The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-07-28
Columbus.
How old
LORD GORMANSTON is
CHIEF OF OLD FAMILY

father of Queen Victoria. when that
prince was colonel of the regiment.
lie made up his mind that the expense
was TOO great 20 establish his rights
TO the Barony OF Athenry, all the
more as there were no estates going
with the dignity. and preferred tho
life OF an Irish country gentleman.
Hts son. Thomas Lynch Birmingham.
! was equally Indifferent TO the family
! Eonors IN allegiance; and SO. too. was
his sen. Edmund Lynch Birmingham,
VINO died without male issue in 1879
at his place. Wood View. near Galway,
the last of the ancient house OF Biz
mingham in the male line This Ed
mund Lynch Birmingham left a sis.
ter, whose son. the RSv. Father Hugh
y. Kelly. is rector OF the Church of the
Immaculate Conception, at Streator.
Ill.
Now. IL the late Lord Gormanston mp
prcpriatcd the peerage OF Walter de
birmingham. on the ground of tho
marriage of the latter's only child and
heiress to the first Lord Gormanston,
he should have taken Walter de Biz
mingham's Barony OF Athenry. which.
II he had succeeded in establishing his
claim thereto. would have rendered
him not only premier viscount, but also
premier baron OF ireland. But ne
manifestly feared legal encounter
with Lord Kinsaie. who is premier
baron because the Athenry peerage Is
extinct.
There is no Barony OF Birmingham
in existence. Indeed, the only one that
/ can find in the annals OF the peer
age is an English one which be-
came extinct in the reign of Henry
VIII, through the death OF the late
peer of that name: and whose family
had no connection whatsoever with that
OF the Prestons. headed by Lord Cor
mansion.
Let me add that the Earl OF Dudley,
seneralship OF Australia, includes
among his English honors that of Lord
Ward Of Birmingham.
Lord Gormanston's estates embrace
about $1,000 acres. and are situated
partly around Gormanston Castle, and
partly in County Meath. around the
Manor OF Whitewood. His only sis
ter is the Wife OF Lord Ninian erich
ton stuart, NJ. p, and who Inherited
Falkland Palace. in the county of
rife, from his father. the late MARQUIS
or Butte. the "Lothair'' of Lord Beacons-
feld's novel OF that name.
The late Lord Gormanston, although
soldier by profession, and a veteran
OF the Indian Mutiny and OF the
Crimean War. spent the greater part
OF mis- life in the various colonies az
governor. his. last satrapy being that
Oh Tasmania, where he incurred some
quiet censure from the late Queen Vic
toria for having permitted Lord Var
mouth while stasing as his guest at
Government House at Hobart, to an
near on the stage of the principal
theatre of the Tasmanian capital i'm
me suise of q ballerina. Lord Var
mouth. by the by, has just been gazet-
tea as a bankrupt, having apparently
squandered every cent of the money
which he received on the occasion of
his marriage at Pittsburg with the
sister of Harry Thaw.
The sum of $4,000 has been vote1 bv
the Cortes OF Portugal as the stipend Of
the President of the republic. In adj
dition to this. he is to receive an
other $4,000 In the shape OF allowances,
for purpose of entertainment and of
official representation. 1t is expressly
stipulated that the wives of the Presi-
dents of the republic are to have no
shares in their husbands honors or
precedence, this proviso being likewise
extended to the other members of the
presidential family.
Copyright, 1911, by the Brentwood
Company