Obituary in the The Times
Thursday Jan 10 1929 pg 14 Issue 45097 col B
LORD ATHLUMNEY
Lord Athlumney died on Tuesday at
Somerville, Balrath, Co. Meath, at the age of
63.
James Herbert Gustavus Meredyth
Somerville, the second baron, was the only
surviving son of Sir William Meredyth
Somerville, Bt., an experienced Whig politician,
who was Chief Secretary for Ireland in Lord
John Russell's first Ministry. When he was
born, on March 23, 1865, his father had already
been created Lord Athlumney in the peerage
of Ireland, and the United Kingdom barony
of Meredyth was added in 1866. His father
was a resident landlord, and his early years
were spent at the family home of Somerville,
in Co. Meath. He was very young when he
was appointed a page of honour to the Lord
Lieutenant, Lord Spencer, being continued in
office under the Dukes of Marlborough and
Abercorn. This was a pleasant experience,
though he always remembered how trying it
was to the little pages' dignity to be con-
stantly and publicly kissed by the ladies.
Then he was sent to the famous preparatory
school at Elstree, where he acquired a taste
for games, especially cricket. He wanted to
go to sea on leaving Elstree, but, his father
having died when he was eight years old,
he had become a ward in Chancery, and the
Lord Chancellor thought the Army would be
better. So Lord Athlumney was sent, like
his father, to Harrow, where he was in Mr.
A. G. Watson's house, and where he got into
the Eleven on the strength of his bowling.
He left in 1882 and went to Colonel Wilkin-
son's coaching establishment at Darmstadt.
The English youths did not take kindly to
German rules and regulations, and one pitched
battle with the butcher boys of Darmstadt
ended in their being all arrested. At the
police station Lord Athlumney and another
youth were put into a room containing a
number of policemen's cloaks and helmets,
and it was not long before they marched boldly
out disguised as policemen. The affair ended in
the infliction of small fines, but Lord
Athlumney kept the helmet as a souvenir.
Thanks to Colonel Wilkinson, he passed into
the Army,
and joined the Coldstream Guards.
In 1890 he transferred to the Egyptian
Army, and for two years was A.D.C. to Lord
Kitchener, whom he found a hard but con-
siderate taskmaster. He also served on the
staff of General Sir Archibald Hunter, In
the Dongola expedition he was mentioned in
dispatches and received the Orders of the
Osmanieh and Medjidieh. He also served in
the South African War in 1900, commanding
the battery of machine-guns organized and
equipped by Sir Charles Ross, when he was
again mentioned and received four clasps to his
medal. He was A.D.C. to Lord Cadogan,
Viceroy of Ireland. In the Great War Lord
Athlumney was Assistant Provost Marshal,
London District, then commanded by the late
Lieuenant-General Sir Francis Lloyd. In
this difficult position he acquired a reputation
for discipline which he was thought to have
applied on occasion too rigidly, and beyond
the limits necessary even in the extraordinary
circumstances of the time. He was mentioned
in the London Gazette for good service, and
was promoted colonel. Lord Athlumney
married in 1919 Margery, daughter of Mr.
Henry Boan, of Australia and Pyports, Cob-
ham, Surrey. There is no heir to his baronies,
but his cousin, Lieutenant-Colonel William
A. T. B. Somerville, D.S.O., succeeds to the
baronetcy created in 1748.