BALFOUR’S ROMANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 928, 22 March 1930, Page 9

BALFOUR’S ROMANCE

SHATTERED LOVE DREAM KEPT HIM BACHELOR TRIBUTES FROM PARLIAMENT United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright LONDON, Friday. The reason why the late Earl of Balfour had never been married was revealed by a close friend of his, who told the ‘‘Daily Mail” that he only once fell in love, but the romance ended with the sudden death of the woman he loved.

She was the Hon. Mary Catherine Lyttelton, daughter of Lord Lyttelton, ! Mr. W. E. Gladstone’s brother-in-law, | and a sister of the late Mr. Alfred Lyttelton. She did in 1575, when she was 24. She actually died as Mr Balfour, as he then was, was on his way to see her, with a ring he had just purchased. He was then 27, and throughout his long life he remained faithful to her memory . The coffin containing the body of the late Earl of Balfour was taken today to King’s Cross station on the first stage of the journey to Whittingehame the earl’s Scottish seat, where the burial will take place. PRIVATE FUNERAL The news of Lord Balfour’s death has brought from all parts of the world tributes to the late statesman. At the memorial service to be held in j Westminster Abbey op. Saturday the heads of all the foreign embassies and missions will attend. A memorial service -will also be held in Edinburgh at the same time. At Whittingehame the funeral will be as private as possible, and only relatives and a few intimate friends will attend. Striking tributes to Lord Balfour were paid by the party leaders in both Houses of Parliament today. In the House of Commons the Prime Minister, Mr. .MacDonald, asked the House to unite in doing homage to the work and memory of one who sat in the House for nearly half a century, and led it for nearly 12 years. Lord Balfour, he said, was a doughty politician and party leader, but even when be was the object of angry attack he never lost his personality in his work. His politics were a philosophy, and his methods intellectually balanced. In his latter years as an elder statesman Lord Balfour had exercised more influence than ever before on British public life. His work for the League of Nations was embodied in its foundations. WRITTEN IN HISTORY The Conservative leader, Mr. Baldwin, said one characteristic of Lord Balfour throughout his life was his rare courage, • physical and moral, a courage shown particularly during the years when he held the office of Chief Secretary for Ireland. No finer intellect, no greater dialectician had been engaged in politics. Mr. Baldwin said he believed Lord Balfour’s career as a national statesman, dating from the first day of the war until the last day of his life, would be remembered as long as the history of Britain was wr.itten. Mr. Lloyd George, the Liberal leader, said that by the death of Lord Balfour they seemed to have finally severed the link with the great Victorian epoch. He would rank Lord Balfour with Gladstone as the most formidable Parliamentary debater he had eve>’ heard in that House. Tributes to the dead statesman were also paid in the House of Lords by Lord iParmoor, the Marquess of Salisbury and Earl Beauchamp, the leaders respectively of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Parties, and by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Davidson.