... is the name that was given to the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke, in Dublin's Phoenix Park, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary – the most senior Irish civil servant. The dual assassination was carried out by members of the Irish National Invincibles, a more radical breakway from the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Burke was believed to have been the main target, Cavendish becoming a victim simply 'because he was there'.
The murders led ultimately to the defeat of Gladstone's government in the 1886 general election, which is said to have delayed Irish Home Rule by 28 years.
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