1838 in Ireland

Events from the year 1838 in Ireland.

Events

4–22 April – the paddle steamer SS Sirius (1837) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Cork in eighteen days, though not using steam continuously.
15 August – following a year of widespread hunger the government institutes relief work and reduces the tithe rent for the poor by the Poor Law and Tithe Acts.
Foundation of a temperance society in Cork known as the Knights of Father Mathew by Theobald Mathew, a capuchin friar.

January – Richard W. Dowling, victorious Confederate commander at the Second Battle of Sabine Pass in the American Civil War.
24 January – Ricard O'Sullivan Burke, nationalist, Fenian activist, Union soldier in the American Civil War, U.S. Republican Party campaigner and public works engineer.
2 February – Nathaniel Burslem, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1860 at the Taku Forts, China.
13 February – Michael Sullivan, physician, professor and politician in Canada.
26 March – William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian.
3 June – Daniel O'Reilly, U.S. Representative from New York.
23 June – James Gildea, soldier and philanthropist, founder of the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families Association.
5 July – William Robinson, gardener.
8 July – John Burke, Union colonel in the American Civil War.
28 July – Augustus Nicholas Burke, artist.
24 August – James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn, politician and diplomat.
11 September – John Ireland, third bishop and first Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
18 September – Sir Thomas Drew, architect, first designer of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.
1 November – Anthony Traill, provost of Trinity College Dublin.
18 December – Michael Thomas Stenson, politician in Canada.
;Full date unknown
:*John Philip Nolan, soldier, landowner and politician.
:*Dudley Stagpoole, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1863 near Poutoko in Taranaki, New Zealand.