July - Potato crop failure the previous year leads to widespread famine. Food riots in Limerick and Leitrim.
August - First Horse Show in Dublin.
November - Ribbonmen attack an Orange band, puncturing some of their drums. The Orangemen retaliate by burning the Catholic village of Maghery, County Armagh to the ground.[2]
undated - Austins established in the Diamond, Derry. As of 2010 it will be the world's oldest independent department store.[3]
Births
January to June
1 January - William James Lendrim, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1855 at the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimea (d.1891).
10 April - John Sullivan, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1855 at Sebastopol, in the Crimea (d.1884).
1 May - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, labor and community organizer, member of the Industrial Workers of the World, and Socialist in America (d.1930).
12 May - Maurice O'Rorke, politician and Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives (d.1916).
25 May - Hugh Nelson, politician in Canada and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia (d.1893).