October 12

  • 1981 Oisín Kelly (66), sculptor, notably of ‘The Children of Lir’ in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance and the monument to James Larkin in O’Connell Street, Dublin, died.
  • 1951 Bartholomew Patrick ‘Bertie’ Ahern, leader of Fianna Fáil (1994–2008), who led three coalition governments, born in Drumcondra, Dublin.
  • 1969 Louise Gavan Duffy (85), revolutionary who served in the GPO during the 1916 Rising and pioneering educationist who co-founded Scoil Bhríde (1917), the first Irish-language school for girls in Dublin, died.
  • 1969 Louise Gavan Duffy, teacher and revolutionary, daughter of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, died.
  • 1984 The IRA bombed the Grand Hotel, Brighton, during the Conservative Party conference, killing five, including two high-profile members of that party, and injuring a further 31.
  • 1866 Ramsey McDonald, who led Britain’s first Labour Party governments (1924, 1929–31) and a National Government (1931–5), born in Morayshire, Scotland, the son of a farm labourer.