A close reader from Cork, George Harding, writes to point out my recent two-column series A History of Ireland in Descriptions of Rain included “only one actual death” from precipitation. But as George points out, there is another notable death of the same era can also be attributed to rain. And although the victim there may not have been of Irish origin, the rain that did for him certainly was. George Boole (1815 – 64) is today remembered as the mathematician and philosopher who gave his name to Boolean Logic. George Boole died at Ballintemple on 8th December 1864, and is buried at the nearby St Michael’s Church of Ireland.

Source: The Irish Times March 06, 2026 16:18 UTC