New-York tribune., 1907-07-29
DUKE OF SOMERSET.
Death of One Of His Tzcin Brothers
affects the Succession.

Lord Percy ST. Maur's death has the effect OF
making his twin brother. Lord Ernest st. Maur.
next heir 10 the hOnors and estates of his eldest
brother, the chidIess Duke Of Somerset Lord
Ernest, a confirmed bachelor of sixty, is un-
likely wed at this late date and to leave any
issue His youngest brother. ffty-eight. years of
age had no children by the marriage which he
contracted twenty-eight years ago, and the duke
dom one of the grandest and the second Oldest in
the English peerage, will therefore pass eventually
10 Major Edward Hamilton St Maur to his only
SON Evelyn ST. Maur the latter a subaltern Of the
ROYAL Dublin Fusieer Regiment both of them be-
~ing obliged to go back to their descent from the
eighth duke in order TO establish their rights 10
the eventual succession of the present duke who is
the fifteenth of his line
OF course il is quite the cards that the sue
cession may give rise to legal contest As in the
case Of almost every British peerage there are
several claimants TO the dukedom. The most TO-
mantle of them is elderly man who pretends to
be Lord Edward St. Maur, a OF the twelfth
Duke of Somerset. Lord Edward disappeared most
nlysteriously while on bear shooting expedition
in the Himalayas in 1861 shortly after his return
from this country, where he had spent consider
able time first the Union side and then at
Confederate headquarters. watching the historic
struggle between the North and South. At Con-
federste headquarters he was the guest OF General
Dick Taylor. TO whom he presented q letter Of
Introduction from Jefferson Davis and who at first
received hlm with good deal OF suspicion, in
spite Of the presidential letter. owing his spell
ing his name as st Maur" instead of Seymour"
which led the general TO regard him as an mpostor
and very nearly 10 hang him 5 a spy.
II costs an enormous amount OF money in Eng
land 10 enforce claims to a peerage held perhaps
wrongly by another. For the tribunal which do
cides such matters is committee Of privileges
Of the House Of Lords. 1t is thanks TO this cues
ton Of expense that there are SO very few suits
instituted 10 recover peerages as compared to the
number Of claims and pretensons thereto. 1t is
therefore, just possible that the elderly who
claims 10 be Lord Edward St Maur may he in
reality the heir Of the twelfth duke. and that the
story OF his having been held in captivity for nearly
front 10
tribes OF India may be true. So he has not got
beyond the unsuccessful application for an niunc-
ton 10 restrain the tenants of entailed estates
of the Duke Of Somerset from paying rents to the
latter; but should eccentric people be found tn
furnish the necessary funds 10 help the claimant
10 fight the case, as Lord Rivers and others did in
the Tichborne cause celebre there no doubt that
& good deal Of testimony bearing upon the matter
would be sought and obtained in this country both
from the Confederate and Union commanders and
officers who were terms of intimacy with Lord
Edward. and also from the records Of the War
and State departments AZ Washington as well as
among the official papers Of the Confederacy.
The present duke, former soldier and a regi-
mental conlrade Of his most intimate friend Cen
eraI SIT Redvers Butler, is very tall. Indeed, his
stature exceeds that Of every other member Of the
House Of Lords even that OF Lord Pembroke. and
OF the mobiles Of his rank he IS undoubtedly the one
whose presence IS most imposing and most ducll
He is, however, very poor-that IS to say as dukes
go-and sacrificed fortune which he would other
wise have inherited from his uncle owing to his
persistence In marrying against the wishes Of that
kinsman a very charming Canadian woman of
marriage has been a very happy one. The duchess
has been her husbands comrade and cornpanion
IN many Of his shooting expeditions IN the Rocky
Mountains and in the Far West Of Canada and
has published several volumes recording these
trips. the most successful and popular having been
one entitled Impressions Of Tenderfoot."
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE DUCHESS
The duchess has number Of warm and close
American friends, but, Ike her husband prefers
to choose them herself Instead Of having them
thrust upon her against her will. and a few years
ago the duke attracted considerable attention on
this side of the Atlantic by addressing letters to
The Paris HERALD and 10 a number Of other
newspapers vigorously protesting against the men
ton Of his wife's name as having been present at
an entertainment given the Riviera by a New
York woman and declaring that the duchess did
not know and had met tie woman in oues-
ton The action Of the duke was PROMPTED nv
the very free which had been made Of his
yife's by certain people who. visiting Europe
u further their social prospects here, make a
practice Of sending TO the newspapers altogether
mythical lists Of great personages whom they de-
scribe having figured at their entertainments,
feeling relatively safe from discovery and exposure
by the unhkelihood OF the American papers 10
whom the lists sent ever being brought the
attention of the great peTsonages whose names
have thus been misused.
The duke IS an extremely clever raconteIr very
Independent in character and much liked among
his neghbors in Devonshtre HIS family is ore
of the most ancient and illustrious in the United
Kingdom. and had been IN existence for two hun
dred or three hundred years when Sir William
Seymour, one Of the ancestors Of the duke.
tended Edward the Black Prince into Gascony.
Sir Edward Seymour was created first Duke OF
Somerset IN 1873, and Lord Protector Re-
gent Of England during the minority Of his nephew,
Edward VI, and OF the leading spirits IN the
creation OF the State Church Of England. He lost
his head the scaffOld and his well
other OF his descendants and heirs 10 his hOnors
figure in the annals of England having suffered
imprisonment and exile at the hands Of the crown.
The first Duke Of Somerset. hy-the-bye,
brother-in-iaw of King Henry VIII, and II
the occasion of the marriage Of his sister, Lady
Jane Seymour, to the Bluebeard King that the
Eeymours received from that monarch the right TO
quarter the OF England with their
THE SHERIDAN DUKE"