# 1896 in Ireland

Events from the year 1896 in Ireland.

## Events

* February – the Broighter Gold hoard of prehistoric objects is discovered near Limavady by Tom Nicholl while ploughing.
* 29 March – the Royal College of St Patrick, Maynooth is granted the status of pontifical university by charter of the Holy See.
* 16 May – the first electric tram runs on the Dublin tramways system.
* May – James Connolly returns from Edinburgh to Ireland as paid organiser for the Dublin Socialist Club. He founds the Irish Republican Socialist Party.
* 28 March – Tom Gallaher incorporates the Gallaher tobacco business and opens the world's largest tobacco factory in Belfast.
* John Dillon assumes the leadership of the anti-Parnellite wing of the Home Rule Party.
* An extension is made to Arthur Balfour's Land Act. 1,500 bankrupt estates are made available for sale to tenants.
* Ireland's first motor vehicle laws are introduced.
* Restoration of the Church of Ireland's Kildare Cathedral is completed.

## Arts and literature

* 20 April – first cinema show in Ireland, at Dan Lowry's Star of Erin Variety Theatre in Dublin.
* The lyrics of The Mountains of Mourne are written by Percy French with Dr. W. Houston Collision.
* Charles Villiers Stanford's comic opera Shamus O'Brien is first performed.

## Sport
### Cricket
#### International

    February: Tim O'Brien becomes the first Irish captain of the England cricket team in a match won against South Africa at Port Elizabeth

### Football
#### International

    29 February Wales 6–1 Ireland (in Wrexham)
    7 March Ireland 0-2 England (in Belfast)
    28 March Ireland 3-3 Scotland (in Belfast)

#### Irish League

    Winners: Distillery

#### Irish Cup

    Winners: Distillery 3 - 1 Glentoran

### Field hockey
#### International

    2 March: The Ireland women's national field hockey team defeat England 2–0 at Alexandra College in the first ever women's international field hockey match.

### Tennis
#### The Championships, Wimbledon

    Harold Mahony wins the gentleman's singles Championship

#### Olympic Games

    John Pius Boland wins gold medals in the men's singles and doubles at the first modern Summer Olympics in Athens (Greece)

## Births

* 15 February – Arthur Shields, actor (died 1970).
* March – Martin Joseph Sheehan, soldier and Royal Air Service Observer in World War I, killed in action (died 1918).
* 4 April – Sir Osmond Esmonde, 12th Baronet, diplomat and politician (died 1936).
* 24 April – F. R. Higgins, poet and theatre director (died 1941).
* 9 May – Austin Clarke, poet, playwright and writer (died 1974).
* 22 May – Cyril Fagan, astrologer (died 1970).
* 28 August – Liam O'Flaherty, novelist and short story writer (died 1984).
* 17 September – Oscar Heron, Irish World War I flying ace (died 1933).
* 10 November – Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Peirce-Evans, later Mary, Lady Heath, aviator, athlete and writer (died 1939).
* 25 December – Sister Philippa Brazill, nurse in Australia (died 1988).

### Full date unknown

*   * Monk Gibbon, poet and author (died 1987).
*   * Fiona Plunkett, republican (died 1977).

## Deaths

* 10 January – Denis Dempsey, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (born 1826).
* 3 February – Jane Wilde, poet ("Esperanza"; born 1821).
* 4 March – Peter Richard Kenrick, first Catholic archbishop west of the Mississippi River (born 1806).
* 4 May – Timothy Anglin, politician in Canada and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (born 1822).
* 18 May – Patrick Buckley, soldier, lawyer, statesman, and judge in New Zealand (born 1841).
* 8 August – William Pery, 3rd Earl of Limerick, peer (born 1840).
* 10 August – Jeremiah O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Mobile (born 1842).
* 15 August – Patrick Duggan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert (born 1813).
* 22 September – Edward Selby Smyth, British General, commanded Militia of Canada from 1874 to 1880 (born 1819).
* 1 November – Jack (Nonpareil) Dempsey, boxer (born 1862).
* 31 December – Leland Hone, cricketer (born 1853).

### Full date unknown

*   * Canon James Goodman, Irish music collector (born 1828).