A VERY OLD PENSION.

Shannon News, 30 November 1928, Page 3

A VERY OLD PENSION.

CHARLES 11. AND OAK TREE. Dr. Francis Walker, professor ’ of English at the University of British Columbia, received a pension of £lB a year, which had its source in the gratitude of Charles 11. for the shelter of the famous oak tree on the night of the Battle ojf Worcester;, September 6, 1651. According to the source of the pension, it was at the home of Mr.s Elizabeth Pcndrcll Yates, “Boscobel,” that the King was succoured on his flight after Worcester. She had never seen Charles, and was very excited when he came to her. She summoned her five brothers, and, in a conference with the King, they decided that the branches of the oak would afford him best protection. The tiee has been immortalised by painters and artists. Ascending the Throne, 'Charles remembered his six friends, and awarded them annuities in perpetuity. Elizabeth’s was £SO. Her pension passed to her eldest- son, a Yates, thence through the Dysons. The inheritance was split into four when the name of the family became 1 Walker. Once it was cut off for a brief period, but was . restored.

. Dr. Walker recently returned from a summer holiday in England. He brought back two tiny shoots from the famous tree which has flourished through the intervening 277 years.