IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 141, 17 June 1922, Page 10

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

SOME NOTABLE PERSONALITIES,

There is more than a touch of Anthony Hope romance in the position of the Grand Doke of Hesse. It is true that lie no longer rules; but his exile is only from power. He enjoys; a perfectly happy life—perhaps oiiore so than in his days of glory—oil a floor of his own Grand Ducal Palace in Darmstadt. No one dreamt of treating the philosophic and kindly duke otheE than as man and brother, and so he has'been permitted to dream on in the "emancipated" State.

Mr. Henry E. Huntington, who paid the Duke of Westminster £150,000, for Gainsborough's "Blue Boy," will give that picture to the American public. It is part of a larger gift, including art treasures aggregating £1,000,000 in value, and a magnificent library of 100,----000 rare volumes, which cost £2,000,000. With the same gift will go Mr. Huntiugton's gorgeous estate, San Marino, near Pasadena; California. In 1917, Mr. Huntington paid £250,000 for the famous Bridgewater library. He is 72 years old, made'*'vast fortune in railway and tram-line developments in the West, in collaboration with his; uncle, Mr. Collis P. Huntington. When the uncle died, he left his nephew £2,000,000. In 1913 Mr. Henry Huntington married his uncle's widow, who had inherited nearly £5,000,000.

In keeping with the youthfulness of his nation, Dr. Benea, tho Premier of Czecho-Slovakia, is one of tho youngest, if not the youngest, Premiers in Europe, having recently celebrated his thirtyseventh birthday. Mr. Lloyd George "is fifty-nine, and M. Poincare, the French Premier, is sixty-two, and almost all the other European Premiers are- over the fifty mark.

A distinction that recalls the sv.it-.:--sos of his early career at the Bar has fallen unnoticed to Mr. Asquith—he is now the oldest King's Counsel in. the House of Commons. Until he retired at the close of the last Parliament, Sir William Phipson Bealo, who has just diedj was the senior "silk," for he was called within the Bar' in 188"8, two years before the Independent Liberal leader. Sir John Butcher and Mr. Rawlinson now come second to Mr. Asquith, having been K.C's. since 1897, and after them in order of seniority are Sir Ellis HumeWilliams, Lord Robert Cecil, Sir Ernest Pollock (the Attorney-General), and Sir Leslie Scott, the other Law officer.

When an eight-year-old boy got a job in a Lancashire cotton mill, he little imagined .that he would'one day occupy the highest civic po3t in his native city. Sir Thomas Thornhill Shann, Lord Mayor of Manchester, however, achieved thai distinction. When he started, Sir Thomas was earning Is 6d a week, but his perseverance and thrift enabled him to branch out on his own in the cloth business when he was twenty-two. His rise is all tho more remarkable in view of the fact that he was deprived of almost any education in his youth,

Sir Basil Thomson, England's^ Sherlock Holmes, who was forced to retire for political reasons, has had an unusually interesting life. Son of an Archbishop of York, who married a famous Oxford beauty, when he came down from Oxford he entered the Colonial Office and was sent out to Fiji. Trouble arose, and Sir John Thurston, Governor of Fiji, felt himself compelled to depose the Rev. Shirley Baker, a Methodist minister who had made himself virtual dictator of Tonga. Basil Thomson, at the age of twenty-nine, found himself installed into the vacant Premiership. From Fiji he wont Homo to be in succession governor of Dartmoor convict prison, governor of Wormwood Scrubbs prison, and finally secretary to the Prison Commission. In this latter post especially he learned much of the ways of criminals which he was afterwards able to turn to good account. Every new task created by thewar fell oa his Department, including all matters related to suspected spies. It was due to Basil Thomson that the vast spy organisation which Germany had established in England was smashed almost as soon as the war broke out; and during the war his Department was instrumental in effecting the capture of. practically every Gorman spy who succeeded in entering the country.

Major Earl Winterton, Under-Secr«-tary for India, has contributed in prewar days more animation, to the debates pf the House than probably any other member. He had such a way with him, however, that the speaker usually found himself a sympathetic spectator of his indiscretions. Fortunately for the major his peerage is an Irish one, thus permitting him the privilege of entering the House of Commons as its youngest member, in 1904. His maiden^speech was an augury of things to come—an irrepressible .gaiety and exuberance of spirits. Ho apologised for his 22 years, then made that inevitable allusion to Pitt which always pleases the House. Lord Winterton has "-waited, however, to "be 39 before becoming a Minister. He has had many adventures in fighting the Turks; lie may now look forward to some of a different sort in fighting his Indian hecklers.

Lord Lee of Fareham, who was one of the three- British delegates to the AVashingtou Conference, has had a noteworthy career of public service, Ho entered the Royal Artillery, 1888, aged 20, and since then has been steadily iv tho service of the Empire, as soldier, diplomat, and strategist. He had been professor of strategy and tactics at tho Royal Military College, Canada., from 1893 lo 1898.. During the Spanish-American War ho was British military attache with the United States army. With the outbreak, of war in 19]4 he rejoined the army as colonel on the staff, and was detailed for special servico with the expeditionary force. Lord Lee has traveled -widely through the Orient, and knows North America well. He ia a sportsman, and he has a hobby for special service. He was created first"Baron of Farelnmi in 1918. He has been Minister of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries since 1919, with a seat in the Cabinet.

Son of d French father and a Welsh mother, Albert Cheynlio:- ■will lonj; bo .remembered for hi* coster imnereoruitions, and especially for "Knocked 'em in tlis Old Kent-road." .His first groat study ■of a drunkard cha.ra.ctcr vns his imitation of Charles Warner in his famous part in "Drink." the English ■adaptation of Zola's "L'Assommoir." The English enuivalent of Madame Yvette Guilbort, : ho is perhaps one of the greatest, cbcraotor actors. A friend once said to Chevalier: "Why don't you join forces with Yvotfco Guilbcrfc?" ifc said he would, like to. Shortly afterwards ho got a wire from the Coiitinont asking if he would join her on a tour. It transpired afterwards that at the time Chevalier and his friend were diwussiiv it Maaams Guilberl's husband had made tho proposal to his wife. luui on her consentiug had wire;!, with Ahc result tii-io tney bad a most success-nil joint tour. J