Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, November 07, 1915, EDITORIAL MAGAZINE, Image 19

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Funeral of Captain W. C C Gladstone, at HawaJden Castle,
Statesman, Which Will Now Pass to One of Anojther Name,
Interesting
to Distinguished Titles Like
That of Baron Ribblesdale,
Sons Have-All
T
' HE British. House of Lords has
suffered to such an enormous
extent In the war that It Is
seriously In danger of extinction.
The deaths have already been re
ported of 560 peers, heirs to peer
ages and members of titled families.
Of the 618 members of the House
there Is said to be not one who has
not-lost a son or other near relative.
The Marquis of Lansdowne, the Con
servative leaner ol the' House,' de
scribed the situation correctly when
he said: "The House of Lords lias
become a House of Mourning,
tnis wholesale slaughter Is that
many titles will become extinct and
many famous English castles and
stately homes will cease to be as
sociated with the families to which
they have belonged for reneratlona.
In most cases they will pass to
daughters or more distant relatives
of the last owner through the female
line.
It is impossible to catalogue all
the noblemen and members of titled
families who have fallen. Besides,
the list is being Increased by new
names dally.. A few conspicuous In
stances will prove to what an extent
the ownership of hlstorio estates has
been changed by the war.
The Marquis of Lincolnshire has
lost his only eon, Viscount Wen
dover. and has no other male heir.
He is the owner of historic Gwydr
House, in North Wales, which his
family acquired through marriage
with the last heiress of the very
. ancient Welsh family of Wynn.
This place is famous In early Welsh
legend and the name "Owydr,"
strange to say, means In Welsh
"House of the Bloody Hand." The
Marquisate will now become extinct,
and the estates will pass to daugh
ters. Lord Ribblesdale, now an old man,
has lost his two sons and has no
brothers or other male heirs to his
title, which will therefore become
extinct. He Is the owner of Ols
burn Park, Yorkshire, a beautiful,
old estate, which has been In the
possession of the Listers the family
name of Lord Ribblesdale for cen
turies. Now it will cease to be as
sociated with the name.
Lord Waleran "has had his only
son s.ent back from the war. dying.
He is the owner of Bradfield Park,
in Devonshire, a house snd estate
which have been In his family for
over 800 years.
Lord Stamfordham. private cecre
tary to King George, bas lost his
only son, Captain J. N. Bigse. His
title will probably become extinct
unless bis present wife dies and he
remarries again, and his seat, Dun
bam Massey Hall, at Altrlncham.
will cease to be connected with his
name.
Lord Knaresborough has lost his
only son, Captain Claude Meysey
Thompson. He bas been a great so
cial light and was a particular friend
of the lata King Edward. He has a
magnificent country estate, Klrby
HalL near York, noted for It stables.
There U no one of his name to
whlcn this place can pass.
These are only four conspicuous
cases out of a list that apparently
will count scores of names before
the war Is over.
There Is one case of a particu
larly interesting character, similar
to those mentioned, although no
title has become extinct as a result
of It. Hawarden Castle, the famous
residence of the great statesman.
William Ewart Gladstone, will as a
result of this war tragedy cease to
be occupied by one of that name in
the next generation.
Captain William Glynne Charles
Gladstone, only son of the oldest Ion
of the great statesman, has been
killed at the Dardanelles. He was
the heir to Hawarden Castle. He
has cousins of the same name, but
it Is understood that the picturesque
. . - .
J A
Plan to Make Daughters Heiresses
Been Killed in War
family castle and estate will pass to
his sisters,
So great has been the death list
among the sole heirs to peerages
that It Is proposed to make daughters
and other female heirs eligible to
succeed to the titles. - This would
cave them from extinction In the
majority of cases. I
A peerage In modern times has
been granted to a man. by a royal
patent whloh provides that It shall
, descend to hla heirs by male descent
only.
If he hat only a daughter It can
not descend to her nor to her eon.
mere are some ancient peerages
in ciiiH wnirn n nnnTin rnmnrn
mon, ' Which descend through"
women. They were created in the
Middle Ages, when the King would
summon a member of a certain
family by writ, generation after
generation, to sit In the House of
Lords. This process bas ieen held
to create a form of property similar
to real estate. Lord Camoys, who
married Miss Mildred Sherman, of
New York, possesses on6 of the Re
ancient baronies, created in 1383,
but no more of them have originated
for centuries.
In eome modern instances where
a peerage bas been given to a
famous general or statesman with
out sons, a "special remainder" has
been added to the patent, maklns the
title descend to a daughter or col
lateral relation. This was done in
the case of Lord Roberts and Lord
Kitchener, neither of whom bad sons
when their titles were created. In
the case of Lord Roberts Uit upe
clal remainder was to his daughter
The Marquis of Tullibardine,
Heir, to the Ancient Scottish
Dukedom of Atholl, "Doing
His Bit" in the War.
and In that of Lord Kitchener to his
brothers. When the title passes by
special remainder to a daughter it
descends only through the male line
after her death.
In the cues of peers or heirs to
peerages who Lave been killed In
this war. It ie proposed to make a
special remainder to their daughters
in order to preserve and honor a
title which has gained unusual dis
tinction because it possessor has
given his life for his country.
It is interesting to note that in
most of the cases mentioned above
of peerages threatened with extinc
tion the title would be aaved by au
thorising a daughter to inherit it.
There is the case of Lord Ribbles
dale, one of the most popular peers
in England. He lost his oldest son.
the Hon. Thomas Lister, a few
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Once the Home of His Grandfather, England's Most Famous
Because the Young Heir Was Killed. at the Dardanelles.
Wh
ose
years ago, flghtlns In Sotnallland,
and now he has lost his only re
maining son, the Hon. Charles Lis
ter. In the Dardanelles campaign.
Lord Ribblesdale, who belongs to a
very, ancient Yorkshire family, com
bines aristocracy of manners and
appearance with democratic ideas.
He Is a liberal In politics' and has
been associated with many public
spirited movements. He Is known
among his friends as "the Ancestor,"
because he looks the Ideal aristo
crat, a peculiarity not to je noticed
In all noblemen. '
He was at one time considered the
best amateur boxer in England and
some surprise is felt that hla arlsto-,
cratloi very aquiline nose, was never
marred In this sport
Much sympathy is felt for this pic
turesque sporting peer on account of
the great tragedies that have be
fallen him in his old age. He has a
beautiful daughter, vesy popular in
society, formerly the Hon. Diana.
Lister, who was married about a
year ago to Percy Wyndham, a
young officer of great promise. He
was killed early In the present war,,
leaving his widow wltn a little son
born after the war began.
Poor Mrs. Wyndham,' who is only
twenty-two years o'.a, has therefore
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The Earl of Granard, Who Married Miss Bea trice Mills, Granddaughter of the American
Multimillionaire, D. O. Mills, Photographed in the Dardanelles Trenches.
lost her young husband and two
brothers within a short time. It is
suggested that she be made the sue
ceesor to her father's title, with tbe
idea that it will pass to her little son.
The Marquis of Lincolnshire's
sad experience bears some extraor
dinary points of resemblance to the
last He is a great landowner, who
has always been noted for hfe liberal
Ideas, having sold smsll allotments
of land to hundreds of his tenants
for almost nothing. He Is Heredi
tary Lord Great Chamberlain of
England and was a trusted personal
adviser of Queen Victoria. -
Five successive daughters were
born to him and his wife and they
despaired of having a son to inherit
the title, when after nearly twenty
years of married life, the long-await-ed
heir was born. Now thU young
fellow, known as Viscount Wen
dover, the heir to many broad es
tates, the hope of an ancient family,
bas been killed in his teens.
Strange to say, the Marquis of
Lincolnshire haa. Just like Lord
Ribblesdale, a young daughter, with
a baby whose father has been killed
in the war. Lady Victoria Carring
ton was the fifth daughter of tbe
Marquis of Lincolnshire snd wss
Coayright, 1915,
Viscount Powerscourt, , an
English Peer, with Great
Estates,. Who Is Now (Risk
big His Life in the Des
perate Conflict at the Dardanelles.
V
married about a year ago to CaDta.n
Maurice Legge-Bourke, who has Just
been killed in the war. Tn her case
also it is proposed that she should
be made heiress to her father's title
and that it should eventually pass to
her little son, whose father died for
his country.
Two of the other peers mentioned
as having lost their only sons, Lord
Waleran and Lord Knaresborough,
also have daughters.
Hundreds of members of titled
families, as already stated, have lost
their lives in the war. While they
have not all left their families with
out a male heir, as in tbe cases
specified, their deaths make tbo ex
tinction of the title at some time in
the future more probable than it
would otherwise have been Tbe
length of life of a peerage must be
more or less related to the number
of persona eligible to inherit it.
Many of the ducal families have
lost heavily in the war. The Duke
of Devonshire, who in point of
wealth, ancestry and influence is
one of the first of British noblemen,
has lost his youngest and favorite
brother, Major Lord John Cavendish.
The Devonshire estates are enorm
ous and the family possesses five
by tb Star Company.
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great country seats, Chatsworth
House, Hardwtck Hall, Bolton Ab
bey, Compton Tlace and Llsmore
Castle. This family haa been con-'
tlnuously at the forefront of Kuril,!)
public life for over three hundred
years, since they were enriched by
a very large share of the monastic
lands in tbe reign of King Henry
VIII.
The late Lord John Cavendish left
no children and beside the Duke he
had only one brother, who is .lso
childless. The Duke bas two young
eons, but neither of them 1 married
and the older, who is Already in the
army, is liable to lose bis life before
he msrrles. It will be seen that this
famous dural family is seriously
weakened by tbe loss It has sus
tained. The Duke of Wellington, tbe
fourth in succession from the victor
of Waterloo, has lost his second son.
Lord Richard Wellesley, and may
yet suffer other losses, as his oldest
son and other members of bis family
are in the war. The present Duke's
direct male descendants are not
numerous, as only one of his sons
has at present a son of his own. It
is therefore not a remote possibility
that this war may cause the extinc-
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Lord Ribblesdale' Daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Percy Wjrndham,
Whom It Is Proposed to Make Heiress to' Her Father's
Peerage, Which Would Otherwise Become Extinct.
tlon of the title given- for the most
famous British victory of earlier
generations. 1
It. Is certain that British peers
snd members of British noble fam
ilies have shed their blood in this
terrible war with the most unflinch
ing courage and whole-souled patriot
Why a Cheap Home May
Make You a
D
.TJRINQ one of his campaigns
for the Presidency the late
Benjamin Harrison uttered
an epigram which made him the
target of much criticism. He said,
"A cheap coat makes a cheap
man," and this statement, which
was intended to epitomize his
views on the protective tariff, was
twisted Into meaning that people
whose clothes were cheap were
purchasable.
This was not true, says John J.
Murphy, New York City's Tene
ment House Commissioner, and it
would be no more true that bad
housing made bad citizens uuder
all rircumstan os. But, next to an
Inadequate and unwholesome food
supply, poor hou: Inn doon maud as
tho most drlf'torloun elPinrnt in
our civic l'i. Sanitary research
shows how important is tbe reao
. tlon of adoquii'.u 1 ght and ventila
tion on tbe health, stamina and
moral character of Individuals.
Had boualng furnishes the fruitful
nurseries of disease germs of all
kinds, while at the same time creat
ing conditions which prevent the
building up of resistance to their
Inroads.
There can be no question that
the three great scourges of man
kind disease, poverty and crime
are in a large measure due to bad
housing in its broadest sense. In
temperance in many of its most
repugnant forms may be traced to
the fart that so many citizens are
obliged to live in homes in which
they can take neither pride nor
comfort and which makea the
saloon seem desirable by contrast.
Bad housing is especially detri
mental In Its consequences to the
children reared under its Influence.
In many cases the evil influences
of environment can never be erad
icated. The need for the erection of 'in
J
ism. The fact has Impressed itself
on the British nation and there is
less talk than before the war about
abolishing the House of Lords. To
perpetuate the titles distinguished
by the death of the last holders in
battle would seem a simple form of
national gratitude.
Cheap Man
stitutions for the blind and hos
pitals for the child victims of tuber
culosis, spinal meningitis and other
diseases of like character is greatly
intensified by bad home conditions.
The employe living in a house in
adequately lighted and ventilated
is unable to perform his task with
proper energy and Intelligence
Women compelled to live in such
houses develop tendencies to Irri
tability, which frequently lead to
family disruption.
Bad housing tends to increae
the tax burdens of a community by
requiring lareer expenditures for
remedial service, which might
otherwise be eliminated.. The lack
of proper cleanliness and decency
in the exterior and Interior of
houses tends to reduce the self-re-gpfl.'t
of the o'-ci pants.
Note how eagerly tbe family
which has even slightly improved
Its financial standing seeks build
ings with more attractive exteriors
and better decorated rooms. It will
also be found that as families de
scend in the social scale, one of
the pangs most keenly felt Is the
necessity for the occupancy of
quarters in buildings whose gen
( era! appearance indicates that they
are occupied by the miserably
poor.
It. may be said, therefore, that
there Is no plane or human ex
istence In society which the hous
ing question does not touch. There
is no form of vice, crime, debility
or shlftlessness which bad housing
does not tend to nurture. "Keep
ing up appearances" is often de
cried, and deserves much of the
reproach cant upon it when it sim
ply means unwarranted extrava
gance to maintain a position which
one's income does not Justify, but
among the poor it la an ever-present
aid to the maintenance jot self
sa(tt, and is to be encouraged
rather than dsarftA, ,