May 12

Sir Charles Barry (1795–1860) was a British architect best known for his Gothic Revival redesign of the Palace of Westminster. He collaborated with Augustus Pugin, integrating elaborate ornamentation with Barry's structural vision. Beyond Westminster, Barry designed the Upper Brook Street Chapel and numerous country houses in England. His use of symmetry, classical proportions, and medieval motifs defined the 19th-century architectural landscape. Barry trained a generation of architects through his lectures and publications. He served as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, influencing professional standards. Barry's works remain central to London's heritage and the study of Victorian architecture.

Francis Hughes was born in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 1956. He joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the early 1970s. Arrested and imprisoned, he participated in the 1981 hunger strike protesting treatment of IRA prisoners. After 59 days without food, Hughes died on May 12, 1981, becoming one of ten hunger strikers to die that year. His sacrifice intensified international attention on the Northern Ireland conflict. Hughes is remembered by supporters for his commitment to the Republican cause.

Born in 1910 in Otwock, Poland, Irena Sendler trained as a nurse and social worker. During World War II, she served as head of the children's section of the Polish Council to Aid Jews. Sendler smuggled over 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto, providing them with false identities. After the war, she continued her humanitarian efforts and preserved the memories of the children she saved. Her wartime activities remained relatively unknown until the 1990s, when she received international recognition. Sendler was honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for her courageous rescue missions.

Dennis Nilsen (1945–2018) was a Scottish serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 12 young men in London between 1978 and 1983. Born in Fraserburgh, Scotland, he served in the British Army before moving to London and working as a civil servant and bartender. Nilsen targeted vulnerable men, luring them to his home, where he committed his crimes and retained body parts as souvenirs. His arrest in 1983 followed complaints of blocked drains, leading to the discovery of human remains at his residence. Convicted of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years, he died in prison in 2018.

Aimee Stephens (1960–2020) was an American funeral director who became the first openly transgender plaintiff in a U.S. Supreme Court case. Employed at R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes in Michigan, she was fired in 2013 after announcing her intent to transition. Stephens filed a lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, arguing that discrimination on the basis of gender identity violated federal law. Her case, Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, was heard by the Supreme Court in 2020, resulting in a landmark 6–3 decision protecting transgender workers. Her courage and legal victory paved the way for greater recognition and rights for transgender individuals in the workplace.