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Show WAR THINS RANKS OF ENGLISH NOBILITY tf MANY LIVES GIVEN FOR MOTHER COUNTRY SOME of the young men of the English nobility who have fallen in the present war. Left to l-iuht (above), Ixrd Compton, Lord Guernsey, Lord Ninian Critchton-Stuart; (below), Viscount Vis-count Northland, Viscount Hawarden. f,.; -v.v;( r - ' I 1 1 - r f I ). "Jl V " ' .? j) Many Families Are Threatened Threat-ened With Extinction in the Male Line. Special Cable to The Tribune. LONDON, Nov. 20. The war is making mak-ing fearful incursions on "Norman blood'' in Great Britain. Nowhere did the mother country's call to duty find readier response than among the English Eng-lish nobility and the casualty lists daily contain many names of ancient itocks. The ranks of the peerage are being thinned In an alarming manner. Many families are threatened with extinction in tho male line. It is certain that if the war oontlnuos to the end of the three-year period, which was a favorite guess of its duration dura-tion in the early stages, special measures will be necessary to fill up the lists of the cream of the upper class here. Another result of the slaughter is that titles will he lost through it by many families. In tho usual British patent of nobility the title only descends to "heirs of thebodv male." Tliere have been exceptions made by parliameut in special cases, as where Lord Roberts's peerage descended through his daughter. , This favor was granted because of the great services Roberts had done for his country. Earl Kitchener occupies a similar position, and his title, except in the remote contingency con-tingency that he marry and have a child, wilT descend to his brother or his brother's children. Special Law Proposed. The war has made such serious inroads in the higher nobility that it is being proposed a spocial law Bhall be passed providing for soldiers. Vhee solo heirs die in their country's service, it is argued, the titles might well descend to "heirs female," or "heirs general." Today it would be hard to find a noble house in England which is not in mourning mourn-ing for a father or a brother, lost in Flanders, at the Dardanelles or on the high seas. All classes have responded to the call for volunteers in a way never Been in any nation before, but the traditional leaders of the people have undoubtedly the best record of all. To what an extent ex-tent the nobility is in khaki is soon from tho recent debate in the house of lords, which preceded a refusal to pasB a motion authorizing the return from the front of those peers who had entered tlie army. There are todav five peerages whore the title will disappear by a death m the war unless the rule is changed. These are tho baronios of Knares-borough, Knares-borough, Playfair, Ribblesdale and Stnmfordham 'and the niarqulsate of Lincolnshire. Six peers Lords Congleton, Hawarden, Hawar-den, Brabourne, Annesley, Do Preyne and Petre and about thirty heirs to peerages have been killed. In all, fifty sons ("f peers have perished in the struggle. strug-gle. There are now 21.1 peers and 424 sons of peers serving with the colors. Many of those who havo died are woll known to Americans. International turfmen heard with especially keen re-grot re-grot of the death of Honorable Francis Lambton, youngest brother of the Earl of Durham. He was a lieutenant in the Royal Horse guards, and before the outbreak out-break of Armageddon he directed a successful suc-cessful training stable at Newmarket for tho plutocrat, Sir Ernest Cassel. Lord Eedef.dale sent four eons to the war, two with the army and two with the navv. The eldest, "Major the Hun. C. B. O.'Freeman-Mitford, is dead. One of the others is the Hon. John Freeman-Mitford, Freeman-Mitford, who was at one time attached to the British embassy in Berlin and about two years ago became the husband of the daughter of the late German "coal king," Herr von Friedlaender-Fuld. Friedlaender-Fuld. On the death of tie Earl of Erne, tt was reported that hig son and heir, Major Viscount Crichton, formerly the king's equerry, had been taken prisoner In Germany." The major died of his wounds. His son became Earl of Erne at the age of 8 years. Michael, son of Captain Lord Guernsey, Guern-sey, became heir at the age of 7 to the earldom of Aylesford, through his father's death at the hands of the Germans. Ger-mans. A still younger title holder is the heir to the earldom of Renfurly. He was born in Mav of this year. The father, Viscount Northland, "was killed a few weoks ago. Lord Killanin 's heir is now the infant son of Lieutenant Colonel S. H. Morris, who perished some months ago. Roster Is Long. Old memories are recalled by the death of Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, brother of the Marquia of Bute. He was descended from the last of royal "favorites," "fa-vorites," the Earl of Bute, the intimate of George III. The earl's famous advice ad-vice to nis royal friend was: "George, bo a king." The organs of the popular popu-lar party showed him in cartoons as a "jackboot." This Earl of Bute got the erudite but impecunious Dr. Samuel Johnson his pension of $1500 a year. The 9-year-old Bon of Captain Charles Monck, who was slain recently, has become be-come heir to his grandfather, Viscount Monck. Lord Congleton is succeeded by his brother, the Hon. John P. Par-uell, Par-uell, an army lieutenant. The heir to this title is "his brother, William, now 11 years old. Lord Kinnaird, one of the fiercest temperance champions in Britain, has lost his eldest son, Captain Douglas Kinnaird, Kin-naird, while another son is in the array. Robert Bruce, elder son of Lord Balfour Bal-four of Bureligji, has been killed and his brother is with the oolors. Lord Cowdray, long prominent in the development or Mexico, has lost his third son, the Hon. Francis Pearson. The young man enlisted as a private, was taken prisoner and was shot while attempting to regain his lines. Lord Annesloy met with a spectacular death when he was shot in the head in the course of an aeorplane attack upon Ostend. Only Part of List. The death of Captain the Hon. R. Wyndham, heir presumptive of his brother, Lord Leconfield, and nephew of Lord Rosoberv, makes the third mem-bor mem-bor of the Wyndham family to fall in the war. The death of Lord Ribbesdale's only surviving son, the Hon. Charles Lister, who shocked Eton by declaring while there that he was a Socialist, has removed re-moved a unique character. He joined the Independent Labor partv and worked hard for the cause until un-til a" Socialistic paper bitterly attacked his family. He then quit nis labors for the partv. At the outbreak of the war he was attached to the British embassy in Constantinople. Con-stantinople. He enlisted in the Hood battalion of the Royal Naval division and was wounded in two battles previously pre-viously to sustaining in the third the hurts "from which he died. Lord Stamfordham, private secretary to the king, has lost his only son, Captain Cap-tain J. M. Bigge. Lord Desborough, the famous sportsman, has lost two sons, his eldest, the Hon. Julian Grenfell, and a younger, S. W. Grenfell. Death has come to the eldest son and heir of the Earl of Yarborough. Two other sons, the Hon. George and, the Hon. Marcus Sackville Pelham, are fighting in Flanders. These are onlv some of the more striking strik-ing of the tragic incidents which are worrying the well-wishers of the British Brit-ish peerage. |