People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 9 July 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

The recent visit of King and Queen Alexandra to Russia recalls the fact that- the .marriage of the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, the Czar's mother, and sister of Queen Alexandra, provided one of the most pathetic love stories in the annals" of Royalty. Before the Empress, who was Princess Dagmar of Denmark, married Alexander 111., she was engaged to his elder brother, the Czarevitch, and she loved him with all the fervor of a young, ardent heart. In 1865, at Nice, the Grand Duke Nicholas fell from his horse and was so badly injured that his life was despaired of. His fiancee hastened to him, and -never left his side till he breathed his last. The succession to the throne devolved on. the, Grand.. Duke Alexander. He stood by the deathbed of the Czarevitch) who.,,.in the presence o: the Emperor and Empress, placed. the hand... of the weeping Princess into his, saying . to , her with .almost his last- words, ' Marry my brother; he is true as crystal, and, \ : , wish it.' Enforced by political reasons, this bequest- was law to the bereaved girl.

The banquet which was tendered last week in London to Lord Dudley, the new Governor-General of the- Australian Commonwealth, reminds us that the family fortune had its foundation in a chance customer at the shop of an ancestor in Lombard street. So, at any rate, says tradition. The story goes that in the reign of the first Charles _one William Ward opened a goldsmith's shop in Lombard street, and soon afterwards was enabled to purchase at a great bargain a quantity of the finest diamonds, which had been offered for sale by a sailor who had just come ashore. Ward's stock of diamonds soon attracted the attention of the Court, and he obtained the custom of Queen Henrietta Maria, who appointed him her jeweller. The rest of the story can be told in a few words. A Lord Dudley of that day being in want of £\O,OOO\ 0,000 came to Ward and asked for a loan. Fortunately or unfortunately, he was aole to offer but little in the way of security, and here Ward saw his chance. He had a son, and Lord Dudley had a granddaugher, and, if Lord JDudley would consent to the match, the money should be handed over. This was accordingly agreed upon, and the fortunes of the family may be said to have gone on increasing ever since that date.

Accompanied by his wife, his son, and three daughters, Mr. Sidney Kidman, the Australian cattle king, one of the most interesting personalities in the Empire, is now in London. Mr. Kidman was born in Australia 51 years ago, and has never been in England before. A modest man, Mr. Kidman was disinclined to talk about himself (says a London exchange), but he was enthusiastic in his praise of Australia. At 14 Mr. Kidman, whose home is at Kapunda, about 50 miles from Adelaide, was earning 10s a week, where the Broken Hill Mine now Is. Then he had a single horse. To-day he owns, or is interested in, 49,2165 square miles of country, the acreage being something like 31,668,680. Beginning life as a teamster, he has worked his way up till he is the largest horse-breeder anfi the greatest cattleowner in Australia. He owns 100,000 head of cattle and 10,000 horses. He is master of over 20,643 square "miles of territory in Queensland, over 7567 in South Australia, and more than 21,000 in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, and elsewhere. He has 32 cattle ranches, and at his home in Kapunda take place the largest horse sales in the world. Several times over 2000 horses belonging to him have been sold at one sale, and next year he expects that he will have 3000 horses at one sale.

Sir Henry Blake, at one time Governor of. Hong Kong, and, until last year, of Ceylon, has settled with Lady Blake at Myrtle Grove, Youghal, a house of very great historic interest, for it was there that Sir Walter Raleigh lived and entertained the poet, Edmund Spenser. . Sir Walter was chief magistrate of Youghal at the time, and Myrtle Grove, formerly known as 'The House/ was the Warden's residence. There also resided Sir Richard Nbrris, Sir George Carew, both Lords President of Munster, and the Earl o£ Cork. Myrtle Grove is a perfect Elizabethan gabled house, with some of the rooms wainscotted and decorated with carved oak. There is supposed to be a secret passage from the dining-room to the old tower of --the church. In^he garden, according to tradition, is Raleigh's yew-tree, under the shade of which he may have 'drunk tobacco,' as they used to say in those days, and perußed the manuscript of 'The Faerie Queene.' The garden is famous.- ; In it was planted the first potato that ever grew in Ireland.