People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 6 May 1915, Page 41

People We Hear About

On Tuesday, March 23, his Eminence Cardinal Bourne attained'his 54th birthday. He was born at Clapham, London S.W., on March, 23, 1861. On dune 11, 1884, he was ordained at Clapham, and on May 1, 1896, he was consecrated by Cardinal Vaughan—his immediate predecessor at Westminster—as Coadjutor for Southwark. He succeeded to the Bishopric of Southwark in April of the following year, and was translated to Westminster by an Apostolic Brief of September 11, 1903. He received the Pallium a month later. On November 27, 1911, Dr. Bourne was created a Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church of the' title of St. Pudentiana. The Queen of the Belgians has been very devoted to the wounded soldiers since the present tragic war began. She transformed the Royal Palace at Brussels into a hospital, and at Antwerp she was both day and night by the bedside of the wounded, only leaving her patients for a few days to take her children to England, so that they might be fairly safe from the bombs dropped from the Zeppelins. It is a strange coincidence that these huge dirigibles should be constructed on the borders of Lake Constance, in the locality where Queen Elizabeth in her girlhood days, as a Bavarian Princess, spent many a gladsome hour. The Queen was at the retreat from Antwerp. She was at the terrible battle of the Yser, and she has known all the hardships of the past winter, as she has been constantly by her husband’s side. Her Majesty continues to devote herself to the wounded, and has sent many comforts to the soldiers in the trenches. The men naturally love their ‘ little Queen,’ so frail, so delicate, yet so full of kindness and energy. Captain Maxwell Scott, who has won the D.S.O. and mention in despatches from the front, is the future head of the historic house of Scott of Abbotsford, and great-great-grandson of the immortal Sir Walter, whose great-granddaughter and ultimate heiress married a brother of the late Lord Herries (says the Glasgow Observer). The Hon. Mrs. Maxwell Scott, whose charming books—mainly on historical subjectshave an interest not confined to Catholics, may be said to sustain the literary traditions of her distinguished family, as her eldest son does the military. Sir Walter's elder son, who succeeded him in the baronetcy, was a colonel of cavalry, and his grandson, young Lockhart, was a cornet of dragoons at the date of his early death. The Abbotsford estate has so far descended through a succession of heirs-female, Mrs. Maxwell Scott having inherited it from her mother. It will be an interesting event if the old title should ever be revived in favor of her son and successor, and a Catholic Sir Walter Scott reign one day at beautiful Abbotsford. Adele, Countess of Cadogan, the widow of the late Earl who has just passed away, is a Catholic. She is the daughter of Count Neri Palagi, and a grand daughter of Sir George Cadogan, and, therefore, was a cousin of her late husband. The wedding took place in Florence in 1911. Since she came to England Countess Cadogan has given up a great deal of her time to works of charity. One of her most kindly acts was to start a recreation room for working girls in Westminster. The Nuns of the Spanish Convent generously placed a large room at the Countess’s disposal, and this has been transformed into a club room, ■where the girls come daily for a rest and a chat. It is open until nine o’clock every night, and (through the kindness of their benefactress the members are provided with refreshment. Thus, after a hard day’s work, they can go to the club and have a little relaxation, congenial companionship, and rest, away from the temptations of the streets. This is but one of the many activities with, which Adele, Countess of Cadogan, is identified.