People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 4 November 1915, Page 43

People We Hear About

Father S. S. Knapp, the courageous - Irish chaplain whose bravery in the field has been so much commented on, is a member of the Carmelite community in London. He is known as a very hard worker. Overwork entailed by extra exertion brought him home last spring, but as soon as he was out of hospital he was off again to the trenches. Father Knapp has been specially mentioned in despatches, and when King George visited Flanders the heroic Carmelite had the honor of a special introduction to his. Majesty. His confreres in Kensington are very proud of him. He went right through the Boer War, and has some halfdozen bars to his medals. Father Knapp had two soldier brothers, one of whom was killed at Ladysmith. ’

Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, Conservative member for Cardiff in the House of Commons since 1910, was killed in action in France. Born in 1883, he was the second son of the late Marquis of Bute, and, consequently belonged to England’s most aristocratic Catholic circle. He was educated at Harrow and Christ Chinch College, Oxford. In 1903 he became a second lieu ten an Cun the Cameron Highlanders, and later held a commission in the Scots Guards. When the war broke out he was a lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers and Lieutenant-Colonel of the 6th battalion of the Welsh Regiment. He was a vice-president of the Navy League, and Keeper of Falkland Palace. In 1906 he married the Hon. Ismay Preston, only daughter of the 14th Viscount Gormanston. He leaves a widow and two daughters. Captain the Hon. Alastair Fraser, who is off to the front this week with his regiment of Lovat Scouts, has the satisfaction and consolation (says the Glasgow Observer of September 4) of leaving his young wife safe within the fold of the Catholic Church. Lady Sibyl Fraser (a daughter of the Earl .of'Verulam), whom he married only a few months ago, has been under instruction at the hands of Father Cameron, the Scouts’ chaplain, and was received into the Church last week at Hunstanton, in Norfolk, in which district the Lovat Scouts have been stationed all the summer. It is interesting and edifying to recall in this connection that the husbands of Captain Fraser’s two sisters, Viscountess Encombe and the Hon. Mrs. Stirling of Keir, are both also converts to Catholicism. Captain Stirling goes on active service, along with his brother-in-law, in command of the second regiment of Lovat Scouts; and the commanding officer of the battalion is another well-known Catholic—Lieut.-Colonel A. W. MacDonald, who won the D.S.O. for his services in South Africa.

The death in action at the Dardanelles is recorded of Brigadier-General Paul Aloysius Kenna, V.C., D. 5.0., of North Kilworth Hall, Rugby. Born in 1862, he was educated at Stonyhurst, and entered the West Indian Regiment in 1886, becoming Captain in the 21st Lancers in 1895, and Brigadier-General a year ago. The gallant officer saw much service. At the Battle of Omdurman he rescued a brother officer by carrying him out of the 21st Lancers’ melee on his own'mount, a deed which was rewarded with the Victoria Cross. In the South African war, for which .he held the Queen’s medal with six clasps and the King’s medal with two clasps, he was awarded the D. 5.0., and for his distinguished services with the Somaliland Field Force, 1902-4, was mentioned in despatches, and made brevet-lieutenant-colonel. In 1895 he was presented with the Royal Humane Society’s certificate for saving life. Brigadier-General Kenna, who had been an Aide-de-Camp to the King since 1906, was appointed to command, the Notts and Derbyshire" Territorial Force Mounted Brigade in 1912. He was twice married, his first wife being Lady Cecil Josephine Bertie, daughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon, and his second wife Angela Mary, daughter of the late Mr. Hubert Hibbert, of Beaufort Gardens, S.W. Brigadier-General Kenna was a well-known horseman, find one of ; the best all-round sportsmen in the Army.