February 12-13

May 29

• 1969 Robert Briscoe (75), Dáil deputy for 38 years and the first Jewish lord mayor of Dublin (1956), died.
• 1914 The Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Ireland sank on the St Lawrence River after colliding with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad; 1,012 passengers and crew died.
• 1972 The Official IRA ordered a cessation of hostilities following the killing, four days earlier, of Ranger William Best while visiting his family.
• 1660 Charles II entered London, marking the restoration of the monarchy. He had been proclaimed king of Ireland on 14 May.
• 1917 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States (1961–3), born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the second of nine children of businessman Joe Kennedy and philanthropist/socialite Rose Fitzgerald.