas Henry Eyre Lloyd, from Rathkeale, wrote in his diary during the Boer War: “the skirmishes with the Boers intensified, and he comments that the Boers were scared by the fight.” He was killed in action 5 days later.
26 October – Mayor William Fitzgerald passed away suddenly while in office on this day in 1860. He was only 34 years old. The Limerick Chronicle went into detail about his death.
27 October – Agnes McMahon was a member of Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, during WWI. She passed away on this day, 27 October 1918, aged of 22. She was the daughter of Mrs. Mary McMahon, of Rosbrien. She is buried in Mount Saint Lawrence Cemetery.
- Limerick surrendered to Henry Ireton on this day 27 October 1651.
28 October – On this day in 1934, the Hetch-Hetchy water system, which brought water from Yosemite National Park to San Fransico, was turned on. This system was developed by Michael O’Shaughnessy who was born in Loughill, Co. Limerick.
29 October – On this day in 1651, Lt-General Henry Ireton received the keys to Limerick city following the siege in the name of his father-in-law Oliver Cromwell. Ireton died less than a month later in Limerick of plague.
30 October – Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau was born on this day, 30 Oct 1785. In 1828, he came to Limerick in search of a wife but left empty-handed.
31 October – In the year ending 31 October 1862, there were 12,657 tickets issued for the Limerick to Castleconnell railway line.
- Charles Walker the founder of Limerick Lace, died on this day 31 October 1843.
