Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-10
ROADS TO PEERAGE
Humble Origin of Some of
EngIand's Famous Families.
POVERTY, TITLE, RICHES
Influence Of Chance and Business
Shrewdness in Elevating Men
to High Estate.
From London Tit-Bits.


Not to doughty deeds of arms, al
though their ancestral halls are deco
rated with many a trophy of the bat
tie, but to the keen business acumen
commercial instinct and the ability of
their forefathers to strike a bargain,
do many of our "old nobility" owe their
rank and riches. Apprentices, farmers,
drapers grocers, brewers and even
barge owners figure in the romances Of
the peerage and baronetcy, a mere ac-
cident sometimes leading the way to
a title. estates and great privileges in
the old days.
Since one Edward Osborne jumped
from old London bridge to save his
masters daughter from drowning.
afterward marrying her and acquiring
by the marriage a goodly estate, every
ambitious apprentice has been watch
ing for a similar chance. for Edward
Osborne was the founder of the Duke
of Leeds family. and it was his son
who. by court influence and intrigue,
attained to the highest rank in the
lpeerage.
And it was William Ward, another
London apprentice, who founded the
family of the Earl of Dudley. He came
up to London when q lad, and was
bound apprentice to city goldsmith
A lucky chance placed him in posses
sion of rare riches, for shortly after
he had set up In business for himself
in Lombard street a sailor who had
just landed from his ship came in and
offered to sell him what proved to be
a lot of rough diamonds. Ward bought
| them at immense advantage to him
self, as we'll a second lot which the
| sailor brought the next day, and 1t was
| this lucky stroke of fortune which en-
abled Ward to become jeweler to the
court. But it was the bargain which
q Ia Sf nf
Lord of Dudley. which enabled him to
enter the peerage. The Lord of Dud-
| ley was hard up. and wanted a twenty
Ithousand-p pound loan on ample secur-
ity. Ward replied that he might do
better than that. He himself had
son. Humble by name, and his lordship
had granddaughter. If his lordship
would marry the young lady to his
son, Humble Ward. he would be well
satisfied with that security. The bar
gain was struck. and thus the Wards
and the Suttons became united.
David Cecil. the first of the Sails
burys, was a middle-class water bailiff,
and could only bequeath his daughter
the moderate sum OF f2O at his death;
but his son Richard was page. and
afterward groom Of the robes to Henry
VIII, and he made such good use of his
opportunities that he was successful in
obtaining huge grants or land and a
title for his son. William Cecil, who
became Lord Burghley.
And 1T was no northern baron who
founded the house Of Bedford, but one
Henry Russell. who in the fifteenth
century made a modest living out of
the part ownership of barge at Wey-
mouth.
Sheep Farming Ancestors.
Nearly 800 years ago there was a
piquant scene in the house of lords
when the Earl Of Arundel tainted the
Earl Spencer Of those days with the
fact that at time when certain great
events were happening Lord Spencer's
ancestors were keeping sheep.
When my ancestors were keeping
sheep, as you say" retOrted Lord Spen-
Ger. your ancestors were plotting
treason"
1t is an incident in the family history
of the Spencers which recalls the fact
| that they sprang from farmers who
bred their sheep and cattle in the War
| wickshire fields in the fifteenth century,
the founder Of the line being John
Spencer. grazier. who took to wife
the daughter Of one William Graunt, a
husbandman.
sey was a William Paget. son Of one
of the sergeants of the mace in the
city, while about 500 hundred years
ago the Bathursts were trading as
clothiers at Canterbury and Staple
| hurst. Ultimately one Launcelot Bath
urst became a London alderman, and
| his grandson secured a title.
Reference to the Spencers reminds
the house Of Cavendish. OF which the
Duke Of Devonshire is now chief, was
an obscure landowner in Suffolk, who
had the good luck to obtain an appoint
| the king. and obtained grants Of land
from which the Cavendishes derived
| enormous wealth.
Trarnod m Fortune
The Marquis of Ripon is lineally de-
| scended from line Of tradesmen at
York, whose name he bears, and it was
| behind the counter that the foundations
| Of his house were laid; while there would
be no Earl of Craven today if William
| Craven. the son of Yorkshire husband
man in Queen Elizabeth's time, had not
taken it into his head to tramp to Lon
| don to win a fortune.
The Earls OF Essex are equally in
| debted for fortune and rank to William
| Capel, poor Suffolk boy, who, like Will
4 liam Craven, tramped to London and
found riches: while John Barring, the son
| of parsOn passing rich on $40 a year."
similarly became the founder Of four no
! BILE houses, two Of earls-Cromer and
| Northumberland two of barons.
| The Earl Of Onslow has for forefather
one Thomas Foot who was a grocer's
i
king, while among other proud peers
whose prOgenitors served behind the
| counter are the Earls Brownlow, Dem
| high and Leicester.
Perhaps one Of the most remarkable
romances OF the baronetcy is that pro-
vided by the history of the Cummings
| the representative of which. Sir Kenneth
William Cumming, has seen service in
all parts Of the world. Sir Kenneth en-
tered the medical service of the army in
| 1882, and retired twenty years later after
becoming Hon. Brig. Surgeon. The first
baronet was ruined in the South sea bub-
| Bile, and sold the family estates in Aber-
| deenshire The second baronet emigrated
to North America, where he was elected
chief of the Cherokee Indians. and it was
his absence from England which led to
the baronetcy being deemed extinct. But
1t was assumed in 1877 by Sir Kenneth
Cumming.
The house which is now represented by
the Marquis of Lansdowne and Lord Fitz-
maurice really originated through Will
liam Petty. son of a Hampshire clothier,
while the first Lord Eldon was the son
Of a Newcastle coal merchant, who COM
| menced life by making runaway match