DEATHS OF REMARKABLE PERSONS.
During the year a number of persons died remarkable in every department of fame. Some of these have come in review under other sections, as in the case of Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Cambridge. The following persons of note may be referred to in this section, as all that our space allows.
January 7th, in London, Lieutenant Waghorn, R. N. This remarkable man had devoted a very considerable portion of his life to the establishment of steam communication between this country and India. He explored several overland routes to India with success. In these enterprises he expended his fortune, and the government refused all suitable acknowledgment for the great services he had rendered to the state and to commerce, except a paltry pension, unworthy of the donors.
This year was remarkable for loss to the naval service by the death of distinguished officers. Only two days after the decease of the gallant and indefatigable Waghorn, Admiral Schombergh died, an officer who had seen extraordinary variety of service, and had carried into effect several improvements in victualling the navy.
On the 16th, Commander Le Vesconte, more popular, however, as a consul than distinguished as a commander.
February 14th, Rear-Admiral Sir Gordon Bremer, after long and arduous services to his country.
It would be a task beyond our limits to notice the individual history and exploits of the heroic men in the naval service who died during this year. Among the most memorable of these were the Hon. Vice-Admiral Bouverie, and Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Richardson, K. C. B.
Among many notable military officers who died, the following deserve especial notice:—
February 23rd, Captain Maurice O’Connel, nephew of the late Baron O’Connel, chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria. This officer had no rank in the British service.
March 7th, the Hon. Sir Hercules Robert Pakenham, lieut.-general. This officer, well-known as the brother-inlaw, and one of the generals of the great Duke of Wellington, had seen long and trying services, and was always distinguished by his great gallantry.
The month of August closed with the announcement of the death of Major-General Sir Alexander Cameron, G.C.B. This heroic man had served in nearly every country of Europe, where the standard of England floated over the field of battle. At Corunna he, with Sir John Hope, carried to a boat the last wounded Highlander, that could be descried straggling near the scene of action. Marshal Soult and his staff observed this act of heroism, and warmly expressed their admiration.
The list of literary and scientific men who passed to the great account, was a longer and more remarkable one than that of England’s deceased warriors.
In January, Mr. Charles Robert Forrester, whose writings were very popular, under the nomme de plume of “Alfred Crowquill.”
On the 26th, Francis Jeffrey, one of the judges of the Court of Session in Scotland. He was the colleague of the Rev. Sydney Smith and Henry Brougham in founding the Edinburgh Review, and celebrated in every country for his critical contributions to that periodical.
February 2nd, Rev. Edward Bickersteth, rector of Watton, Hertfordshire. His place amongst literary men was won by his religious writings, which were exceedingly popular and useful. This eminent clergyman shed great lustre on the church by his devoted religious life, and gained for himself great renown in the department of religious literature.
On the 17th, the Rev. T. S. Grimshaw, A.M., vicar of Biddenham. This renowned clergyman distinguished himself in the department of literature in which the Rev. Mr. Bickersteth gained so much fame. Mr. Grimshaw wrote a “Life of the Rev. Leigh Richmond” (author of “The Dairyman’s Daughter”), the “Life and Works of William Cowper,” &c.
On the 23rd, Sir William Allan, R.A, limner to Her Majesty for Scotland, president of the Royal Scottish Academy. This artist was original and indefatigable, but could obtain no patronage out of his own country, where his treatment of Scottish subjects won for him popularity.
On the 2nd of March, John Peter Deering, Esq., a celebrated architect. He designed Exeter Hall, London, the University Club-house, and the best portions of University College, London.
April 7th, Canon Bowles, of Salisbury, eminent as a Latin and English poet. His early sonnets were highly intellectual and artistic in their versification. His memoirs of the poet Pope, and of other distinguished persons, were extremely popular, but did not obtain the lasting fame of his poetry.
On the 17th, in New York, Thom, the self-taught and celebrated Scottish sculptor. His “Tarn O’Shanter,” and “Old Mortality,” obtained for him a wide-spread fame in Great Britain and the United States of America.
On the 23rd, at Rydal Mount, near Ambleside, William Wordsworth, D.C.L., the poet, whose works have had a universal circulation. His chief productions are “The Evening Walk,” “The Excursion,” and “The White Doe of Rylstone.” He also wrote many deeply touching minor poems.
May 24th, Miss Jane Porter, authoress of many works, which have been translated into various languages. The most popular of these were “Thaddeus of Warsaw,” and the “Scottish Chiefs.” Sir Walter Scott is represented as having admitted to George IV. that his idea of the “Waverley Novels” was suggested by the perusal of the “Scottish Chiefs.” If this currently believed anecdote be correct, Miss Porter was the founder of the school of modern historical novels, and not Sir Walter Scott.
On the 27th, Mr. Richard J. Wyatt, known as a sculptor of great merit throughout Europe. His death took place at Rome.
July 4th, at Barham, Suffolk, Canon Kirby, rector of that parish. He was a distinguished naturalist, and the author of various eminent works, especially in the department of entomology. His Monographic, Apium Anglio, his description of the Fauna Boreali Americana, and his “Bridgewater Treatise,” on the “history, habits, and instincts of animals,” have made him a world-wide tame.
July 12th, Mr. Robert Stephenson, civil engineer, who had obtained an honourable notoriety for his achievements in his profession.
August 19th, Sir Martin Shee, president of the Royal Academy. He was not only celebrated as a painter, but was an accomplished scholar and author.
On the 30th of October, one of the most benevolent and amiable ladies in the world of letter’s, Mrs. Bell Martin, died at New York. This gifted lady was born at Ballinahinch Castle, in Galway. Her father, Mr. Thomas Barnewell Martin, M.P. for Galway, died in 1847. Miss Martin married a Mr. Bell, who assumed the name of Martin. The estates of Mr. Martin, of Ballinahinch, were in area the largest in the United Kingdom, and Miss Martin was commonly styled “the Irish heiress,” from her very large patrimony. The failure of the potato crops, and the ensuing famine, which afflicted Ireland for several years, ruined Miss Martin’s inheritance. The estates were encumbered, and as landed property in Ireland during “the famine years” brought but little in the market, the Ballinahinch properly was thrown into the Encumbered Estates Court, and there were no assets for “the heiress,” She left the extensive region over which she had almost reigned as a princess, without any longer having a claim to a single acre. She was in deep distress, and, to the dishonour of the gentry of Ireland, she found no friends in her hour of trial. She took up her residence on the continent, and supported herself by her pen: she was the authoress of “St. Etienne, a tale of the Vendean war,” “Julia Howard,” and some minor works. Her contributions to the Encyclopédie des Gens de Monde were numerous, and gained her high reputation. She eventually sought New York as the sphere of her enterprise. During the voyage she was prematurely confined, and died in consequence, soon after her arrival at the Union Place Hotel. It was generally believed in that city, and in the land of her birth, that uneasiness as to her temporal prospects aggravated, and perhaps caused the illness, which proved fatal to this highly gifted lady.
November 15th, Joseph Hullmandle, whose inventions and improvements connected with lithography, and tinted lithographic printing, contributed so much to the perfection of that branch of artistic skill.
November 26th, Lord Nugent, a celebrated politician, poet, and man of letters. The title was Irish, and became extinct with him.
December 8th, Mr. William Sturgeon, celebrated for his scientific learning, his voluminous productions on electricity, and various branches of natural science. He had been originally a shoemaker, afterwards a soldier, subsequently scientific lecturer at Addiscombe College, and in his old age suffered much from poverty. Lord John Russell obtained him a grant of £50 per year from the Civil List, so paltry a recognition of such great merits and services as is exceedingly dishonouring to the country.
Several remarkable persons were removed by death from various walks of life unnecessary to classify. The following were the most remarkable instances:—
On the 24th of January, Sir Felix Booth, the celebrated brewer, a man of large wealth, and a patron of science. He fitted out, at an expense of £17,000, the expedition in search of the North-West passage, commanded by Captain Ross, who commemorated the name of his munificent patron by giving to the northern termination of the American continent the name of Felix Boothia.
On the 6th of March, Sir James Gibson Craig, Bart., who had distinguished himself as a leader of the Scottish Whigs for many years.
July the 8th, at Cambridge House, Piccadilly, H.R.H. Prince Adolphus Frederick, of Brunswick Lunenburgh, Duke of Cambridge, youngest surviving son of George III. He was a very benevolent prince, liberal in politics, patriotic in feeling, and much beloved by the country.
July 20th, Sir Robert Peel, Bart., the statesman and parliamentary leader. Such ample notice has been taken of his life and death, on former pages, that it is not necessary more particularly to refer to it in this place.
August the 7th, Louis Philippe, the exiled King of the French, aged 77 years. Few princes experienced so many and such great vicissitudes of fortune. He died at Claremont, in Surrey. When in his power the most obsequious homage was paid to him by the court and the citizens of London; in his exile, he was allowed to sink almost unnoticed into obscurity and death. His faithlessness to political engagements, his avarice, and want of principle generally, had created a universal obloquy round his name.