The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-08-24
DID UNITED STATES
PLAN TO TAKE QUEEN?

daughter and heiress OF the London
banker Robert Benson, and niece o;
Queen Alexandra's equerry. Sir George
Holford. and also OF Countess Grey,
TO captain Hereward Wake. eldest son
OF Sir Hereward and Lady Wake. des-
Hereward the Wake. the last OF the
Sa%ons. That Hereward the Wake.
portrayed by Charles Kingsley in the
popular novel OF that name. actually
existed Is naturally perfectly true. lie
was the son Of Leofric. the great Earl
of Mercia. and of his wife, Lacy Col
IVA. and both the earl and the lady
reposc in the same tomb in Coventry
Minister That Hereward PLAYED a
great role in resisting the Norman in
vaders during the years following the
battle OF Hastings. Is likewise a mat
ter OF historic record. But there Is
absolutely nothing to show that Here
ward the Wake ever left any children,
nor is there anything 10 prove that
tho family OF Sir Howard Wake mas
ne slightest connection, save BY ac-
clrent of name, with Earl Leofric's
son. Indeed the pretensions of the
wake family OF the present day In this
matter have been ridiculed and ex-
pioded oy Professor Freeman the his
torlan, by'Horace Round. and the lead
ing English genealogists and students
or ancestral lore. Professor Freeman
indeed. In articles contributed forty
I'VE years ago to the London Saturday
B
and TO other publications. bitterly as
sails Kingsley for having in his novel
described Hereward as the ancestor OF
me wake family and for having been
mo Ntst 70 attribute to his hero the
neraldic device known as the wake
Knot, which figures in their coat-of-
arms. This paragraph of Kingsley is
esPscially attacked by Freeman as "a
MAD escapade in twisting the hero OF
the novel. the renowned Hereward. in
10 peg on which TO hang an ordinary
Nortnampton family named Wake or
ZONES. me statement Of the Duke
q NorIo!k- EnEland's premier peer
mat he Is descended from the snmc
reward. is recorded in the Almanacn
dc Gotha, where the Towards are civ
en- as Alaison feodale Anglo Saxonne
De Me!cle. But the claims OF the
family OF the late DR. Temple. are
equally baselcss. with those OF the
present DAY Wakes. and cannot be
sustained. Curiously enough tho Wake
family. whose authentic pedigree he
gins with Hugh Wac, attested by a
cnarter of King stephen. as in posses
sion OF the fief OF Baldwin Fitzgilbert
III III Ia never dreamed of putting for
ward any claim to he descended from
iiereward, until DR.. William Wake.
Archbishop Of Canterbury in The reign
OF George l.. took upon himself to
Write more or less mythical history
or the Wakes in which he coolv and
without shadow OF right. annexed
tereward as an ancestor for family
Whlcn for 200 years previously had
borne the name of Nake-Jones. Nor
was 1t until after the days OF Arch
bishop Wake that we find any mem
ners of his family bearing the CHRIS
tian name OF Hereward. The present
WI axe family, which holds a haronetcy
conferred in 1921. is so ancient, being
able TO show an uninterrupted ances
Iry back TO King Stephen. that IL IS
uncut TO understand why they should
md II necessary in any way 10 nut
forward an untenable and preposter-
Gus claim TO descent from ";he last
OF the SaXons."