1947 in Northern Ireland

← 1946 1945 1944 1947 in Northern Ireland → 1948 1949 1950
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	1947 in the United Kingdom 1947 in Ireland Other events of 1947 List of years in Northern Ireland

Events during the year 1947 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Governor - Earl Granville
• Prime Minister - Basil Brooke

Events

• Winter–May/June – The "bad winter" sees snow reach heights of 30 feet at its peak.
• 22 April – British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Centaur (R06) (laid down 1944) is launched at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
• 11 August – The Enterprise express train service commences between Belfast and Dublin.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Belfast Celtic

• Irish Cup

Winners: Belfast Celtic 1 – 0 Glentoran

GAA

• Cavan defeat Antrim 3-04 to 1–06 to win the Ulster Senior Football Championship.
• Cavan subsequently defeat Kerry 2–11 to 2–07 in New York City to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Golf

• Fred Daly wins The Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake.
• Fred Daly plays in the Ryder Cup.

Swimming

• 27–28 July – English endurance swimmer Tom Blower becomes the first person to swim the North Channel, from Donaghadee in County Down to Portpatrick in Scotland.

Births

• 23 February – Ken Goodall, international rugby player (died 2006).
• 5 March – Clodagh Rodgers, singer (died 2025).
• 24 March – John Dallat, Social Democratic and Labour Party politician (died 2020).
• 23 April – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Member of UK Parliament.
• 8 May (in Scotland) – Dr John Reid, 13th Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Home Secretary.
• 18 May – Eileen Pollock, actress (died 2020).
• 19 May – Paul Brady, singer-songwriter.
• 29 June – Eric Wrixon, rock musician (died 2015).
• 12 August – Seamus Close, Alliance Party MLA (died 2019).
• 3 September – Eric Bell, rock guitarist.
• 14 September – Sam Neill, actor (died 2026).
• 26 October – Sir Reg Empey, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
• 2 November – Joe McCann, Official Irish Republican Army volunteer (killed by British soldiers 1972).
• 5 December – Seán Quinn, businessman.
• Full date unknown
  • Paul Haller, Soto Zen Buddhist teacher and Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center.
  • Eugene McMenamin, SDLP MLA.
  • Frank Ormsby, poet.

Deaths

• 2 January – Tom Ross, cricketer (born 1872).
• 4 January – Forrest Reid, novelist and literary critic (born 1875).
• 25 April – Richard Rowley, poet and writer (born 1877).

See also

• 1947 in Scotland
• 1947 in Wales