The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-30
lord OXFORD WILL
SUPPRESS PIRACY
Closes Wclterton Park and Re-
turns to Adventures Among
South Sea Islands.
EARLDoM BECOMES EXTINCT
Death Of His American Wife
Leaves No Heir to
Succession.

By LA NIAR0uISE DE FONTENOY,
|Y ORD OXFORD. who lost last year
his American wife, daughter. of
- d. c.. Corbin, OF New York, has
closed We1terton Park, his
country place in Norfolkshire. for an
indefinite period; has connded his only
child. Lady Dorothy Walpole, to the
care of his friends. Mr.. and Mrs. Hope
Morley, and has started for New Zeal
and and for the Southern Pacific ISL
ands, accompanied by a fellow county
magnate, Sir Reginald Beauchamp. In
| fact, the earl seems to have been
| seized afresh with that spirit or ad-
venture which characterized him IN
his younger days. both prior to and
Immediately subsequent to his service
in tho royal navy. He was mid
| shipman on the troopshlp Megera
when she was wrecked on st. Paul S
Island, 100 miles south OF the Cape
of Good Hope. Not until three months
later after terrible hardships, did res
cue come to hand. and then he was
transferred to the cruiser Blanche.
which was commissioned to stop
I"blackbirdlng," that is to say, lidnap-
l.ping OF the Polynesians. and to sup
press piracy In the South Sea islands.
Ho visited many of the latter where
no white man had ever been seen
before; was present at the annexation
of the Fiji Islands, and then dultteo
! the navy with the rank OF lieutenant
subsequently, returning to the southern
Pacific in non official capacity, for
the sake of exploration. adventure. anu
also commercial enterprise. nile the
latter was relatively fruitlcss, he got
all the adventure that he could han
die, but had no sooner returned 10
civilization than he joined the otto
man army for service throughout the
Turko. Russian War, as aide-de- camp
to Suleiman Pasha, being present at
the sanguinary battle OF the Shipka
Pass. Lord Orford's earldom viii be-
come extinct at his death, while tho
Walpole barony will go to HE second
cousin, Henry Spencer Wade Walpole
who is a member of the English bar.
Sir Charles Kirkpatrick, whose mat
rimonial troubles have Just been en-
ga ging the attention of the Divorce
Court in London, Will be remembered.
on this side Of the water as having
visited both the United States and Can
ada some five years ago. at the head
of the so-called Pilgrim football team,
which played a number of matches
over here. He is the ninth baronet OF
his line; is head of the ancient house
of Kirkpatrick of Closcburne. and Is,
like his father before him far from
rich. Indeed, he has been acting for
the past year as private secretary of
the friend with whom he went to
West Africa on shooting expedition
in November, 1907. / may add that
since that time he has abandoned his
wife, falling TO support her. besides
giving her other grounds for COM
plant
Closeburne, the ancestral domain of
the KirkDatricks, is no longer in their
possession. The royal patent granting
the domain of Closeburne. in Dunn
friesshire, to Ivene Kirkpatrick. bears
the date of 1892 and the signature of
II i -T3gI ~,
kirkpatrick's grandfather's name fig
lires on records still in existence as
witness to charter granted by King
David /. in the middle of the twelfth
century. The 1lirkpatricks held Close
burne until the middle of the last CEN
tury. when, owing to the carelessness
of drunken servants, the ancient castle
was burned to the ground, all the fam
lily papers. portraits and plate being
destroyed in the flames. 1t is since
then that the Kirkpatricks have al
ways been more or less in straitened
circumstances, though. remaining ex
tremely proud of their lineage. Du-
plicates of the data relating thereto
arc fortunately preserved at the Royal
College of Heralds at Edinburgh.
Thanks to this, the family was able
to disprove the claim of Empress Eu-
genies mother. the old Countess de
Montijo. who was a Miss kirkpatrick
by birth, to descent from the Kirkpat-
ricks Of Closeburne, and was also in
a position to show that the genealo-
gical tree and ancestral papers which
the Empress's grandfather. United
States Consul kirkpatrick at Malaga,
produced in order to overcome the OBJ
ject'ons OF the noble family of Mon
tiJo to the marriage Of one of it's
scions to the daughter of q Belfast
grocery merchant, were merely fabri-
cations.
1t speaks volumes for the pride OF
the klrkpatricks that, in spite Of their
efforts on the part of the Montijos, OF
Empress Eugene. of the Dukes of
Alba, and of other kinsfols and adj
herents of Napoleon III. and OF his
and accept the pretensions of Eugene
and of her sister the late Duchess of
Alba; to be descended from the Kirk
patricks of Closeburne. Far from adj
mitting any such connection, SIR
Charles. his father, the late Sir James
kirkpatrick; Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick,
and Sir Charles kirkpatrick, the sixth
paronet, have all gone out of their
way to publicly deny in the columns
Oh inc London Times, and of other
organs OF the press. the assertion that
Ihere was any connection Whatsoever
between their family and that Of the
i<lrkpatrick of Belfast, acting as agent
IN spain for number of Belfast and
the father of the Countess de Montiio
and the grandfather OF the widow of
| Sapoleon III. Sir Charles has no chill
dren by the marriage now about to be
dissolved and unless he marries again,
the baronetcy will go at his death ID
his second brother, Captain Henry
kirkpatrick. who is in the army ana
an officer of the Bluffs. NV
1T IS doubtful whether any nrelato
has ever enjoyed more universal non
ularity at Vienna than the Suffragan
Bishop Marschall, who has filled thnt
office for many years. under two sue.
cessive metropolitans and who. owing
TO the advanced age and infirmities If
the nonogenarian OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Gruscha, has been for nearly a decade
in virtual charge of the archdiocese Of
Vienna. Broad minded, genial, no was
on friendly terms with every one, and
by his complete absence of intolerance
contributed much to assuage the bit
t.rness of the conflict between the
Clericals and those who are opposed to
undue influence by the Catholic clergy
over universities and public schools.
Everybody had taken it for granted
s sna' tie lb,ishoep would in due course
hh arc Of Vienna, and as a mem
II