AGED 105.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 17 June 1915, Page 6

AGED 105.

OLDEST BRITISH SUBJECT DEAD

Death has removed the King's oldest subject in the Kingdom in the person of" Mrs Mary Edmond, aunt of Principal Griffiths, of Cardiff University College. She died on Tuesday in her 108 th year, having celebrated her 105 th birthday in October, 1914. She was the daughter of Mr David Thier, who came from near Berw:ck-on-Tweed, and was manager of the Leith and Clyde Shipping Company at Aberdeen. She was one of fire children, all of whom lived to a ripe old age. Mrs Edmond was in her sixth year when the battle of Waterloo was won,

and she remembered distinctly the exqitement of those days, and how when the news reached this country almost every house throughout the land placed a lighted candle against each window' pane in celebration of the victory. The family removed to Banff, and there she learned French, becoming 'quite proficient in it. During this period she attended one of the dancing assemblies at Banff, and was invariably taken to and from her dancing lessons in a Sedan chair. The arrival of the mail coach was a daily 'excitement, the inhabitants turn-! i ing out in numbers to see it. It was drawn by four horses, driven by a! coachman in red livery, with a guard similarly dressed. At the age of seventeen Mary was sent to a boardingschool at Greenwich. A week's journey was covered by coach to Aberdeen and by a, fishing smack to the town on the Thames, she being the only lady passenger on board. This school was kept by Mons. and Madame Martin, and'(She remained there for two , years, daring which time she improved much in French. Mons. Martin.was a captain in Napoleon's army, and after the battle of Waterloo he found refuge in England. On her return to Banff Mrs Rose, the town clerk's wife, in-] duced the young lady from Greenwich to accompany her and her daughters' to Rouen as an interpreter. TWICE MARRIED.

She was twiGe married. Her first husband was Dr Marcus Sachs, Professor of Hebrew at Aberdeen, where with him she soon became a well-known figure in literary and artistic circles. They travelled a good deal in France, Italy, and Germany, until Dr Sachs' death on September 29, 1869. In 1877 she married Francis Edmond, LL.D., of Kingswells, Aberdeenshire, an eminent advocate; whose gifts to Aberdeen University and' charities reached £100,000. She was left a widow for the second time at the age of 83. She then went to reside at Cambridge with Dr and Mrs E. H. Griffiths, the latter being her niece, and on Dr Griffiths' appointment in 1892 as Principal of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, she removed with them to Newport road, Cardiff, where she remained until her death When 92 years of age Mrs Edmond had the misfortune to break her leg, but her vitality and powers of recuperation were still so extraordinary that she made an excellent recovery, and was able to walk without the aid of a stick. Up to within a few months or her death, Mrs Edmond used to occasionally attend church, and it was only q Ul te recently that she missed her <iaily exercise in the garden, and her game of backgammon with Mrs Griffiths, who devoted her whole attention to the comforts of her aunt. On the hundredth anniversary of her birthday, Mrs Edmond received a congratulatory message from King Edward VII., and on October 16th in each succeeding year she was the happy recipient of a Royal message.—Weekly Scotsman, May 1