Death of Captain Sir Norman Stronge

Sir Norman Stronge

Captain The Right Honourable Sir Norman Stronge Bt PC MC HML, aged 86, was shot and murdered by the Provisional IRA, along with his only son James, in the Gothic library of their home Tynan Abbey on Wednesday 21 January 1981.

He was commissioned into the The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and posted to the 10th Battalion in September 1914 and took part in the Battle of the Somme. He transferred to the 15th Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles and was wounded at the Battle of Courtai on 20 October 1918. He was elected as the MP for Mid Armagh in 1938, a seat which he held until 1969, and then succeeded his father as the 8th Baronet in 1939. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was commissioned into the North Irish Horse but was invalided out following a serious operation in 1940. In 1950 he was appointed as Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers. He was Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons, from 1945 - 69.

The memorial stone (below) is to be found in the circular ante-chamber before entering the former parliament chamber, later the Northern Ireland Assembly's chamber.

(Image © Copyright RHQ R IRISH)