Lancelot Curran

Major Sir Lancelot Ernest Curran (8 March 1899 - 20 October 1984 [ [http://www.leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncilI.htm Privy Counsellors of Ireland] ] ) was a High Court Judge. He also served as an Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for Carrick in the Stormont Parliament from 1945 till 1949. [ [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/daily-features/article3164205.ece The Belfast Telegraph] ] , Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance (Chief Whip) (17 July 1945 - 12 June 1947). [ [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/stormont/administration.html The Government of Northern Ireland] ] [ [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/daily-features/article3164205.ece The Belfast Telegraph] ] Sir Lancelot was the youngest ever Attorney General for Northern Ireland (6 June 1947 - 4 November 1949). [ [http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/context.html?listRole=26 The Stormont Papers] ] He was also a member of the Orange Order and a member of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland. [ [http://www.leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncilI.htm Privy Counsellors of Ireland] ] [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980807/ai_n14168765 The Independent] ] Sir Lancelot, apparently, had a penchant for gambling at the Ulster Reform Club and was heavily in debt. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980807/ai_n14168765 The Independent] ]

His career in politics was damaged by his daughter's murder, with some Unionists refusing to have anything to do with Sir Lancelot, due to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the case. [Walker, Graham, "A History of the Ulster Unionist Party", p. 136]

Daughter's murder

In 1952 his daughter, Patricia, was murdered, being stabbed to death thirty seven times at their home The Glen, Whiteabbey, Belfast, she was nineteen and a student at the Queen's University, Belfast [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/987140.stm BBC News] ] . In 2000 Ian Hay Gordon, the man convicted of her murder had his sentence overturned after 47 years; he had originally confessed. [ [http://www.real-crime.co.uk/Murder1/docg.htm#Gordon,%20Iain%20Hay The Ultimate Crime] ]

Sir Lancelot's son, Desmond, once a prime suspect in the murder, was a barrister but became a Roman Catholic and worked as a priest in South Africa. During the investigation Judge Curran refused to allow his home to be searched and forbade his family making statements to the police, the RUC complied with his wishes. [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article156293.ece The Scotsman] ] [ [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/daily-features/article3164205.ece The Belfast Telegraph] ] Sir Ludovic Kennedy produced a documentary about the murder but this was allegedly surpressed by James Chichester-Clark's government. [ [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/features/daily-features/article3164205.ece The Belfast Telegraph] ] The murder remains unsolved. Their house, The Glen, was to burn down during the 1960s.

A factual novel was written about the murder, "Blue Tango", by Eoin MacNamee, it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

References