1858 in Ireland

Centuries:	17th ; 18th ; 19th ; 20th ; 21st ;
Decades:	1830s ; 1840s ; 1850s ; 1860s ; 1870s ;
See also:	1858 in the United Kingdom ; Other events of 1858 ; List of years in Ireland

Last updated October 27, 2025

Events

17 March – In Dublin, James Stephens founds the revolutionary organisation which becomes known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood.^[1]^[2]
Edward Harland, at this time general manager, buys the small shipyard on Queen's Island, Belfast, from his employer Robert Hickson in conjunction with Gustav Wilhelm Wolff.^[3]
Ballinacourty lighthouse at Dungarvan harbour built.

Arts and literature

First free public library in Ireland opens in Dundalk.

Births

11 January – Mildred Anne Butler, painter (died 1941).
13 February – James Murray Irwin, British Army doctor (died 1938).
6 March – Coslett Herbert Waddell, priest and botanist (died 1919).
11 March – Tom Clarke, republican (born in England; executed 1916).
2 May – Edith Anna Somerville, novelist (died 1949).
19 May – Mike Cleary, boxer (died 1893).
5 October – Thomas Cusack, Democrat U.S. Representative from Illinois (died 1926).
Full date unknown
- Anne Marjorie Robinson, artist (died 1924).

Deaths

4 March – John Ryan, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1857 at Lucknow, India, killed in action (born 1823).
26 April – Francis Murphy, first Roman Catholic bishop of Adelaide, South Australia (born 1795).
22 July – Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Sisters of Charity (born 1787).
28 July – Alexander Wright, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1855 at Sebastopol, in the Crimea (born 1826).
17 August – Robert Cane, doctor, member of the Repeal Association and the Irish Confederation, Mayor of Kilkenny (born 1807).
Full date unknown
- John Hogan, sculptor (born 1800).
- Benjamin Lett, bomber and arsonist in America and Canada (born 1813).
- James Roche Verling, British Army surgeon, became personal surgeon to Napoleon Bonaparte on St Helena (born 1787).

References

↑ Cronin, Seán (1972). The McGarrity Papers. Tralee: Anvil Books. p. 11.
↑ Ryan, Desmond (1967). The Fenian Chief: A Biography of James Stephens. Dublin: Hely Thom. p. 1.
↑ Moody, T. W.; et al., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821744-2.

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[1] Cronin, Seán (1972). The McGarrity Papers. Tralee: Anvil Books. p. 11.

[2] Ryan, Desmond (1967). The Fenian Chief: A Biography of James Stephens. Dublin: Hely Thom. p. 1.

[Chronology-3] Moody, T. W.; et al., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821744-2.

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