T. S. N.
Reversible Names (Vol. viii., pp. 244. 655.).—There is a gentleman in this island who bears the name and surname of Xuaved Devaux, which are mutually reversible.
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
Your correspondent Balliolensis, in speaking of reversible or palindromic English names, seems to have overlooked the names of Hannah and Anna.
X.
Duval Family (Vol. viii., pp. 318. 423.).—A grant was made by the crown in Ireland on the 4th July, 1 James II., to Garret Wall, alias Duvall, sen., Esq.; Garret Wall, alias Duvall, jun.; Jas. Wall, alias Duvall; and Michael Wall of the manor, town, and lands of Culenemucky, co. Waterford.
J. F. Ferguson.
Member of Parliament electing Himself (Vol. viii., p. 536.).—In the article forwarded by H. M. are many gross errors. William M‘Leod Bannatyne, Esq., was Sheriff of Buteshire from Dec. 22, 1775, till May 28, 1799; during which period there were only two county elections in Buteshire, viz. April 22, 1784, and June 27, 1796 (the counties of Bute and Caithness being represented only in alternate parliaments), and on neither of those occasions was he the sole freeholder present. The statement in question can therefore only refer to the election on Nov. 13, 1806, when, owing to some accidental circumstances, he was the only freeholder present. In 1799 he was raised to the Bench of the Court of Session by the title of Lord Bannatyne; and consequently he neither did nor could act as sheriff seven years after he ceased to hold that office. It is true that, as a technical formality, he nominated himself chairman of the meeting to enable him to sign the minute of the election in that capacity; but it is not true that he either administered the oaths to himself, or signed the return of the election as sheriff. I was then a lad, and was present as a spectator on that occasion, when I saw Mr. Blain the sheriff-substitute administer the oaths to Lord Bannatyne; and, of course, Mr. Blain also made the election return, certifying that "the Honorable James Stuart Wortley Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, &c. (a relation of the family of Bute) had been duly elected." Thus you see that the title of the article is quite erroneous, and is not even borne out by the original account, as the freeholder did not elect himself, but another person; and he did not act in any other capacity than that of a freeholder: the case being extraordinary enough of only one freeholder attending at a county election, without the addition of those marvellous circumstances.
J. M‘K.