not hurry out of his path, they were mowed down. As chairman of the police and the largest land owner in the district, he thought he was above the law. The slightest affront imagined by the squire could lead to the eviction of the perpetrators from their homes. However, Squire Macnamara had one huge fear: he was frightened of thunder. An underground suite of rooms was furnished at Billington Manor, where he would retreat for long periods of time at the slightest threat of thunder. Death On 11 February 1906, Arthur Macnamara died in the great house, alone except for his housekeeper. The cause of his death was cirrhosis of the liver. After his death, he was found to be bankrupt. Lady Sophia sold the estate in her old age. She then lived at Heath and Reach, Leighton Buzzard, where members of the royal family visited her. Arthur Macnamara was buried in the Billington churchyard, with a monumental tombstone surrounded by iron railings. There is a legend that it was a tradition for the spikes on top of the railings to curve outwards to keep the devil out, but on Arthur Macnamara's grave, the spikes were turned in to prevent him from escaping. (The railings were removed during World War II when iron work was melted down to help the war effort.) Lady Sophia McNamara died in 1912. She chose to be buried in Ireland. Further reading Arthur Macnamara's family history, and the history of others in the British Macnamara line, was written in 1908 by Robert Twigge, an eminent historian of the time. Martin Breen, http://www.martinbreen.com/ has republished R.W.Twigge's 1908 publication on Arthur MacNamara's family, 'The Pedigree of John MacNamara, Esquire, with some Family Reminiscences'. People from Central Bedfordshire District 1831 births 1906 deaths Deaths from cirrhosis