ROMANCE OF BARONETAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 86, 2 October 1911, Page 7

ROMANCE OF BARONETAGE.

DEATH OF SIR HARRY GOBING. ADVENTUROUS CAREER. London, August S3. The death took place at Tamworth on Sunday of Sir Harry Velverton Goring, the eleventh holder of a title, which dates back to 1078. Sir Harry was torn in 1840, and was the eldest son of the late Mr. Forster Coring by his marriage with the Hon. Sidney Kloisa Yelverto'n, eldest daughter of the third Viscount Avonmore. Mr. Forster was the fourth son of the seventh baronet; the title passed successively to the eldest son and his only son (who died without issue) to the second son's only surviving son (who also died without male issue), and then to the late baronet. ' The death of Sir Ilarrv Goring recalls an interesting romance of the baronetage. Before his succession to the title he kept a tobacconist's shop in Silver street, Tamworth, and he was actually weighing out snuff when the news of his succession reached him. THE MAORI CAMPAIGN.

Sir Harry had travelled extensively in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and India. As a young man he went to New Zealand, where his father was private secretary to the Governor, Sir George Grey. There was nothing for the young fellow to do, so after seeing some tough fighting in the Maori campaign lie enlisted as a private soldier in the Suffolk Regiment. He subsequently transferred to the Staffordshire Regiment, in which he served in India, and rose to be ser-geant-major. He was ordered to Lichfield as clerk to the officer commanding the 9th Brigade Depot, retiring in 1886 on a pension of 25s fld per week. He then entered the tobacconist business in Tamworth, and was living there when, in 18!>7, his cousin, Colonel Sir Charles Goring, died. He received the news through an acquaintance in Lichfield wiring him to look at the obituary column of the Times. The new baronet thought it a hoax, but went down to the read-ing-room, and there saw that the news was true. Sir Harry subsequently retired from the tobacco business. . , A BARREN HONOR.

Unfortunately for him, the title was a very barren honor, The Gorings had been a wild race in their day, and all the Sussex estates were sold in 1886 for £ 80,000. Sir William Grantham bought one of the farms for £1'2,000, and General' Godman purchased Highden, the family seat, for £31,000. The. tenth baronet, Sir Charles Goring, was so short of cash that he became a candidate in 1893 for the post of City Marshal at a salary of £350 a year, but was not appointed. The late baronet was much respected in Staffordshire. He married in 1875 Miss Sarah Ann Hickin, the daughter of a Lichfield musician, and leaves five sons and tivo daughters. The • title passes to his eldest son, Forster Gurney, who was born in 187 C. At the time of his father's succession he was in New Zealand managing a sheep run for his uncle, the Hon. W. W. Johnstone. He subsequently enlisted in the army, as a private, as his father had done, served in the South African war, where he • gained a commission in the Royal Sussex Regiment, of which his father's cousin, Sir Charles Goring, was formerly- hon. colonel. He won two medals, and is now on half-pay.