Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-12-02
ENGLAND S VETERANS
Field Marshal Grant is First
on the List.
LONG RECORD OF BRAVERY.
for Seyenty-four Years He Has
Been In the Service.
WANTS TO DIE IN THE HARNESS.
Medals and Decorations beyond Counting
Rewarded Deeds OF Daring on
Many Battlefield.

LONDON, Nov. 22.-Down at Chelsea
where England maintains a Royal Military
Hospital. saw an aged man who. II he Is
not the oldest soldier in the English service
is certainly the oldest among England's
army ofiicera. This veteran soldier is siI
Patrick Grant, X. G., X, 9. D.. Field Mar
shall in Her Maiesty's service, and still ia
harness as the Governor Of the Royal Mill
tary Hospital at Chelsea. though he Is over
80 years OF age snd has been In the English
service over seyeniy-four years. or since
1890.
veteran, Indeed, is this old soldier.
Now and then we read Of members OF the
famous Light Brigade. which rennyson i'm
mortalized. being Sill to the fore. and they
are regarded as maryels OF longevity. Yet
they must seem like young men to Sir Pat
rick Grant. who had been in the English
army thirty-hve years when the Crimean
War had begun. lie entered the English
army as an ensign the very year that the
Duke OF Cambridge lts present commander
ln-chlef. was born-is2O He had been In the
service twelve years when Lord Roberts, the
most famous. perhaps, OF England's soldiers,
was born, and thirteen years before the birth
OF Sir Garnet Wellesley.
In the soyenty-iour years Of his service
this old war dog has held pretty much every
grade in the service, from ensign up, and
now. in his ripe, old age. he Is a Field Mar
shall. lie has been decorated and redeco-
rated. He has ben thanked for his services
by his sovereign more times than he eau
remember. He Is Knight Of the Garter;
his name is on the roll Of tho highest order
to which an English military man may be-
long, for he is a Knight Commander Of the
order OF the Bath; In short. he has won
every honor to which an English soldier may
aspire.
As a boy Field Marshal Grant must have
heard OF the glory of the great Napoleon
years before the Battle Of Waterloo was
fought He was well grown lad when
England fought It's second war with the
United States. As a boy IN Inverness In
MS native Scotland. he can personally re-
member the exploits OF Paul Jones, the
american privaleor along the west coast Of
scotland. He has lived to see the United
states grow from a handful OF States into a
powerful country 10 sec tho nap OF Europe
ehhnged again and again to see bakers
dozen Of quarrelDg prlncipaltles mo a
united Germany, aud to see a united It,Iv
spring from tho brain OF Cayour. He bas
seen also Spain fall from her opco nron5
station amoug the European nations. and opca
proud and mighty Austria fall into seconJ
place as compared with England. France
uermany and Russia. Alexander III. whom,
the Russians are still mourning. "a tbe
FOURTH czai who has gone the way of ain
mesh during the life time OF the old Field
Marshal, and France has been suceesslysIv
a Republlc and an Empire twice In the sams
time. '' '"t'e
During the same period England has
won Tor herself a vast aud wealthy en-
pre- IN india and another in Africa. He
himself played an important ana bonoratI,
part In the winning and koopng ~ i, oVlo
Indeed tho old soldiers military career S WA,
nearly all confined TO India. was
When young Patrick Grant. through his
so',uh Iather' got an appointment In 1890
40 '"''bn IN inc military service OF the