Page 13 - Greystones Archaeological Historical Society

GREYSTONES ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 8

'Just a line from the battlefield to tell you how much I owed to
your “man”............. He came out of hospital about 4 p.m.
having lost his voice. At that moment things were rather
critical and he at once went up to the firing line of his Battalion
and restored everything completely, so saving a nasty
situation...............'

Normie was later passed as unfit for the 'firing line' because
of the gas attack. He was given command of a big military camp
at Etaples in France which command he held until the end of the
war. Mentioned in dispatches by F.M. Lord Haig, he was
awarded the C.B.E. Military in 1919.

Normie was one of five children born to Reginald and Mary,
th
12 Earl and Countess of Meath. His three brothers also served
st
in the 1 World War, Claude who ended up in the Royal Flying
Corps and survived still flying aeroplanes when the war ended.
Ernest who was killed in action serving in the Coldstream Guards
on 17 June 1915 again near the cauldron of Ypres. He had
th
previously been awarded the D.S.O. in November 1914 and he
is buried in the Military Cemetery at Cambrin in France. Arthur,
another brother, joined the Irish Fusiliers but died later from T.B.

Normie married Aileen Wyndham Quin, daughter of the Earl
of Dunraven from Adare Manor in Limerick. When not on military
service both Normie and Aileen lived and worked at Killruddery.
My grandmother was a keen horse connoisseur and kept many
horses, both for work, riding and racing. During the two years
Normie was working for Munitions in London it was sometimes
difficult for her to visit England.

During the war Aileen worked for various charities to do with
the welfare of Irish soldiers and their dependents. This also
involved helping many women and families who had lost their
bread earners in their sons and husbands. She was part of a Red
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