A CENTENARIAN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1341, 19 January 1912, Page 6

A CENTENARIAN.

INTERESTING CAREER, CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE KING. On Tuesday, October ,'il, Mill, Mr. Edward Udwich iWialdeslon-Mitford, of Mitl'ord, Northumberland, cousin of Mr. C. 11. .Milford. of the Hank of New /.calami, AVellinglon, completed his 100 th year of age. and entered'upon his 101 st year amidst Iho heartiest congratulations. Among the shoal of congratulations received bv-Mr. M it ford was Hie following telegram'from 11. Ji. the King:—. "The King, having been informed that von are to-dav celebrating' tho one lumdredth anni versa ry of your birthday, oilers von his heartiest congratulations, His Majesty is glad to know that you onjoy gond health, and will to-day receive the greetings of vour friends, and ol those who live on the land which has been the possession of your family for so many ceuturies." A Doyen Civil Servant. Mr. Mitl'ord was born mi Ocfuber 31. LSI I, the third son of li'obcrl Mil lord, ol the Government Audit Office. London, who had married six years before Lelilia. daughter of the Rev. Edward Ledwich, 1.L.U.. of Dublin, a well-known antiquary and author. Mr. Mitl'ord received the be.-t. part of his education in Franco, ami there ehielly in Paris. Plus circumstance, conjoined with his giJf of a natural aptitude for acquiring tauauaae*. proved of great value lo linn in his career. At the age of 18 ho went In .Morocco. Four years after, in 18:W he was appointed Consular Ageut "1 Mazagan, in that country. In the fulfilment of his duties he came into conflict Willi the Moorish Government, which up lo that time hod maintained a monopoly ol the trade. Mr. Mitl'ord exerted himse! to get the port at which he was stationed thrown open to foreign commerce; and I hat the Moorish Government resented, His appointment at Mazagan, 78 years ago, when only 22 years ol age, constitutes him the doyen of tho roreign Office and Colonial Service.'. He kit Morocco in 183:>. During his six years residence and travel in that country Ik had learnt the Arabic spoken there, which ho could use with fluency, ihat addition to his linguistic stock stood him in good stead more than once, in his later great adventures. A Marvellous Journey. In 1539 Mr. Mitl'ord left England witl Mr. (afterwards Sir) Harry Austin Lay aril on bis first expedition into Fasten countries. Thev parted in the Hoi; Laud. It was after this that Mr. Mil ford resolved upcu his marvellous jour ney, marvellous it would have been i undertaken and accomplished evtn now but it was wonderful, almost miraculous since it was performed in the first fortie of last century, and through countrie, j then practically unknown to Europeans and in which a white man had neve: been. In his "A Land March from Eng land to Ceylon, Forty Years Ago" (twi volumes), he tells what led him to ente: on such a lung, and apparently perilous journey. "In the year 1839," says Mr M it ford, "1 found myself in the uuen viable position of being without occupa tiou, when my attention was directed ti the probability of employment in th' Colony of Ceylon, either in the Govern merit Service or in the newly-opened en tcrprise of coffee planting, and thither ! resolved to proceed." On July he lef Loudon by the night coach for Dover .Moved by a love of travel he resolved b undertake the journey to Ceylon entire!; by land, with no more sta than th Straits of Dover, the ferry of- the Bos phorus, and the Strait of Adam's Bridge With a young man, ten years bis junior whom a friend introduced to him, ho se out from Calais with Ceylon as his dis taut goal. By the ordinary routes am means of travel they crossed Europe a far as Datmatra, where they took saddle To Mr. Mitford's great regret, his fellow traveller stopped short at Hamadan, ii Persia, and returned home. The othe half of the journey was done by Mr. Mit ford alone. His Morocco Arabic sorvei him well till Persia was reached. Ther he had a delay of a few weeks till h acquired the language. In closing hi narrative, Air. Mitford says, "My pil grimage has come to a close, after tin years and ten months of wandering, am traversing nearly 10,000 miles by land 7000 of which were on horseback I have reached the land I proposed a the bourne of my journey." Mr. .Mitl'ord on arrival at Colombo, entered the Civi Service, in which he filled soino of th highest positions during tho twenty-fiv years.of his successive promotions in ii From the Ceylon Civil Service he retire as Government Agent in 18G6. As Author. Allusion has been incidentally made l< Mr. Mitford as author of tho work ii which ho graphically tells tho story o his wonderful ride across Europe and Asii to Ceylon. Two of his other works de serve mention. Ono is "The Arab' Pledge: A Tale of Morocco in 1830." Th' story is founded on tragical facts tha occurred at the time of his six years' resi deuce in that country. His other book well Worthy of a longerSnotice than cai be given to it; here and now, is "Poem Dramatic and Lyrical," published ii 1869. The dramas, two in number, ar Shakespearean .in mould and treatment Tho first, entitled "Prince Edward," give a vivid picture of affairs and the state o England during the troubled times o Henry'lll, and the struggle between bin and Simon de Montfort, Karl of Leicester A Norman Baron of Mitford bore his par in it on the side of the Earl, and there fore lost his possessions and honours, hi castle and barony being forfeited to th King. The fortune of the Royal caus was revived by the escape of his son Prince Edward, from tho guards 'o Leicester. In the Mitford family there have alway been • members well-known as authors Mary Russell Mitford, of "Our Village' fame, was one. Colonel AVillimn Mitford whose memory is cherished in the famil; under the name of "Grecian Mitford,' was the author of the popular history o Greece, undertaken by him at the sugges Hon of Edward Gibbon, author of "Th Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' who was n major in the Hampshir Militia, which Colonel W. Mitford com manded. The family "pen" is still bus; in the liand of Mr. Mitford's son, Ml Berlrain Milford, tho prolific novel write of South African romances. Mr. Mitford succeeded his eldes brother, Lieutenant-Colonel John Philij Osbaldeston-Mitford, in 1895, to . tin family estates of Mitford Castle, Nor thuinlierlaiid, aud Hiininaiiby, Yorkshire the hitter being formerly the seat of th Osbaldestun family. Like his immcdiati predecessors, he (hen assumed the addi tioual name of Osbaldeston. One other fac must be mentioned—there are four genera lions of Mr. Mitford's family, in dircc descent from father lo son alive, on tin occasion of his notable birthday. Thcsi are Mr. Milford himself. Captain Kober Mitford, Mr. Bertram La no -Milford, am Master Humphrey Milford, nine month: : old. Mitfords of Mitford. The following appeared In the "Newcastle Chronicle." November I. 1911:There were Milforda of .Milford befon the -decisive buttle" of Hastings bar been fought and lost by King Harold Ih< Saxon, and won by Duke William the Norman- There is good reason for be lieving that the Mitfords were an important la.niijy in the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Nortlmnibria. and certainly a: lar back as the reign of Edward the Con lessor. They were no more indebted ti the Norman'at. his coming for I heir rank aud position in the North than were Ihc Maclcods of Skve lo Noah at the liim nt the flood. At the conquest tho Mlt Tonls for certain had land.s of their own; and (he Maeleods said they were not beholden lo the Ark, because they had a boat of their own. When the lir>t Bertram married Sybil or Sabella .Milford, sole heiress of her late father, and built his castle at Mitford about the middle of the twelfth century, ho became feudal lord and baron over the lands she possessed. Tim barony bestowed by the King on the said liogcr Bertram was an extensive one, which included nut only the parish of Mitford. but also what is known as the parish of Meldon, and other lands in the county, Sybil, however, had an uncle, Matthew; Milford, who continued lo reside on his property, the chief change in his condition being that he would pay suit and service for it to the husband of his niece. The. Bertram hold on Mitl'ord was but a brilliant episode in I he history of Mitford. The ca.-tle, the church, and the Lord's Mill were built, and around

llicrc there sprang up a town, wJiicli became nf siitlicjciit importance to send to Parliament. 13Hiikbnr.il I'l'iiny was also founded l)v u Huron liortrain of Mitford. lint 'their grandeur ami glory wcri> of short ilnralion. It all vani>licil in a brief cine hundred .wars, when the rebel burun was taken captive at the liattlii of Northampton '" '-''•''• By (he end of thai: century the Bcrtnims had disappeared l'rjm Mitford; the old English family of Mitfords remained. l ; or several generations (lie descendants of Sybil's unele Matthew were known only by name; but towards the end of I lie fourteenth centurv Sir John -Mitiord brought the family I himself inlo great prominence in national and international affairs, lie consolidated dismembered portions of tho Mitford lands, mill several of his 'successors succossfiillv pursued the same policy. From VXib, when the Bertrams forfeited the barony, it was noiuinnlly in the hands., of the Lrown, but m TOility mid successively in f., , ul , . Ulc Dn Valences, Coinyns, Mratbholgics, Sliiitevillcs, Scropes, Percys Broiighs, and others, who were little better than receivers of the. whole or portions of its revenues. Under these the castle gradually went to ruins, and the town decayed. Amidst all the chances and changes of centuries, ono Mitford after another extended his ownership, until itobert Mitford obtained the castle and manor bjv grant from Charles 11, who begin his actual reign in IGGO. Sinco then there have, been other increments to tho estate through family alliances. The silent witnesses to all this varied and interesting storv are a forgotten site named Aldworth, the ruins of the Norman castle, the beautifully restored church, the remains of tho Tudor and Jacobean manor house, with its characteristic tower, and contemporary dog-spit, and beautiful Elizabethan garden, and the modern liall on the opposite bank of the Wansbcck. H is said Mitford is tlie only place in- Ens;, land ivliere so much history is to be seen and read in the stones of 5.0 niaiiv homes in such proximity to ono another.