MORTALITY IN THE PEERAGE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1807, 21 May 1874, Page 4

MORTALITY IN THE PEERAGE.

[FROM THE DAILY NEWS, JAN. 27.]

It is somewhat remarkable that while, in .the Parliament which has just been dissolved, only 55 members should have been removed by death from the House of Commons— an assembly numbering more than 650— the House of Lords, a body containing 200 fewer members, has witnessed the loss of 1 08 peers. The mortality in the peerage has, therefore, been actually double that in the Commons, and proportionally more than double. In the first year of the existence of the Parliament — 1869 — the number of peers whose deaths were recorded was 32. These included men of all ages, from the venerable bishop of Exeter, who was 91, to the Earl St. Maur, the only surviving son of the Duke of Somerset, who was taken away when only 33. Besides the bishop of Exeter, the prelates who died in that year were the bishops of Carlisle, Manchester, and Salisbury: - The -Earl of- Radnor, a Liberal before the dawn of the pres. sent rcentury, was removed at the great age c>HK). Lord Gough, the well-known Indian warrior, was but one year younger. Lords Broughton and Taunton, known to the politicians of a former generation as Sir John Cam Hobhouse and Mr Labouchere. respectively, died within a few weeks of each other, and their titles became extinct. The deaths of the Earl of Derby, three times Prime Minister, and of the Marquis of Westminister, were announced almost together, and this took from the House of Commons the two tellers against the second reading of Mr | Gladstone's Franchise Bill, on the 27th of April, |!1866, viz., Lord Stanley and EarrGroEvenor. That year also witnessed the deaths of the Earl of Glusgow, Wellknown -I as the patron of the turf ; Lord Stanley of Alderly, Postmaster-General in the Cabinet of Lord Palmerstori ; and the fifth and sixth Earls of Kingston, one aged 69, and the other 54. Lord Hawke also died, and his brother and successor to the title followed him before the ex piration of the Parliament, and indeed within a very few months. In 1870 the House of Lords lost 20 of its members. Amongst these were the Marquis of Cholmondeley and Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, Joint Hereditary Great Chamberlains ; the Bishop of Chichester; the Earl of Clarendon, the Foreign Secretary ; the Earl of Roden, whose name will occur to many in connexion with Lord Clarendon's tenure of the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland in 1848; Viscount JMidleton, a former Dean of Exeter : Lord Auckland, who had resigned the bishopric of Bath and Wells ; the Marquis of Hertford; the Earl of Aberdeen, who was drowned at sea, at the age of 28, while serving as an ordinary sailor under the name of George Osborne, and the Earl of Onslow, the " father " of the House, at the age of 93. The year 1871 saw the deaths of 12 peers only; These included two well-known Irish noblemen— the Marquis of Westr meath arid Lord Plunket, another Earl of Kingston, Lord Qhurston, for many years a member: of the House of Commons as Sir John Yarde-Buller, and the Earl of Ellenborough, President of the Board of Control in the Tory Cabinet of 1858. Lord' Hastings died at thefage of -49,-and a few months afterwards bis?brother and successor to the title was also removed. In 1872 the deaths of 19 members of the: House of Lords were announced. There were amongst these the Dukes of Bedford and Leeds, the Marquises of Camden and Londonderry, the Earls of Clancarty, Craysfort, Kellie, Lonsdale, and Moray, and Lord Dalljng and Bulwer, better known aa Sir Henry Bulwer. .'He had been called to the peerage only, in the previous year, and at his death the title became extinct. Of the numerous peers who died in 1873, the names of two eminent men will at once occur to the memory— Bishop Wilberforce and Lord Westbury.. The death-roll also included Lord Lytton; Viscount Ossington, 15 years. Speaker in the House of Commons, and whose title is extinct ; the Earl of Zetland, Lord Majcribanks, who. enjoyed his peerage only a few days ; Lord Wolverton, Lord Athlumney, better known as Sir WiJiiara Somerville ; Lord Ly veden ; and Lord Annaly This year, so far, three p/arsf hive died^-Lord de Eos, whose tiilfl^ltttiw^frjm ' the creation of the barony of Hastings, 1264 ; Lordßlayney,

and Lord de Decks. But for the dissolution the siiccession of the Hon. Henry VillieM Stuart to the title of the latter would have created a vacancy in the representation of Waterford county.