The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-02
EX-AMBASSADOR BRYCE
All HOME IN ENGLAND


officer In the Sixteenth Lancers. from
which he retired with the rank of
lieutenant colonel. He il the third
earl OF his line. and owns extensive
estates in Norfolkshire, and more es-
pecially in Kent where he has no less
IMAM three country seats, the PRINCIPAL
one, Lees Court. near Faversham, hav-
ing been partially destroyed by fire a
few years ago.
The mansion was. built from the plans
OF lingo Jones, in the seventeenth CEN
fury, by Sir George Sondes, a Royalist.
"ho took prominent part in the Civil
war. and was created by Charles H.,
after the Restoration, Viscount Sondes
and Earl of Faversham. las some re-
compensc for his suffering and loss in
the late rebellion"
The completion OF the building was
marked by tragedy. For one night
Lord Favershams younger son, Free
man Sondcs. barely fifteen, apparently
actuated by Jealousy at the idea of his
elder brother George inheritng the
stately mansion, as well as the large
estates connected Herewith. and the
family honors, while he himself would
be restricted to the traditional meaEre
portion of younger son, killed George
while asleep. For this fratrlcidc which
LOOK place in a room in Lees Court.
which was never used afterwards until
It's destruction by fire few years ago,
1T the Kent Assizes, and was hanged
at Maidstone. just fortnight later.
despite his youth.
Lord Faversham thus bercft OF his
two only sons, bcqueathed Lees Court
and his other estates to a nephew of
The name of Watson. who was created
Nlscount Sondes and Earl of Rocking
ham. The third Earl of Rockingham
Gied without issue, and left Lees Court
ana all the other estates to his nephew,
Lewis Monson, second son of his sister
Lady Margaret, married to Lord Mon
son. The Hon. Lewis Monson, in ac-
cordance with the terms of his uncles
will. was compelled to assume the arms
of the Sondes family and also those of
Lord Rockingham Owing to the po-
litical influence acquired through the
possession of estates so extensive, he
was raised to the House of Lords as
Baron Sondes and the fifth baron was
advanced to an earldom.
Among other titles OF the present
Earl Sondes Is that of Niscount Throw
ley: and it may be recalled that his
elder brother visited this country under
the name of Lord Throwley, as a mem
Der of the first cricket team brought by
Lord Hawke to the United States and
to Canada. The family has been iden-
titled with Kent cricket for near 200
years, and the present carl Is president
of the Kent County Cricket Club.
1t was maiden aunt of the present
Lord Sondes-namely, the Hon. Anna
Milles-who was found on her death
to have made such an extraordinary
bequest to Queen Alexandra then Prin-
cess of Wales. 1t consisted OF a col
lection of $50 live parrots and cocla-
tcos. each Il magnificent specimen of
its kind. but horribly noisy, especially
when united with the others in dis
cordant chorus. The object of Miss
Miles was. SO she declared to console
Queen Alexandra for the death. through
pneumonia, of her favorite parrot
Cookie"
Cookie was great character in his
way, familiar in his day to every visi-
tor to Sandringham. He was in the
habit, whenever the weather grew
warm in summer. Of cooling himself by
0ivesting his body of every trace of
feathers, excepting those about his
head and neck which, of course, he
could not reach with his beak. The ap-
pearancc which Cookie thus presented
with his feathered and tufted head and
his entirely naked body. was ludicrous
in the extreme. Unfortunately, Cookie
did not make sufficient allowance for
the sudden changes of climate in Eng
land, and when. after putting himself
thus in summer attiee. n sudden very
cold spell set in, he succumbed to
royal mistress. who had him buried at
Sandringham in cemetery reserved
exclusively for her pets there being n
tombstone over every grave. recalling
the virtues and the peculiarities of the
dead
Copyrighted, 1913. by the Brentwood
Company