NOBLE HOUSE EFFACED BY THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2667, 12 January 1916, Page 9

NOBLE HOUSE EFFACED BY THE WAR

HOW THE BRITISH ARISTOCRACY HAS SUFFERED GAPS IN THE PEERAGE One of the labour leaders in England recently declared that he had done with "duke-baiting"—one of the pastimes of tho proletariat. In tho course Of a visit to the battle front he received conviction. He saiv the aristocracy of Britain lying dead by the side of the workere of the country, their weapons in tneir hands and their faces to the foe, he was (satisfied that ill the old nobility there was as good grit as in tho people of commoner, clay. It has been published that over a thousand names will bo missing from the British I eerago when the next issue of "Debrett" is printed, and though tho figures may be the result of speculation, l( i ls clear from the official lists of killed that hundreds of next-of-kin and heirs to old titles have gone on tho long _ trail with their comrades of the multitude from tho ranks of tho people. The fact has beeu brought home to New South AVales by the death of Lord Do la Warr, hrothor of Her Excellency Lady Edeline Strickland, and in the list- of names killed, wounded, and serving, are_ many not unfamiliar to the citizenship of Australia. The American _ wife of an officer of the Guards, writing to a friend in her country, said "England is an empty place—all tho MEN have gone to the war." Commenting on this, an English paper saj's: "This statement is rapidly becoming the literal truth —as long as tlio emphasis on 'MEN' is preserved." England is emptv of the men of that caste, but the battlefields of Franco and Belgium are full of their graves. Everywhere along the fighting front there is some corner of a foreign field tliat is "forever England," made so by tho dust of k, brave fellow who wore a iinnte that goes back in an unbroken line to the Conqueror, and may bo linked witli tho building of tho Empire of the Anglo-Saxon. In many cases the first to respond to the call, and the first among those who fell fighting, were heirs of houses. In some cases all the direct heirs have been wioed out. The male line of their house has been extinguished. Numbers of families havo lost one, two, and three sons. In sonw cases overy youth oblo to bear arms for tlio honour of his name is at the front, with the colours, likely to fill a soldier's grave before peace arrives. Old Names Effaced. The house of Desborough is ail but wiped out. All tho youth of the succession has passed away in the fighting. The old house of MacDougall, which runs back to the Thane of Argyle in the 12th century, lost the head of the family and tho heir within a few weeks. ■ Royal blood was spilled when Captain A. A. C. FitzClarence, of the Royal Fusiliers, fell, for he was a grandson of William IV, a fine athlete, whp, declining a command in the Boer War, enlisted <is_ a private and rose to command. Brigadier-General FitzClarence, V.C., a grcctt-grandson of William IV, died on duty. He was one of tho defenders of Mafeking. Tho first Baron Sempill was killed at Flodden Field, the heir to the name was killed near Ypres. Tho ancient houso of Lor.it lost the Master of Kinnaird and Major Eraser of the_ Scots Guards. • Lord Lovat is the chief of the Erasers, the thirteenth baron is in history as he wliti sent the clansmen "across tho hills to Charlie," and paid for it with his life at Cullodcß. Gordon Lennox was the great-grandson of that Duke of Richmond .who fought at Waterloo. Lord St. Davids gove his eldest son, Lord Bibblesdnle his only son, Lord Stamfordham, Private Secretary to tho King, is left without an heir, his only son, Captain Bigge, having been killed in Flanders. Lord Wendover was the only son and heir of tho Marquis of Lincolnshire, wlio as Lord Carrington will be remembered as Governor of this State. The barony will go to distant relatives. Lord Redesdnlo sent fivo sons to tho colours. The oldest was killed. I.ord Richard. Wellesley, one of a famous fighting line, fell early.. Tho long list is rich in names with which the world is familiar. There are among the fallen representatives of men who stand high in politics; literature, engineering, science, mediolne. names interwoven with tho poetry aiid romanco and history of the Britisli people all the world over. And their caste is in the fighting where, save for a mark on collar or shoulder, there is no difference in the tronches between tho farm-labourer, the miner, tho ironworker, and the peer. In mud and cold and the constant presence of death they are fighting side by side. It was for tlieso unswerving soldiers of the trenches, not for their barren titles, that Rupert Brooke wrote

"And nobleness walks in our ways again, And we have come into our heritage!" Distinguished Scions. Among those fallen whose death will mean the disappearance of some of the best-lmown names of Great Britain are: — Lord Hawarden, who fell in action; his lieir is at the front. Hon. Claude Meysey-Thompson, 6on and heir of Lord Knaresborough; the barony will become extinct. Viscount Northland, heir to Lord Ranfurly (formerly Governor of New Zealand), who was killed in the firing line. A baby son may succeed. Lord De Freyno, a relative of Sir John French,'and his half-brother, heir to the peerage, were killed in the earns day. The De Freynes came to England with the Conqueror, and went to Ireland witli Strongboiv. Lord Worsley, son and heir of the Earl of Yarborough. _ Major Viscount Crichton, equerry to the King, and son and heir of the Earl of Erne, leaves an eight-year-old son, who is now an Earl. Captain Lord Guernsey, son and heir of the Earl of Aylesford. His seven-year-old son succeeds. _ _ , Captain Chas. Monck, heir of .Viscount Monck. Hon. Robert Bruce, heir of Lord Balfour of Burleigh. Captain the Hon. Arthur O'Neill, heir of Lord l O'Neill. Flight-Lieut. Lord Annesley; a cousin becomes a peer. ... Lieut, tho Hon. G. H. Morns, heir of Lord Killanin. Lieut. Lord Spencer Compton, heir of the Marquis of Northampton. Captain the Hon. R. Wyndham, the third of his family to fall in the year, was heir to his brother, Lord Leconfield. Captain the Hon. Gerald Legge, second son of the Earl of Dartmouth. Lieut.-Col. Lord Ninian CrichtonStuart, brother of the Marquis of Bute. Lieut.-Col. J. B. Mac Queen, nephew of Lord Ilaldane; Lieut. Rawdon Hastings, nephew of two peers —Lord Loudoun and l Lord Vorulam; Major John Jennings, eldest son of the late General Sir Robe Jennings. Lieut. Stirling Stuart, heir of tho Stuart of Castlemilk, two of whose ancestors fought against Joan of Arc at tho siege of Orleans; Lord Congleton, of tho famous I'arnelU; Sir Ed. Stowart Richardson, whose title goes back to a baronetcy of 1030; Sir Montague Cliomley, head of a famous house; Lord Brabourne of the Knatchbulls; Lieut. Macdonakl, heir to the historic title . of "Lord of tiie Isles" in an.unbrokon lino from Angus, Lord of the Isles in the L-i th centurv; Lieut. Miller, son of Millei 1 of (ih'tiliiß, wluxm jiiwMtur fp'l SUwUft'iStaj and jY3& jmusoitfllified to

Sir Walter Scott, in the "Field of Waterloo." Major Lord! Cavendish, D.5.0., lirotlior of the ninth Dnko of Devonshire; Lieut. Evans-Freke, P. 0., son of the eighth Baron Carbery (Ireland); Lord Hamilton, son of the second Duke of Abercorn; Lord A. V. Hay, son of the tenth Marquis of Tweeddale ; Hon. F. E. Lambton, son of the second Earl of Durham; Hon. W. A. Nugent, soil of the tc-nth Earl of Wcstmeath; Hon. H. L. Pelham, son of the fifth Earl of Chichester; Hon. G. H. D. Pennant, son of the second Baron Pcnrhyn; Hon. F. W. Rodney, son of the seventh Baron Rodney; Hon. 11. C. Stoner, son of tho fourth Baron Caraoys; Hon. P. P. WiV loughby (Navy), son of tho first Earl of Ancaster.