Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 212, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1916 — NOBILITY HEROES ON HONOR ROLL [ARTICLE]

NOBILITY HEROES ON HONOR ROLL

Aristocrats Who Have Died for Their Country in Strife of Battle. IS AN INSPIRING CHAPTER 4 - _____ Nearly Fifty British Peers Have Lost Sons Who Would Have Succeeded Them in the Places They Now Hold. London—When the full story of the war is written it will have no more inspiring chapter than that Which describes the magnificent part the sons of our noble houses have played in it —their devotion, their heroism, their splendid deaths for the land they love, says a writer in London Answers. Already, although the war has barely reached its turning point, the list of these heirs to coronets they will never wear is appallingly long. Since the master of Burleigh, eldest son of Lord Balfour of Burleigh, as gallant a soldier as ever bore the historic name of Bruce, perished In the first month of the war, nearly 50 peers have lost the sons who. ought to have succeeded to their honors. These heroes have come from all grades of our peerage. One of them was heir to a dukedom, who, If he had lived, would have been •premier duke, marquis and earl of Ireland. Four were sons of marquises, five had earls for their fathers, seven were heirs to viscounties and 29 were successors to baronies. Six of them were the last heirs to the family honors, and the peerages which should have been theirs are now extinct. The marquis of Lincolnshire, Lords

Knaresborough, Playfaire, Glbbesdale. Rosmead and Staiiford have' now no heibs to follow them, though their sacrifice has not been so great as that of Lord Desborough, who has lost two successive heirs in the war within nine weeks of each other. Win Places on Roll of Honor. In this roll of honor, so far, there are comparatively few names that have won fame in old-time battles, such as Stanley, Percy, Clifford and Choiomondeley—names that recall long-dead generations of warriors. There is little, if any, martial strain in the blood of a Goschen and a Mills, a Playfair and a Robinson; but the bearers of these and many another historic name have fought as gallantly and died as heroically as any armored knight of the age of chivalry. Young Lord Weymouth, a boy of twenty, who died so bravely a few weeks ago, had plenty of fighting blood In his veins and proved himself a worthy descendant of his ancestor, Sir John Thynne, who won his knightly spurs so valiantly on the field of Musselburgh more than three centuries ago. Lord Bridgeport’s heir, who gave up his life one June-day last year, had in his veins the blood of England’s hero. Lord Nelson, and also of that grand old sea dog, Sir Samuel Hood, admiral of the Blue. Lord Spencer Douglas Compton, son of the marquis of Northampton, who died a year ago, could look back to a long array of fighting ancestors. Generation after generation, the Comptons were among the doughtiest warriors of England. There was a Compton in every’battle in the Civil war, including the third earl, who fought so bravely for their king at Edgehill and Banbury and in many another battle. Lord Arthur Hay, heir to his brother, the marquis of Tweeddale, who died in the second month of the war, had one ancestor who fell on Flodden field, and another who commanded a regiment at Marston Moor and Preston; and Viscount Templetown’s heir, who died on May 9, 1915, had many a warrior among his forefathers, including that Upton who covered himself with glory at the siege of Limerick under the standard of our third William. Lord Desmond Fitzgerald. But among all these brave young nobles who hqve given their lives for their king and country there were none braver than Lord Desmond Fitzgerald, heir to the brother, the sixth earl of Leinster, whose death a few weeks ago is so widely deplored. Dying at the age of twenty-seven, Lord Desmond had already written his name large in the annals of the gallant Irish guards. In the severe fighting in the retreat from Mons he bore himself most bravely among the brave, and In all the later fighting his courage and his reckless contempt of t danger amazed and inspired the ranks. He was twice severely wounded but he laughed at his wounds and longed only for a day when he could return to his men. and It was a cruel stroke of fate which, by the explosion of a bomb at Calais, ended a life so full of achievement and promise.