The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-30
ONLY PEER WHO HAS. WON VICTORIA CROSS IS INTERESTING MAN Earl of Dunmore Descended From Colonial Governor
 of Empire State FAT JOB FOR THE
 KINGS FAVORITE
Sir Colin Keppel Appointed Sergeant at-Arms-Englishwo Lionize German Tennis Player-Prob-
 lem of War Babies

London. May 2.-(Special )-Gallant men as the members of the British peerage have shown themselves to be, especially since the present war began, there IS only one living "v. C. or winner of the Victoria Cross, most honorable of British decorations, among them. and that is Major the Earl of Dunmore, worthy son of famous father and descendant of former British governor New York, whose appointment to the general staff is just announced. Kitchener must be glad to have him there, too, for the earl, who is only 46, is one of the greatest scrappers in the British army, and has, moreover, a way of capturing coveted decorations in whatever part of the world he plies his trusty sword, so it will be surprising if he comes out of the present big fracas without a few more
 One of the handsomest men, too in the British army, the earl is the son of that Earl and Countess of Dunmore who were among the first "converts to Christian Science in this country, and who visited Mrs. Eddy herself so frequently. ne owns the Island of South Harris in the Hebrides and is lord superior of that iso- lated spot in Che Atlantic, the Island of St. Kilda, where they hear the news or the world about six months late, and incidentally he possesses 7S.0O0 acres in the Western Highlands. A chieftain of the famous Murray clan, he began his military career in 1895 as A. D. C., to the Viceroy of India. and got his first taste of real fighting in the Dongola expedition, a year later exhibiting such gallantry that he was rewarded with two medals. In the next year he won his cross while
 A frrl~x. .sr-&., t cavalry in frontier campaign-one of Britain's little wars''-and then had to wait two years for another chance, find ing it in the South African campaign where he served with the Sixth Dragons and the Sixteenth Lancers, and was men, tioned several times in dispatches. Later in that campaign he commanded a pat talion of Imperial Yeomanry called after him=-he was Lord Fincastle in those days -Fincastle's Horse, and won another medal and four clasps.
 The men who formed this battalion were mostly Scots like their leader, and he prepared them for their special work making them ride up and down Arthur 5 Seat, the steep declivity near Edinburgh, as a regular part of their training.
 His marriage, in 1904, was the climax of a real romance. Though Lord Fincas- tie had good looks, brains. distinguished
 
 worldly gear, and though his lady love, Miss Dorothea Kemble, who came from another island-Skye was beautiful graceful and charming, she was no heiress. So they waited for no less than eight years for one another. The people of Sleat, in Skye, who had watched the courtship, gave the bride silver tripod with Gaeic inscription, "We wish good luck to you, and no bad luck to you.' There Is one daughter of the marriage, who inherits her parents good looks.
 It was the fourth Earl of Dunmore of the Third Foot Guards who was gover- nor of New York under George III in 1769. The late earl to get a doctor for whom when he was dying the surrounding coun- try was secured. though he had been per haps the most ardent Christian Scientist in England) was assuredly one of the most astonishing characters in the whole history of the peerage. He was one of the greatest travellers that even Britain has produced and, what is more, did val uable pioneer work. He was one of the first really to explore Newfoundland, and he went farther into the great lone land than any other white man before that vast region became opened up to civili- zation Dunmore Junction, on the Cana dian Pacific railway, is named after him,