November 12

  • 1952 The body of Patricia Curran (19), daughter of Mr Justice L. Curran, was discovered in the grounds of the family home in Whiteabbey, Belfast. She had been stabbed 37 times. Iain Hay Gordon (21), a Scottish-born RAF technician, was later found guilty of her murder but insane. The Northern Ireland court of appeal squashed his conviction in December 2000.
  • 1964 Robert Brennan (83), republican, journalist and diplomat, who was Irish minister to the United States (1938–47), died.
  • 1216 Some seventeen months after King John conceded Magna Carta to his rebellious barons, a slightly amended version—Magna Charta Hiberniae—was issued for Ireland.