The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-25
ONLY TWO REMAIN OF
FAMOUS SIX HUNDRED
Y IA MARau1sE DE FoNTENoY.

by IA MARauIsE DE FoNTENoy.
n three veterans left who had
~ taken part as officers in the
historic charge OF the Light
Brigade at Balaklaya--three of that
immortalized by Tennyson. ir what
is perhaps the most stirring of all
mis- poems To-day only two of them,
namely, the octogenarian Lord Trede-
gar, who was a subaltern OF the Sew
enteenth LancerS, and the near equally
aged Sir George Wpmbwell. OF the
same regiment. remain. The third. Sir
Roger Palmer, has Just been gathered
to his fathers. In fact, Sir Roger was
perhaps the most important of the
trio. for it WAS his timely notice of
a body of Russian cavalry who were
forming in the rear. 10 close the line
of retreat while the brigade was charg-
Ing to meet fresh body of hostile
cavalry in front that preserved the
remnant OF the SIX hundred from
complete annihilation.
Sir Roger. on the night before the
charge. discovered sentry OF his regl-
ment asleep ut his post. Such grave
dereliction of duty. especially nj such
a moment, was sufficient to forfeit the
life OF the soldier who. however. im-
plored forgiveness with a passion and
earnestness that young Lieutenant
Palmer, as he was then. could not
resist on the following day. in the
charge, the pardoned soldier. fun of
gratitude, contrived to keep on the
flank OF the man 10 whom he owed
gagged In hand-to- hand encounter
with a Russian. who was lust about
to plunge his sword into the body of
his adversary, the sentry brought
down his sabre with such force on
the Russians head as TO cleav. il in
twain.
Sir Roger. who subsequently, com,
manded the Second Life Guards and
who retired with the rank of general.
celebrated his golden wedding last
year. and having no children. his baro-
er. becomes extinct, while his very ex-
tensive property Will. u is understood.
eventually pass to his nephew. Captain
William Frederick Peel formerly of
grandson of that General Jonathan
Peel who was Secretary OF State for
War in one of the Cabinets of which
his brother, the great Sir Robert Peel,
was Premier.
Much OF the great wealth OF the
Palmers came 10 them through the
wife of the first baronet. She was
the beautiful Miss Eleanor Ambrose,
only child and heiress OF q great Dub
lin brewer, and renowned as much for
her beauty as for her wonderfuliy
witty tongue a pronounced Faplst
and very sediious in her ideas. she
was at the same time an ornament
and the terror of the viceregal court
of Dublin. Lord Chesterfield, when
NlCProy, was wont 10 declare LHdl ler
tongue would blister board and
Gus of Papists. When her beauty
commenced to wane and she found
herself ousted from her position as
the Queen of Beauty by the celebrated
Misses Cunning, she accorded her hand
to Roger Palmer, OF Castle LalSin. in
County Mayo. and so great was the
wealth of which the two We're thus
able to dispose that it was found well
to hestow upon them baronetcy by
way of conciliating them.
Sir Roger, whose Irish property has
often been styled the Holland OF Ire
land" owing to the celebrity of its
there, was during the closing months
of his life at war with his irish ten-
ants, who We're endearoring to force
him to sell to them, under the terms
of the land act, property that had been
in his family for 500 years. This he
absolutely refused to do. He Was still
fonder, however, of his place on the
Thames. known as Glenisland, near
Maidenhead, and seated on every fine
summer afternoon on the trim lawn of
Glenisland. Just below Boulter's Lock,
he was. with his white beard. Ia
miliar figure to all those who were fond
OF boating.
A few years ago he put forward an
extraordinary claim in connection with
the Thames, which he succeeded in
establishing In court, but which he
never enforced. 1t was nothing more
nor less than an exclusive right, not
merely to all the fishing, but even to
the water and to the bed of the river
between Maidenhead Bridge and Cook
ham Bridge. Sir Roger based his
claim on the strength OF the argument
that this stretch of river had existed
as a recognized right and property
ever since the Norman Conquest. be-
ing mentioned as such in Doomsday
Book, and that it had passed into
the legal possession of Sir Roger
Palmers ancestors in 1888, AS soon
as this was proved, the court had no
alternative but to grant a decision in
favor of Sir Roger. Fortunately. Sir
Roger remained content with this de
cision and was too good. hearted man
ever to enforce his rights. Bur the
I; pleasant possibilities. for in olden DAYS
proprietary rights to land and water
We're freely Siyen by the crown to
unworthy favorites, and since Sir
Rogers claim was admitted In law
there was no reason why others should
similar pretensions. based on medieval
grounds, to this or that popular
| stretch OF the Thames, practically clos
ing off that river to the public as an
aquatic playground and highway.
In view of. the efforts that are now
being made by women of fashion on
| both sides of the Atlantic to rid them
selves of all super1uous adipose It's
sue, so as to conform to the prevails
ing modes, 1t may be we'll to recom-
DDS OF the late DIR. Banting, In lieu of
| those of a more radical and. .conse-
| quently. dangerous character. which so
| often sap the vitality and undermine
| the constitutions, rendering u incapa-