SIR HEDWORTH MEUX

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1929, Page 6

SIR HEDWORTH MEUX

RELIEF OF LADYSMITH RECALLED.

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, Sept. 20. Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Hedwortli Meux, whose death is announced to-day, was associated with one of the important episodes of the South African ..ar. He was then Captain Lambton, as ho only assumed the name of Meux in latter years in accordance with the will of Lady Meux. General Sir George White had been forced to (concentrate liis forces on Ladysmith and act on the defensive. He had only light artillery and his chances of withstanding the attacks of the Boers were small. Naval assistance having been .. asked 'for, H.M.S. Powerful with Captain Lambton in command was sent tp. Durban,. On her arrival on October 2j)tli. 1929, H.M.S. Powerful’s 4.7 inch guns, previously mounted for use in the field, were landed immediately and. sent with a naval brigade under Captain Lambton to Ladysmith. The arrival of these reinforcements, .undoubtedly saved Ladv.smith. •' !4,i [Sir Hedwortli Meux, G.C.8., was the third son of the second Earl of Durham, and a well-known and popular naval officer, attaining the highest rank possible in the Navy—that of Admiral of the Fleet. He had seen much active service both in Egypt and South Africa. In the latter field of operations he 'icommanded the Naval Brigade at Ladysmith. He had also sat in the House of commons as M.P. for Portsmouth. In 1910 he married Viscountess Chelsea, whose first husband, the elder son of Earl Cadogan, had died two years earlier. Admiral Lambton, as he tnen was, assumed the name of Meux soon after, on succeeding to some rich London property, and to some extent lost his identity thereby. His death marks > the third loss in the Lambton family in twelve months, his two older brothers (twins), the third and fourth of Durham, having died within the last year.)