Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-13
Son of Kings Boyhood Friend
Now a British Labor Minister

which were endangering the nayiga-
ton of the North sea and of the
English channel. Many a stream traW
Ter with its crew on board got blown
up while engaged in this work. For
not only were there all tho vast
mine fields with which the Germans
had lined their coast for purposes or
defense and had left them TO their
fate. but there were also all those
German and English mines which had
been set adrift by those storms and
hurricanes which kept the North sea
in almost continuous turmoil. Al
length, when honorably discharged III
1920. Lord De La War;, who had sue
ceeded to his fathers honors at tif-
teen, took a course of navigation at
Liverpool. securing Il masters Ger
tificate and also a commission IN the
royal naval reserves. de also put IN
year of study at the University OF
Cambridge and he is universally
liked.
His wife. whom he married few
months before attaining his majority
and Immediately on obtaining his dis
charge from the royal navy, is great
heiress as the daughter of the late
Gerard Leigh of the LIST Life Guards
and of Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire,
purchased after his death by the late
Sir julius Wernher and now the home
of Maj Harold Wernher and of the
latter's Russian wife, Lady Zia Wern-
her. morganatic daughter of the
Grand Duke Michael of Russia and %
the Countess Torby, a descendant OF
Russia's most famous poet, Pushkin.
Countess of De La War; is a grand
daughter of that wonderful old lady
SO long a power in English society
who died as the wife of NJ. de Fable.
Danish envoy to the court OF ST.
James. He was her fourth husband
It was under Nine de Fables auspices
and under the shade of the century
old trees of her place at Luton Hoo
that the Duke of Fife wooed and won
King Georges eldest sister. the now
old Nine. de Fable, the closest per
sonal friend of Queen Alexandra. who
contributed in no small measure TO
the marriage of King George ana
Queen Mary.
Lord De La War; bids fair to turn
out much more of a success than his
father, who, starting out with most
brilliant prospects and married
great heiress, came to grlef In u
financial and in a social sense-hlS
own worst enemy. His law,
the first Earl of Brassey, extricated him
time and again from the monetary
difficulties in which he was constantly
becoming involved through reckless
speculation and foolish undertakings.
and was rewarded by the neglect and
i'll treatment of his daughter to such
an extent that she was finally obliged
TO abandon her husband and to seek
from the divorce courts relief and
freedom. Quite naturally the custody
Of the children was awarded to the
petitioner, Muriel Countess De La
Warr--that "Murier' whose name fig
ures so frequently in the pages of
that once SO popular book The Ve!-
ne hn hno M
mother. the late Lady Brassey. re-
cording the cruises of that celebrated
yacht around the world. 81
* X * X
It is only fair. however, to the late
Lord De La War; to state that he
atoned for the indiscretions Of his
life by his death in the service of
his country. For. he went through
the whole of that disastrous Gallipoli
campaign as q lieutenant colonel of
infantry, succumbing to a combine
ton Of wounds, gastrttis. and rhsu-
matic fever in the hospitals or Malta.
should not omit to state that an
the early portion OF his life Eefore
his marriage he spent several most
wild and adventurous years engaged
in pearl fishing off the northern and
western coast Of Australia and ac-
quired there q disposition to law
lessness and disregard Tor the PRO
prieties Of life which affected his
| When old Lord Brassey. Of the
"Brassey" Naval Annual fame and
who was q multi-millionaire, died,
he left q very large fortune to Murfel,
who was his favorite daughter, with
present Lord De La War;. 1t may
-, be Of interest to add that until the
present Lord De La Wars marriage
and the birth of his two little boys
the next heir to the earldom was the
present Lord Sackville of Knowla
Park. And as the latter has no son.
then the earldom would have gone
to Gen. the Hon. Sir Charles Sack
Vile West, who retired from the
tary pIenipotsntiary of the British
embassy in Paris in order to marry.
| in New York, an American actress
Miss Anne Meredith.