Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Bro. The Right Hon. The Earl Of Lathom, Deputy Grand Master.
ivy and Virginia creeper , peep out amidst the oaks and elms ; on the other , a thicket of thorn half hides the dairy-farm and the snug boxes of the much-cared-for shorthorns . An avenue of young limes brings you in view of the Italian palace built b y Leoni in the reign of Charles II . on the site of the once 'bright bower of Lathom , ' in which twenty years before , Charlotte Countess of Derb y had twice bid defiance to Fairfax and his
followers . There is nothing in the Lathom House of to-day which helps you to conjure up a vision of the great 'Eagles' tower , ' the lofty utter walls , ' the moated court , or the inner circuit . They have vanished with the time when the men of Lancashire shouted , * God save the Earl of Derby and the King ! ' and their place is occupied by an edifice in which the most striking features are a base of rustic work , a long line of hooded windows ,
massive cornices , and pillared colonnades . Mr . Wyatt has added of late years a curved staircase and a balustrade , which leads up to a front door which is rarely opened , underneath which you pass as you enter a vaulted crypt or sub-hall , where fires burn perpetually , Lancashire fashion , in the broad grates on either side , and there is just light enough to enable you to see the stuffed head of the once famous Duchess of Oneida facing that of Baron Oxford IV ., for a time the patriarch of the Lathom herd .
A door is opened , and you emerge from comparative gloom to find yourself in a room at the south-east angle of the house which Lord Lathom is pleased to describe as his * den . ' Cushioned seats are placed in the broad windows , through which the sunshine falls in floods on the soft blue carpet ; the walls are stencilled in crimson-Iake ; a glass door in the further corner communicates directl y with the garden ; the skin of a silver-tipped bear
from the Rocky Mountains is thrown over the deep sofa , and the dwarf bookcases at either end bear a heavy burden of literature and relics . In a case close to the door is a section of the White Moss Coal Pit , while above it hangs a series of water-colour sketches of the ancestors of the Lathom herd . The gun cupboard opposite is crowded with the best weapons of
Purdey and Westley Richards ; the tail of the great Duchess of Oneida , now converted into a fly-flapper , lies on its ledge . 'Cesar , ' an enormous German boar-hound , standing thirty-two inches at the shoulders , is stretched on the well-worn ' buffalo-robe , ' at present used as
a neartnrug , out which in its prime covered the stalwart form of its owner during the cold nights he once passed in the huntinggrounds of the Far West . Lord Lathom is seated just now in a capacious chair behind a mahogany writing-table of imposing proportions . He is clad in a suit of light gray
tweed , a Tyrolean hat shares a neighbouring chair with the latest volume of the Badminton Library , and he smokes a cigarette as he attacks , with systematic deliberation , his daily correspondence . At one end of the table stands a pile of Lord Chamberlain ' s
despatch-boxes duly lettered and numbered ; the liqueur-case close by carries you back to . the old rooms on the ground floor in the Tom Quad , and the time when Lord Skelmersdale was the strongest and handsomest man in the Christchurch boat . A heap
of ' pairing-books' in one of the half-open drawers tells the tale of Lord Lathom's fifteen years' service as Tory Whip in the Lords , and a letter and'doubtful' play which Mr . Pigott has just sent for perusal , as well as a p ile of warrants for Masonic lodges awaiting signature , rest on the carefully noted Herd
Book and Game Book of Lathom . The prospects of shooting before lunch have long since vanished ; Lord Lathom has paid due attention to Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane ' s daily budget , and has gone carefully through the p lans and drawings of 'Olympia' in Kensington ; he has glanced at a couple of
shorthorn catalogues and as many ' offers ' of orchids . But he has still to deal with local Freemasonry , the Ormskirk dispensary , school trusts , and three pressing applications to open charitable bazaars—a form of entertainment in which Lancashire seems to take an especial pride and pleasure . There is everything in the Lord Chamberlain ' s study except the ' in portn allies ' of his device .
As he once more turns cheerily to his task , you are able to make a further inspection of the details of the ' den . ' There is the bust of Mr . Frederick Gye , to remind you of the fact that Lord Lathom was once deeply interested in the fortunes of Covent Garden : here a collection of mallets and addresses , which savour of Masonic ceremonial . The hoofs of a favourite cart-horse , and a silver-mounted chibouk , bought long ago in the
bazaar at Damascus , lie above the edition de luxe of the works of Charles Dickens , and below a row of Mr . W . S . Coleman ' s pretty pictures . A large table is littered with the agricultural reports of the Privy Council , orchid albums , _ the _ wonderful illustrations of Sanders's ' Reichenbachia , ' half -a dozen histories of music and Freemasonry , while a packet of yellow-backed novels from Rolandi ' s atones for the sobriety of the political and theological
pamphlets . Over the modest mantelpiece is Mr . Henry Graves ' s portrait ot Lady Lathom , and a panorama of Lucerne , painted by her mother , Lady Clarendon ; carefully-treasured game-cards are stored up behind the clock and a small contingent of tobacco jars ; pictures of the great Yosemite Valley look down on a tall cigar cabinet and the results of a quarter of a century of pipe collecting . On the bookcase over your host ' s head are
antlers from the Achnacarry Forest , and the great collars of ' Lion ' and ' . Tiger , ' long since at rest in the dogs' cemetery below the fernery . At one side of the open door , almost within reach of his hand , is a bundle of axes ( for Lord Lathom is , as a tree-feller , no mean rival of Mr . Gladstone ) , and on the other , croquet mallets , lawn-tennis bats , whips , and spurs , mingle in
picturesque confusion . The Lord Chamberlain has by this time done his best to satisfy the legitimate requirements of the local Masons and the bazaar promoters ; he reserves Mr . Pigott ' s play for more mature consideration , and , putting on his Tyrolean hat , steps out with you into the sunny garden , separated only by a sunken fence from the park , in which the fallow deer browse beneath the spreading oaks and beeches .
At one end of a broad walk a grove of sycamores shades a skating-rink ; at the other , a lime-tree , which has attained a banyan-like form and growth , half buries a semicircular stone seat beneath its branches . The Lathom
Bro. The Right Hon. The Earl Of Lathom, Deputy Grand Master.
gardener—a Hathaway of Shottery—is not a little proud of his ' cirpetbeds , ' in which he has surrounded his effective combinations of greens , blues , and rich browns with borders of echeveria , and the masses of geraniums and calceolaria he has fringed with variegated grass and the golden leaves of the beetroot . Lord Lathom is the most genial and entertaining of guides . From the conservatory , filled with palms , camellias , and ferns ,
he takes you to the sacred abodes of the Odontoglossitms and the Catlleya A talk about orchids is followed by a discussion on viticulture ; tlie si ^ ht of the scarlet oak takes you away to the Yosemite Valley ; you admire in succession the Japanese maples , the fern-leaved beeches , and the luxuriant rhododendrons ; and by this time you have arrived at the farm , and are deep in questions of pedigree , ' shire ' horses , ensilage , and paper roofing ,
while you pay your respects to their Graces the Duchesses of Ormskirk , great-granddaughters of the famous Duchess of Oneida . As you walk across to the bowling alley you may possibly hear the story of the New York Mill sale of 1873 , at Utica , when Lord Lathom in person purchased that celebrated shorthorn at a cost of nearly ^ 7000 . just by the
clematiscovered door he some pieces of ancient carving , which belong to the old time before the siege , and it is here that the guests of Lathom and Blythe delight to foregather for exercise and afternoon tea . Wickerwork -chairs surround the cosiest of firesides ; Carlo Pellegrini's masterly sketches of the members of the Marlborough Club adorn the walls ; and a march back to the house by lantern-hght generally completes the programme .
From Lord Lathom ' s study you ascend by a broad stone staircase to the great central hall , from the windows of which you look across the Ribble towards Morecambe Bay and the Cumberland hills . Classical busts and urns fill the niches between the Corinthian columns ; paintings in chiaroscuro , given by Frederick Prince of Wales to his ChanceKor , Sir Thomas Bootle ,
are placed in the panels of the ponderous stone overmantles ; Persian carpets are spread over the pavement of rouge griotte and white marble , while palms , flowers , Oriental porcelain , blue Staffordshire vases , Japanese screens , and Venetian chairs and chests give the necessary warmth of colour to the room in which the Ladies Maud , Florence , and Bertha Wilbraham are accustomed to play nearly everv evening
on the harmonium , violin , and piano . In the adjoining dining-room , with the carved and moulded ceiling , the placid features of courageous Charlotte de la Tremouille look down on the array of trowels which remind Lord Lathom of a score of
foundationlayings and the offerings which commemorate last year ' s silver wedding . The delightful drawing-room , with its gray-green and gold decoration , and cream-coloured coffred ceiling , preserves all the characteristics of the epoch of Queen Anne . The portraits of the heiress of the Booties and her husband , Richard Wilbraham , occupy the place of
honour in the overmantels , and in a case in the corner you will see the silver staff canied by the first Lord Skelmersdale as Warden of the Cinque Ports at the coronation of William IV ., the spurs and bullets of Cavaliers and Roundheads which are ever coming
to light at Lathom , and one of the teeth of luckless- ' Long Jan , ' who was so tall that he could not hide behind the parapet , and was ' shotten ' through the head in consequence . In the boudoir beyond — rich in silver , china , paintings , and flowers—Lady Lathom
devotes much of her time to the affairs of the Girls' Friendly Society and the preparations for a future Lathom Habitation of the Primrose League . ' Mungo , ' a splendid white German poodle , may possibly resent any prolonged invasion of these precincts ; so you retreat to the library , where the
Ladies Wilbraham work and practise music , where you admire Tantardini ' s statue of the Bathing Girl and D'Epinay's ' Innocence , ' and where 'Corney , ' a black rival and confrere of ' Mungo ' s' is permitted to rule supreme . There is no room in Lathom which the Lord Chamberlain prefers to the comfortable southern study on the ground floor . The shades of twilight
gather early over Rain ford Moss ; a bright fire is already blazing in ihe grate , and you appreciate its warmth as you enjoy an hour ' s pleasant chat with the master of the house . A Richard Wilbraham was Sheriff of Cheshire in the days of Henry III . ; a second Richard was Master of the Rolls , Revels , and Jewel House to Queen Mary ; and a third married in the reign of George II . the heiress of the Booties of Lathom . The
Wilbrahams were lords of many manors in Cheshire , and Lord Lathom's grandfather was in 1832 created Baron Skelmersdale . Edward Bootle-Wilbraham was born at Blythe in the year of the Queen ' s accession . At the age of twelve he was sent to Eton , where he spent five years of his life , during which he fagged for Algernon Swinburne and Mr . Kekewich , Q . C , succeeded to the Peerage , rowed in the Eton eight , and just missed the
eleven . He then went to read with a private tutor , and prepared himself for Christchurch by hunting with the Soulhwold and Lord Henry Bentinck , and keeping a pack of harriers . At Oxford he would have rowed for the University if the doctors had not vetoed his doing so , but he did good service , nevertheless , in his College boat , and was made a Freemason in the Apollo Lodge when still a minor . After travelling in the East he took his
seat in the House of Lords , and soon afterwards married the daughter of the late Lord Clarendon . Since then he has achieved a great many victories in politics and agriculture . As a Freemason he is Deputy Grand Master of England , and has attained the highest rank in every branch of the Craft Hc is also a Colonel of the Lancashire Yeomanry Hussars . He has always been a consistent patron ol music and the drama , and brings to the discharge of his delicate official functions an amount of special knowledge
which has certainly not fallen to the lot of the great majority of his predecessors . He finds time to farm some five hundred acres , and to attend to . his duties as a local magistrate . Your talk over the folk-lore of Laihorri is now abruptly interrupted by a summons to tea in the alley , and in a few minutes the ' fifteen-pound ball' of the Lord Chamberlain is making havoc amidst the ' ten pins , ' and you are profoundly interested in ' whole' and * half spares' and the other mysteries of American bowling . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Bro. The Right Hon. The Earl Of Lathom, Deputy Grand Master.
ivy and Virginia creeper , peep out amidst the oaks and elms ; on the other , a thicket of thorn half hides the dairy-farm and the snug boxes of the much-cared-for shorthorns . An avenue of young limes brings you in view of the Italian palace built b y Leoni in the reign of Charles II . on the site of the once 'bright bower of Lathom , ' in which twenty years before , Charlotte Countess of Derb y had twice bid defiance to Fairfax and his
followers . There is nothing in the Lathom House of to-day which helps you to conjure up a vision of the great 'Eagles' tower , ' the lofty utter walls , ' the moated court , or the inner circuit . They have vanished with the time when the men of Lancashire shouted , * God save the Earl of Derby and the King ! ' and their place is occupied by an edifice in which the most striking features are a base of rustic work , a long line of hooded windows ,
massive cornices , and pillared colonnades . Mr . Wyatt has added of late years a curved staircase and a balustrade , which leads up to a front door which is rarely opened , underneath which you pass as you enter a vaulted crypt or sub-hall , where fires burn perpetually , Lancashire fashion , in the broad grates on either side , and there is just light enough to enable you to see the stuffed head of the once famous Duchess of Oneida facing that of Baron Oxford IV ., for a time the patriarch of the Lathom herd .
A door is opened , and you emerge from comparative gloom to find yourself in a room at the south-east angle of the house which Lord Lathom is pleased to describe as his * den . ' Cushioned seats are placed in the broad windows , through which the sunshine falls in floods on the soft blue carpet ; the walls are stencilled in crimson-Iake ; a glass door in the further corner communicates directl y with the garden ; the skin of a silver-tipped bear
from the Rocky Mountains is thrown over the deep sofa , and the dwarf bookcases at either end bear a heavy burden of literature and relics . In a case close to the door is a section of the White Moss Coal Pit , while above it hangs a series of water-colour sketches of the ancestors of the Lathom herd . The gun cupboard opposite is crowded with the best weapons of
Purdey and Westley Richards ; the tail of the great Duchess of Oneida , now converted into a fly-flapper , lies on its ledge . 'Cesar , ' an enormous German boar-hound , standing thirty-two inches at the shoulders , is stretched on the well-worn ' buffalo-robe , ' at present used as
a neartnrug , out which in its prime covered the stalwart form of its owner during the cold nights he once passed in the huntinggrounds of the Far West . Lord Lathom is seated just now in a capacious chair behind a mahogany writing-table of imposing proportions . He is clad in a suit of light gray
tweed , a Tyrolean hat shares a neighbouring chair with the latest volume of the Badminton Library , and he smokes a cigarette as he attacks , with systematic deliberation , his daily correspondence . At one end of the table stands a pile of Lord Chamberlain ' s
despatch-boxes duly lettered and numbered ; the liqueur-case close by carries you back to . the old rooms on the ground floor in the Tom Quad , and the time when Lord Skelmersdale was the strongest and handsomest man in the Christchurch boat . A heap
of ' pairing-books' in one of the half-open drawers tells the tale of Lord Lathom's fifteen years' service as Tory Whip in the Lords , and a letter and'doubtful' play which Mr . Pigott has just sent for perusal , as well as a p ile of warrants for Masonic lodges awaiting signature , rest on the carefully noted Herd
Book and Game Book of Lathom . The prospects of shooting before lunch have long since vanished ; Lord Lathom has paid due attention to Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane ' s daily budget , and has gone carefully through the p lans and drawings of 'Olympia' in Kensington ; he has glanced at a couple of
shorthorn catalogues and as many ' offers ' of orchids . But he has still to deal with local Freemasonry , the Ormskirk dispensary , school trusts , and three pressing applications to open charitable bazaars—a form of entertainment in which Lancashire seems to take an especial pride and pleasure . There is everything in the Lord Chamberlain ' s study except the ' in portn allies ' of his device .
As he once more turns cheerily to his task , you are able to make a further inspection of the details of the ' den . ' There is the bust of Mr . Frederick Gye , to remind you of the fact that Lord Lathom was once deeply interested in the fortunes of Covent Garden : here a collection of mallets and addresses , which savour of Masonic ceremonial . The hoofs of a favourite cart-horse , and a silver-mounted chibouk , bought long ago in the
bazaar at Damascus , lie above the edition de luxe of the works of Charles Dickens , and below a row of Mr . W . S . Coleman ' s pretty pictures . A large table is littered with the agricultural reports of the Privy Council , orchid albums , _ the _ wonderful illustrations of Sanders's ' Reichenbachia , ' half -a dozen histories of music and Freemasonry , while a packet of yellow-backed novels from Rolandi ' s atones for the sobriety of the political and theological
pamphlets . Over the modest mantelpiece is Mr . Henry Graves ' s portrait ot Lady Lathom , and a panorama of Lucerne , painted by her mother , Lady Clarendon ; carefully-treasured game-cards are stored up behind the clock and a small contingent of tobacco jars ; pictures of the great Yosemite Valley look down on a tall cigar cabinet and the results of a quarter of a century of pipe collecting . On the bookcase over your host ' s head are
antlers from the Achnacarry Forest , and the great collars of ' Lion ' and ' . Tiger , ' long since at rest in the dogs' cemetery below the fernery . At one side of the open door , almost within reach of his hand , is a bundle of axes ( for Lord Lathom is , as a tree-feller , no mean rival of Mr . Gladstone ) , and on the other , croquet mallets , lawn-tennis bats , whips , and spurs , mingle in
picturesque confusion . The Lord Chamberlain has by this time done his best to satisfy the legitimate requirements of the local Masons and the bazaar promoters ; he reserves Mr . Pigott ' s play for more mature consideration , and , putting on his Tyrolean hat , steps out with you into the sunny garden , separated only by a sunken fence from the park , in which the fallow deer browse beneath the spreading oaks and beeches .
At one end of a broad walk a grove of sycamores shades a skating-rink ; at the other , a lime-tree , which has attained a banyan-like form and growth , half buries a semicircular stone seat beneath its branches . The Lathom
Bro. The Right Hon. The Earl Of Lathom, Deputy Grand Master.
gardener—a Hathaway of Shottery—is not a little proud of his ' cirpetbeds , ' in which he has surrounded his effective combinations of greens , blues , and rich browns with borders of echeveria , and the masses of geraniums and calceolaria he has fringed with variegated grass and the golden leaves of the beetroot . Lord Lathom is the most genial and entertaining of guides . From the conservatory , filled with palms , camellias , and ferns ,
he takes you to the sacred abodes of the Odontoglossitms and the Catlleya A talk about orchids is followed by a discussion on viticulture ; tlie si ^ ht of the scarlet oak takes you away to the Yosemite Valley ; you admire in succession the Japanese maples , the fern-leaved beeches , and the luxuriant rhododendrons ; and by this time you have arrived at the farm , and are deep in questions of pedigree , ' shire ' horses , ensilage , and paper roofing ,
while you pay your respects to their Graces the Duchesses of Ormskirk , great-granddaughters of the famous Duchess of Oneida . As you walk across to the bowling alley you may possibly hear the story of the New York Mill sale of 1873 , at Utica , when Lord Lathom in person purchased that celebrated shorthorn at a cost of nearly ^ 7000 . just by the
clematiscovered door he some pieces of ancient carving , which belong to the old time before the siege , and it is here that the guests of Lathom and Blythe delight to foregather for exercise and afternoon tea . Wickerwork -chairs surround the cosiest of firesides ; Carlo Pellegrini's masterly sketches of the members of the Marlborough Club adorn the walls ; and a march back to the house by lantern-hght generally completes the programme .
From Lord Lathom ' s study you ascend by a broad stone staircase to the great central hall , from the windows of which you look across the Ribble towards Morecambe Bay and the Cumberland hills . Classical busts and urns fill the niches between the Corinthian columns ; paintings in chiaroscuro , given by Frederick Prince of Wales to his ChanceKor , Sir Thomas Bootle ,
are placed in the panels of the ponderous stone overmantles ; Persian carpets are spread over the pavement of rouge griotte and white marble , while palms , flowers , Oriental porcelain , blue Staffordshire vases , Japanese screens , and Venetian chairs and chests give the necessary warmth of colour to the room in which the Ladies Maud , Florence , and Bertha Wilbraham are accustomed to play nearly everv evening
on the harmonium , violin , and piano . In the adjoining dining-room , with the carved and moulded ceiling , the placid features of courageous Charlotte de la Tremouille look down on the array of trowels which remind Lord Lathom of a score of
foundationlayings and the offerings which commemorate last year ' s silver wedding . The delightful drawing-room , with its gray-green and gold decoration , and cream-coloured coffred ceiling , preserves all the characteristics of the epoch of Queen Anne . The portraits of the heiress of the Booties and her husband , Richard Wilbraham , occupy the place of
honour in the overmantels , and in a case in the corner you will see the silver staff canied by the first Lord Skelmersdale as Warden of the Cinque Ports at the coronation of William IV ., the spurs and bullets of Cavaliers and Roundheads which are ever coming
to light at Lathom , and one of the teeth of luckless- ' Long Jan , ' who was so tall that he could not hide behind the parapet , and was ' shotten ' through the head in consequence . In the boudoir beyond — rich in silver , china , paintings , and flowers—Lady Lathom
devotes much of her time to the affairs of the Girls' Friendly Society and the preparations for a future Lathom Habitation of the Primrose League . ' Mungo , ' a splendid white German poodle , may possibly resent any prolonged invasion of these precincts ; so you retreat to the library , where the
Ladies Wilbraham work and practise music , where you admire Tantardini ' s statue of the Bathing Girl and D'Epinay's ' Innocence , ' and where 'Corney , ' a black rival and confrere of ' Mungo ' s' is permitted to rule supreme . There is no room in Lathom which the Lord Chamberlain prefers to the comfortable southern study on the ground floor . The shades of twilight
gather early over Rain ford Moss ; a bright fire is already blazing in ihe grate , and you appreciate its warmth as you enjoy an hour ' s pleasant chat with the master of the house . A Richard Wilbraham was Sheriff of Cheshire in the days of Henry III . ; a second Richard was Master of the Rolls , Revels , and Jewel House to Queen Mary ; and a third married in the reign of George II . the heiress of the Booties of Lathom . The
Wilbrahams were lords of many manors in Cheshire , and Lord Lathom's grandfather was in 1832 created Baron Skelmersdale . Edward Bootle-Wilbraham was born at Blythe in the year of the Queen ' s accession . At the age of twelve he was sent to Eton , where he spent five years of his life , during which he fagged for Algernon Swinburne and Mr . Kekewich , Q . C , succeeded to the Peerage , rowed in the Eton eight , and just missed the
eleven . He then went to read with a private tutor , and prepared himself for Christchurch by hunting with the Soulhwold and Lord Henry Bentinck , and keeping a pack of harriers . At Oxford he would have rowed for the University if the doctors had not vetoed his doing so , but he did good service , nevertheless , in his College boat , and was made a Freemason in the Apollo Lodge when still a minor . After travelling in the East he took his
seat in the House of Lords , and soon afterwards married the daughter of the late Lord Clarendon . Since then he has achieved a great many victories in politics and agriculture . As a Freemason he is Deputy Grand Master of England , and has attained the highest rank in every branch of the Craft Hc is also a Colonel of the Lancashire Yeomanry Hussars . He has always been a consistent patron ol music and the drama , and brings to the discharge of his delicate official functions an amount of special knowledge
which has certainly not fallen to the lot of the great majority of his predecessors . He finds time to farm some five hundred acres , and to attend to . his duties as a local magistrate . Your talk over the folk-lore of Laihorri is now abruptly interrupted by a summons to tea in the alley , and in a few minutes the ' fifteen-pound ball' of the Lord Chamberlain is making havoc amidst the ' ten pins , ' and you are profoundly interested in ' whole' and * half spares' and the other mysteries of American bowling . "