The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-19
MARQUIS 0F BATH LOSES HIS HEIR 0N FIELD OF BATTLE

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 1 London, March 1--(Special Correspond ce.)-Instead of having his handsome young heir Lord Weymouth. home from the front on brief leave, as he had ex- pected, the Marquis of Bath received a telegram from the war office this week announcing that the young officer had been killed in action. Viscount Wey- mouth, who received his commission in the Scots Greys, in December, 1914, and
 went out immediately, was in his twen-
 ty-first year and would have reached his
 majority in November next. His only
 brother, Lord Henry Frederick Thyme,
 who is eleven, now becomes heir to the
 marquisate.
 The Marquis of Bath, a handsome man
 of 54, is rich, the greatest landlord in the
 south of England, and belongs to fa-
 nous family, but none of his activities
 has ignited the Thames or any other
 stream. He owns 60,000 acres, situated
 in six different counties, and has a pleas
 ant rent-roll of about $35O,0O0 a year. As
 Viscount Weymouth he sat in the House
 of Commons for several years as M. F.,
 for Frome and then, when he was 34
 came into the marquisate and moved up
 into the House of Lords A conserva- tive he has played no great part in politics, though he was parliamentary
 under secretary for India in 1895.
 The Marchioness of Bath was one of the earliest titled converts to Christian Science in these islands, and is zealous let Mordaunt, niece of Georgiana, Lady Dudley, who chaperoned her before her marriage to the marquis in 1890. That marriage was sensational in this respect, that there was not single other mem Der of either the brides or the bride grooms family present. Lady Bath is a pretty, small, dark woman, and was once great favorite in London society, but of late has spent most of her time in the country, the cultivation of the
 beautiful gardens at Longleat being, after her family, her chief interest in life. She has three daughters.
 Longleat, the ancient seat of the mar qris' famous family, is one of the most beautiful Elizabethan mansions in Eng land. It is surrounded by d park of 45O0 acres, which once belonged to the fa- nous Abbey of Glastonbury, and was given as a dowry to Queen Katherine Parr. Among the mansions other claims to notability is the fact that it possesses exactly as many windows as there are days in the year-365 It was built, from designs by famous Italian architect, by the marquis famous ancestor, Sir John Thyme a Shropshire squire who was knighted after the battle of Pinkie in 1547, added to by his son, and further beautif1ed by other Thynnes of later date. To the fourth owner-Sir James Charles the second and his queen paid visit in state, just after the fine free stone terrace and the grand staircase had been added to Ilongleat. The next owner, Sir James nephew, From of Ten Thousand" as he was called, added fur ther embellishments anC was planning still more when he was murdered in Pall Mall one memorable day in February, 1882, by the secret agents of his great rival, Count Konigsmark.
 The family began by being French, and the present marquis has Russian blood in his veins, his grandmother hav- ing been a daughter of Countess Cathe- rine Woronzow. He Is Lord Lieutenant of Somerset and renowned as fine sportsman. For several years he was colonel of the Wiltshire Yoemanry. and perhaps the most eloquent plea that he ever put up in the House of Lords was in favor of increased facilities for the British yoeman in the matter of pur- chasing spirits at regimental canteens Lord Lansdowne, former war secretary, supported the marquis, but they did not succeed in convincing the then under sec retary, Lord Portsmouth, that the yoe- marry should be excepted, in this re- spect, from the general restrictions in force in the army Later his lordship was selected as chairman, and is said to have been most capable one, of a royal commission on idiots and inebri-
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