The Washington herald., 1913-07-26
Court Gossip of Interesting
Epents on THO Continents

, cal future. He was stu young.
wealthy. and good looking. Of amiable
disposition and pleasant manners. fun
Of enthusiasm for new political ideas.
. capable speaker, Liberal free from
the faint Of Whigery, q Home Ruler
who had lost his seat by his fidelity
to Mr.. Gladstone. But somehow he
never made any figure in the House of
Commons; indeed. he never manifested
any such ambition, and after he sue
ceeded to the peerage. in 1897. he
seemed to lose all taste for Q political
life. though he never wavered In his
principles.
HIS best public work was done on
the London County Council. where he
was prominent figure In the early
DAYS of the Progressive movement. and
devoted himself industriously to the
problem of the housing Of the masses
This subject occupied him all his life.
and no London landlord ever has mani
tested q keener sense of his response
bilities. Many religious and philan-
thropic societies will miss his active
assistance, As well as his generosity.
notably theVRasged School Union and
the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Lord Northampton was Thoroughly
unselfish man. always bent on using
his position, ambition. and means for
the benefit of his neighbors. He might
be described as IAN ornament OF the
peerage" much more worthily than
many noblemen to whom that phrase
has been applied.
Lord Northampton inherited large
estates in warwickshirs and North
amptonshire. and extensive and valu-
able London property In Clerkenwel
and Islington. In 1884 he married Miss
Mary Barring, only child and heiress OF
the banker and second Lord Ashburton,
! who brought him a very large fortune,
| while his mother-in-law, Louisa Lady
| Ashburton. left him the famous deer
forests Of 'Kinloch-Luichart. and Ault-
derg and Aultchonier. In Rosshire.
| Scotland, which comprise 5000 acres.
! Castle Ashby, the family seat near
Northampton, Is finely situated on high
ground, overlooking the Valley Of the
Meme. 1t Is a stately Elizabeth house.
which was enlarged by lingo Jones.
| There are many very interesting portraits
and some OF the rooms are finely panelled.
| The gardens are charming. The park Is
| well timbered, but it is inferior in beauty
| to the adjoining Yardley Chase, which
| is one OF the most attractive woodland
domains In the Midlands OF England.
About the middle OF the sixteenth CEN
| fury the Comptons were ruined, owing 10
| a series of disasters. The then head Of
/ the family (afterward the first Earl CT
Northampton. proposed to marry the
daughter and helress of Sir John Spencer.
one Of the richest merchants in London
but her father refused to allow the
match. The sutton dressed himself up as
! a bakers boy and carried OF the young
/ lady in his basket, meeting Sir Johh
| Spencer at the door. who presented him
| with sixpence as a reward for his punctu-
| ality. Sir John was furious at the mar
rage, and vowed his son-in-law should
never get another sixpence of his money,
hut a year later Queen Elizabeth asked
| him to be the gossip with her to a
certain baby, whom she hoped he would
| adopt. as he had disinherited his daugh-
ter. OF course. the mysterious baby was
a grandson. and a reconciliation was the
| result
Gen. Count Gleichen, whose Belfast
speech on the national service. has drawn
from him an apology and drawn down
upon him parliamentary disapproval. has.
as an admirer once said, q knack of ger-
ting into tight places and for getting
out of them again. At the battle of
Modder River the Count was hit By a
Boer bullet which reduced him for the,
moment to speechlessness. A brother Of
ficer exclaimed over the supposed corpse:
Poo Click Is dead" But at that mo-
ment the power OF speech. which has
again brought the Count into trouble.
returned. NO I am not" he said. The
bullet had just missed the jugular VEIN
Count Gleichen Is the son Of the
late Princess OF Hohenlohe- Langenberg,
whose mother was a stepsister to Queen
Victoria FLANEUR-