1903 in Ireland

Events in the year 1903 in Ireland.

Events

3 January – The Norwegian ship Remittant was towed into quarantine in Queenstown with the entire crew suffering from beriberi.
3 February – The proposed canonisation of Oliver Plunkett was discussed in Rome.
26–27 February – "Ulysses" Storm: A windstorm passed across Ireland, uprooting 1–3,000 trees in Phoenix Park.
26 February – The ocean liner SS Columbus was launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.
27 February – A meeting at the Mansion House, Dublin, enthusiastically welcomed a movement to establish Saint Patrick's Day as a national holiday.
8 March – Charles Gavan Duffy was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. He was laid to rest near others who took part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848.
9 March – The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway's Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension was opened.
17 March – In Waterford, Saint Patrick's Day was marked as a public holiday.
26 March – The Chief Secretary for Ireland, George Wyndham, introduced his Irish Land Bill in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
31 March – The Lord-Lieutenant announced that Edward VII and Queen Alexandra intended to visit Ireland within the coming year.
15 May – The Chief Secretary for Ireland, George Wyndham, asked for support for his Irish Land Bill.
23 May – Extracts from the annual report of the British Army showed that there were 35,717 Irishmen in its service.
9 June – Trinity College Dublin announced following a vote that it was to award degrees to women. The first women would be admitted in 1904.
1 July – The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway became the Northern Counties Committee of the Midland Railway of England.
19-27 July – Edward VII made his first visit to Ireland as monarch, landing at Buncrana.
14 August – The Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 was passed in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, offering special incentives to landlords to sell their entire estates.
5 September – Irish painter Henry Jones Thaddeus was granted permission to paint the first portrait of Pope Pius X.
13 November – The 2nd Battalion of The Royal [Dublin Fusiliers] was welcomed home after nearly 20 years of foreign service.
; Undated
* Independent Orange Institution was formed, as a breakaway from the Orange Institution.
* The Pigeon House generating station in Dublin started producing electricity.
* The withdrawal of the last British Royal Navy guard ship to be permanently stationed at Kingstown, the cruiser, took place.
* The Cork International Exhibition was re-opened.

Arts and literature

January – An Túr Gloine, the cooperative studio for stained glass, was established by Sarah Purser in Dublin.
8 October – J. M. Synge's play, In the Shadow of the Glen, was first performed at the Molesworth Hall, Dublin.
7 December – The first Irish language opera, Muirgheis, with music by Thomas O'Brien Butler and libretto by Thadgh O'Donoghue was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Dublin.
Padraic Colum's Broken Soil was performed by W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company.
George Moore's short stories The Untilled Field were published.
'Æ' 's The Nuts of Knowledge, lyrical poems old and new was published by Elizabeth Yeats's Dun Emer Press at Dundrum, Dublin.
W. B. Yeats's poetry collection In the Seven Woods, being poems of the Irish heroic age was published by his sister's Dun Emer Press; he also published his essays Ideas of Good and Evil.
County Cork-born Chicago chief of police Francis O'Neill's collection O'Neill's Music of Ireland was published.

Sport

Association football

; International
: 14 February – England 4–0 Ireland
: 21 March – Scotland 0–2 Ireland
: 28 March – Ireland 2–0 Wales
; Irish League
: Winners: Distillery F.C.
; Irish Cup
: Winners: Distillery F.C. 3–1 Bohemian F.C.
Bohemian F.C. became the first Dublin team to join the Irish Football League.
The Oval football stadium, home of Glentoran F.C., was rebuilt, with the pitch being turned around ninety degrees.

Motor racing

2 July – The Gordon Bennett Cup (auto racing)#1903 [Gordon Bennett Trophy Gordon Bennett Trophy|Gordon Bennett Cup] race was run on Irish public roads, the first international motor race in Ireland. The winner was Camille Jenatzy.

Births

15 January – Joe Stynes, Irish Republican and sportsman.
19 January – Alfred Lane Beit, British politician, art collector and philanthropist, honorary Irish citizen.
28 January – Kathleen Lonsdale, X-ray crystallographer.
2 February – Hilton Edwards, actor, director, co–founder of Gate Theatre, born in London.
5 February – William Teeling, author, traveller and UK politician.
23 February – Alec Mackie, association football player.
11 March – Michael Hilliard, Fianna Fáil party Teachta Dála, Cabinet minister and Member of the European Parliament.
13 March – Joseph Blowick second leader of the Clann na Talmhan party, TD and Cabinet minister.
5 April – Leo Rowsome, teacher, player, and maker of uilleann pipes.
12 April – Paddy Collins, Cork hurler.
23 May – Shelah Richards, actress, director, and producer
25 May – Ewart Milne, poet.
8 June – Harry Duggan, association football player.
17 July – Dinny Barry-Murphy, Cork hurler.
18 July – Charles Hill, cricketer.
5 August – Achey Kelly, cricketer.
17 September – Frank O'Connor, short story writer and memoirist.
6 October – Ernest Walton, physicist, 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics.
23 October – Patrick Cogan, Independent TD.
1 November – Max Adrian, actor.
18 December – Harry Forsyth, cricketer.
; Undated
* Leo Maguire, singer, songwriter and radio broadcaster.
* Stanley Woods, motor cycle racer, with 29 Grand Prix wins and 10 Isle of Man TT wins.

Deaths

9 February – Charles Gavan Duffy, nationalist and Australian colonial politician.
5 April – Mary Anne Sadlier, novelist.
24 April – Walter Osborne, impressionist painter.
27 April – William Travers, lawyer, politician, explorer, and naturalist in New Zealand.
25 July – John Michael Clancy, Democratic Party United States Representative from New York.
31 August – Charles O'Hea, Catholic Priest, baptised Ned Kelly and ministered to him before he was hanged in 1880.
12 September – Maxwell Henry Close, geologist.
22 October – William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian.
24 October – James Adams (chaplain), recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in Afghanistan .