Description
Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal, for Succesful saving of life, Solicitor Norman Mcleod Hunter, 25th November 1890, Born in Halifax Canada and rescued a boy from drowning.
A sad tale of a promising young man, Norman McLeod Hunter was born in Canada to a Scottish Merchant, they returned home to Glasgow and he received a fine education, graduating from St Johns College, University of Oxford with an MA in Law during 1891.
Shortly before graduation he had saved a boys life one day in London earning this medal.
Evidently things did not go so well for him afterwards, he appears to have suffered from some mental health issues and clearly having had some sort of episode ended up working on a Farm in Denbighshire, Wales, presumably as some form of rehabilitation.
In 1906 he was arrested at the Llandudno Promenade in Wales, having been acting extremely erratically “A man who threw stones at visitors, clutched hold of ladies, and generally behaves in such a manner as to cause grave doubts as to his sanity.”
He was sent to the workhouse for 3 days, but was later that year locked up in the Lunatic Asylum.
This was unfortunately only 1 of about 3 instances of him being locked up in a Mental Hospital.
During 1911 he was working as a Stockbroker in Liverpool when he grabbed his overcoat one day and went out for a walk in Liverpool, but never returned back to his boarding house, it is unclear what became of him, he said he was afraid of being locked up again and on 24th October 1911 he disappeared forever.
It was not until 1915 that General Sir George Moynihan, a Creditor went to Probate court to have him legally declared as dead, to get his money back, however there was no body or clear evidence of his death.
Norman was the inheritor of a lot of money, about £13000 at the time from his fathers business dealings, but he never wanted the money or bothered to claim it. In today’s money that would be the equivalent of about £1.2 million.
Officially engraved: “NORMAN McLEOD HUNTER 25th NOVEMBER 1890”
On 25th November 1890, 22 year old, a young Law Student in London, at great personal risk, rescued a boy from drowning in the Regent’s Canal at Maida Vale in Westminster, London.
Norman Mcleod Hunter, was born in Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada, on 3rd June 1868.
Born to a Merchant named James Hunter, who later brought the family back home to Glasgow.
Norman received a good education, being sent down south from Glasgow to Oxford.
He was officially matriculated on 18th April 1891 with an MA from St Johns College, University of Oxford.
In 1901, he was a Boarder on a Scotsman Farm in Llychryde, Glyn Traian (Denbigh), Corwen, Wales.
He was noted as “living on his own means”.
Later in 1911, he was living in Upper Parliament Street in Liverpool as a Boarder living on “Private Means”.
He was a fellow boarder with a man named “Raffles Moore” who was a Liverpool born Theological Student.
Thomas Raffles Moore, born in Liverpool during 1863, lated moved to the Isle of Man by 1911 and died there in 1941.
Rather unusual that two wealthy men were living in Wales on a farm, it appears back in 1893, “Raffles Moore” had paid $400 to be sent to a farm in Canada, to learn farming. It appears that the deal was actually a con, by the “Anglo Canadian Farming Association” and when he arrived his place had already been filled by another pupil and he was poorly treated.
In 1906, in Denbighire Wales, named Norman Mcleod Hunter, was admitted into Denbighshire County Lunatic Asylum and was discharged on 25th October 1906.
His entry, the only one on the page as such, is annotated “Private”
One of his public episodes was recorded in the local news:
“STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF A VISITOR –
Considerable alarm was caused on the promenade and beach on Monday by the behaviour of a man who threw stones at visitors, clutched hold of ladies, and generally behaves in such a manner as to cause grave doubts as to his sanity.
The attention of PC Jones, Promenade Constable, was directed to his actions, and he and Sergeant Jones apprehended the man.
At the Police Station, before J. Adcy Wells, his name was ascertained to be Norman McLeod Hunter, of Liverpool. Dr Kendrick Davies having examined him, he was ordered to Conway Workhouse for 3 days.”
That same year he died on 24th October 1911, his probate recording the death was “at some place unknown”.
The probate was for some reason handled in 1915 by Sir Berkley George Andrew Moynihan KCMG CB MB BS FRCS LLD, a notable surgeon and later President of the Royal College of Surgeons.
