← 1887 1886 1885 1884 1883 1888 in Ireland → 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	1888 in the United Kingdom Other events of 1888 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year1888 in Ireland.

• January – theChaine Memorial atLarne is completed.
• March – thePan-Celtic Society is founded byW. B. Yeats.
• April –Pope Leo XIII issues a decree denouncing the "Plan of Campaign" as theHoly Office issues a rescript to theBishops of theCatholic Church in Ireland to boycott the Campaign. This is ignored by many.
• 4 June–27 October – Irish Exhibition atOlympia (London).^[1]
• 20 August – theChristian Brothers College is founded inCork.
• September
  • James Joyce enters theClongowes Wood College as the school's youngest student.
  • (approx. date)James Connolly deserts from his British Army regiment in Dublin and moves toDundee.
• Irish members of theBritish House of Commons attempt to introduce an Irish Local Government Bill; however the Bill is opposed by Chief SecretaryArthur Balfour.
• Belfast is awardedcity status byQueen Victoria.
• TheBelfast Central Library is founded.
• A large flock of 110Pallas's sandgrouse, a rare species of birds in Ireland, is recorded, one of the last known migrations witnessed in Ireland.
• W. B. Yeats joins the Esoteric Section of theTheosophical Society.
• James Daly sells theConnaught Telegraph to employee T. H. Gillespie.
• Thomas Lindsay Buick becomes Secretary of the Gladstone branch of theIrish National League.
• ReverendHenry Lett publishes a research paper on several unknown forms offungi found inUlster; however this document, as well as other research by Lett, is later lost.
• Letitia Alice Walkington became the first woman in the United Kingdom to receive a degree ofBachelor of Laws, from theRoyal University of Ireland atQueen's College, Belfast.

• 10 May –J. M. Synge arrives in theAran Islands for his first visit.
• William Allingham publishesLaurence Bloomfield or rich and poor in Ireland.
• J. E. Gore publishesA revised catalogue of variable stars.
• William Henry Hulbert publishesIreland Under Coercion.
• John Kells Ingram publishesA history of political economy andEssays in political economy.
• T. Dumbar Ingram publishesTwo Chapters of Irish History.
• MacGregor Mathers publishesQabbalah Unveiled.
• Kuno Meyer publishesThe Wooing of Emer.
• George Moore publishesSpring Days.
• 'Esperanza' (Jane, Lady Wilde) publishesAncient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland, with sketches of the Irish past.
• Oscar Wilde publishesThe Happy Prince.
• W. B. Yeats publishesFairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry and writesDown by the Salley Gardens.
• Fossett's Circus begins touring Ireland nationally. It has continued without a break since then making it one of the oldest continuously touring circuses in the world.^[2]

• Several Irish Cricket Teams travel for their second tour of Canada and the United States.

• International

  3 March Wales 11–0 Ireland (inWrexham)^[3]

  24 March Ireland 2–10 Scotland (inBelfast)^[3]

  7 April Ireland 1–5 England (in Belfast)^[3]

  Irish Cup

  Winners:Cliftonville 2–1Distillery

• Distillery win theIrish Junior Cup.

• SeveralCavan GAA football teams are formed including theKildallan Wolfe Tones,Castletara,Butlersbridge Emmets,Drumlane sons of O'Connell,Ballintemple Bob Sextons,Ballinagh Erins Hope,Bawnboy Gallowglasses,Milltown Owen Roes,Arva Michael Davitts, and theCavan Slashers.
• April – the First Cavan GAA All Ireland Finals is held inBirr.
• 7 April – a Cavan GAA football game between the Cavan Slashers andBelturbet Rory O'Moores is reported by anAnglo-Celt reporter as "...A disgrace, I must state that a more rowdy and disgraceful meeting I have never witnessed and the conduct of the party that came along with the Cavan club was simply what I could not wish to describe" and "The filthy expressions used by them towards the Rory O'Moores is simply not fit for publication".
• 30 April – the first Cavan GAA County Championship Final is played atCavan as theMaghera McFinns defeat theBallyconnell First Ulster's.

• TheRoyal Portrush Golf Club is founded as The County Club atPortrush,County Antrim.
• TheCork Golf Club is founded atCork.

• TheLeopardstown Racecourse is established by Captain George Quin becoming the first modern fully enclosed race track.

• 6 January –Séumas Robinson, member ofIrish Volunteers andIrish Republican Army (died1961).
• 7 January –Eugene O'Callaghan,Bishop of Clogher 1943–1969 (died1973).
• 8 January –Matthew Moore, actor (died1960).
• 10 February –Michael Joseph MacManus, journalist.

• 13 February –Desmond FitzGerald,Sinn FéinMP,TD, Cabinet Minister,Seanad Éireann member and poet, born in London (died1947).
• 4 March –Grace Gifford Plunkett,Sinn Féin member and politician (died1955).
• 10 March –Barry Fitzgerald, Academy Award-winning actor (died1961).
• 8 May –W. F. Marshall, Presbyterian minister and poet (died1959).
• 18 May –Art O'Connor,Sinn FéinMP, member of1st Dáil, Cabinet Minister, lawyer and judge (died1950).
• 9 June –Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough,Ulster Unionist PartyMP, thirdPrime Minister of Northern Ireland (died1973).
• 1 July –Linda Kearns MacWhinney, nurse,Sinn Féin member and politician (died1951).
• 23 July –Ivan Magill,anaesthesiologist (died 1986).
• 12 August –Joseph McGrath,Sinn Féin and laterCumann na nGaedhealTD, racehorse owner and breeder (died1966).
• 1 October –William Cosgrove, recipient of theVictoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 at theBattle of Gallipoli,Turkey (died1936).
• 16 October –Edmond Pery, 5th Earl of Limerick, peer and soldier (died1967).
• 24 October –Francis de Groot, upstager ofNew South WalesPremierJack Lang at the 1932 official opening of theSydney Harbour Bridge (died1969).
• 1 September –Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey, soldier, recipient of theVictoria Cross for gallantry in 1917 atGuyencourt, France (died1980).
• 25 September –Harold Jackson, cricketer (died1979).
• 28 September –Seán Lester,diplomat and lastSecretary General of theLeague of Nations (died1959).
• 29 September –Michael J. Stack,U.S. Representative fromPennsylvania (died1960).
• 19 October –Con Colbert, nationalist and rebel, took part inEaster Rising (executed1916).
• 8 November –Gerald Robert O'Sullivan, recipient of theVictoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 atGallipoli,Turkey (died1915).
• 19 November –Seán Moylan, memberIrish Volunteers,Sinn Féin andFianna FáilTD, Cabinet Minister andSeanad Éireann member (died1957).
• 7 December –Joyce Cary, novelist and artist (died1957).

• 10 January –Philip Cross, army surgeon, hanged in Cork Jail for the murder of his first wife (born1825).
• 12 May –John Joseph Lynch,Bishop of Toronto (born1816).
• 15 October –Frank O'Meara, artist (born1853).
• 10 November –Thomas Henry Fitzgerald, farmer and politician inQueensland, Australia (born1824).
• 22 November –John McGovern, soldier, recipient of theVictoria Cross for gallantry in 1857 atDelhi, India (born1825).
• 1 December –John Divane, soldier, recipient of theVictoria Cross for gallantry in 1857 atDelhi, India (born1822).

• 1888 in Scotland
• 1888 in Wales

• 1888 in Ireland
• 1880s in Ireland
• Years of the 19th century in Ireland
• 1888 in Europe
• 1888 by country
• 1888 in the United Kingdom

• Articles with short description
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• Use dmy dates from January 2020