On the 1st, aged 65, Sir James Henderson, managing proprietor of the Belfast Newsletter and Belfast Weekly News; first Lord Mayor of the extended city of Belfast, 1898. About the 3rd, Robert Kaye Grey, M. Inst. C.E., President of the Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1903; sometime engineer-in-chief to the Silvertown Telegraph Works, and an electrician of some eminence. On the 3rd, suddenly, on a steamer on Lake Ontario, aged 50, the Rev. Charles Silvester Horne, Liberal M.P. for Ipswich and a prominent Congregationalist Minister; had been pastor of Whitefield's Church, Tottenham-Court Road, 1903-14; an active promoter of religious and social work, especially the "Brotherhood Movement"; m. Miss Cozens-Hardy, dau. of the Master of the Rolls. On the 4th, in New York, aged 88, Major-General Daniel Edgar Sickles, U.S.A.; commanded the Third Army Corps at the battle of Gettysburg, and saw much service in the Civil War; in early life a lawyer, member of the New York State Senate 1856-7, and a member of Congress for New York 1857-61; had also been Secretary of Legation in London in 1853-5, and Minister to the Hague 1866, and to Madrid 1869-73; member of Congress 1892-4; awarded medal of honour for gallantry at Gettysburg. On the 5th, aged 48, Reginald Jaffray Lucas, Unionist M.P. for Portsmouth 1900-6. On the 8th, aged 76, the Rev. Henry Hahoney Davey, Chancellor of Chichester Cathedral, of some note as an archæologist, and a prominent Freemason. On the 9th, aged 52, Paul Heroult, a distinguished French metallurgist and engineer. About the 9th, aged 76, Admiral Edgar Humann of the French Navy, who forced his way up the River Menam to obtain satisfaction from Siam for French claims in 1893; had been Commander-in-Chief of the French Fleet in the Mediterranean, 1897-8. On the 9th, Charles W. Post, as well-known American manufacturer of cereal foods and a strong opponent of trade unionism. On the 10th, aged 61, Sir William Alexander Smith, of Glasgow, founder and secretary of the Boys' Brigade. About the 10th, aged 70, Colonel W. Holden Webb, sometime of the British and Indian Army, subsequently Acting Commandant of the New Zealand Defence Forces, and a member and Secretary of the Council of Defence of the Dominion. On the 11th, aged 95, Frederick Pennington, Liberal M.P. for Stockport 1874-85; a member of the Council of the anti-Corn Law League, and a friend of Bright and Cobden. On the 11th, aged 64, James Reid Wilson, of Montreal, a prominent Canadian millionaire and collector of pictures. On the 13th, aged 70, Henry Richardson, from 1870 to 1905 a master at Marlborough College, and one of the most devoted friends of the school. On the 13th, aged 72, Charles Trice Martin, F.S.A., of the Record Office; hon. secretary of the Pipe Rolls Society; had edited and written important works on the Public Records, and assisted in calendaring various State Papers. On the 14th, aged 76, Major-General Thomas Scovell Bigge, C.B., a Crimean and Mutiny veteran; had served in the expedition for the relief of Lucknow. On the 14th, aged 58, Frederick de Bartzch Monk, one of the leaders of the Canadian Conservative parties and member for Jacques Cartier in the Dominion Parliament since 1896; was Minister of Public Works in the Borden Ministry, 1911, but retired owing to his connexion with Quebec Nationalism; a learned constitutional lawyer and son of an eminent Judge. About the 14th, aged 74, William Wainwright, Vice-President of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and in its service since 1862; a Manchester man. On the 18th, drowned in Ceylon, Edward Russell Ayrton, Archæological Commissioner for that Colony, and previously connected with the Egypt Exploration Fund, where he did much valuable work. On the 18th, aged 67, Admiral Sir Charles Carter Drury, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., Second Sea Lord of the Admiralty 1902-5; Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean 1907-8, and at the Nore 1908-11; a native of New Brunswick. On the 19th, aged 56, Mrs. Margaret Mary Russell Cooke, dau. of Eustace Smith, M.P. for Tynemouth; m. (1) Ashton Dilke, brother of Sir Charles Dilke; (2) W. Russell Cooke, barrister; was on the London School Board 1889-92. On the 19th, aged 78, John Wesley Hales, Professor of English Literature at King's College, London, 1882-1903, and twice Clark Lecturer in English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge; educated at Christ's College, Cambridge; Fourth Classic and 15th Junior Optime 1859, and a Fellow of his College; had written essays on English literature and on Shakespeare, and edited Elizabethan poems; a contributor to the "Dictionary of National Biography." On the 20th, aged 51, Alderman William Thompson, a well-known housing expert and manager of a "garden city" enterprise; sometime Mayor of Richmond, Surrey. About the 20th, aged 54, Stephen Townesend, F.R.C.S., husband of the authoress Frances Hodgson Burnett, with whom he collaborated in many plays; had also written novels, chiefly concerned with hospital life. On the 21st, Sir Pieter Faure, Colonial Secretary and Minister of Agriculture in the Sprigg and Jameson Ministries in Cape Colony. On the 21st, Sir Francis Laking, first Baronet, G.C.V.O., K.C.B., long one of the physicians of the Royal Household. On the 22nd, suddenly, in court, Sir Thomas Crossley Rayner, Chief Justice of British Guiana since 1912, previously Attorney-General; Chief Justice of Lagos 1895-1902; a native of Manchester. On the 22nd, aged 82, the Rev. Arthur Mursell, long a prominent Baptist Minister; pastor of the Stockwell (South Lambeth) Baptist Chapel 1866-78 and 1887-1909; also an able popular lecturer, and one of the small body of Nonconformist Unionists. On the 23rd, aged 64, Charles Davis, M.V.O., a prominent London art dealer and expert. On the 23rd, aged 75, Philip Henry Pye-Smith, M.D., F.R.S., for many years on the medical staff of Guy's Hospital and a prominent London consultant; had edited and written important medical works. On the 23rd, aged 72, Sir Alexander Campbell of Aberuchill and Kilbryde, sixth Baronet; succeeded his father 1903; Colonel R.H.A. (ret.); m. (1) Edith, dau. of Alexander Jauncy; she d. 1884; (2) Annie, dau. of R. H. Mitford and widow of Walter James; succeeded by his (second) s. On the 24th, aged 69, David, eleventh Viscount Arbuthnott; succeeded his brother 1895; succeeded by his brother. On the 25th, aged 98, the Rev. John Birch-Reynardson, for sixty-nine years Rector of Careby with Holywell, Lincolnshire; had restored Careby Church at his own cost, and was well known for his benevolence. On the 25th, aged 76, Sir Francis Flint Belsey, Chairman of the Council of the Sunday School Union; and President of the World's First Sunday School Convention 1889; Liberal candidate for Kent (Faversham) 1885, Rochester 1886; twice Mayor of Rochester, his native place, and for twenty-seven years on its School Board. On the 25th, aged 53, Heinrich Vogelsang, agent of Herr Lüderitz of Hamburg in founding in 1883 the first German settlement at Angra Pequeña, which next year became the German colony of South-West Africa. On the 26th, aged 85, Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, first Baronet (cr. 1874); Liberal M.P. for Tiverton 1868-85; a well-known master of foxhounds; assumed his grandfather's name and arms of Heathcoat 1874; m. 1863, Henrietta, dau. of William Unwin; succeeded by his s. On the 29th, aged 75, Paul von Mauser, inventor of the Mauser rifle; son of a gunsmith, he worked at Liège with his brother, supported by an American capitalist named Norris, at improving the Prussian needle-gun from 1867 onwards, and secured the adoption of his weapon by the German army in 1871; improved types followed until 1898; also invented self-loading pistols, and claimed to have supplied 8,000,000 weapons; held many distinctions and orders, and was a member of the Reichstag 1898-1903. On the 29th, aged 67, Prince Peter Dimitrievitch Sviatopolk-Mirski, Russian Minister of the Interior 1904-5; previously Governor of various Russian provinces; regarded when Minister as inclined to Liberalism. On the 29th, drowned in the Empress of Ireland, aged 61, Sir Henry Seton-Karr, Unionist member for Lancs. S.W. (St. Helens) 1885-1906, a well-known sportsman and big game shot and writer on sport; and also Mr. Laurence Irving, younger son of Sir Henry Irving, an actor and playwright of distinction, and his wife (known on the stage as Miss Mabel Hackney), at one time leading lady in Sir Henry Irving's company. On the 30th, aged 62, General Von Deines, head of a department in the Great General Staff of the German Army, 1901-6; reformed the Garrison Artillery so as to enable it to be used in the field, thus preparing effectively for the war of 1914. On the 30th, aged 78, the Rev. Leonard Edmund Shelford, Prebendary of St. Paul's and Rector since 1903 of St. Martin's in the Fields; previously Rector of Stoke Newington 1886-1903, and Vicar of St. Matthew's, Upper Clapton, 1866-86; an earnest worker and a Liberal Churchman. On the 30th, aged 81, Colonel Oliver Ormerod Walker, Conservative M.P. for Salford 1877-80, and High Sheriff of Lancashire 1876. On the 30th, aged 50, Professor George Dean of Aberdeen University, an eminent bacteriologist. On the 30th, aged 56, John Sutherland Sinclair, seventeenth Earl of Caithness; had spent most of his life in the United States; succeeded his father in 1891; unmarried; succeeded by his brother. On the 30th, aged 55, Dr. Philipp Schwartzkopff, long virtual Minister of Education in Prussia, and since 1912 Ober-Prësident of the Prussian province of Posen. On the 30th, aged 80, Surgeon Major-General Robert Lewer; had served in the Russian War of 1856 and distinguished himself in the Afghan War of 1878.
JUNE.
The Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Este (Franz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Joseph) was murdered at Sarajevo on June 28. The eldest s. of the Emperor Francis Joseph's brother, the Archduke Charles Louis, and of his wife Maria Annunziata, dau. of Ferdinand II., King of Naples, he was brought up under the direction, from the age of eight, of his stepmother, Maria Theresa, dau. of Don Miguel of Portugal. His training made him a devout and convinced supporter of Clericalism in Austria, a good rider and shot, and a painstaking cavalry officer, and his natural tastes were those of a country gentleman; but he had devoted no special attention to public affairs till the suicide or murder of the Crown Prince Rudolph in 1889. Then he became heir to the thrones of the Dual Monarchy and was slowly, and with some resentment on his part at the scant confidence shown him by the Emperor, initiated into its politics. In 1889 he was sent round the world on a warship, and on his return published an account of his travels. This shows him to have been a pleasant, energetic youth, of wide interests and considerable intellectual activity, gifted, as he says, with a mania for museums, and quite ready to join in the deck sports of a liner or the time-honoured ceremony of receiving, and paying toll to, Father Neptune on crossing the Line. In the course of his tour he stayed with the Marquess of Lansdowne, then Viceroy of India, on whom he made a very favourable impression. In 1900 he m. the Countess von Chotek (post) and resigned her right and that of his future children to the Crowns of Austria and Hungary. She was believed to exercise a controlling influence over him; and popular rumour credited him with strong proclivities for the Clerical and Christian Socialist parties, with hostility to the Magyars, and with a desire to counterbalance their power by the strengthening of the Slav elements in the Austrian dominions, whom he hoped to see converted to Roman Catholicism. He proposed to bring representatives of Bohemia and Poland, as well as of Austria and Hungary, when he attended the coronation of King Edward VII.; and he resented the telegram of thanks sent by the German Emperor to the Austrian Emperor after the Congress of Algeciras. He was believed, also, to have favoured a forward policy for Austria-Hungary in South-Eastern Europe, and to have promoted the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1913 he visited King George V. and was personally much liked by those who had met him, and he was expected to prove a thoroughly earnest and conscientious, though somewhat reactionary, ruler.
The Duchess of Hohenberg, before her marriage Countess Sophie Maria Josephine Albine Chotek of Chotkowa and Wognin, belonged to an ancient and in earlier days an illustrious Bohemian family; she was b. at Stuttgart, March 1, 1868, m. the Archduke Franz Ferdinand morganatically July 1, 1899. When he met her she was lady-in-waiting to the Archduchess Isabella, wife of the Archduke Frederick of Austria. It was purely a love match, and entailed the resignation by the bridegroom of all rights attaching to his offspring, though it was doubtful whether the renunciation was valid in Hungary. She was a devoted wife, a fervent Catholic, and was believed to keep her husband's bellicose tendencies in check. Her position at the Court of Vienna was an extremely difficult one; but it was gradually regularised, by the conferment upon her of the title of Princess of Hohenberg in 1900, of that of Serene Highness, for herself and her descendants, in 1905, and of Duchess of Hohenberg in 1909. In private life she was an enthusiastic poultry fancier. She left three children.
The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz (Adolf Friedrich) died June 11, aged 65. The s. of Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm and of Princess Augusta, daughter of the Duke of Cambridge, he was b. July 22, 1848, and succeeded his father May 30, 1904. He m. in 1877 Princess Elizabeth of Anhalt, and was succeeded by his only s. Adolph Friedrich. One of his two daughters m. Prince Danilo of Montenegro. He was a first cousin of Queen Mary, her mother and his having been sisters. He was a Knight of the Garter. Alone among German princely houses, his family boasts a Slavonic origin.
The Earl of Wemyss.—Francis Wemyss Charteris Douglas, tenth Earl of Wemyss, Earl of March in the Peerage of Scotland, and Baron Wemyss in that of the United Kingdom, died after a short illness in London on June 30, aged 95. B. August 4, 1818, s. of the ninth Earl of Wemyss and of Lady Louisa Bingham, dau. of the second Earl of Lucan, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and represented East Gloucestershire as a Conservative 1841-6, and East Lothian as an independent Liberal-Conservative 1847-83, when he succeeded his father in the peerage. He was a Lord of the Treasury in the Aberdeen Ministry of 1853-5, but never again held office, and probably never sought it, for he became practically independent of party. He spoke and voted against the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1851; he supported the Palmerston Ministry after Lord Aberdeen's resignation in 1865; and in later years he became one of the most decided individualists in public life, opposing the reform of the game laws (1865), the reform of the Scottish law of hypothec so as to do away with the preferential right of the landlord over other creditors of the tenant, the legalisation of "peaceful picketing" in trade disputes, and the Irish land legislation interfering with freedom of contract from 1870 onwards. He was one of the chief promoters of the Liberty and Property Defence League, and was strongly adverse to legislative interference between employers and employed. His greatest service to his country doubtless lay in his active promotion of the Volunteer movement. He commanded the London Scottish 1859-79; and was one of the founders of the National Rifle Association and Chairman of its Council 1860-7 and 1869-70; and he presented it with the Echo Challenge Shield for competition. He also took much interest in the fine arts, and exercised great influence throughout his career on the treatment of the national collections by the Government. He took an important part also in promoting the Medical Act of 1858, which established the General Medical Council and the Medical Register, thus giving a definite status to the medical profession; and he was a member of the Trade Union Commission of 1867. He frequently spoke on foreign politics, and with knowledge. He had been described as a type of "the cross-bench mind," and also as a Palmerstonian Liberal with a turn for individualism. He was personally very handsome, and physically and mentally active and energetic. He m. (1), 1843, Lady Anne Anson, dau. of the first Earl of Lichfield; she died 1896; (2) 1900, Grace, dau. of Major Blackburn. He was succeeded by his fourth s., Lord Elcho.
The Right Hon. Sir William Reynell Anson, D.C.L., third Baronet, Warden of All Souls' College, Oxford, and M.P. for Oxford University, died at Oxford on June 4, aged 70. Educated at first privately, then at Eton and Balliol, he obtained a First Class in Moderations (1863) and in the Final Classical School (1865), and was elected Fellow of All Souls in 1867. He practised at the Bar till 1873, when he succeeded his father in the baronetcy, and in 1874 was appointed Vinerian Reader in English Law at Oxford, where he took an active part in promoting the foundation of a School of Law. In 1880 he unsuccessfully contested West Staffordshire as a Liberal, and in 1881 was elected Warden of his College on the death of Dr. Leighton. In 1884 he became a member of the Hebdomadal Council and in 1898 was Vice-Chancellor; he was also Chairman of Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions and an Alderman of the City of Oxford. In 1899 he was elected (Unionist) M.P. for Oxford University on the death of Sir John Mowbray. In 1902 he was made Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Education, and, as the representative of the Education Department in the House of Commons, he had much to do with defending and bringing into operation the Education Act of 1903. He wrote "The Principles of the Law of Contract" (1879), and "The Law and Custom of the Constitution" (1881), both of which became standard works and passed through several editions. He was a Fellow of Eton College and a Trustee of the British Museum, and was very active in University work. He instructed the Prince of Wales in Constitutional history. He never married, and was succeeded by his nephew, who was drowned not long afterwards (p. [101]).
On the 1st, Mrs. G. D. Day, known professionally as Miss Lily Hall Caine, sister of the eminent novelist, and distinguished as an actress; had published reminiscences of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina. On the 1st, aged 61, Henri Roujon, Permanent Secretary since 1903 of the Paris Academy of Fine Arts, and previously secretary to many leading French statesmen. On the 1st, aged 54, Charles Alston Smith-Ryland, J.P., originally Smith, High Sheriff of Warwickshire, 1895; for a time Unionist candidate for the Stratford-on-Avon division, he retired through ill-health; took his second surname on inheriting a large part of the estate of Miss Ryland, whose engagement to him was discountenanced by her parents. About the 1st, aged 65, Jacob A. Riis, by birth a Dane, a well-known social worker in New York, had done much to clear its slums, and written important books on its social problems. On the 2nd, aged 78, Major-General the Hon. Sir Savage Lloyd Mostyn, K.C.B., son of the second Lord Mostyn; sometime 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, had served in the Crimea and Indian Mutiny and distinguished himself in the Ashanti War of 1873. On the 2nd, aged 89, the Rev. John Wirken, sometime Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, eighth Wrangler 1848; mathematical master at the Perse School, Cambridge, 1865-91. On the 3rd, aged 62, County Court Judge James Valentine Austin, of the Inner Temple, Judge of the Bristol circuit since 1892, had also frequently served as an arbitrator in trade disputes. About the 3rd, aged 84, Sir George Bingham, K.P., Bart., fourth Earl of Lucan, Vice-Admiral of Connaught, and a representative Peer for Ireland; had served in the Crimea as his father's aide-de-camp, and been Conservative M.P. for Mayo 1865-74; succeeded his father 1888; m., 1859, Lady Cecilia Gordon-Lennox, dau. of the fifth Duke of Richmond; succeeded by his s. About the 3rd, aged 66, Sir Stanley Ismay, K.C.S.I., late Judicial Commissioner for the Central Provinces of India. On the 3rd, Joseph Reynolds Green, D.Sc., F.R.S., Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge; sometime Professor of Botany to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. On the 4th, aged 69, Sir Douglas Straight, Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad 1879-92; editor of the Pall Mall Gazette 1896-1909; had had a large practice at the Bar in the seventies of the last century, chiefly at the Central Criminal Court, and had been Conservative M.P. for Stafford 1870-4; contested the borough again unsuccessfully in 1892; had written boys' books in early life and done much journalism; very active in philanthropic work. On the 5th, aged 77, Henry James Stuart-Richardson, fifth Earl Castlestewart; m., 1866, Augusta, widow of Major Hugh Massey; succeeded by his cousin. On the 6th, aged 81, Walter Theodore Watts-Dunton, poet, novelist, and critic; till middle life a solicitor, he joined the London Examiner, a literary weekly paper, in 1874, and the Athenæum in 1875, writing reviews, mainly of poetry and romances, almost weekly in the latter till about 1908; wrote much verse, and edited the works of George Borrow, whom he had known; published "Aylwin", 1898; took his mother's surname of Dunton 1897; a close friend of the poet Swinburne, who lived with him for some years and died in his house. On the 7th, aged 77, the Rev. John Stephenson, Vicar of Boston, 1892-1905; Prebendary of Lincoln; sometime a Missionary under the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and Chaplain to the Viceroy of India. On the 9th, aged 66, Maxime Lecomte, a member of the French Senate and sometime its Vice-President. On the 10th, the Rev. Frederick Maule Millard, sometime Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Headmaster of St. Michael's College, Tenbury; Rector of Otham 1869-1909. On the 11th, aged 78, John Davies Davenport, Barrister-at-law; sometime Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford; Senior University Mathematical Scholar 1863. On the 11th, aged 83, Charlotte, Lady Dorchester, widow of the fourth Lord Dorchester, and only dau. of John Cam Hobhouse, first Lord Broughton, and the intimate friend of Lord Byron, much of whose correspondence she inherited; had published "Recollections of a Long Life." On the 12th, aged 70, Barclay Vincent Head, D.Litt., D.C.L., Ph.D., sometime keeper of the Coins and Medals at the British Museum; an eminent numismatist, whose speciality was Greek coins; author of a standard work, the "Historia Numorum" (1887). On the 13th, aged 79, Adlai E. Stevenson, of Kentucky, Vice-President of the United States in President Cleveland's second term, 1893-7, and Assistant Postmaster-General in his first term, 1884; entered Congress 1874; Democratic candidate for the Vice-Presidency at the election of 1900. On the 13th, aged 65, Admiral Sir John Durnford, G.C.B., D.S.O.; distinguished in the Burmese War, 1885-6; Junior Naval Lord of the Admiralty 1901-4; Commander-in-Chief at the Cape of Good Hope 1904-7; President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1908-11. On the 13th, aged 55, his Honour Judge Amyas Philip Longstaffe, Judge of County Courts (Huddersfield circuit) since 1911. On the 14th, aged 70, the Rev. Frederick William Spurling, Canon Residentiary of Chester Cathedral since 1899; had been tutor and sub-warden of Keble College, Oxford, lecturer at Wadham and Brasenose College, and assistant master at Westminster and Rugby. On the 14th, aged 80, the Rev. Thomas Osmotherley Reay, since 1880 Vicar of St. Mary, Prittlewell, Essex, where he had done much for Church extension; previously Vicar of Dovercourt; and for many years Chaplain of the Essex Volunteers. On the 14th, aged 67, Sir Edward White, J.P., L.C.C., Chairman of the London County Council 1911-12, Vice-Chairman 1909-10; Municipal Reform member for West Marylebone 1897-1907 and from 1910 to his death; in the interval an Alderman; was instrumental in abolishing the Works Department; was popular as Chairman, and was presented by subscription of both parties in the Council with his portrait; knighted on the laying of the foundation of the new County Hall, 1912. On the 14th, Mrs. Carlotta La Trobe, professionally known as Miss Carlotta Addison, for nearly fifty years a leading actress in comedy. On the 15th, aged 55, Allan Gibson Steel, K.C., Recorder of Oldham since 1904; had a large legal practice in Admiralty cases; "one of the greatest of English cricketers"; captain of the Marlborough College Eleven in 1876-7, played four years for Cambridge against Oxford, and frequently against Australia; an all-round cricketer; joint author of the volume on cricket in the Badminton Series. On the 15th, suddenly, aged 75, the Rt. Rev. Alfred Robert Tucker, Bishop of Uganda, 1899-1911, previously first Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa; since 1911 Canon of Durham; wrote an important account of his work in Africa, where he had done much to promote the spread of Christianity. On the 16th, aged 44, Major Joseph Andrew Benyon, Assistant Agent-General for Quebec in London; distinguished in the Boer War. On the 17th, aged about 75, Bennet Burleigh, a famous war correspondent; served the Central News in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, and thereafter the Daily Telegraph in the Soudan, Madagascar, the Ashanti War, South Africa, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Italian War in Tripoli; had republished several volumes of his letters; a picturesque and vigorous writer. On the 18th, aged 61, Major-General Villiers Hatton, C.B., sometime Grenadier Guards; had served with the Nile Expedition, 1898, and commanded the British forces in South China, 1903-6. On the 19th, aged 65, Brandon Thomas, a noted actor and dramatist; best known as the adapter of an extraordinarily successful play, "Charley's Aunt." On the 19th, aged 74, Sir John Gray Hill, nephew of Rowland Hill, the postal reformer, and a prominent Liverpool solicitor; President of the Law Society 1903-4; knighted 1904; a frequent traveller; had written a book describing his capture by Bedouin Arabs. On the 20th, aged 73, Sir David Hunter, K.C.M.G., manager of the Natal Government Railways, 1879-1906; did good service in this post in the Boer War. On the 21st, aged 71, Baroness Bertha von Suttner, dau. of Count Franz Kinsky of the Austrian Army, and widow of Baron von Suttner; an able Austrian novelist; her best known novel is "Die Waffen Nieder" (1889), translated under the title "Down with your Arms" (1892); founded the Austrian Peace Society, and worked hard in the cause of international peace; awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905. On the 21st, aged 89, Morgan Bransby Williams, M.Inst.C.E., had been concerned in the construction in the 'forties of the last century of several main lines in England and France, and later in Italy and Russia; High Sheriff of Glamorganshire 1894. On the 22nd, aged 62, Sir George Howland William Beaumont, tenth Baronet; succeeded his father 1882; m. Lillie, dau. of Major-General Craster, R.E.; succeeded by his s. On the 23rd, Sir John Stokell Dodds, K.C.M.G., Chief Justice of Tasmania. On the 24th, aged 85, Horace Courtenay Gammell Forbes, 20th Baron Forbes, succeeded 1868; a Representative Peer for Scotland from 1874 to 1906; unmarried; succeeded by his brother; a benefactor of the Scottish Episcopal Church. On the 24th, aged 90, the Rev. Richard Samuel Oldham, long incumbent of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Glasgow; was instrumental in rebuilding the church, subsequently the Episcopal Cathedral of the diocese; Dean of Glasgow 1877-8; subsequently incumbent of Grosvenor Chapel, London, and Vicar of Little Chart, Kent, 1881-1905; Exhibitioner of Wadham College, Oxford, and Kennicott Hebrew Scholar. On the 26th, aged 50, Joseph Hugh Brain, a cricketer of some note; captain in 1887 of the Oxford University Cricket Club, and played four years in the Inter-University Match. On the 27th, aged 88, George Ogilvie, LL.D., headmaster of Watson's College, Edinburgh, 1870-98; a successful educationist. On the 28th, aged 78, Patrick J. Foley, Nationalist M.P. for Galway (West) 1885-98; President of the Pearl Assurance Company, and one of the earliest promoters of industrial insurance in Great Britain. On the 30th, aged 82, Georges Perrot, Permanent Secretary of the French Academy of Inscription, a brilliant scholar and man of letters. On the 31st, aged 81, Sir Francis Campbell, F.R.G.S., sometime Principal of the Royal Normal College and Academy for the Blind; son of a Tennessee farmer, and himself blind from the age of three, he overcame his difficulties, learnt music by dint of strenuous perseverance, and established in 1872 the institution over which he presided till 1912; ascended Mont Blanc in 1885. On the 31st, aged 38, Stanley Portal Hyatt, a colonist, explorer, and novelist; fought in the U.S. Army during the subjugation of the Philippines, and wrote many novels of adventure, among them "The Little Brown Brother," a striking picture of American rule in the islands. In June, aged 74, Raja Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore, C.I.E., Mus. Doc. Oxon, founder in 1871 of the Bengal Music School, and in 1881 of the Bengal Academy of Music; revived the cultivation of Hindu melody and systematised its notation; wrote many musical works, and also books on gems; made notable collection of Indian musical instruments and of birds.
JULY.
The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain died at his house at Highbury, Birmingham, on July 2, aged nearly 78. The son of Joseph Chamberlain, a leading London bootmaker who became Master of the Cordwainers' Company, and of Caroline Harben, he was b. in Camberwell, July 8, 1836, and educated at a small private school and at University College School. Apprenticed at sixteen to his father's trade, he two years later joined a cousin, Joseph Nettlefold, as a screw manufacturer in Birmingham. The firm eventually took the first place in the trade; but Mr. Chamberlain found time for self-improvement, for an extensive study of French, for teaching classes in his own works and in Sunday school, and for practising public speaking in a debating society. In 1869 he was invited to stand for the Birmingham Town Council; in 1874-6 he was Mayor; and he was instrumental in great local improvements, including the municipal purchase of the gas and waterworks, and the establishment of the free library and art gallery. Meanwhile, in 1870, he had actively co-operated in the formation of the National Education League, which aimed at limiting the new Board Schools to secular instruction, and had become a member, and then Chairman, of the Birmingham School Board. He had also openly professed Republican views, but he completely dispelled the fears entertained as to his conduct on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales to Birmingham in 1874 by his tact and courtesy towards his distinguished guests. Looking for a wider sphere of activity, he contested Sheffield at a Parliamentary bye-election in that year, but was defeated by Mr. Roebuck; but in June, 1876, he was returned unopposed for Birmingham. His maiden speech was on the Education Bill, 1876, and his manner and delivery—described by an observer as "that of a ladies' doctor"—astounded members who had expected to see a conventional demagogue. He introduced a Bill for "municipalising" the liquor traffic on the Gothenburg system, and speedily rose to prominence. In 1880 he became President of the Board of Trade in Mr. Gladstone's Ministry, and in the next few years was the Minister responsible for a Bankruptcy Act and a Merchant Shipping Bill, which, however, failed to pass, as well as a Workmen's Compensation Act, but he endorsed the Ministerial measures of coercion in Ireland. Nevertheless, he kept in close relation with the Nationalist leaders, and was largely responsible for the policy that led to the so-called "Kilmainham Treaty" and the release of Mr. Parnell. At the same time, he continued to dominate Birmingham, and the Aston Park riots, set up by Lord Randolph Churchill's candidature (Oct. 13, 1884), led to a bitter debate in the House of Commons. At the general election of 1885 he inspired, and largely shaped, the Radical "unauthorised programme"; but in 1886 his nascent Imperialism helped to estrange him from the Liberals on the Home Rule Bill, and he powerfully contributed to its defeat. After the change of Ministry he became President of the Local Government Board; and he was a member of the "Round Table Conference" which early in 1887 endeavoured to reunite the Liberal party; but during an adjournment he attacked the Nationalists in a letter (on Welsh Disestablishment) to the Baptist, and the Conference was wrecked. He supported Mr. Balfour's Irish policy in 1887 and the appointment of the Special Commission; but at the end of the year he became a member of the Commission which arranged the Fisheries Treaty between the United States and Canada, and, though the United States Senate rejected it, the dispute was settled by a modus vivendi. On his return he supported the Unionist policy, and earned the bitter hatred of the Nationalists. In the general election of 1892 his personal influence kept the Birmingham area faithful to Liberal Unionism; and he strongly opposed the Home Rule Bill—partly from a nascent desire for the closer union of the Empire. It was during the final scene in the Commons on this measure that he was denounced by a Nationalist as "Judas." He joined the Unionist Ministry which followed the Liberal defeat on "the cordite question" in 1895. After the dissolution of that year he obtained a considerable representation for his followers in the new Ministry, and himself became Colonial Secretary, investing the post with a new importance. His main aims were, to bring the Colonies and the Mother Country into closer relations, and to develop the resources of the Crown Colonies; and in this latter respect he paid special attention to the hitherto neglected British possessions in the West Indies and West Africa. The Colonial Procession at the Queen's Jubilee of 1897 was believed to be his idea; and in home affairs he promoted the Workmen's Compensation Act, old-age pensions—a reform for which, however, there was as yet no money,—and other social legislation, including a measure, which proved ineffective, enabling local authorities to lend money to tenants of small houses to enable them to become owners. As Colonial Secretary, however, his name is indivisibly linked with the Boer War. His difficulties with President Kruger began with the closing of the Drifts by the latter in 1895, and, when this was settled, they were renewed by the unfortunate Jameson raid, which was at once repudiated both by the High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, and by Mr. Chamberlain himself. Nevertheless the Colonial Secretary was afterwards frequently charged, quite falsely, with having known that the raid was pending, and the Select Committee, before which he gave evidence, failed to clear up its inner history. Almost immediately after it, however, he invited President Kruger to England to consult with the Imperial Government on the political situation in the Transvaal; and the history of the next few years is largely concerned with the struggle between the Colonial Secretary and the Boer President over the Uitlanders' grievance and the British suzerainty over the Transvaal. Incidentally, however, Mr. Chamberlain alarmed the Continent in 1898 by a speech in which, referring to Russia, he quoted the adage "Who sups with the Devil must have a long spoon." In the following year he advocated a new Triple Alliance between Germany, Great Britain and the United States. During the Boer War he was violently denounced by its opponents, but public opinion in Great Britain and the Dominions was overwhelmingly in his favour, and he vigorously defended throughout it the justice of the British cause. During the war, he was engaged in another and somewhat delicate negotiation, preparatory to the passing of the Commonwealth of Australia Act in 1900, when the outstanding subject of dispute, the question whether an appeal should lie from the Commonwealth Courts to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, was ultimately settled by a compromise. The "Khaki election" in 1900 was almost a personal triumph for him; and in that year occurred the controversy between himself and the German Chancellor, set up by his statement that the most drastic measures taken in South Africa had been less severe than those taken by the German Army in France. After the conclusion of peace he visited South Africa (Nov., 1902-March, 1903), going out in state in the cruiser Good Hope and visiting all the South African colonies to discuss economic and other questions arising out of the war. He made a profound impression personally and helped very largely towards the reconciliation of Boer and Briton; and on his return he entered into the third and most remarkable phase of his political life—his campaign for fiscal reform. When at the Board of Trade he had had much to do with Sir Thomas (afterwards Lord) Farrer, the Permanent Secretary and a strong Free Trader; but he came to entertain doubts of the traditional Customs policy of Great Britain, and these were increased by his experience as Colonial Secretary. Even in 1896 and 1897 he had publicly urged commercial union of the Empire, and before leaving for South Africa he had vainly asked the Cabinet to retain the 1s. duty on imported corn (which it was proposed to remove) and to give a drawback to Canada. And on May 15, 1903, a few hours after Mr. Balfour, then Prime Minister, had defended the abolition of this duty, Mr. Chamberlain announced at Birmingham that the well-being of the Empire depended on preferential trade and tariff reform. The growing feeling for the unification of the Empire, and the latent desire—exhibited a few years earlier in the "Fair Trade" movement—for "protection to native industry" ensured him a fervid response, the more so as he held out hopes of obtaining a revenue sufficient to establish old-age pensions. For four months there was a "fiscal truce" in the House of Commons, owing to the divisions in the Cabinet on the question and pending an official inquiry into the existing fiscal system; but Mr. · Chamberlain's arguments were severely handled in the House of Lords, on Liberal platforms, and in print by leading economists and others. On September 14 the Cabinet met after the recess; Mr. Balfour submitted his own views in two papers—one subsequently published, under the title of "Insular Free Trade"; Mr. Ritchie, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord George Hamilton, Secretary for India, and two Under-Secretaries, resigned office as Free Traders, and four days later it was announced that Mr. Chamberlain himself had resigned in order to work more freely for the Union of the Empire through preferential tariffs. The announcement was contained in correspondence between himself and the Prime Minister, and some complaint was made that the other retiring Ministers had had no intimation of Mr. Chamberlain's intention. Mr. Chamberlain himself pursued a vigorous platform campaign throughout the autumn and established the "Tariff Commission," which produced a mass of Reports; but the Free Food Unionists, headed by the Duke of Devonshire, broke with him shortly afterwards, the Liberal Unionist organisation was reconstituted in July, 1903, as a Protectionist body, and Mr. Chamberlain, supported by the great majority of the Unionists, continued to press his views on the nation. Unquestionably he made many mistakes both of fact and of economic interpretation, but his campaign was definitively checked by the necessity, which he fully admitted, of imposing a tax on imported food in order to give the Colonies the preference proposed. The general election, though not for this reason alone, resulted in an overwhelming Unionist defeat; but Mr. Chamberlain kept the flag flying, led the Opposition in the new Parliament till Mr. Balfour, who had lost his seat, re-entered it, and vigorously attacked the new Ministry and Mr. Birrell's Education Bill. His seventieth birthday and his thirty years in Parliament were celebrated in Birmingham in July with the utmost enthusiasm, by opponents as well as by supporters, part of the ceremony, indeed, being devoted to the recognition of his great civic services to Birmingham. But ten days later he was disabled by gout, and the disablement proved permanent. Paralysis also attacked him, and for the last eight years of his life he was seen only on his journeys to the Riviera, at the opening of Parliament when he came, with assistance, to sign the roll as member for West Birmingham, and occasionally in a wheel chair at political garden parties at his residence at Highbury, Birmingham. Though Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, and sometime Lord Rector of Glasgow University, Mr. Chamberlain had not the scholarly or literary tastes which have marked many British Ministers, nor had he the slightest interest in any kind of sport. His recreation might be said to be growing orchids; he was a heavy smoker, and took practically no exercise. He was thrice married; (1) in 1861, to Harriet, dau. of Archibald Kenrick; she d. 1863; (2) 1868, to Florence, dau. of Timothy Kenrick; she d. 1875; (3) 1888, to Mary, dau. of W. C. Endicott, Secretary for War in President Cleveland's first Administration, 1884-8, and a Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He first met her on his visit to the United States in 1886. His character and career can hardly be summed up in a sentence. A man of boundless ambition and a self-confidence which sometimes led him into strange indiscretions of speech, or, as in the fiscal controversy, into notable errors of appreciation and statement, he broke up two parties successively, but failed to dominate either, or to achieve a solution of the Irish or the African problem or to establish tariff reform. But his enduring work lay in the stimulus he gave to civic patriotism, and to appreciation among the British public of the significance and value of the Empire.