PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2520, 2 July 1902, Page 80

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Viscount Fincastle, the eldest son of the Earl of Dunmorc, was 31 on April 22. It was while serving with the Guides Cavalry in the frontier war in Afghanistan five years ago that he received the Victoria Cross. In the South African war Lord Fineastle served with the 6th Dragoons and 16th Lancers, and again distinguished himself so as to be. specially mentioned in the despatches. — England's prestige in Egypt is largely due to Lord Cromer, who reached the age of 61 on February 26. Perhaps some of his power liß3 in the fact that he preserves an imperturbable calmness of demeanour under all circumstances. Last year the Earl not only received an advance in rank in the peerage, but ho married for the second tmic, and among tho conspicuous presents was one fiom. the King himself, who holds Lord Cromer in \ery high regard. — The Earl of Nowburgh. who bears the curiously un-English name of Sigismund N'ichoJa.* "Venantius-Gaetano-l'Vancia Oiustiniani Bandini, ia a man of 83, who lives almost entirely in Italy, the land of his adoption, and in the Palazzo Altiori has one of the stateliest and moat beautiful of the palaces of Rome. His father was the Italian Marquis of Bandini, whoso titles Lord Newburgh adds to those of his mother. She was Countess of Newburgh in her own right. Th© Earl hae been a naturalised Italian subject since 1857. and is in appearance, habits, and sympathies as much Italian as the Italians.

— Although Professor Legros has been in England for 39 years ho still speaks French, and ne\er uses English in his own home; indeed, he declares he cannot speak our language, although he certainly understands it. For 17 years he was Slade Professor of Art at University College, London, where he exercised a. great influence on the students. He is one of thoso to whom the revival of etching is due, and at least one example of his work can be scon at the Tate Gallery in the shape of -the famous picture "Women at Prayer." He was 65 on May 8. — Sir William Muir, bora April 25, 1819, is a Scotsman of whom Scotland may well b» proud. Entering the Indian Civil Service in his youth, he became Secretary to the Government of the North-Western Provinces, and during the Mutiny was in charge of the Intelligence Department at Agra. Subsequently he became Secretary to the Government of India, member of the Governor-General's Council, and LieutenantGovernor of the XbrthrWestrrn Provinces, while in 1874 he was Financial Minister in India. From 1885 till 1900 he was Principal and Vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. — Th» O'Conor Don, as the Right Hon. Charles Owen O'Conor Don is invariably called, was 64 on May 7. Ho was for 20 years M.P. for County Roscommon, and during that time he was instrumental in getting the Irish Industrial Schools Act passed, as well as the Irish Sunday Closing Act. He has eat on many commissions, and was chairman of the Financial Relations Commission in 1896. A typical Irishman, lie, has naturally been greatly interested in all matters relating to Ireland, and has written essays on Irish land tenure, the taxation of Ireland, and similar subjects, while his history of the O'Conors of Connaught is well known.

— Earl Howe, who was 41 on April 28, is a descendant of the great admiral whose brother had the chief command during the American War of Independence. The pre6ent earldom dates back to his grandson and the year 1821. From 1885 till 1900 he represented the Wycombe Division of Buckinghamshire in Parliament. His son is knowji by the courtesy title of Viscount Curzon, and must therefore not be confounded with Lord Curzon of Kedleston, the Viceroy of Jndia, or with the C'urzons who belong 1 to the families of Barons Scarsdale and Zouche. Viscount Curzon was 18 on May 1. — There are few store earnest and> disinterested public servants than, Mr Horace Plunkett, Vice-president of tho Irish Department of Agriculture, and probably no cno in Ireland has a more intimate and practical knowledge of all things agricultural. This knowledge he acquired by 10 years of ranch life in Wyoming, where this vm of a peer "roughed it" like any cowboy. Mr Plunketfc is a dark-haired, dark beardod man, with an earnest and resolute face not un tinged by badness. In Ireland he is greatly loved and respected, as is evidenced by a treasured address of confidence prebentcd to him by 25,000 friends and sympathisers of all clashes and political grailcj-. —Mr James Glaibhor, the meteorologist and aeronaut, is now 93. It was during 1862-66 that the veteran made his famous scientific balloon ascents— 2B of them altogether—one of which resulted in a height of over beven miles being attained. MiHenry Coxwell, who died in 1900 at the age of SO. accompanied Mr Glaishcr on Urn lourncy, which nearly ended in a disaster. The r.i refaction- of tho atmosphcie was so f;r<\it that both aeronauts became numbed and exhausted, but Mr Coxwell had just Mifficient strength to *-ci/.c and tug at the \aheiope with his teeth, and so bring the i.a'loovi down to moro pohd air. Mr Glaishcr foimdod the Royal Meteorological Society in 1350 —Dr .Spcr.cr 1 . tho learned Dean of Gloucester, vlic--. hia industrious pen in one of tho oldc-t habitab'c rooms in England, tho Deanory library fit Glf-nco-*'- - 'oom where Kings were cnlert.iinrd at . .nne when the Norman Conquest wa« a recent memory. Quren Anne Bolcyn spent her honeymoon under the same roof Dr Spencc, who is a slightly-built man of 66, has a rare charm of manner, which has won for him a host of friends ; while his learning and industry are testified by a formidable array of \olumP3 on theology and history which fill several shelve- in his historic library. Tho

' who has won golden opinions by his bravery ? in South Africa. — Few men have had a career so varied! and adventurous a% Sir Arthur Hodgson. Seventy years ago he was a midshipman in tho Canopus, when William IV had barely succeeded to the throne. At 22 he was % squatter amoug the aborigines in the Aug* tralian bush, whore he had several thrilling encounters with bushrangers; and in 1342 hia young wife, daughter of the New South Wales Chief Justice, was sharing his dangers and isolation. Sir Arthur's later ( career aa a colonial statesman and oommissioner is part of history; and to-day the "Grand Oldi Antipodean" is almost as full of vitality as when he was an irrepressible middy, in the early thirties. He resides at Stratford-on-Avon, of which town ho was mayor for five years. — Sir Edward Gourley, who died the other day, was the son of poor parents, and he began life in Sunderland as an office boy al the age of 13. Nine years later he started: in business for himself as a ship-chandler; but in a short time he commenced hi 9 career as a shipowner, in conjunction with his father (who had risen from being a seaman, to be the captain of his own ship) and his uncle. Sir Edward flourished exceedingly, and ho ultimately invested largely in steam shipping. By the time he was- 30 he was one of the- leading public men of Sunderland, and before he was 50 he had tare* times served" the office of mayor. Sir Edward! sat for Sunderland as a decided Radical from 1868 until ISOO, when he retired from, public life. — Lord Hampden, the eldest son of the Right Hon. Henry Bouverie Brand, at one time Speaker of the House of Commons, was 61 on May 2. He was formerly a captain in the Cold&tream Guai'ds, but he retired and sat for many years in the House of Commons. In 1895 he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of New South Wales. His brother, the Hon. Charles Brand, celebrated his forty-seventh birthday on May 1, while another brother, the Hon. Arthur Brand, who sits for the Wisbech „ Division of Cambridge, will be 49 within ai day or two of the anniversary of their birthdays. Tho Hon. Mrs Arthur Brand i 3 probably one of the most skilful electioneering ladies in the country, and wins manyvotes by singing at her husband's election; meetings. She is one of the most distinguished amateur actresses in the country. — Mr Pei*cy Godfrey, Mus. Bac the winner of the prize for the best Coronation March, offered by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, is in his forty-third year, and has been music master at King's School. Canterbury, for somo years. Mr Godfrey studied under the late Sir George Macfarren and Mr Berthold Tours, and had private lessons from Professor Prout. Hia knowledge of orchestration, however, ho has picked \ip for himself, with the help of orchestral players and militaiy bandsmen. Mr Godfrey has composed a good deal, and 1 an orchestral suite in D minor has been played by the Royal Engineers' Band and at the Bournemouth Symphony Concerts. The Coronation prize is not the first Mr Godfrey has won. He has gained prizes for a male voice Ballade, given by the South" London Choral Society last year, and he recently won the Leslie Alexander prize for a pianoforte quintet.

TRIUMPHANT DEMOCRACY.

Tlicee are the days of Triumphant Democracy. A Dunfcrmline boy, without any inherited wealth or family influence, Eets out to push his fortune in the world, and, after becoming "rich beyond tl-o dreams of avarice," he buys a. noble Scot*i-h estate, gives million, after million for the establishment of > free libiaries, and finally "staggers humanity" by an offer of two million sterling as an endowment, fund for the payment of all the fees of Scottish students at the Scottish universities.

A Ro^s-fhiro boy enters the army as a private, and after "distinguishing himself on the field of battle, he is made a Knight Commander of the Bath, and is appointed! to one of the highest military posts in India ns a stepping-stone to a still higher post, a 9 the country has learned to trust him as a military .leader. An^Hfsh youth sets up a small shop in GlasgowT and rises to be a merchant prince, a millionaire, and a knight, and builds jaohts as challengers of the world, and even the Sovereign of the mightiest empire on earth goes as a guest on board one of these yachts, and narrowly escapes a serious accident when the mast breaks in a squall.

As the song has it — When Sir Thomas's Shamrock the Second has

been Awarded the. Cup, there will then be sesn The Rose and tho Thistle both " wearm tno Green " ; But we won't see that to-night.