People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1, 5 January 1905, Page 10

People We Hear About

Mr. Francis M'Qullagh, who was a member of the GHalsigow ' OaJthjohc Herald ' staff a few yefe-rs ago, ia at present on active service in Manchkiria as the slpecial war corredpartdent of the ' New York Herald.' Simce lo.a,vi)nig Bradford Mr. M'Cullag'h, who 'w a» Omagh man, has bee,ni ejditior of tjhe ' Cathplic Mesisqnger ' in Ceylon, anld mjore recently of the ' Siam Free Press ' in Bajngkok. Mr. Jd|hn Dillon, M P . us in .pu'hlic life tlhe mtost distinguished of tihe surviving s Undents of tlhe Cathiolic University of Ireland. Mr. Dillon studied medicilne in tfie Medical School of tlhe University, which sto)o)d, and stands to-»day r an the site of the historic old theatre of C'roowJ street. Curiously enough, on the site of the evem npre flamous Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin a Catholic churqh now stands. Sir Ggorge Errington, Bart., is another of tlhe survivor's of t|he old Catiholic University— *)f which Newma^n was tihe first Rectlor— Who sat in tihe Ho t use of Commons l«uti whose politics were not tibose of tihe distinguished memiber for Bast Mayo. In the Grown Prince of Japan the Emperor Mut3'i'hitio has an heir-apparent after 'his own heart. Althaupjh he has never travelled beyond his father's dominions, Prince Yoshihito is a remarkably enlightened young nvw, and one who has never been pampered. As a small boy he was sent away to school, where ho* was treaited in niiuqh the same way as his eom-panio/n's. He ia fond of athletics, is a fine ldng-distance walker, and is, or ratJhor w r as until recently, something of a wrestler. Some of tlhe peers in the Huouse of Lords h&'ve peculiar maiuioriams. Lord Lan-dsidowne will probably never get out of the habit of twirling his folders ro,u/rid Shis fingers wJhein addressing the House. Lord Sjpe,ncer, who sitia on Uhe opposite side of the table, moist often lays '•hi^ left hand c*n his breast. The Diu'ke of Devonshire always j-juts one of his hands into his trotoser ppokets when maikina; a Speech. Amiong the yoiunger me/mbers of the House, Lord Donaughm'ore, the U,nder-Secret»ary of Statd 9or War, always ends ,his periods by sla,p"ping a file of notes in front of him. He h|as also trick of turniing upion their lordships with an expression of blkinld surprise and extending both hands palms upwards 1 . Tihe Rarl of G-ains'borough 'has let Cam|/den House, his beautiJul seat on a £pur of the Cotiswold Hills, and will rcisido during the winter at Exton Hall, his place in Rutland. Exton is a larger place thaji Oainpden, but neither s^o picturesque nor s^o interesting as tihe old Gloucestershire manor-house, which is ,a many-gabled maiiisilon dating from the time of Charles 1., and occupying tho site of a grahee once belonging to the great Cistercian A/Hbey of Bordesley. The pxesent Lord Gainsh(orG(ug.h's father was a great friend artsd patlfon of Welby Rugin, who built his private chapel at Can^pden, and designed for .him wall^paipers and sideboards of the ultra-Gotthic kind affected by tihe famous revrveir of medieval art. Lord Gainsborough owns one of Uhe Unest sandstone quarries in the West of England, and has builu in tiie pretty old town of Carrcpdan a very ornate and handsome Catholic chur«h, vvhiqh rivals in beauty, if not in antiquariain interest, the ancient parish Church at the other end of the town. The doath has just taken place at Clevodon, Somerset, in her 7?t|h year, of a nottable Irish lady, t<he Hon. Letitia Veiyey-Fitiigerald, twi,n da/ugjiter of tjie^ Very Rev. Henry, third and last DoPd Fitageralid and Vesey, LL D., Dea<n of Kilmore, J&26-&0, by his 'miarriage to ElMabeth, youngest daughter of Standialh Graldy, of Elton, Cdunty Limerick. This branch of the ancient bo'i^o of Fit7Xierald descends ftom the family of the celebrated Edmund Fitzjo'frn FiVg^rald, well kjnpwn in the reign of Queen Elizabeth as ' The White Knight.' Miss Vesey FitzGecald's grandfather was the Rifljht Hon. James Fi^gerahd, a leading and impressive memiber of the Irish Bar, notod as a brilliant orator in flhe Irish Parliament, strenuously opposed to the Union. He latterly relusqd a peerage for himself, but his wife was created Baroness FitzGerald and Vesey in 1826. Their yaungar flon was # Henry, tihe late ipeer aforesaid, at whose death in 1860 the title became extinct. The elder sion, William, was at otic time Minister to the Qojurt of Sweden, where he Spent several years in unsuccessful attempts to persuade Beunajdotte (who was tihen King) to re-pay the large sums of money t)hat had bean ad.viain!c<dd to him during the wars with N^ppleon. He was afterwaMs defeated by Da/niel O'CdSnneU at a memorable bye~el i ec-tion in Cdunty Cfare, hut was eventually a OaJbinet Minister under Peel.