THE LATE MISS HOBY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 134, 5 July 1909, Page 4

THE LATE MISS HOBY

i INTERESTING ASSOCIATIONS. ] Of the many aristocratic families ' which are represented in New Zealand, lew, if any, have more curious and in- ' teresting associations connected with their history than the Iloby family, to ' which belonged the lady who was last : week laid to rest, beside her father and i mother, in a secluded glen in the Henui Cemetery, where the waters of the contiguous Henui river are purling a ji;rpetual and soothing requiem. Miss "Lilian" Ho'by, as she was familiarly known among her friends, was the youngest daughter and child of Mr. George Hoby, and was bom at Ilenui, where her father then owned considerable property, in 1854, about two years after the arrival of her family in New Zealand. The doing of different members of the Hoby family, of Biseham AWbey, are intimately interwoven with English history. Sir Philip Hoby, of that ilk, played no unimportant part in the downfall of the great Protector, Somerset, in the reign of Edward VI. He, like his successor, Sir Thomas Hoby, who was for many years the ambassador of Elizabeth at the French Court, was a friend of the great Lord Burghley, who, his enemies averred, was anxious to detach the affections of the ill-fated Duke of Norfolk from Mary Queen of Scots .to his sist'er-in-Jawj, Lady Hoby, and who afterwards lost his head for conspiring to seat that personage on the throne. From that time downward almost to our own day, there has been much intimacy between the Royal Family and the Iloby family. It is on record that on one occasion, when the grandfather of the deceased lady was visiting the Duke of Kent, His Royal Highness asked him had he seen the little princess, who had recently arrived. On his answering in the negative, the Duke ordered the little babe—afterwards Queen Victoria —to be brought, and said, "Now, Hoby, I want you to Mess her; I feel assured she will one day be Queen of England, and as I know you to be a good man, I wish you to put your hand on her and bless her." Mr. Hoby, whom the Duke used to call "Hoby the Puritan," did as he was requested. It is probable that this was one of the first of the many blessings her late Majesty received. Rather a curious coincidence may be here noticed. Mrs. Enroth, Miss Hoby's surviving sister, has in her possession a portion of the canpet which covered the -bedroom of the Duchess of Kent at the time of the birth of the Princess Victoria; the curious thing being, that this came from her mother's side of the house. There is a persistent belief in the Hoby family that they are the lineal descendants of Queen Elizabeth, and that the lady whose ghost walks in certain rooms in Biseham Abbey at intervals was the child of that Queen. The story, which is too long to be given here, may lie read in Stry.pc, in "The Haunted Homes of England," and other books. The elder branch of the family is now represented solely by the present owner of the Afibey, whose next heir is Mr George Hoby", of New Plymouth, the eldest brother of the deceased lady. Miss Hoby was one of the oldest members of the Baptist Church here, and, although long a resident in Wellington, yet, as was stated by the Rev. Mr. Drew in bis funeral address, she has always taken a practical interest in its welfare, and has, we understand, left it a small legacy. Of the thirteen children of Mr. and Mrs. Hobv, sen.,'there now remain Messrs. George and Oliver Hoby, of New Plymouth Mr lerey Hoby. of Inglewood.'Mr Arthur Haby of Wellington, and Mrs. Clara Enroth, of "The Grange," New Plymouth.