WHO'S WHO?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14808, 11 October 1911, Page 10

WHO'S WHO?

Lieutenant J. Betts, who recently won the army and navy foils championship, has for five years ;' in succession carried off the challenge shield as best man-at-arms, and during the last 12 years has been the trainer of the class of non-com-missioned officers from Aldershot giving gymnastic displays at the annual tournaments. Lieutenant Betts was promoted In 1906 to the Victorian Order by the late King Edward, who presented him with the silver medal of the Order in recognition of his sen-ices in connection with physical training in the army. It was Queen Alexandra who started the vogue for chicken-farming. At Sandringham Her Majesty has some-of the beet birds in the world, and there is still a keen rivalry between Queen Alexandra and her brother, the King of Greece, in regard to white "Silkies." Lady Derby is another great fancier whose name is well known at the shows. So is Mrs. Paderewski, wife of the famous pianist. Lady Derby has the finest collection of Orpingtons in England. The young American Countees of Craven, daughter of Mrs. Bradley Martin, lias expended a fortune on her chicken farms. There is scarcely an aristocratic chicken family in the world of which she has not a specimen.

: When Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn was admitted to the freedom of the city of Chester, the other day, the Mayor, who presided at a special Freeman's Court, mentioned that three of Sir Watkin's ancestors had been Mayors "of Chester, and Sir William Williams in 1687 as Recorder and member of Parliament for Chester and Speaker of the House of Commons. The present Sir Watkin is the seventh baronet. He was formerly known as Mr. Herbert Lloyd Watkin • Williams-Wynn, M.P., . succeeding to the title and vast estates on the death of his uncle in 1885. He married his cousin, daughter of the late Sir Watkin, but the marriage was dissolved by the Courts in 1898. Sir Watkin is the largest landowner ,in the Principality, and of his predecessor, who was known as the King of Wales, a characteristic story is told. In a railway carriage one day a stranger asked him, ?."Whose property is this we are passing through ?" "Mine, ' was the laconic reply. A quarter of an hour later the stranger asked, "And whose land is this?" ''Mine," said Sir Watkin. Again, in a quarter of an hour, the stranger "Whose, then, is this estate?" "Mine," Sir Watkin replied, and he afterwards remarked that he never understood if- the incredulous expression on the stranger's face implied doubt of his sanity or of his veracity.