PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 64

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Loid Sheffield, who is one of the most enthusiastic cricketers in England. was born on January 18, 1852. At one time he played crickEi for Sussex, now his recreations are cricketing and j-achting.

— The Duchess of Devonshire, who kept her birthday on the 15th January, has been a Duchess twice, for her first husband was the Duke of Manchester. She will be remembered as having given perhaps the most magnificent fancy dress ball of our generation during the last Jubilee festivities.

— Lord Kimberley was born in London on January 7, 1826. His lorcUhip, who has filled many important offices in various Liberal Administrations, from the Under-Secretaryship for Foieign Affairs to the Secretaryships of the Colonies, India, and Foreign Affaiis, owns about 11,200 acres of land.

— One of the greate&t of the names in the history of modern surgery is that of Sir James Paget, who celebrated his eighly-tixth birthday on the 11th January. Sir Jamc& has had as rich a. harvest of honours as can fall to any member of his profession. He has been surgeon to the Prince of Wales since 1863, and sergeant-surgeon to the Queen since 1877. — Sir Eyre Massey Shaw's birthday was on the 17th January. He wa= first known to iame as Captain Shaw, the chief of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade of London, a post he held from 1861 to 1891. His miers&t in the fire department, however, dated before that time, for he was chief of the Fire Brigade in Belfast, where he also occupied the post of Chief Constable.

— The Viceroy of India celebrated the forty-first anniversary of his birthday on the ilth January. Lord Curzcn of Kedieston has filled the office of Uiider-Secietary of State for India and for Foreign Affairs, and has travelled a great deal in Central Asia, Indo-China, Siam, Peroia, etc. Lord Curzon married a daughter of Mr L. Z. Leiter, one of the great merchant princes of the United Slate?.

— The late Mr Cornelius Tanderbill was an ardent admirer of Mei^sonier, the jueat French painter. On one occasion ho went to the artist and asked him point blank which of his pictures ho considered the fines!. Mei-.-sonier replied, "The Chess Player," which w.-.-s then in the possession of a gentleman residing at Dresden. Mr Vanderbilt immediately dispatched a representative lo that city and purchased the picture, paying no less a &usa than £3000 for it.

— Count Gleichen, whose birthday was on the 16th January, is the only son of the late Admiral Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langen-burg. He has seen a good deal of foreign service, and took part in the Nile Expedition in the Guards' Camel Regiment in 188485, and was attached to Sir West Hidgeway's Mission to Morocco in 1893, and to Mr Rodd'e Mission to Abyssinia in 1897, while he was also on special service in the Soudan the previous year. — Lord Balfour of Burleigh, who celebrated his fiftieth birthday en January 13, was Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Trade during the latter half of Lord Salisbury's second Ministry, which lasted from 1886 toy 1892. He now holds the important cfiice of Secretary for Scotland with a seat in the Cabinet, a position which that office did not carry in the last Ministry. His heir is known as the Master of Burleigh. — Nobody who ever saw the late Rosa Bonheur's portrait would believe her guilt}' of any personal vanity. A blue blouse and breeches arc not the dress of a woman who thinks much about her looks. But the painter was proud of her feet. Once an artist painted her portrait. She was satisfied with it, but noticed one detail with disapproval. " But my feet," she asked; "where are they? You must put nry boots in, beoause I have such small feet." They were small m reality, but in the general carelessness of the ai tint's attire they didn't come in for much attention. — Major-General Sir Herbert Chermsicle, who was married previous to his departure for South Africa, has a brilliant and gallant record. His G.C.M.G. was conferred upon him in recognition of hiss during the international occupation of Crete, when his masterly conduct of affairs at that trying crisis was fully recognised by tho several Governments immediately interested. General Chermsidc's service has been chiefly in the East; he was military attache in the RussoTurkish "War, 1577-78, and was afterwards employed in the delimitation of the Turkish frontier. He subsequently joined the Egyptian Army, was with the expedition in 1832. and was actively engaged in the Soudan 183488.

— Like Lord Roberts and our Commander-in-Ohief, Major-General Kelly-Kenny is an Irishman. He belongs to the modern race of soldiori who believe in hard study and brainwork. Some people weie surpriped when he was given the conuuand at Aldershot, on Sir Eedvers Buller"s> appointment to Jie command in South Africa; but although Majorgeneral Kelly-Kenny's only experience of ac.tivc service was the campaign in China in 1860, he id probably one of the be;t r.clmini?tratois the British Army has ever had. The

distinguished solider's gieat hobby ie hoises. He is a firsi-rate horseman. He has also made a special study of transport services.

— The appointment of the Duke oi ConnaupM to >c Commancipr ir.-Chief in Ireland recalls an incident which decided the Queen to give him the name of Ireland's nairoa saint. When the Queen and Prince Albert visited Ireland in 18-9 an old lady in the crowd -which welcomed her Majcrty to Dublin exclaimed, as the carriage in which the Queen sat with her husband and elder children pawed. "Oh, Queen, dear ! make one of them dear ch'Hren Prince Patrick, and all Ireland will die for yon."' Ths hint v.t,* not forgotten, pnd when, a year laier. Ihe Queen's seventh child was bovn, he rocpi v ed the name of Artlrar P.alrick Albert. The so'dier Prince v.Tia further connected with the Emerald Mo when he wa< made Duke of Ccrnsar.oht. — Sir Howard Vinc°nt ha.-> si-sen an e^ce"lenL exampls of pluck and dotermiralion in doculiop; to proceed to Uio pc^t of war l unofiiciallv.'' aiihonqh doVarrcd by the cmol dj-r.ijpoinln-ert of a medifjl veto from raking up th'p command of llic Volunteer ooii'.lv.Qsr.t to which he was provisionally nrniiiin'ed. Sir UowTid ha-- been a keen soldier at lea-.t 30 jvi's, brginninpf a» an rnsi^n in Ihe liovol Wc^h f^iuilipva, ai.d siib-cqn"nUy hol-Hng

coiiTvi^-ioiTS in the Royal Heilc 5 Militia, rhe Central London Pwin»evs. laid ihe Queen's Wfsi:irir.=i'sr VoAHiteers. of wliisb Irtlci- corps ho \\.i- pynohih'd Colo.iol (JcumiandiuU \v ISBI. Tn the TTor.se of Commons, wi.oie he has sat for one of the Sheffield coii»rilm.nre« shiee 1885, Bii- Howard ib chiefly noted for his somewhat stiident manner, his a^ic'.iioarj ad-

vocacy of Pioteclion, and hid pnuehaul Jor the hcpkHns; of Minis- te)->. a 'l^part.i cul of PariiaiAcnir.vv ait m vrhio'i he ahncFt rivals Sir Chcrles Oiiko him=ol!.

(iooi.^a Sw.htsOti, of ThiU'-o. r. ''>-•!

95, is ihe oldest ITraeii a>on in iScollaiul. He ! Mas born in August. 1804, on Llie Crown lands

of Scrabster, his father being a small farmer ' on that Potato. At the age of 21 he was sent to Wick to serve an apprenticeship to the ■ mason trade, and in after life he carried on j business with his elder brother aa masons and ; contractors. In January, 1823, he joined the j St. Peter's Lodge of Freemasons in Thurso, j of which he has continued a member ever | since, or a. period of just 77 years. Five of j his sons joined the Masonic craft, and one rose to the dignity of Grand Master. Mr James Lyall, of Oxford street, Edinburgh, is a fairly good second. He is a native of Lawrencekirk, and was born on the 21st of June, 1809. In his early life he was in situations in several parts of Scotland and in London. He returned to Lawrencekirk in 1838 and commenced business on his. own account, j opening a general store. He joined the St. | Lawrence Lodge, Lawrencekirk, in October, < 1838, and has, therefore, been a Freemason for over 61 years. I