INDIVIDUALITIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8343, 1 February 1913, Page 9

INDIVIDUALITIES

“All tho -world's a stag:©, Ami aH tho men and women merely playora.”

In an unpretentious 'wooden villa at Albert Park, surrounded by flowerbeds intursuokod by vino trellises, lives a disUiiguislicd-lookiiig _ old gentleman, win;, according to his statement, is rigb Util Lari of Lindsay, head of the famous Scottish family of that namo (writes tho Aleibourno correspondent of tho “Sydney Morning Herald ”). Three years ago lio married tho widow of tho lato John Close, of South Africa. For thrco years Airs ilethuiio Lindsay remained in ignorance of her husband’s birth. Then, by some chance, she found in “Burke’s Peerage ” that Henry James Hamilton, second, son of tho Karl of Lindsay, born June Bth, 18J4, died at Marseilles on July sth, 1862, leaving no issue. Airs Lindsay taxed her husband with his ancestry, and ho admitted it. “For,” says Airs Lindsay, “ Henry James Hamilton did not tlio at .Marseilles, though ho came near to it. But Jiis cousin, David Clark Bothune, has assumed —and, according to ‘ Debrett,’ as.su mod without official authority—tho snrmmio and arms of Bothuno, in lieu of those of Lindsay.”

“ I may,” began the claimant, interviewed, “ begin with the explanation that it is only a very strange series of circumstances that has caused mo to break tho silence of many years. To mate the whole thing clear, let flio say that when about ten years of age I joined tho Royal Navy in the capacity of midshipman. Later on, when I Lad risen to the rank of lieutenant, I served under my uncle, Admiral Bethimo. After a bad smash I returned to England, and a strong attachment sprang up between a little lady and myself. My family considered her beneath me, and made my life wellnigh unbearable. Three medical men said I would never ho strong again, and, to make a long story short, I came to_Australia. I went as overseer to a neighbouring station, Cannawigra, and during rny stay there I received a copy of tho ' Scotsman/ which contained a photograph of my brother, the tenth .Earl of Lindsay, who died in 1894.

“About the same time a gentleman named Hayes visited Australia with the object of trying to locate mo, it haying come to the knowledge of my family that I had not died, ns stated in •Burko’s Peerage/ in Marseilles, in 1862. My identity was unknown to Hayes. I met him several times, and learned from him first hand about his quest. Ho little thought, I suppose, that I was tho long-lost member of the family. lam an old man, and tho loneliness used to affect rno when I lived in Gippsland. I could not stand it without a change, and so I came to Melbourne for a holiday and stayed at a boardinghouse, and among other lodgers was tho lady who is now my wife, I never expected to marry, and even though I have a partner now, I will never have a son. I never had any intention of publishing to the world the Story of my checkered career, but for the sake of my wife I liavo yielded reluctantly to the actual position being made known. The present earl is my cousin, but he holds tho position without official authority. I expect to leave for England in March, and on arrival in the Old Land will do my best to find old folks who might possibly remember mo, and to make myself known to the remnants of my family.”

The family history of the Lindesays or Lindsays dates .back to 1356, when Sir William Lindsay obtained the Barony of the Byres by charter Itoyal Sir Alexander of Gicnesk, the present holder of tho title, who is eighty years of ago, has three children, the eldest of whom. Viscount Garuoch, was born in 1867, and lives at Claxton Hall, York■shire.

General Botha, the first Premier of 'United South Africa, will always live in the history of tho British Empire as the most conspicuous instance of a statesman occupying high office under the Crown after having been in arms against tho State. An earlier though less significant case of the same kind Was that of Mr Peter Lalor, formerly Speaker of tho Legislative Assembly at Melbourne, and an office-holder in various Cabinets in Victoria, who first came into note some years earlier as leader of tho insurgent miners at Ballarat, where ho himself lost his arm in a pitched battle with the forces of the Crown.

Through his wife. General Botha is related to two other famous insurgents ■—namely, Thomas Adis Emmet, tho older brother of Hebert Emmet, who led sn unsuccessful attack on Dublin Castio in 1803, and was ultimately executed. Thomas Adis Emmet, from whom Mrs Botha descends, was one of the finest characters among tho United Irishmen of 1793. After ho was exiled from Ireland ho went to America, and Won a reputation at the New York Bar, becoming eventually Attorney-General of tho Stato of New York. Another descendant of Thomas Adis Emmet is Sir Charles Pose, Liberal member for Newmarket, whoso mother was a daughter of Bobert Emmet Temple, a descendant of tho famous orator, lawyer, and patriot.

Mr Whitclaw Reid is the first instance, as far as can bo recalled, of an American Minister or Ambassador dying during his term of office at the Court of St. James, though tho end of Mr Lowell’s term was clouded by the death of his wild (says tho “ Westminster Gazette ”). Though he had long since passed the allotted span of man’s life, his age was greatly exceeded hy many of his predecessors, notably by John. Adams. John Quincy Adams, and Charles Francis Adams—father, son, and grandson—who lived to bo mnoty-oijo. eighty-one. and oighty-ono respectively. tfolni .A iln ms, U’lio wns tho first Minister ever sent by tho United States to London, was 'afterwards President, as was his son, John Quincy Adams.

Tho oldest Bishop in the Church of England is the Rit'ht Rev. George Forrest Browne. Bishop of Bristol, who last month entered upon his eightieth year. In spite of his ripe age Dr. Browno la tho embodiment of energy, and people never cease to marvel at his capacity for work and the amount which ho gets through day by day.