HERO OF CRIMEA.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18915, 2 February 1927, Page 9

HERO OF CRIMEA.

♦ CENTENARIAN GENERAL. SIR GEORGE HIGGINSON DEAD. (W CABIJE—fBISS ASSOCIATION—COPTRtOHT.) (AUSTRALIAN ASD S.l. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received February 2nd, 12.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 1. General Sir George Higginson is dead. [George "vVentworth Alexander Higginson, the centenarian General, was born on June 21st, 1826. His father was Geueral George Higginson, and his mother a daughter of tho first Earl of Kilmorey. He lived in the reigns of five monarchs, all of whom he knew. One of his earliest recollections was of being patted on the head by George IV. He saw the glare of the fire that destroyed the Houses of Parliament in 1534, and during a visit to Caen met the famous Beau Brummell. After leaving Eton he entered the Grenadier Guards in 1845, serving in that regiment for 32 years. He fought in the Crimea, and was the last survivor of the band of Grenadiers who saved the colours at Inkerman. He was the model for the mounted officer in Ladv Butler's great picture, "The Roll-Call." In 1861 he was responsible for part of tho military training of Edward VII., who was then in the ranks of the Ist Grenadier Guards. Promoted Major-General, he commanded the Brigade of Guards and the Home District from 1879 to 1884. Ho had become a Lieutenant-Genernl in 1882, and was in 1888 appointed Lieu-tenant-Governor of the Tower of London—a post he held for two years. Knighted (K.C.8.) in 1889. he was promoted full Keneral in 1890, and created G.C.B. in 1903. On his 96th birthday he went to Buckingham Palace by sperfaj invitation to receivo the G.C.V.O. Although nearly 90 when the war broke out, he took an active part In public Hfe in Buckinghamshire, where he lived near Marlow, in the beautiful old mansion of Gyldenscroft, whose grounds run down to the Thames. At the age of 100 he was presiding regularly over the meetings of local bodies with which he was connected, and when he attended the annual dinner of the Brigade of Guards, in June, 1926, he declined to use the lift. At the last General Election he addressed the crowd from a balcony. The General was indeed a remarkable centenarian. His figure was straight, he preferred standing to sitting, and took a walk almost every day. He did not require spectacles, and his mind was clear and active. A brilliant conversationalist, he was apt in the choice of phrases, and had a caustic wit. On June 21st, 1926, his hundredth birthday was commemorated by the presentation to Marlow of a park of 38 acres bought by public subscription and named after him. On June 25th he took the salute when tho Duke of Connaught inspected the Ist Grenadier Guards. The general received three presentations and made three excellent speeches. On October 16th he was a notable figure at the unveiling of the memorial to the Guards.]