Evening star., 1923-05-29
Third Letter Sister Just Widowed
By Death of Indian War Hero

fine and gallant type of the British
soldier and cavalry officer.
~
The Hon Amyas Stafford Northcote.
younger son of the first Earl of
lddesleigh. has not long survived his
American brother-in-law. the late
Stuyvesant Fish. who fell dead the
other day while entering the Park
National Bank of New York in order
to take part in a directors meeting.
Amyas Northcote's death at Winters.
his country seat near Maidstone, in
Kent. was likewise very sudden He
was well known in the United States.
a frequent guest of Stuyvesant Fish
and of the relatives of his American
wife. who was the daughter of the
| late James Garrard OF Dudley. of
Frankfort. Ky, who has now been
left widow with son and a daugh-
ter. The relationship between Amyas
Northcote and Stuyvesant Fish arose
from the fact that Stuyvesant's sister
Edith married the Hon. Oliver North
cote. brother of Amyas, and who
spent several years in business in
New York.
oliver and Edith Northcote died
more than quarter of a century ago.
| leaving an only son. now near forty
years of age. who was brought up
under Stuyvesant Fishs guardianship
and who during his adolescence de-
veloped mental afhiction. from
which he has never recovered, and
which has necessitated his being kept
under restraint. The son of Amyas
Northcote and of his American wife
is in the line of succession to the
Earldom of Iddesleigh. But his
chances of inheriting the peerage are
lives between his and that of the
present holder of the title.
The earldom is modern one dat
ing only from 1885, when 1t was be-
Northcote. the statesman and con-
servative leader who filled so many
cabinet offices, including those of first
lord Of the treasury, chancellor of the
exchequer and Of minister of foreign
affairs. But the family is a very an
cient one. 1t has a baronetcy dating
from the reign Of Charles 1 and doc
uments Immediately subsequent and
even prior to the Norman conquest
are preserved at Pynes, its ancestral
home near Exeter. showing that even
in those remote days, that is TO say
were people of great consequence in
the county of Devon.
second son of the statesman and has
achieved note in literature as a nov
elist. having a number of successful
novels to his credit. among them
being lone Chaloner't and Charms"
the latter dealing with a celebrated
tragedy in the reign Of George H.
Lord Iddesleigh's younger brother
won a peeraee for his services as
governor of Bombay and as gov
ernor general of Australia. He died
in 1911 shortly after his return from
a prolonged visit to America. leaving
an American widow in the person of
the Vermont born, adopted daughter
and principle heiress Of Lord Mount
stephen. one of the creators Of the
Canadian Pacific railroad.
Lady Northcote's adoption was in
the nature Of romance, and 1t Is
worthy Of note that in all the stand
ard "peerages" and works of refer
ence she Is described a. Alice, adopt
ed daughter of Lord Mountstephen,'' -
and no other information is vouch-
safed concerning her parentage. This
is due to the fact that her childhood,
spent in Canada near the border line.
was far from happy She was the
Cinderella of an American clergy
and his wife hailing from Vermont.
where their daughter Alice was born.
In some way the Lady Mountstephen n
became acquainted with Alice, took
fancy to her, and as the girls life
was not precisely rose-colored. and
she was more or less the SQUIRE
douleur" of her family, she gradually
came to spend more and more time
with the Mountstephens. The parents
raised objections to this, declaring
that 1t resulted in Alice's housework
being left undone, whereupon Lady
Mountstephen started by providing a
servant to take the girls place in
the clergyman's family, and ultimate
ly made an arrangement to adopt the
girl altogether, on the understanding
that the clergyman, his wife and the
remainder of their family renounce
all further connection and relation
ship with her. AT any rate 1t result
ed In the complete severance of
Alice's ties with her family and In
regular adoption by Lord and Lady
Mountstephen, who settled a very
large fortune upon her when she
married Lord Northcote. which was
still further vastly augmented when
Lord Mountstephen died.