The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-08-04
Peer Dtsbarred From seat in Lords ~
Account OF Debt.

~ ORD DoRMER. whose adjudica.
Hi ton Ion as bankrupt VIII H.. de soa
i In the House OF Lords until lie
A secures his discharge from the
~. courts. IL the chief OF one OF
me Oldest Roman Catholic houses of
teenth holder OF the title. The Barony
OF Dormer dates from 1916. but for sew
ernl hundred years previously. the fam
T aaa conspicuous IN o Ine fonry
OF the shire. The present Lord Dor
mer was for a number of years con-
nected with the ministry OF finance IN
Egypt; and while making his home at
Syrian lady. The match did not meet
with general approval, and almost inl-
mediately afterwards he severed his
connection with the Egyptian govern
He is not the son. but the nephew OF
1.-The twelfth Lord Dormer, his father
having been that General Sir James
Dormer who. while in military COM
killed by a tiger. which. despite all
warnings, he had persisted In follow
Ing into the jungle on foot, after nav
ing wounded It.
Sir James was for number Of years
at the head Of the British army In
Egypt, and as such took part IN sew,
eral OF the Soudan campaigns. He had
a glass eye, or rather a couple of them
for on his way up the Nile he always
kept one OF these spare artificial OPP
tics cooling In ice.water, to take the
place OF the other one when 1t be-
came too warm. This artificial optic
played a very important role In his
dealings with the native chiefs in the
the power OF English arms, We're awe
struck when they saw the English
commander, during their palavers with
him. pluck out one of his eyes, send 1t
spinning up into the air, and then re-
place It as II the feat was mere
In positive dread of him. For he
would often neglect to remove the
glass eye when falling asleep and the
aspect which lie presented when peace.
the other Wide open and staring at
them, especially when the rays of the
moon We're reflected in. 1t, was, to say
the least, startling. Sir James Dor.
children, and as his son. Roland, the
present Lord Dormer, did not marry
money. it is not astonishing that he
should have become bankrupt. The
their thrift; and of the second Lord
Dormer, Pepys In his diary relates
that he described the timber on his
estates as IAN excrescence growing
upon the face of the earth for the
purpose Of enabling gentleman to
pay his debts"
The Dormers are related to many of
the houses OF the old continental
aristocracy, and are connected in the
same way with number of the an
cient Catholic families of England, no.
tably the Tichbornes. The late peer.
who was wont to startle the House of
Lords by every now and again being
overtaken by an epileptic seizure dur
ing the course of its debates. was
first cousin OF the missing Sir Roger
Tichborne, who had been his child
hood and boyhood playmate. and with
whom he had been intimately assoc
ciated in his youth. The late Lord
Dormer was one of the leading wit
nesses against the claimant in the Itch
borne trial. protesting that there was
no analogy whatsoever between the lat
ter and his missing cousin. Yet, for
all that, there was very strange
facial resemblance between this twelfth
Lord Dormer and the claimant, for
which 1t is difficult to account. The
present Lord Dormer has. no children
by his Levantine marriage. and the
heir to his peerage Is his younger
brother. Captain the Hon. Charles Dor
mer, of the royal navy. who Is mar.
ried to Colonel Sir Spencer Clifford's
daughter, by whom he has boy. One
of Lord Dormer's sisters Is the wife
of the Earl of Abingdon. and another.
the Hon. Leonie Dormer, is nun.