Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 387, 8 October 1903, Page 7

Personalities.

j A 'SLUMMING' DUCHESS. H|H H ? Dowager Duchess of Newcastle WXBR is a wonderfully sympathetic mm oman - She lives in the East End of London, and works amongst the poor. Ten years ago the was induced by a meeting at Cardinal Vaughan's house to take an active part in East Ead work. ' I was then tola/ she says, ' that of all London districts Whitechapel was in the greatest disrepute, owing to the exploits of Jack the Bipper. 'Very well,' I replied, '.then I will go to Wbitechapel.' Already a Girls' Club had been started by two ladies j and having niyFelf very little experience in the work, 1 joined them, and used to go down several evenings in the week, till I realised how difficult it would be to cnme down night after night from the Weßt End, with a long and weariscms journey home afterwards. Moreover, I appreciated how more perfectly the work cjuld be done on the spot, so I onceived the iiea of taking a hcuae.' It is a long time since then, but, unlike most Society ladies, who occasionally do some 'slumming' to pass the time, the Duchess is still at her post.

A ROYAL DOCTOR. Sir John Williams has dicided to spend the evening of hie days in the land of his birtij. He has definitely retired from practice to his Welsh seat, The Plas, Llanstephan. He was born in 184=0, the son of a tenant farmer in the hills of Cwmarthensbire, who also ministered on Sundays to the independent congregations of the district. In the cUys of his youth Sir John was minded to follow in his father's footsteps, and actually cc cupied the pulpit one Sunday at Ebenezer Chapel, Swansea. The one experience sufficed to convince him that his talent lay not i a that direction. After passing thrtugh University College Hospital, and taking .his M.D degree at London Utiversity, he started in practice at Swansea Soon after his marriage, however, he migrated to London, where he soon became a recognised leader in obstetric medicine. He is a physician to the Princess of Wales, at the birth o' all whose children he has been presiding medical genius. He received his baronetcy after the birth of little Prince Edward of York, and was made K C V.O. after the advent of the youngest Prince at the end of last year.

PBIMBQSE-GEANT. Lady Sybil Primrose's marriage to Mr. Charles Grant at Epsom marks another intern ting event in the family life of L >rd Eosebery. Lady Sybil, who attained her inojority but a little over Wo years ago, Degan her connection with politics in early life. She was only two months old when Mr. Gladstone found for her the nickname 'The Suffrage Babe/ daring the famons Midlothian campaign. A charn iag sketch by Sir Edward Boehm in the Harwarden visitors' book immortalised Lady Sybil in her babyhood. Qaeen Victoria always took an espeoial interest in Lord Bosebery's motherless children. S jme six years ago she showed Lady Sybil a special mark of royal favour. Sue allowed the youthful debutate to be privately presented. The interesting little ceremony took place in the historic Long Corridor of Windsor Castle, and the Sovereign held qs.ite a long conversation with Lady Sybil, who is the grand daughter of her late Majesty's valued friend and bridesmaid, the Duchess of Cleveland. The wedding of Lady Syl il's only sister to Lord Crewe a few years ago was the greatest social function of the year, and the principal bridesmaid was the bride's elder sister, whose dark beauty was set off to admirable advantage by the white and primrose gown chosen as their maiden livery by the bevy of pretty damsels who walked up Westminster Abbey behind the bride

WITTY SIS WILFBED. Though now an old man Sit Wilfred Laweon is as lively and witty aB ever. And his activity is proverbial. Once more he is in the thick of a poiit cil fiifht—this time at Cambourne. Sir Wilfred is best known to the pubic at large as an ardent advocate of teetotalism, not only for himself, but everyone else, and next to that as an amateur poet and a sort of licensed jester in politics. His poems are not of a high order, being indeed what the parißh councillor called ' doggery,' but they are a harmless form of amusement, and have often served to while away a weary hour during a dull time in the House. Sir Wilfrid is one of our Parliamentary veterans, having first entered the Commons in 1856 as a member for Carlisle. There is a 'great tragedy' in the Lawscn family history, for when Sir Wilfred's father became inoculated with the virus of temperance, he poured the whole contents of a fiae cellar into a pond, and much rure old port was thus lost for ever. Sir Wilfred himself has been wtll abused for his temperance opinions, and 'Peregrinating PumpHandle,' 'Old Cracked Teapot,' 'Popbottle Pump Orat >r,' and ■ Maudlin Mountebank,' are among the mildest phrases that have been applied to him. In appearance he i 3 very pleasant, with his long white beard.

'FATHER' OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. L ard 1 emplemore, who is in his 82 ad year, ia titular 'Father' of the Hi use of Lords. He became a member of the Upper House on attaining his majority in 1842, having succeeded, to the barony five years before that date, when he was 1(3 He has, therefore, been a member of that assembly for about a year longer than the Earl of Leicester, who Ib next to Liaa in seniority. Several members bf the Ujper House surpass Lord Templemore in point of age, amoßgthem being. Lord Gwvdvr, who is 91, the Earl ef Devon/who is 90, and Lord Norton, who is 87. Lord Templemoro is a cousin of the Marquis of Donegall, who recently married for the third time,- in his 81st year. The barony ; of Templemore was conferred on his father, who aat for a long time in Parliament as MP. for Wexford. '

A SOCIETY CENSOR. ; , For leading the crusade against 'Bridge' Mr. G. W. E. Russell h<*s been described aB a self-appointed censor of Society. He really knows a great deal about it, for he has passed his fiftieth birthday, has lived in Society all his life, and with the aid of a diary diting from 1865 and brought down to the present day without a break has gathered imprest ions of <ur social past whioh enables him to. compare it with the present to the great detriment of the latter, He is ia a scion of the ducal house of Bedford, and is.probably the, most devoted follower of Gladstone who ever trod the earth. He is, moreover, an ardent Churchman, Mr; Russell's moat serviceable work was the publication 6l his • Collections and Recollections,', which apart from its fund of anecdote, has a very distinct historical value. It is here that he tells delicious stories against himself. . ,;