| Abercorn, Duke of | James Hamilton | | | Was born in 1838. He succeeded the first Duke in 1885, and is looked upon nowadays as an Irish magnate, but, of course, his family is of purely Scottish origin, his oldest title being that of Baron Paisley, created by James the Sixth in 1S87, and now borne as a courtesy designation by the Duke's grandchild, Lord Hamilton's little son. The Duke of Abercorn is one of the three nobles who enjoy peerages in all three divisions of the United Kingdom. He owns property in more than one Scottish county, besides his large estate in Ireland; but his only possession in England is his house in Mayfair, the lease of which he holds of the Duke of Westminster. He is also Knight of the Danneburg Order, of St Anne of Russia, and of the Iron Crown of Austria. The Duke of Abcrcorn is the son of one of the most remarkable and interesting personages in the British peerage. His mother, Dowager, who only died in 1905, at the age of ninety-two, was the second daughter of the sixth Duke of Bedford. She lived in five reigns, and had over two hundred descendants, almost half the peerage being thrown into mourning by her death. The family is a long-lived one, the grandfather of Duchess having been born 195 years before her death. She had seven sons and seven daughters, of whom there were still living at the time of her death the present Duke of Abercorn, Lord Claud Hamilton, Lord George Hamilton, Lord Frederick Hamilton, Lord Ernest Hamilton, Harriet Countess of Lichfield, the Duchess of Buccleuch, the Countess Winterton, the Marchioness of Blandford, and the Marchioness of Lansdowne. Her sons were all famous in one field or another, with the exception of the fourth and fifth, both of whom died young. The second son, Lord Claud, held many posts under the Government, and is chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company. Her third son, Lord George, has been First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for India, and chairman of the London School Board. The sixth son, Lord Frederick, was a diplomatist, and is also a well-known literary man; while the seventh, Lord Ernest, is also a politician and novelist. The late Duchess was hostess at Dublin Castle when the King was installed as Knight of St Patrick in 1868. She was again at Dublin Castle from 1874 to 1876, when her husband resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland because of the state of health of the Duchess. She saw five sons in Parliament at the same time-one in the Lords and four in the Commons. Three of her grandsons—the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of Durham, and the Earl of Lichfield—sit in the Lords, with three of her sons-in-law, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, while no fewer than twenty-two of her descendants fought in the Boer War. She was the granddaughter, the daughter, the wife, the mother, and the grandmother of dukes, and their titles represented all the three countries which comprise the United Kingdom. These are the Duke of Gordon, the Duke of Bedford, the first Duke of Abercorn, the present Duke, the Duke of Marlborough, and the Duke of Leeds. She was also half-sister to Lord John Russell. The present Duke of Abercorn was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated MA He was Hon Colonel of Donegal Militia from 1860-91; represented Donegal as Conservative MP from 1860-80; was Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales from 1866-86; and is President of the Ulster Assoc. For many years, which date from the inception of the Company, the Duke of Abercorn has taken a strong personal and political interest in the Chartered Company, of which he is president, lending the full weight of his influence and a great deal of his time to the development of Rhodesia. He has travelled through the country and is in no sense merely a figurehead, his counsel and advice always carrying great weight with the directors and shareholders. The Duke has also lately become a trustee for the debenture-holders of the Victoria Falls Power Company, which is destined to be the largest electrical power transmission company in the world. The story of the occupation and settlement of Rhodesia is one which suggests much romance, not a little tragedy, and a great deal of live comedy, and much of this may be gleaned from various biographical references in this book. But a few further remarks concerning Rhodesia—a country larger in area than France, Germany, Austria, and Italy combined—may not inaptly be given in connection with the Duke of Abercorn's name. At a time when more than one European Power was anxious to establish itself in Africa, the British Imperial Parliament could not undertake the vast responsibilities involved in the acquisition of such an extensive territory as that which has for years borne the name of Rhodesia; and had it not been for the foresight and patriotic enterprise of Mr Cecil Rhodes and his associates in the formation of the Chartered Company, Matabeleland and Mashonaland would probably have fallen to either one of these Powers, or would have become part of the South African Republic. Early in 1888 Lobengula entered into a treaty with Great Britain, and the Royal Charter was granted just a year later. The company having decided to open up Mashonaland first, organised a pioneer expedition under Major Frank Johnson (June, 1890), consisting of about 200 Europeans and 150 native labourers. The aim of the expedition was to cut a road 400 miles long from Macloutsie, passing through the south of Matabeleland and terminating at Mount Hampden, in Mashonaland. This was duly accomplished, and having founded Fort Salisbury at a spot twelve miles south-east of Mount Hampden (September 12,1890), the column was disbanded, and immediately set to work prospecting and occupying the country. Much was done by the company in the next four years to develop the country, there being then about 1,000 white men in the country. Mining commissioners were appointed, townships laid out, roads constructed to different parts, a postal system inaugurated, and measures taken generally for the settlement of the country. For the protection of the community forts were built, at Tuli, Victoria, Charter, and Salisbury-, and a military police force was enrolled. The strength of the force in 1891 reached 650, but was reduced as soon as possible to 140 whites and 1 5 native police, and a volunteer force ('Mashonaland Horse') 500 strong, raised locally by Major Forbes, took its place; the remainder of the settlers forming a burgher force in case of need. The Chartered Company arranged for the extension northwards of the Cape telegraph and railway from Mafeking, and the surveys for the Beira Railway, connecting Mashonaland with the East Coast, were begun in 1891. A commission of prominent South African farmers came up in 1891 to look into the agricultural prospects of the country, and gave a most satisfactory report, resulting in the organisation of the 'Moodic trek' of farmers with their families, which left the Orange Free State in May, 1892, and founded the settlement of Melsetter, in Gazaland, early in 1893. The first sign of native trouble was in 1893, when Lobengula's young bloods crossed the Mashonaland border in defiance of the white man. Dr Jameson's pioneers were but a handful, but the sturdy and disciplined adventurers who had made light of the hardships of the early occupation made less of the Matabele hordes who faced their fire, and in three months these descendants of Tshaka surrendered Matabeleland to the representatives, by proxy, of Britain, one regrettable incident only having occurred-the massacre of Major Alan Wilson and his gallant fellows at the Shangani River. But the peace was short-lived, and in 1896 a series of massacres by the natives led to the war which was prolonged well into 1897. These, however, were not the only troubles that retarded the progress of Rhodesia. Rinderpest had practically denuded the country of cattle, unprecedented swarms of locusts laid bare the fields, and no sooner were these difficulties overcome, than the Boer War practically closed the country for three years. In spite of these serious drawbacks, however, Rhodesia is now making marked headway. A regular | Unknown |
