Mrs Armstrong’s eldest brother Anthony Maude was a land agent, and at one time managed 33 different estates all over Ireland, north and south. In 1910, he was appointed secretary of the Representative Body of the Church of Ireland, which position he held until his retirement one month before his death. He was also director of the Northern Assurance Company, a governor of St. Patrick’s Hospital, Justice of the Peace for the counties of Down, Dublin, and Fermanagh, High Sheriff of County Dublin, and member of the Grand Juries of the counties Mayo and Donegal. He died on 7 June 1935 at his home at Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, aged 72. In his youth, Anthony had been a keen sportsman, a brilliant polo player, an expert shot, and proficient angler, but a severe hunting accident in 1909 had forced him to give up many of these activities. In 1939, to honour his memory and his sporting achievements, his widow and son Hugh presented the Dublin Horse Show with the Captain Anthony Maude Perpetual Challenge Cup for the champion three-year-old. The trophy continues to be competed for each year.
Anthony’s eldest son Marcus, ‘Cousin Markie’ of Jess’s diaries, served on five fronts during the First World War. He became company commander in his battalion, 3rd Royal Fusiliers, and accompanied it to Salonica, from where he was invalided to Malta. After a short period of convalescence, he returned to the firing line in France. In 1917, he received the Military Cross at Buckingham Palace for conspicuous gallantry in action. He was then sent to the Italian front on the staff, but begged to be allowed to join the Air Force on the plea that an older man could do his staff work. Just as he had qualified for his ‘wings’, the First World War ended. Markie returned to his old regiment and saw action in Mesopotamia. The climate however tried him severely, and he died from dysentery in the Military Hospital in Kirkuk, Mesopotamia on 24 January 1921, aged 24.
Hugh Maude
Anthony’s middle son Maurice was educated at the Royal Naval College. In 1916, he was appointed to HMS Vivacious and saw active service in the Baltic. In 1919, he spent six months at Caius College, Cambridge, and obtained a first in all subjects. He served later in the Atlantic Fleet, and in 1924 was transferred to the Fleet Air Arm, and underwent his training at Netheravon and Leuchars. He was then appointed to HMS Vindictive and served in the aircraft carrier Hermes at Malta and later at Hong Kong. When HMS Hermes was recalled to Malta, Maurice, although only 26 years of age, was appointed to the command of a detached flight (a component part of a squadron) consisting of six seaplanes. On 11 December 1926, as reported in Lancashire Evening Post, Maurice ‘went with two friends to Lantao for a day’s game shooting, and when the party were descending a hill at dusk to embark for Hong Kong Lieutenant Maude stumbled against his gun, which went off and shot off his head.’
Anthony’s youngest son Hugh was spared a violent and premature end. Educated at Malvern College, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became an agent to a number of prominent landowning families. He was widely interested in agriculture, a breeder of pedigree cattle, and author of The Farm, a Living Organization (1943), a series of lectures on agricultural matters. He died unmarried on 19 March 1982, aged 77.
Anthony’s elder daughter Sheila married George Tilly Rice in 1931, and died on 23 April 1970, aged 68. His younger daughter Monica married William Eric Horsbrugh Porter in 1929. She died in 1986, aged 81. Anthony’s widow Eva died in 1960, aged 62.