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of Droglieda occasioned, and accordingly a special meeting of the 

 members was immediately held at the Grand Stand. At it were 

 present : — Mr. C. J. Blake (in the chair) ; Mr. W. Danne, Lord Carlow, 

 Mr. M. A. Maher, Colonel Thompson, Captain Dewhurst, Captain 

 Richardson, Captain Stuhber, Mr. M. J. Corbally, Captain Maher, 

 Captain Greer, Mr. W. H. West, Mr. M. Betagh, and Mr. J. G. Blake. 



Mr. C. J. Blake said— "As now senior steward of the Turf Club, it 

 devolves on me to-day — a day which I cannot but designate as a dark 

 day for the Irish Turf — to convey to the Marchioness of Drogheda our 

 expression of sincere sympathy and condolence with her ladyship in her 

 great affliction, and to give expression to the deep feeling of sorrow and 

 dismay which the intelligence of the sudden death of Lord Drogheda 

 has occasioned, not only to the members of the Turf Club, but to every 

 Irishman in any way connected with the interest and welfare of Irish 

 racing. Distingushed in life as the late Marquis of Drogheda was in 

 every respect, in person, in position, and, above all, in the nobility of 

 his character, we, who have for so many years regarded him as the head 

 and mainstay of Irish racing, cannot now dwell on the loss which his 

 lamented death will occasion to his country at large, as well as to his 

 personal friends, however much we might desire to do so. In the midst 

 of surroundings which cannot but recall forcibly to our minds the 

 energy and untiring care, of him who has departed, and feeling, 

 as I do, personally almost overwhelmed by the greatness of our 

 loss, it would be vain for me to attempt further to give adequate 

 expression to our great sense of sorrow. The hearts of all those 

 acquainted with Lord Drogheda will tell them what no words could 

 tell so well, and long after every vestige of his mortality shall have 

 disappeared will be found in our Club, and in what I may designate as 

 our national institution, the memory and the mark of a noble life, 

 devoted not merely to promote the material interest of racing, but to 

 establish and maintain among racing men the honour and the integ- 

 rity which so distinguished his own life." 



The resolution was passed unanimously, and a copy was forwarded 

 to the Marchioness of Drogheda, and also furnished to the members of 

 the Press. 



Were it not that this book may in years to come be read by those 

 who are not yet born, it would not be necessary for me now to state 

 in a few pages what the late Lord Drogheda was as a resident Irish 

 nobleman, and what he was to our Irish racing, for the simple reason 

 that anyone conversant with our sport or knowing anything of our 

 gentry for the past forty years knows all that I have to tell. 



In 1847 Lord Drogheda took the mastershipof the old E mo Foxhounds, 

 and, with William Nevard as huntsman, he held office for three seasons. 

 As M.F.H., or rider to hounds, he did not attain the laurels which on 

 the Turf, as an owner of racehorses, were most justly his. He was, 

 however, all his life a staunch supporter of foxhunting, and, for many 

 years, a pretty regular attendant at the meets of the Kildare Hounds. 



