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On 20 June 1631, Barbary corsairs landed at Baltimore, County Cork, and took 107 sleeping villagers into slavery. The English king was busy negotiating a trade deal with Morocco. The captives spent the rest of their lives in North Africa.
On 13th April 1829, the Roman Catholic Relief Act received royal assent, allowing Catholics to sit in Parliament for the first time since the Penal Laws. It was a genuine victory. The terms on which it was extracted deserve closer inspection.
On 1st January 1801, the Acts of Union took effect and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into existence. January 1st is no coincidence — it is the bureaucrat's favourite date, chosen for its symbolism and its clarity. What no one could schedule was what came after.