A ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1678, 4 October 1887, Page 3

A ROMANCE OF THE PEERAGE

Some Btrange particulars are given of the life of George Montlfex, Lord Drum mond, who died a abort time ago m the United States. He was born m 1856, and upon becoming an orphan was entrusted to the guardianship of his maternal grand mother, the Honorable Mrs Capel, who resided at Folkestone. Here, it iB stated, he associated with fishermen, and assumed their droB?. His tutor tried m vain every inducement to wean him from this company. He was a moat handsome lad, and I of the utmost daring. Fishermen of Folkestone narrate many stories illustrative of his intrepid courage, for h was his great delight to be on the sea, and the more "tniaterous the weathec the greater his pleasure. Of course the companionship of one so well known was eagerly sought after amongst the class he favored, and although aa far as education went he was comparatively ignorant, nothing offended him more, or more aroused his indignation, than any reference to his title or rank. Amongst the fishorlads— J for he frequented, unfortuuately, thd publio houaeß m these quarters of the town — he mixed on equal terms as their boon companion His pnrßo seemed open to all, and his generosity may be j judged from the following circumstances : A fisherman having been laid up with Illness, oame into a certain, place after along absence where hiß lordship was. A subscrip ion to assist the man wcs sag gested, when Lord Drummond, emptying hi-* pockets, produced £1 and ss, and. piving it to the man, said, "Here's all I've got, an 4 I'd give you more if 1 had it." Be made the acquaintance of Miss Elizi Harrison, who was five years his senior ; and immediately after the death of hia grandmother, m 1871, he married her. Apprehonsive of the disapproval of his grandfather, the Earl of Perth, whose heir he was, he engaged a steerage pa^sago for hinuelf and hiß wife to New York, where he obtained a situation as porter to a commission agent, and cpon the failure of his first employer, supported himself for a time by fishing and dack-ahooling on Lang Island. A son was there born to h:m ; but the chi d died, and the fathor, growing dissatisfied with Ms precarku3 mode < f life 'hipped m 1877 as a common call r. La or he secured a post as paoV Una wholesale clothing hocße m J* c* York, and remained • here until the firm failed. A second child, a gfrl, who ib still living, was born m 1881; aid, having new no employ-' mont, Lord Dniraruond f. on \ himself i reduced to Ue mopt painful straits, for remittances from Eiglantl were cciuty and unoertafn. After Borne months of almoßt absolute poverty, he obtained an engagement bb night gateman on tho ! Elevated Railway, and m 1884 became a clerk m a clothing manufactory. Daring all this trying period, aod indeed until the close of hiß life, Lord Drummond was a model husband and father ; but his health was not good enough to enable him to oontinue the struggle indefinitely ; and at last he beoame a chronic invalid. Lady Drunamond from that time forward supported him by her noodle, and did all that lay In her power to persuade her husband's relatives to recognise- the marriape which they always regarded as a misalliance.