LORD TALBOT'S DEPARTURE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 1, 4 January 1900, Page 4

LORD TALBOT'S DEPARTURE.

Among the soldiers of the Empire who have sailed for service in South Africa is Lord Edmund Talbot, of whose departure from Arundel the Times gives the following description amoDg its items of the movements of troops :—: —

' The departure from Arundel of Major Lord Edmund Talbot, 11th Hussars, for special service in Natal, was made the occasion of a remarkable demonstration on the part of the townspeople. The route from Arundel Castle to the station had been bedecked with bunting, and was thronged by the inhabitants. The band of the 2ad V.B. Royal Sussex Regiment turned out and headed a carriage procession, in which were the Mayor and Corporation, and the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Edmund Talbot's brother, and other members of the Howard family. Ac Arundel station the National Anthem was played aa the prelude to the reading by the Mayor of an address, bidding the gallant Major God-speed, and expressing the hope that on his return a successful and lasting settlement of affairs in South Africa would been been arrived ut, by which equal rights would be secured to all who live under the British flag. Lord Edmund Talbot said, in responding, that by their good wishes the town had aided another link to the long chain of associations between his family and Arundel. As the train left the station the crowd oheered heartily, and the engine in its progress* exploded a number of specially laid fdg-signals by way of a salute.'

I am rather surprised (writes a London correspondent) that the departure for the front of Lord Edmund Talbot (of the 11th Hussars) has not been more noticed. Lord Edmund is the only brother of the Duke of Norfolk, and may, under the circumstances of the young Earl of Arundel's precarious state of health, be regarded as standing in a very peculiar relation to the dukedom. He is, of course, a very prominent figure in the Roman Catholic world, and the fa"t that he volunteeted for servioe has made a certain sensation, for, were anything- to happen to him, and were his only son to die unmarried, the dukedom would ultimately pass to Protestant cousins of the present Duke. Lord Edmund, who took the name of Talbot on inheriting a considerable amount of property from the late Earl of Shrewsbury, will celebrate bin silver jjjjbilee as a soldier next year ; but, oddly enough, this is his first campaign, the ' Gherubims ' not having been in active service since the Crimea, when, however, they so much distinguished themselves that it must be admitted they deserved a erood long rest. Lord Edmund Talbot left Arundel, amid a scene of considerable emotion and the display of much goodwill by the townspeople, some three weeks ago, so he will he one of the first of the later contingent to arrive at the front.