VICISSITUDES IN HIGH LIFE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5390, 6 July 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

VICISSITUDES IN HIGH LIFE.

We take the following, says an exchange, from f ‘ Social Notes, “ with regard to the announcement recently made in. The .Times that the Earl of Beaconsfield had recommended a grant from the Royal Bounty Fund of £IOO to the Universal Beneficent Society, 15, Sohosquare, to be applied for the benefit of Viscountess Kingsland, ono of the society’s pensioners. The Viscountess was married to the late Viscount in ISI9, and lived with her husband for many years id affluence. After his death the interest on the sum of £I2OO was her only means of support. One of the two trustees appointed having died, the other trustee, her own brother, absconded with the principal, and left her completely destitute and penniless. The authorities of the parish in which she resided then allowed her out-door relief at the rate of 2s. 9d. per week, and with her needle she managed to eke out an existence, earning weekly on an average from 2s. to 3s. She lived in a small room in. Lambeth in extreme poverty, and endured for a long time in silence her hard lot. At last in her distress she applied to a subscriber of the society, who brought her case to the notice of the council. Satisfactory evidence and certificates having been obtained verifying the truth of her statement, and confirming her sad tale of woe, she was placed on the list * of the society’s pensioners. Mathew Barnewell, sixth Viscount Barnewell, of Kingsland, in the peerage of Ireland, died in December 1833, when his title became extinct, there being no male issue or heir. He married on the 2nd of January, ISI9, Julia, daughter of Mr John Willis, physican, who is the present Viscountess. Lady Kingsland has no relatives living who are in a position to assist her, her sister being herself a pensioner on Government and receiving- £4O a year. The sister lives with her two daughters, who avo engaged as machinests (sewing machines). The third daughter o! that sister lives with Lady Kingsland, and earns a weekly pittance by braiding mantles and other needle work. Lady Kingsland has continued her needle* work, but this she is obliged to confine to shirt making. She is remunerated at the rate of 2d for'each shirt made I It has been decided, with Lord Beaconsfield’s ■ approval, to expend the £IOO grant in purchasing an annuity of about £lO or £l2 a year for Lady Kingsland, after laying out a small sum in-making a new apartment to be procured for her ladyship a little more comfortable than that which she occupies at present.