Evening star., 1923-08-18
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoxTE>oY

L.
Young Miss Sarah Cook, daughter
Of Mr.. and Mrs. G.. w. Cook of Mon
treal and sister of the Countess
Mimic, may boast Of having won one
of the richest prizes in the Scottish
matrimonial market in the person of
the twelfth Earl Of Haddington. who.
as a captain of the Scot Greys, won
the military cross in the great war.
and, after being wounded. joined the
staff OF the Duke of DevonShire dur
ing the latters term as Governor
General of Canada. He is, therefore,
no stranger in New York and Wash
ington, which he frequently visited
while in the Dominion
His estates comprise some 10000
acres, extending through five counties
of the northern kingdom. and are
very rich in minerals, the exploitation
of which contributes in no small de-
gree TO his large income. Moreover,
his mother, the widow of the late Gen.
Lord Binning. is the daughter of the
multi-millionaire William ). Sailing,
and at the time of her marriage was
accounted the greatest heiress of her
day.
X x :: *
The fortunes of Lord Haddington's s
family, which is a junior line of the
historic house Of Hamilton, of which
the Duke of Abercorn is the chief,
may be said to have been founded by
Thomas Hamilton, who, although his
grandfather fell in the battle of
Pinkie in lJ47. commenced life as a
commoner, became a lord of sessions
in 1892 as Lord Drumcairn, was Gre
ated Lord Binning and Lord Byres
twenty years later, and was then
raised to the earldom of Melrose by
King James l in 1919. But his family
considered the name of Melrose to
be of i'll omen, and so, in 1927, he OBJ
tanned a permission from the crown
to change the name of his earldom
OF that of Haddington. As kings ad-
vocate, as lord clerk register, as sec
retary of state for Scotland and
holder of all sorts of other Offices
and sinecures. he succeeded i'll accu-
mulating a very large fortune.
The present earl, who is a repre-
sentative peer of Scotland, succeeded
to the honorS and estates some six
years ago on the death of his Won
derful old grandfather. who had sat
,, in the house Of lords for over forty
years, and who was accustomed TO
hunt and even to play polo when in
his ninetieth year. Indeed, he was
thrown and badly kicked by one of
his polo ponies when he had attained
the ripe old age of four-score years
and ten, and when, on recovery from
his injuries, he proceeded to break
his collar bone in the hunting field,
his family with a good deal of diff
Guilty brought home to him the fact
that he was no longer as timber as
he used to be and that he must posi-
lively settle down to more quiet
methods of existence.
1t was that enforced quietude and
the abandonment or his former activi-
gree of discourag ement that he sue
cumbed.
He was extremely unconventional
and when. not long before his death
he wanted to attend a matinee per-
formance at an Edinburgh theater
and was unable to find conveyance
to take him from his club in Princes
street-all available cabs having been
requisitioned by foot ball enthusiasts
the occasion being the match between
the teams of Scotland and Ireland al
Inverleith Park-he caught sight OF
a passing grocery cart, he hailed it.
and the driver, who. curiously enough
was former hackman, at once
agreed to give him a lift. The old
earls bearded appearance was fa-
miliar to every man, woman and
child in Edinburgh and his drive
through the streets of the Athens OF
the north" on grocery cart and his
arrival at the theater in that convey
ance created good}dea of amuse-
ment
Lord Haddington's principal coun-