People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 15, 15 April 1909, Page 588

People We Hear About

Mr. Thomas A. Edison was 62 -years old on February 12. The celebration, by wish of Mr. Edison, was confined to congratulations on the part^of relatives" and friends. One of the speakers at the recent banquet to Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P.; in- Belfast was Mr. Win. Redmond,Jim., son of Mr. John chairman of the Irish Party; Young Mr. Redmond said he would remember .with pleasure that his first appearance as a publio speaker was made at Belfast, and at a gathering called to do honor to his father's friend, Mr. Devlin. Lady Halle is th« daughter of Joseph Neriida, of Brunn, Moravia, and she-, began her English career in 1849, when she took part in a London concert. Twenty years later she brought out the violin that brought her fame. She married first Ludwig Norman, of Stockholm and secondly -Sir Charles Halle. In 1900 Lady Halle retired from the platform, and in 1901 she was appointed violinist to Queen Alexandra. Since 1900 she has been chief professor of the violin "at the "Stern Conservatoire, Berlin. Madame de Navarro, who will be best remembered as Miss Mary Anderson, has since her retirement from- the stage and subsequent marriage, resided in the quiet, - oldworld village of Broadway, in Worcestershire, famous for its artistic little colony, which includes such well-known figures as Mr. Edwin, Abbey, R.A., .Sir Hubert Parry, Mr. Alfred Parsons, A.R.A., and others.-. On the rare occasions when Madame de Navarro emerges from her retirement it is to give her services in the cause, of charity. Mr. Laurence Ginnell, M.P., whose name has been rather prominently before the public. of late, was r /bor.n in 1854. He is the son of Mr. Laurence Ginnell, of Castletown, Delvin. The future M.P. was;called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1893, and at: King's Inns, Dublin, in 1906. Mr. Ginnell was one of the founders of the Irish » Literary Association of London. He- was elected, Parlia-

mentary representative of North Westmeath in 1906, and he suffered several mouths' imprisonment last year in connection with the cattle-driving agitation. In 1902 Mr. Ginnell married Alice, daughter of Mr. James King, J.P., of Kilbride. He is the author of The Brehon Laws and The Doubtful Grant of Ireland. Mr. Charles Talbct Walmsley, whom the Pope has' just appointed one of the private chamberlains at the Vatican, and who was formerly an officer in the 17-th Lancers, -is the eldest son of Mr. Humphrey Walmsley, of Westwood Hall, Lancashire, and head of a very ancient Catholic family of distinction. The Walmsleys of Westwood held lands in Lancashire in the time of Henry VII., while a younger branch of the family (the Walmsleys of Pilgrim's Place) afterwards settled in Kent, where they were established for many generations. They are among the comparatively few great families who remained loyal to the old faith through the days of the penal v laws, , and they have" given -many- bishops and- priests to the Church. A Paris contemporary compiles the ages of the principle rulers. Among those who have passed 50 years of age we find the ■ following : — Francis Joseph, • 79 years ; Leopold 11., 74; Charles of Roumania, 70; Edward VII., 67; Frederick VIII. 3 66; Abdul Hamid and Menelik, 65; George I. of Greece, 64; and Gustav V., 51. In the list of those whoHiave not "reached 50 years are — Ferdinand of Bulgaria^ 48" years; Victor. Emmanuel ll. and Nicholas 11., 40; Haakon VTI. and Mahomet-Ali-Mirza, Shah of Persia, 37 ;Muley Hand,- 36 ; the Khedive -of Egypt, 36 ; the Queen of Holland, 29; Alfonso XIII., 23;-. and Manuel 11. of Portugal, 20. The President of the French Republic and the Pope are ignored.

The Dowager Lady Bute, who received birthday congratulations, recently from a large circle of relatives, was born (says the Daily Chronicle) art Dorlin, the wildly romantic place among the Argyllshire hills - which her father, the first Lord Howard of Glossop, Had bought some years before from . his brother-in-law, Mr. James HbpeScott. Lord Howard's three eldest daughters all married Scottish peers of ancient lineage, and his eldest daughter's

wedding with the millionaire MaTquis of Bute in 1872

was a notable ceremony, attracting as much attention as ' Royal nuptials. Since her widowhood Lady Bute has established her home on the green* isle of Cumbrae, in a pretty house formerly owned by Lord Glasgow. It »s • within an easy distance of Bute,'' now the home of her eldest son and her grandchildren, to whom she is devoted.