THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE
Lord Cottesloe, the "Father" of the House of Lords, has been quickly followed to the grave by the peer who came next to him in age, the venerable EARL OF ALBEMARLE.
GEORGE THOMAS, the sixth earl, died on Saturday at his residence, Quiddenham-hall, Norfolk, in his 92d year, having been born on June 13, 1799.
Fifteen years ago the earl published some very entertaining memoirs, under the title of "Fifty Years of my Life," the chief fault of which was that they brought the story down no further than 1855.
From these we learn much not only of the distinguished Keppel family to which he belonged, but of the contemporaries, Royal and noble, military and political, among whom he passed his life.
He was the direct descendant of the Lords of Keppel in Guelderland, whose record goes back to the 12th century, and who entered into English history with the Arnold Joost von Keppel who came with the Prince of Orange in 1688, and was made Earl of Albemarle in recognition of his great services.
Two generations later the Keppels, then settled at Quiddenham, were among the best known of the Whig families of England; and they are as familiar to ourselves as any of the people of that day from the admirable portraits painted of them by their illustrious friend, Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Till the other day these portraits of the famous Admiral, of his brother the General, of the third earl, of Lady Caroline, who married Robert Adair, and of Lady Elizabeth, who married Lord Tavistock, all hung in the room for which they were painted; but, alas ! agricultural depression caused the late earl to part with them, and they are now scattered in many directions.
His memories tell us in
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lively language of his adventures at Westminster School, where he was abominably bullied and fell a frequent sacrifice to Dr. Page's appetite for flogging; of his boy and girl friendship with the Princess Charlotte, who was under the charge of his maternal grandmother Lady de Clifford; and of his last escapade which led to his leaving Westminster at 16 and entering the Army.
He fought at Waterloo as ensign in the 14th Regiment; and we have from the old man's pen a lively account of the boy's experiences both in the terrible battle and in the long and hungry march to Paris.
Returning to England, he was soon afterwards appointed equerry to the Duke of Sussex, and gained his full share of such other worldly advantages as were likely to fall in the way of a very presentable young member of a great Whig family.
He served afterwards in India; and came home via Persia, Baku, Astrakhan, and St. Petersburg - a rare feat in those days.
In 1829 he was with the British squadron in Eastern waters, went to Constantinople and Andrianople, and saw the famous Russian General Diebitsch.
After the passing of the Reform Bill he stood for East Norfolk, to the great disgust of the squirearchy, "who were astounded at this act of audacity in a man not owning an acre of land in the county," but he was returned by a large majority, and sat till 1835.
Appointed one of Lord John Russell's private secretaries in 1846, he again entered Parliament in 1847 as member for Lymington, and sat three years.
He married, in 1831, the third daughter of Sir Coutts Trotter, and his son, who succeeds him, is the well know Lord Bury, who was Under-Secretary for War from 1878 to 1880, and was called up to the House of Lords in his father's barony of Ashford in 1876.
Lord Albemarle was a general officer in the Army and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
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