BIRTHDAY HONOURS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 133, 8 June 1931, Page 10

BIRTHDAY HONOURS

NOTABLE RECIPIENTS WORK IN VARIOUS SPHERES ! SERVICES AND CIVIL LIFE j The Earl of Athlone, who has been | made a Privy Councillor, was appointed I Governor-General of South. Africa in | 1923, in succession to Prince Arthur ot Connaught. He was given a British; earldom in 1917, when ho relinquished I the title of Prince Alexander of Tech., He is a brother of Alary and the youngest son of tho late Duke of Teek. He was born at Kensington Palace in 1874. In January, 1928. his term as Governor-General of South Africa was extended to January 21, 1931. at the request of the South African Government. Sir William Alien Jowitt, who has been appointed to the Privy Council, was born in 1885 and educated at Marl borough and New College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar in 1909 and soo’’ built up a big practice. By 1902 he had made such progress that he became a K.C. at the early age of 37. a feat paralleled only by such brilliant men as Lord Birkenhead and Sir J. Simon. In the same year he was elected Liberal M.P. for the Hartlepools. In 1923 on a protest by the Labour Party against tho initiation of the prosecution of a man named Campbell, who was editor of a Communist paper, he voted with that party. Ho also supported Labour on other issues, notably that which caused the fall of the Labour Government in November. 1921 —its withdrawal of the prosecution oi 1 Campbell which was challenged in the House by a Liberal amendment calling for an inquiry, this being carried against the Government. In the same year. Sir William was made a member of the Royal Commission on Lunacy. He did not seek reelection to the House till Alay. 1929. when he was returned as Liberal AI.P., for Preston. By that time he was one of the most brilliant leaders of the Bar, and had a very big practice. When the Labour Government was formed in June, 1929, Sir William accepted the Attorney-Generalship. Great British Composer Of the new baronets Sir Edward Elgar, composer, was bora at Broadheath, near Worcester, in June, 1857. He received his early musical education from his father, who was organist at a Roman Catholic church, and an excellent violinist. At tiie age of 20 he went to London and obtained a few violin lessons from the late Adolphe Pollitzer. In 1882 he visited Leipzig and in the same year he was appointed conductor of the Worcester Amateur Instrumental Society. Three years later he succeeded his father as organist at St. George’s Church, resigning in 1889. in which year he married the only daughter of General Sir 11. G. Roberts, and went to London, where he lived till 1891, when ho moved to Alalvern. The first work that stamped him as a composer of distinction was “King Olaf.” first performed at the North Staffordshire Festival in 1896. He had already composed nearly 30 pieces, which have since been published, in eluding his popular melody, “Salut d’Armour,” the “Froissart” overture (1890), the oratorio “Lux Christi,” ‘‘The Black Knight** (1893). and

“Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands” (1896). In 1904 he went to live at Hereford, by which time his fame was fully established by his great work “The Dream of Gerontius,” first pro tluced at the Birmingham Festival in 1900, and performed next year at Dusseldorf, and in 1902 at the Lower Rhine Festival. - In 1903 the first and second, parts of Tis trilogy “The Apostles” were produced at Birmingham, while its continuation, “The Kingdom,” was first performed in 1906. Since then his compositions, many of which rank high among modern classics, have done much to enhance the standing of English music abroad. He was knighted in 1904. Sir Cecil Clementi, who receives the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, was Governor of Hong kong from 1925 to November, 1929, when he was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements. He began his colonial service as a cadet at Hongkong in J 899, and served there until 1912, when he was transferred to British Guiana, becoming Colonial Secretary at Ceylon in November, 1922. Educated at St. Paul’s and Magdalen College. Oxford, ho had a distinguished career at the university. He had an inclination for Oriental studies and was Boden Sanskrit scholar, and. at Hongkong acquired such a knowledge of Chinese as to be appointed a member of the board of examiners in that language. He served on famine relief work in China in 1903, and attended the. opium conference at, Shanghai in 1909. Born in 1875. he is a son of the late Colonel Montagu Clementi, Judge-Advocate-General in India. King’s Private Secretary Colonel Sir Clive Wigram. one of the new Knights of the. Order of the Bath, was appointed Private Secretary to the King on April 5 last, in succession to the late Lord Stanifordham. He had been assistant-private secretary and equerry to His Majesty the King since 1910. Sir Clive was born in 1873. a son of the late Air Herbert Wigram, of the Madras Civil Service. He was married in 1912 to Nora, eldest daughter of Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain. Educated at Westminster, Sir Clive held his first commission in the Royal Artillery. 1893. He was aide-de-camp to Lord Elgin, who was Viceroy of India lin 1895. He exchanged to the ]Bth • Lancers. Indian Army, .1897; served on the north-west frontier of India. 189798; was aide-de-camp to Lord Curzon when the latter was Viceroy of India, 1899-1904; served in South Africa; and was assistant to the Chief of Staff, ‘ India. 1905-6. He retired from the I \i; \ in 192.‘. and was knighted in | Sir Ben Turiier. formerly I’arliaineni tary Secretary of Mines, was elected to Parliament for Bailey in 1922, but was defeated in 1924 by a Liberal. Ho was born in 1863 and after leaving a national school worked as a “halftimer” and became a weaver. He held many local posts in Batley, of which 1 he was Mayor three times. He was chairman of the Labour Party. .1911. 1 He is general president of the National Union of Textile Workers. Field-Marshal Sir William Robert .Robertson, who receives the Grand Cross of the Victorian Order, was born in 1860. IL* joined the Army in 1877 and served in the ranks for II years ami then had a commission in the