The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-10-11

the Life of the Right Honorable
Compton, Earl of Wilmington.
A splendid portrait of the Right
Honorable Spencer Compton, Earl
of Wilmington for whom this city
was named, recently secured after
great labor and expense by Mr.. James
Sprunt of this city; was exhibited
in the mayors office at the city hall
yesterday for several hours and it
was viewed by the mayor, members
of the board of aldermen and other
city officials. Later Mr.. Sprunt will
place the portrait on public exhibi-
ton so that it can be viewed by all
the citizens of Wilmington.
1t is interesting to note that the
Earl of Wilmington was the uncle
of Sir Henry Compton, who was ele-
waited to the bishopric of London in
1875 and who presided at the ex-
ercises in connection with the cor
ner stone laying of st. PauI's Cathe-
dral, London.
Bishop Compton also presided at
the dedication of st. Paul's Cathe-
dral on its completion thirty-seven
years later.
In connection with the invitation
extended to the mayor and city Of
teresting facts in connection with the
life of the Earl of Wilmington, stat
ing that his study of the man in
whose honor the city was named
was induced by quickened public
interest in the colonial history of
North Carolina, made for the North
Carolina Society of Colonial Danes.
Mr.. Sprunt continues as fol-
lows:
ITO the Right Honorable Spencer
Compton, Viscount Pevensey and
Earl of Wilmington, only vague or
If " dental references had been made
by IL writer's and speakers on our
lOcal History: the subject was there
fore comparatively Obscured. Seek
ing first for the desired information
from the present head of his distin-
guished house, the Fifth Marques
of Northampton, | was informed by
an unsigned note that he knew lit
tie or nothing of his forbears. It is
therefore to Lord Macauley, and to
Sir Bernard Burke that we are in
debted for the information that the
noble house of Northampton is of
ancient and distinguished lineage;
its records date back to the Twelfth
century and to the reign Of the first
Plantagent, King Henry the Sec
Ond.
Passing through long line of
notable men of his name we come
to James, third Earl of Northampton
who fought under the royal banner
and on the grand entry Of Charles
II into London, 29th Of May, 1860,
headed a band of two hundred gen
tlemen who accompanied him. His
eldest son, George, became the fourth
II, y
James died young; the third son was
the Right Honorable Sir Spencer
Compton, first and only Earl of Will
mingtOn, whose name our home and
city bears.
Burke says he was esteemed a
parsonage of great worth abilities
and integrity; other authorities rep
resent his life and character as WOr-
thy of admiration.
"The official records show that he
was elected speaker of the house of
commons 1714 and in 1922 and that
twenty years after he was appointed
frs Lord of the treasury. He held
the office Of paymaster general of
His Majesty's land forces and he was
elevated to the peerage in January
1888 as Baron of Wilmington.
in December 1880, says Burke.
he was declared Lord President of
the council and installed on 22nd of
Al 5ust 1888 knight of the Garter.
He was Lord Priyy Seal in 1880 and
was advanced on the 14th of May
thai year to the dignities of Wis
count Peyensy and Earl of Whining
ton.
He was also one of the Lord JUS
Jices during the Kings absence in
Hanover, and he was one of the gov
ernors of the Charter House. It
was While he was Lord President
OF ne council that a talented Scots
man belonging to an old and titled
family of Arnandale, named Gabriel
Johnston, who was educated at the
University of st. Andrews, became
prominent in London society as
political writer Of extraordinary abil-
ity. His scholarship in oriental Ian
qua ges, and his extensive knowledge
of men of affairs, together with his
refined and gentle breeding, obtained
for him the friendship and patron
age Of the Earl of Wilmington.
through whom he was appointed on
the 22nd of November 1884, govern
or in chief of His Majesty's Province
and Territories of North Carolina.
- The administration of Governor
>hnston, which was extended from
tha ,>tme to the day of his death,
July Is, 1852, was regarded by near
ly all our historians as the most
acceptable and prosperous of colon
ial times.
about the year 1880, some five
years after the town of Brunswick
was founded, IA miles further down
the river, where Governor Johnston
resided, a few settlers built their
humble habitations on a bluff in the
midst of a primal forest now known