THE RANCHER EARL

Evening Star, Issue 20130, 21 March 1929, Page 18

THE RANCHER EARL

ARRIVAL AT THE CASTLE RECEIVED BY DOWAGER Pres* Awociation—Telegraph- Copyright. LONDON, Afare 1) 20. The Earl of Egmont to-day formally exchanged his Calgary ranch for a Hampshire castle. Tho earl wore tiio same suit, overcoat, and cloth cap in which he landed in England. Me at first appeared doubtful concerning his reception at the castle, because lie had no personal acquaintance with the late earl, who was a distant cousin, or with the dowager countess, who is still in residence at the castle. At 10 o’clock in the morning a insurious motor car arrived, at the small hotel where the earl stayed overnight. 'The agent lor the estate introduced himsoll, and a tew minutes later the ear.l and Ins young son drove to the castle. 'I ho butler received the party at the door and conducted them to the drawing room, where the dowager received them.—Australian Press Association. THE ALBERTA FARMER HOT ANXIOUS FOR CHANGE NEWS HOT A SURPRISE [lm.xo.vi Our Own Correspondent.] VANCOUEtL January 2d. Not many leagues Irom the Canadian ranch of the Prince of Wales a successful slock raiser and graiiy grower ol Alberta, named Fred .1- I. Perceval, awoke the other morning to receive the news that overnight lie had become Earl of Egmont—the tenth of that line —Viscount Perceval, Baron Arden of Lohort Castle. Baron Level and Holland, Baron .Arden of Arden, and a baronet.’ This sudden accession to titles and dignities descended upon the Priddis farmer by reason of the death oi Ids remote cousin, the ninth carl, who was born in New Zealand in ISoS. who was educated in Colchester Grammar School, served with the merchant, marine, was in the Natal Mounted Police, and in I lie Border Customs Department of Znlnland. Erom the possession of an Alberta ranch and a place in the informal council assembled in the general store at Priddis. Frederick Perceval becomes the possessor ot a laimly seat, Avon Caslle, Bingwood. Hampshire. with other houses and lands in England and ireland. and entitled to take his scat in the House ot lairds. The new curl is a great-great-grand-son of the second Earl ol Egmont. whose lather attained to that dignity in ITtW. Honours descended on the first earl in return for his vote in the old Irish Parliament. The baronetcy dates back to 1061, and to this is attached the peculiar condition that the eldest son upon coming ot age is to “exist a baronet” at the same time with his father and possibly his grandfather. so that there may be three baronets in the, same family concurrently The courtesy title ot the peerage would, however, keep the baronetcy in the background in the case ot a sun. The new carl has one son. who is fourteen years of age. and therefore not entitled io claim a baronetcy under this peculiar condition. Ho can, however. Lear the courtesy title ot Viscount Perceval. South-west of Calgary, twenty-two miles out ot tho Alberta city, lies the ranch of tho new carl, whoso full name is Frederick Joseph Trevelyan Perceval, and when visited on his isolated farm by a newspaper reporter the now Earl of Egmont said he was not certain whether he would desert tho foothills tor the ancestral home which had come to him through the death ot his remote cousin, tiie Earl ot Egmont. The dazzling attractions of an earldom and a seat in the lloii’-e ot Lords have not thrown Perceval into an testacy of excitement. On the contrary, it may bo a moot point after a residence ot about twenty-six years in the Alberta foothills, which he has learned to lovu as only an old-tirnor can. whether lie will leave it to don a coronet and ermineAsked what Ins plans were when he would have received official information ol his succession to the earldom, the old farmer replied: “Well, I’m not going to drop everything hero like a red-hot horseshoe. No doubt T will have io proceed to the other side later, but Em not in any particular hurry.' 1 “ Then there is a possibility yon may waive your claim to the earldom,” he was asked. “ I would not say that.'' lie returned. “ But, having lived in Alberta so lung it would he a decided wrench to leave even for a scat in tho House of Lords. es, I have learned to really love Alberta,” he continued, “and would be quite content to spend the remainder of my lil'o hero. After all it is the real file, and I am not at all sure that I will change it.” The now earl ranches on quite an extensive scale in the Priddis district, his holdings totalling dlo acres. Whatever action the new Earl of Egmont may adopt 'in the future, it was certain that the news had not at the lime ot writing thrown him into a stale ol undue excitement, lie admitted it had not come as a great surprise,, as lie had lor years been keeping in constant touch with the late earl. The estate to which ho is the heir is 'rich, and includes not only holdings in Great Britain and Ireland, but also in South Africa.