1796 in Ireland

Events from the year 1796 in Ireland.

Incumbent

 * Monarch: George III

Events

 * 1 February – Wolfe Tone arrives in France.
 * 12 July – first Orange Institution parades on The Twelfth held to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne (1690) in Portadown, Lurgan and Waringstown.
 * 9 August – the convict ship Marquis Cornwallis leaves Cork for Australia.
 * September – 'Gold rush' in the Wicklow Hills near Avoca.
 * 10 December – the convict ship Britannia leaves Cork for Australia.
 * 15 December – Expédition d'Irlande: French expedition (43 ships and 14,000 men) sails from Brest.
 * 22 December – French fleet, with Wolfe Tone on board, arrives in Bantry Bay, but is unable to land due to contrary winds.
 * Insurrection Act and Treason by Women Act passed.
 * Yeomanry Corps formed.
 * Building of the Four Courts in Dublin is substantially completed under the supervision of James Gandon.

Arts and literature

 * Edward Bunting's A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music is published.

Births

 * 27 March – Robert James Graves, surgeon (died 1853).
 * April – Abraham Brewster, judge and Lord Chancellor of Ireland (died 1874).
 * 20 July – Maziere Brady, judge and Lord Chancellor of Ireland (died 1871).
 * 16 August – Francis Crozier, British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer (lost after 1848).
 * 4 October – Robert King, 4th Earl of Kingston, soldier and politician (died 1867).
 * 27 November
 * John MacEnery, priest and pioneer archaeologist (died 1841).
 * Richard Mayne, barrister and joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolitan Police (1829–1868) (died 1868).
 * 3 December – Francis Kenrick, headed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, then was Archbishop of Baltimore (died 1863).
 * Full date unknown
 * Michael Banim, writer (died 1874).
 * James Curley, astronomer (died 1889 in the United States).
 * George Crawford Hyndman, auctioneer and marine biologist (died 1867).
 * Eliza Hamilton Dunlop, poet (died 1880 in Australia).
 * Charles Cromwell Ingham, painter and founder of the New York National Academy of Design (died 1863 in the United States).
 * John Pitt Kennedy, British military engineer, agricultural reformer and civil servant (died 1879).
 * James McLevy, detective in Edinburgh (died 1875 in Scotland).
 * George Maguire, Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri (died 1882 in the United States).
 * Jones Quain, anatomist (died 1865).
 * Michael Joseph Quin, author, journalist and editor (died 1843).

Deaths

 * 23 May – John Roberts, architect. (born 1712/14)
 * William Henn, judge (born c.1720).
 * Bowen Southwell, landowner and politician (born 1713).