QUAINT CORONATION CLAIMS.

Southern Cross, Volume 9, Issue 52, 15 March 1902, Page 2

QUAINT CORONATION CLAIMS.

The Court of Claims, which has been instituted to bear candidates for officers in connection with the King’s Coronation, is having its work cut out. It is sitting' at the Privy Council Office, ten councillors being present, the Lord Chancellor in full bottomed wig and gown of black and gold, the Duke of Norfolk in the uniform of* Earl Marshal, and the King’s Counsel with their large wigs. Ordinary members of the' Council have to be in full court dress. The number of claimants is said to be extraordinary and all manner of offices are sought, some of them quaint, many of them ridiculous, and practically all of them unnecessary. One of the most curious claims comes from a gentleman known as Lord de Morley, but whose insistence that he is a Peer has never yet received the impress of official approval. Lord de Morley claims to bear the Royal Standard of England and to exercise the office of Marshal of Ireland, He bases his claim on the allegation that he is descendant of two knights, John Marshal and William Parker, through marriages with whom his family originally obtained the office. Until 1897 Lord de Morley was known as Mr James Thorne Roe, but in that year he assumed the additional surname of de Morley, registered it in

1890, and is now known by the manner and style stated. Scores of quaint claims have been put forward for offices at the Coronation, but only a few have been allowed. Three are worth referring to. Mr Prank Dymoke claimed to aet as Champion of the King to ride in Westminster and throw down a gauntlet of defiance (deferred). The Sheriffs of London claimed to walk in the procession and into the Abbey (dismissed). The Duke of Newcastle claimed the right to present the King with a right glove and to support his arm while his Majesty was holding the centre (allowed).