New-York tribune., 1907-01-06
Lady Bxxrdeff-CozxffS
Wealth.

noise that the fish were making in the by the
cottage doors -; and when he remarked that
certain action desired by the baroness Of his
parshioners had been entirely voluntary-but
backed by the thunders of the Church
Although the baroness was a pillar of the
Church of England, shown by her endow-
ment of bishoprcs in Australia, Canada and
South Africa II viii be from the above
that her philanthropy was in no way restricted
to any particular creed. The story have just
told OF her relief of the people in the southwest
Of Ireland through the Roman Catholic parish
clergy illustrated her freedom from all narrow
religious preiudices and her name is 10 this
day held in kindly memory in the Moslem
districts Of Turkey as 1t is in the British Isles.
For in the Crimean War. and more especially
at the time of the Russian invasion of Turkey
IN 1876 and 1877. she organized most elab-
crate system of ambulances and other services
for the relief of the Ottoman wounded and sick,
and many is the grzzled follower of the
Prophet veteran of that cruel war who
the preservation of his life to the baroness,
upon whom the Sultan lavished, with the ap-
proval OF his people, every distinction at his
disposal on the restoration of peace. 1t was In
connection with the administration of her fund
for the relief of the Turkish sick and wounded
in the war of thirty years ago that she first
became acquainted with the young American
whom she married four years afterward AL
though born in Brooklyn of a father who
a native of Plymouth. New England, and Of
mother who hailed from Philadelphia yet both
his parents and grandparents had always
tanned their English citizenship and conse-
quenty there necessity fer him to
letters Of naturalization when he entered
Parliament the Conservative member for
Westminster His William Lehman
Ashmead- Bartlett, and after his marriage he.
with the permission of the crown. assumed his
wife's name OF Burdett- Coutts in addition to
his own. In spite of the disparity of years
the baroness was about forty years the senior
of her husband-the union proved in every re-
spect happy one. Mr.. Burdett- Coutts devoted
himself to the administration of his wfe's char
tiles, and on ole occasion when a peerage was
offered TO him he declined It lest he should i'm
pair thereby in any way the prestige of his
wife's baronetcy. Lady Burdett- -Coutts had
been frequently sought in marriage before she
gave her hand to the young Brookynite upon
whom she settled an annuity of s25O.Uo0 the
day of the wedding in his right. Napoleon
III. when he living in London: the Due
d'Aumale. Lord Beaconsfeld, and many other
conspicuous figures OF the nineteenth century
are on record as having been among her suit
ors. and il is doubtful whether any woman ever
received SO large a number of matrimonial Of
fers the baroness In fact. they became a
positive nuisance and IN 1S4I she was COM
PEELED TO bring legal proceedings against a
lawyer Of the name of Richard Dunn, who. ac-
cording TO the terms Of the Indictment had for
eight years prosecuted her with most unwel-
come attentions, with a view to matrimony.
Dunn was sent to prison for eighteen months,
although there is doubt that he was. while
sane in other matters perfectly crazed on the
subject Of Miss Burdett- Coutts, as she was
then. and particularly the subject of her
fortune. Nowadays he would be sent TO a luna
tic asylum. where IN reality he belonged 1t
that occasion that her case was pre-
sented in court by Henry Hawkins now the