SPEYSIDE HIGHLANDERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1922, Page 3

SPEYSIDE HIGHLANDERS.

CHIEF. (A NEW ZEALANDER, . ROMANCE OF CLAN GRANT. Putney seems to have small connections with the Straths of Morayshire and th% grandeur of Speyside scenery, yet in a modest and comfortable dwelling there, bearing the Maori designation of Kia Ora, lives to-day the Chief of a mighty Scottish clan, one who is a baron in his own right and heir-presumptive to one of Scotland’s oldest earldoms, states the People’s Journal. He is Baron Strathspey, formerly a subsidiary title of the 'Earls of Seoiield and by birth he is a New Zealander. Y’et transcending all else, he is the 31st Chief of Clan Grant, and as such is head of a great Highland family, despite the fact that his neice, the young Countess of Seafield, is two steps higher than himself in the peerage. For the chieftainship of the clan is a male fief, and cannot be held by a female. The story of the Scafiekl Earldom of recent years is on? of the romances of the peerage. All on Speyside can remember when Caroline Stuart, the widow of the eighth earl, ruled at Castle Grant, Morayshire, and Cullen House, Banffshire, the historic homes of the Seafields, and it is in a sense due to her that the name of Lord Strathspey came into the limelight in an action in the Court of Session recently. The countess, who inherited from her husband the large unentailed estates of the house, ruled the family with a rod of iron. When the title passed to the tenth earl, father -of Ix>rd 'Strathspey and grandfather of the 15-year-old Countess of Seafield, the estates remained with the Dowager-Countess, and until he could take his place in the halls of his ancestors as owner the earl decided to emigrate to New Zealand. He settled down near Christchurch, but his ambition to return to Morayshire and Banffshire was never realised. The Dowager-Countess outlived him, and when he died in 1888 his son, the p/eventli earl, continued to reside under the Southern Cross together with his brother, the Hon. Tremor Ogilvie-Grant, who is now head of the family.

When the great war broke out the Earl of Seafield gave a lead to his elan by the promptitude with which he joined the forces. He wont to France in the early days of the titanic struggle, and paid the penalty of his gallantry in 1915. when he died of wounds. He was succeeded in all his Scottish titles by his daughter, Lady Nina Caroline, .but the Barony of Strathspey, with the chieftainship of the clan, passed to his brother Trevor. The latter also saw service as an officer in the B.A.S.C.

But although young Lady Nina is now ji'ic Countess of Seafield, Viscountess Sealield. Viscountess Reidhaven, and Baroness Ogilvy, she had not yet obtained full control of the Seafield estates. Under the will of the Dowager Caroline, a trust was created to administer the properties, certain revenues being allowed meanwhile to Lady Seafield, whil? Lord Strathspey receives £lOOO per annum, in addition to a lump sum of £lO,OOO on his accession.

Clean-shaven, and of burly frame, looking the picture of robust physical health, Lord Strathspey is the beau ideal of a Highland chief, despite the fact that his lost has been, east far from the home of his Gaelic ancestors. He was educated at Waitaki High. School, and St. John's College, New Zealand, and passed into the Civil Service of that colony on leaving college. His athletic -build enabled him to play a keen'part in all kinds of field games, and he attained to considerable eminence in New Zealand as a sportsman. Born at Oamaru in 1879, he is still an ardent follower of sport, and is yet young enough to take an active share in his -favorite pastimes. He divides his love of sport as a hobby with a strong interest in travel, and has visited many different countries in pursuit of his passion for seeing strange lands. Hi S'charming baroness, whom ho married in 1905, is Alice Louisa, a daughter of the late Mr. T. AT. Hardy-Johnstone, a Christchurch engineer. They are exceedingly popular in the neighbourhood of their London home, but it is not difficult to gather that the heart of the Grants’ chieftain must ever -be in the North among “his ain folk.”