PENSIONS FOR EVER

Hawera Star, Volume L, 25 August 1930, Page 7

PENSIONS FOR EVER

GE ATEF UL ‘ ‘MERRIE MONARCH. ’' ROMANCE OF THE ROYAL OAK. A living link has been forged in Brooklyn. New York, between the age of wireless and aeroplanes and that picturesque period of England’s history when, 279 years avo, Charles 11., hid from bis enemies in the famous Boscobel Oak. which was afterwards known as the “Royal Oak.’i By a recent mail from England Mr George IV. Penderel. a retired Brooklyn laundryman, just received a draft lor £62 from the British Treasury because he is a recently-discovered descendant of those Fenderels who bade tlie Royal fugitive get up on their property into “a great oak, very bushy and thick, which could not be seen through,” after his defeat at Worcester. on September* 3. 1651. After bis escape King Charles 11. signified his undying gratitude to Richard Penderel and his heirs for ever by awarding them ail annual pension.,.. ■ ,* V- -. . . . ./ ; .

A journalist discovered - this American recipient- of the bounty of a longdead monarch in a modest little house in East Seventh-street, Brooklyn. Mr Penderel is 7b years of age and has long been living in retirement. “My lather was for some time iu receipt of the pension.” Air Penderel said, “but for many years it went elsewhere. as there was some doubt whether he was the rightful recipient. That difficulty, however, has been cleared up in my favour aud I now receive the pension annually.” “There are altogether 38 pensionersin various parts of the world,” added Mr Penderel. “There is in Canada, for instance. Dr Francis E. Walker, of St. John. New Brunswick, a. descendant of Elizabeth Yates Penderel. He receives less than £1.3 a year. “Amounts vary according to the actual services rendered by the five Penderel yeomen to the “Merrie Monarch.” Those whose ancestors merely kept secret Charles’ biding place, for example, receive 'less than those who concealed the King and took him food. “The bounty in my case will pass on to iiiy eldest son, Irving, and then to my grandson.”