EARL HAIG

Evening Star, Issue 19782, 4 February 1928, Page 5

EARL HAIG

, FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS TO BE BURIED AS BORDER LAIRD Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, February 2. Earl Haig will uot be buried as the general who led*'Britain’s greatest army, but, as a' Scottish border _ laird, j all military pomp being left, behind at . Edinburgh. . . , ! Only the Haigs, the family of which Sir Walter Scott was • a member, and one other family have the right of burial in the Dry burgh. Abbey.' After an annual service "in the ruins, at which Lord Haig read the lessons, he sat on the tomb of'his. ancestors with a Bible in his hand, chatting with the minister. Lord Haig quietly said to the minister: “Where are you going to bury me?” The minister'replied: “In Westminster Abbey,” momentarily forgetful that St. Paul’s is the traditional resting place of great soldiers. Lord Haig shook his head and smiled. “ No,” he said, “ this is ray resting place. This has been the Haigs’ resting place for centuries.” The War Office at first refused the British Broadcasting Corporation permission to broadcast the Abbey ceremony, despite the willingness of the Abbey authorities. Later in the day, however, under, pressure, the War Office reconsidered its decision, and the entire service, commencing at 12.30, Greenwich mean time, will be broadcast from every station, including SSW, which will send it to the dominions on a short wave length. Marshal Petain arrived from | ranee in. mufti, accompanied by a detachment of fifty French soldiers of the First Army Corps in steel helmets. He was driven to the French Embassy, while the soldiers, headed by a sergeant of English Guards, marched through the streets. An enormous crowd met Marshal Foch at Victoria station, and ho had difficulty in reaching his waiting motor car.—A. and N.Z. and ‘ Sun ’ Cable.