Barrett, Norman James (Norman)

Sub-Lieutenant

Royal Naval Reserve

Died on Sunday 14 March 1915 (aged 20)

Commemorated:

Bangor and District War Memorial

Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque

Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum

Bangor Masonic Lodge No. 286

Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Comgall’s)

Family Grave Headstone in Bangor Abbey Graveyard

Brother of Captain Ernest William Barrett

Brother of Lieutenant Knox Gordon Barrett

BIOGRAPHY

Norman James Barrett was born on 16 April 1894 in The Highlands, Ballymenoch and he was a son of James Hunter Barrett JP (born in County Donegal) and Eleanor Jane Barrett (nee Hughes, born in County Down) who were married on 13 November 1884 in Saul Parish Church of Ireland Church, Co Down.  James Hunter Barrett from Holywood was a son of John Barrett, a farmer.  Eleanor Jane Hughes from Walshestown, Strangford was a daughter of Edward Hughes, a farmer.

The Barrett family lived in Church Road, Holywood before they moved to Seaview, Queen’s Parade, Bangor.  Later the Barrett family moved to Leysfield, Regent’s Park Road, Church End, Finchley, London.

An ex-Royal Irish Constabulary policeman, James Hunter Barrett was Clerk of the Petty Sessions in North Down and he and Eleanor Jane had five children:

Elizabeth Rebecca (Daisy, born 3 November 1885 in Downshire Road, Holywood)

Knox Gordon (born 30 November 1887 in Downshire Road, Holywood)

Ernest William (born 16 February 1890 in Kinnegar, Holywood)

Norman James (born 16 April 1894 in The Highlands, Ballymenoch)

St Clair Edward John (born 5 September 1898 in Riverside, Holywood)

Norman James Barrett was apprenticed into the Merchant Navy (Prince Line) at Newcastle, England on 3 December 1909 for a period of four years (expiry date, 3 December 1913).

It is recorded that, during the First World War Sub-Lieutenant Norman James Barrett served with the Royal Naval Reserve and he was 20 when he died in Brompton Hospital, London on 14 March 1915.

Norman was the first of the three Barrett brothers to die during the Great War, Ernest the second and Knox the third.

Sub-Lieutenant Norman James Barrett is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum; in Bangor Masonic Lodge No. 286 and in Bangor Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Comgall’s).