March 18, 1999

The funeral of Northern Irish human rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, was held at St. Peter’s Church in Lurgan on this day in 1999. Having obtained her degree in law from Queen’s University, Belfast, Nelson represented some high profile and controversial clients, including South Armagh Sniper, Michael Caraher, and the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition. She claimed to have received a number of threats against her life and the lives of her children, both directly and indirectly, from the Royal Ulster Constabulary. At forty, she was killed by a car bomb outside her home in Lurgan, County Armagh. The Red Hand Defenders, a loyalist paramilitary group, later claimed responsibility for the assassination.