The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-17
AFAMOUs FAMILY.
The Original Duke of Norfhumber-
land Was n MIR. SmitIsOm.
From ID Chlcago Record.

FROM the AnlcaEO RECORD.
The patronymic Of the Duke OF North
cumberland. as everybody knows. is not
really Percy, but merely Smithsom. The
ducal house OF Percy. which in times gone
by intermarried with the reigning families
OF England, France. burgundy and Spain.
became extinct so far as the male line
was concerned I'm the early part OF the
last century. when the only daughter OF
the last Percy Duke married the Duke
OF Somerset % the day. This Duke Of
Somerset In his turn left only one daugh-
ter, and while his dukedom Of Somerset
passed to a distant cousin. Alnwick cas-
tie and the immense Percy estates were
bequeathed 10 this daughter. who married
a very ordinary country town banker re-
JOicing In the name of Smithsom
Owing to the immense territorial infiu-
ence which the latter exercised as control
ter OF the Percy estates, Prime Minister
Pitt was only too glad to listen to his de
mand for a peerage under the style OF
Duke OF northumberland, this being, of
course, in exchange for promise OF his
political support King George III. how
ever, raised serious objections to sane
uontng his prime minister's resolve, and
when at length he did yield. he did so with
the cutting remark that although he could
create Mr.. Smithsom Duke OF North
cumberland, he could never make him a
gentleman.
The amount of the ducal fortune and
estates may be estimated from the fact
that the late duke spent $3O00,0O0 in build
ing tor his laborers cottages, to each Of
which hair an acre OF land was attached.
He also spent 81 .0OO.O 900 in the erection and
restoration OF churches, and stii larger
sums than either OF these in the construc-
ton Of roads, bridges and drainage works.
Alnwick castle, the principal country seat
of the duke. is noble and majestic pile
and the only historic building in Great
Britain except Windsor, Warwick castle
Abbey
existence over a thousand years ago. IL Is
one of the best existing specimens of the
Old border castles of the middle ages. Its
battlemented walls are thanked by sixteen
huge towers, and its kitchens are cele-
brated in Lord Beaconheld's novel. Tan
cred"
The ducal family of Northumberland is
the only one in the British peerage that
still retains the hereditary privilege of be-
ing buried within the walls of Westminster
Abbey. Formerly many great families
possessed this right. but they have become
extinct, or have allowed the privilege to
lapse. The Northumberland vault in the
abbey Is situated beneath St. Nicholas
Chapel, and the last member to be in
TERED there was the wife of the present
duke, who died about four years ago. She
was the daughter of the great banker,
Henry Drummond. so well known as one
OF the founders of the church originated
by Edward Irving. The duchess convert
ed her husband to her own religious
views, but was unable to induce him TO
conform TO her strict doctrines on the sub
Ject OF VegetarianiSm.
The old dukes grandson, young Lord
Warwonth, has just been elected to par
lament for South Kensington, thereby
anording the altogether unusual specta-
Gle OF father. grandfather and grandson
that is, three generatons-occupying
seats at the same time in the national
legislature. He enjoys the reputation OF
being the most Unconditional youth of his
age in London, where men pride them
selves on being Unconditional In spite OF
this, he carried off, while at oxford Uni
versity, the Newgate prize for poetry.
His father, the Earl Perry, is quite as
much purist and faddist as the OLD
duke, while the Countess Percy, on the
contrary, is of such worldly character
that on one occasion she was publicly
reprimanded by the queen at a drawing
room for having appeared at that func-
ton in q gorgeous toilet, and for having
given ball within three months after the
death of her pretty 13-year-old daughter,
sister of Lord Warworth.