PEERS FROM THE RANKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 242, 18 February 1911, Page 9

PEERS FROM THE RANKS.

Lord Wolverhampton is the son of a Wesleyan preacher, and up to the age of fifty was not even a member of Parliament, but simply a public-spirited Wolverhampton lawyer. Lord Jnverclyde i» the great-grandson of a Glasgow Presbyterian minister. His grandfather was a clerk in a shipping office, and eventually, with Samuel Cuna I'd, established the world-famed fleet of liners. Baron Glantawe, a Welshman, of Swansea, also represents ships and shipping, and is the first to bear the title. Lord Pirric entered the famous shipyard of Harland and Wolff as a boy of fifteen, and is now chairman of the company.

Lord Morley represents literature and journalism, for he first rose into fame by his writings and by his editorship of the Pall Mall Gazette*. And it may not be generally known that Lord Milner, then Mr. Alfred Milner, a distinguished young University graduate, was one of his leader writers.

Lord Burnham, also, whose family name is Levy-Lnwson, is the proprietor and ruling spirit of the Daily Telegraph; whilst Lord Northcliffe owes his elevation to the peerage to the fact that lie established the Daily Mail. Lord Glenesk, too, who was long known as Sir Algernon Bortbwick, whose decease was so much regretted, was proprietor of the Morning Post; whilst both the Earl of Crewe and Lord Tennyson owe their titles to literary fathers, for the first is the son of Richard Monkton Milnes, and the other of the late Laureate. The Viscounty of Hambledon may also be included among the Press peerages, for it covers the sobriquet ot Smith, to be seen on Hundreds of railway bookstalls, and it originally .sprang from a little news-shop in the Strand. ■Brewing has produced a crop of peers. The title of Lord Hindlip covers the wellknown name of Allsopp. Lord Burton takes his title from the town in which Bass' ale is made. Lords Iveagh and Ardilaun both built their fortunes on bottles of stout, for they are both Guinnesses.

Lord Allerton was known, and known favorably, for many a long year in Leeds as Mr. \V. L. Jackson, the tanner. As everyone knows, Lord Armstrong gets his millions and his title from the wellknown Armstrong gun made at the great Elswick works at Newcastle.

Lord Ashton is a philanthropic and highly-trespected citizen of Lancaster, where he is engaged in the manufacture of oilcloths. Lord Mashnm has great mills at Manningham, and practically owns the town from which he takes his title. Two of the most remarkable romances ot the peerage attach to Lords Mount Stephen and Strathcona,who both began life jib Scottish shepherd lads. They emigrated to Canada, where both made huge fortunes before returning to their native land, and each found his way to the House- of Lords.

Banking has made peers in Hie past and is making peers still. Lord Kinniard is a banker, and so are Lords Aldenham, Avebury and Rothschild. Lord Kinnaird, however, belongs to a very ancient Scottish stock, whereas the others are re cent creations. »

Lord Aldenham was Mr. H. H. Gibbs, a director of the Bank of England; Lord Avebury was Sir -John Lubbock, the founder of "Bank Holidays"; whilst Lord Rothschild is the descendant of a Jewish money-lender of Frankfort.

The Earls of Craven spring from a laborers' cottage in one of the most insignificant villages of lorkshirc, and their ancestor went to London in a carrier's cart. Even the Marquess of Ripon, although he has a little blue blood in his veins, traces his descent to a plain Mr. Robinson, who had a small business in the county town of York; and although it is a far cry back to 1445, in that year the ancestor of the house of Russell was part owner of a barge. The founder of Lord Carrington's family lived and died a Nottingham draper. Lord Dudley is the descendant of William Ward, the son of poor Staffordshire parents, who was apprenticed at a tender age to a London goldsmith and made a fortune, while one of the forbears of the Marquess of Bath was an underforester of Shropshire.