HUNDREDS OF people turned out yesterday for the funeral of the seventh and last Earl of Dunraven, Thady Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, who died at his home in Kilgobbin House in Adare, Co Limerick, on March 25th.
The 71-year-old, who used a wheelchair since contracting polio when he was a teenager, was president of the Irish Wheelchair Association for 25 years and spent much of his life fundraising and campaigning on behalf of people with disabilities.
Many members of the association were at St Nicholas Church in Adare for his funeral yesterday.
Earl Dunraven was laid to rest afterwards at his family’s plot in the cemetery on the grounds of the old golf club at Adare Manor.
The Dunraven family lived at Adare Manor before selling it in the early 1980s to American businessman Tom Kane.
Pupils from St Nicholas Church of Ireland School provided a guard of honour as the funeral cortege arrived at the church.
Members of the Derrynane Inshore Rescue Service from Co Kerry lined the route afterwards as mourners accompanied the coffin by foot to its final resting place.
Chief mourners were the earl’s widow, Lady Geraldine, and their daughter, Lady Ana Johnson, and his sisters Ladies Melissa and Caroline.
In his homily the chief celebrant, Rev Stan Evans, paid tribute to a man “who used his position for the betterment of others”.
Four former rectors of Adare, including Archdeacon Robert Warren, Rev Rachel Lewis, Rev George Chambers and Ven Michael Nutthall, attended yesterday’s service.
Catholic Bishop of Killala Dr John Fleming and the Abbot of Glenstal, Brother Mark Hederman, were also present.
The congregation also included many well-known figures from the world of horse racing including Johnny Harrington, Sonia Rogers, Tommy Stack and Edward O’Grady.
Lord Charles Beresford, art dealer William Montgomery and antiques expert George Stackpoole were among those who recited readings and prayers.
The earl’s life-long friend Benjamin Jellett recalled his friend’s great passion for horses and coursing and his love of nature and Derrynane in Kerry, where he enjoyed many holidays.
Mr Jellett paid tribute to the work the earl did on behalf of the Irish Wheelchair Association.
“He wasn’t just a name on headed paper for the Irish Wheelchair Association. He was there because he really wanted to help. He travelled up and down the country campaigning and fundraising,” he recalled.
In a moving tribute to her late husband Lady Geraldine named and thanked every health care worker who looked after her husband since he contracted polio in 1956 and had his first tracheotomy and more recently since he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.