People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 21 January 1915, Page 41

People We Hear About

Major Gerrard, who organised the first aeroplane raid on Dusseldorf, is a Dublin man. The Flying Corps has attracted the services of quite a remarkable number of Irish Army officers.

Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. George Henry Morris, Ist Battalion of the Irish Guards, who has been killed in action, was the second son of the late Lord Morris and Killanin and brother of the present Lord Killanin, and heir-presumptive to the barony. He was born on July 16, 1872.

Amongst the Catholic chaplains with the German armies is Prince Max of iSaxony, brother of the present King, and a priest who has an intimate knowledge of both London and Paris, in the former of which he worked for some years as a curate, and in the latter as a professor.

Baron Wimborne, who succeeds the Earl of Aberdeen as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was created a baron in 1880. He was born at Dowlais on August 29, 1835, being the son of Sir Josiah John Guest (first baronet). His heir is his son, Hon. Ivor Guest, Lord-in-Waiting to his Majesty the King, formerly a member of the House of Commons for Plymouth, and Pay-master-General from 1910 to 1912.

Sir Henry Howard, K.C.8., K.C.M.G., who has been appointed British Minister Plenipotentiary at the Vatican was formerly in the Diplomatic Service from 1865 to 1908, having risen to the rank of Minister extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. He is now over 71. He is descended from the fourth Duke of Norfolk, and is a Catholic. For many years the Duke of Norfolk lias been the unofficial intermediary between the Government and the Vatican.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir A. 11. McMahon, C.S.T., who has been sent to Egypt as High Commissioner, has been Foreign Secretary to the Government of India since 1911. He has served as political officer with several frontier expeditionary columns. He is an Irishman, and married to an Irish lady. The Egyptians will find him in appearance a great contrast to Lord Kitchener, for he is not five foot six, and is slight. The new British agent at Cairo has a very alert appearance, and a soldierly bearing, and he knows the Oriental character thoroughly, having a life-long and special knowledge of Moslems.

While her children were little the Queen of the Belgians dreaded two thingsmicrobes and anarchists. To fight the microbes she placed disinfectants everywhere. Her precautions against anarchists were pathetic. The little Princes were never allowed to be out together, the idea being that if one were killed by a bomb the other would survive. A characteristic of the Queen of the Belgians is her perfect taste in dress ; it is said she is the best-gowned Royalty in Europe. She established in Brussels a school for millinery, where young women in impecunious circumstances can learn to become accomplished modistes. She is also very musical, and plays the violin exceedingly well.

Queen Marie of Roumania, whose husband has recently succeeded to the throne of that kingdom, is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, her father having been her Majesty’s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and afterwards of Saxe-Coburg. It is rather interesting just now to recall (says the Edinburgh Catholic Herald) that the German Emperor’s well-known predilection for the Benedictine Order dated from 1893, when he was present at the wedding of his cousin Princess Marie to the then Crown Prince of Roumania, at Sigmaringen. The Arch-Abbot of the German Benedictines preached the Nuptial sermon, which so pleased .the Emperor that he invited the Abbot to sit next him at the wedding banquet, and took him and his Order at once into the Imperial favour.