INCIDENT AT ETON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21975, 9 June 1933, Page 9

INCIDENT AT ETON

SCARE FOR EX-KAISER

\ ACCIDENTAL GUNSHOT.

LONDON, May 27

The ex-Kaiser, through his Lord Chamberlain at Doom, has solemnly replied to the allegation in recent letters published in The Times that another possible cause of the Great War was a schoolboy’s » joke on the occasion of Wilhelm’s inspection of Eton volunteers in 1891.

The visitor arrived, splendidly escorted by British and German officers, and as his silver cuirass and spreadeagled helmet flashed in the sun, the Eton Corps assumed the “ threatening attitude”, of volley-firing. The clicking of 200 rifles was interrupted by the roar of Private Hugh Cunliffe’s weapon fired exactly opposite the ex-Kaiser, causing the latter’s outraged charger to rear, while the War Loi'd leant precariously to the offside of its neck.

The ex-Kaiser, it was stated, demanded the immediate expulsion of Cunliffe, who subsequently became a distinguished cricketer and an Oxford lecturer. The headmaster refused, whereupon the ex-Kaiser asked Queen Victoria to insist that Cunliffe be expelled, but she replied, “Do not be silly, Willie! ”

William’s chamberlain now states that the former clearly recalls the entertaining incident, and was even more amused to read how a fertile imagination had mingled fact and fiction. Actually, he said, ho laughed all the way to Windsor, where he repeated the story to the Queen and other relatives at lunch amid roars of laughter. He had never dreamed of seeking the boy’s punishment, as it was a regular boy’s ■joke. Sir Neville Cunliffe reveals that his brother Hugh, who was killed in action in 1916, was the victim of an unfortunate accident and that the incident was not a joke. The salute had been ordered to be “ fired ” without ammunition, nut three rounds of . blank had been issued for subsequent use, the boys being definitely told not to load.

Hugh, who was then 15, was the last boy in the world to take such a risk, and either had misunderstood the order or somebody had played a trick on him.

Sir Neville confirmed the ex-Kaiser’s denial that he demanded that Queen Victoria should have Hugh punished. On the contrary, he was very amused. Hugh, who only got a wigging from the headmaster, was always horror-stricken over the incident, and hated to have it recalled.