Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice-Admiral R.N. Part 10

The following note by my late brother gives all that is known of the accident:

'I have no record of the accident that caused Sir Joseph Yorke's death, but I know he was in his small sailing yacht coming over from Portsmouth with Captain Bradby and Captain Young and one or two men of the crew, when the boat was struck by a heavy squall in a thunderstorm somewhere off the Hamble river, and they are all supposed to have been struck by lightning. Sir Joseph's body was found floating, the boat was picked up derelict in the West Channel. No one was left to tell the tale; the tablet in Hamble church, which is the only record I know of it, merely states he was drowned by the upsetting of a boat. I believe he had a blue line going down his body, and the fact of his being found floating gives the impression that he was killed by lightning, as I suppose all the other occupants shared the same fate.

'HARDWICKE'

SYDNEY LODGE, HAMBLE:

October 14, 1908.

I may perhaps add that on the day Sir Joseph Yorke was drowned, Miss Manningham, the sister of Mrs. Charles Yorke, was at one of the Ancient Music concerts in the Hanover Square Rooms, and during the performance fainted and was carried out. On coming to herself and being questioned as to the cause, she said she had seen before her the dripping form of a man whose body was covered with a naval cloak, and although she could not see his face, she knew it to be the body of Sir Joseph Yorke. There were of course neither telegraph nor daily posts in those days, and the news of his death only reached the family some two days later, when it was found that the day and hour corresponded with the vision Miss Manningham had seen.

From certain remarks in his letters from Sweden it appears that Captain Yorke had long the intention of entering politics so soon as there was any interruption of his active service at sea, and shortly after his arrival in England in 1831, he carried out this intention by offering himself as candidate for Reigate, for which borough he duly took his seat. In October of the same year, however, a vacancy occurred in the representation of Cambridgeshire upon the resignation of one of the sitting members, Lord F. G. Osborne. Captain Yorke at once decided to offer himself as the representative of a county with which his family had been long and closely a.s.sociated. His opponent was Mr. R. G.

Townley, who was the Ministerial candidate and had the support of Lord John Russell on his committee and at the hustings.

The politics of those strenuous times of the Reform Bill are well known, and need no more than a pa.s.sing reference here. The election began on October 27, only a little more than a fortnight after the Ministerial bill had been rejected by the House of Lords. It is needless to say that Captain Yorke stood in the Tory interest. In his address and speeches he expressed himself in favour of a moderate scheme of reform which would abolish such const.i.tuencies as were proved to be saleable and corrupt, and as ready to support a proper extension of the franchise. But he refused altogether to sacrifice the agricultural interest to that of the manufacturer, and took his stand upon the necessity of affording protection to the farmer by the maintenance of the existing Corn Laws.

Lord John Russell declared that he and his party had no objection to Captain Yorke as a man, but exhorted his hearers to bear in mind that this was no personal contest, but one which would decide the question of Reform or no Reform. There were the usual hearty proceedings which we a.s.sociate with the elections of that period at the hustings on Parker's Piece, Cambridge; Captain Yorke was escorted by a body of freeholders on horseback, and there was the customary cheerful fighting to celebrate the conclusion of the poll. This resulted in the captain's defeat.

He was not long excluded from Parliament. Upon the pa.s.sage of the great Reform Bill in the following year he was again nominated, and taking his stand upon his old principles, and declaring himself resolutely opposed to the poisonous and revolutionary ideas which France was promulgating in Europe, he was returned by a large majority and took his seat in the first reformed Parliament, where he represented his county until called to the House of Lords by the death of his uncle.

Meanwhile, Captain Yorke had been most happily married on October 18, 1833, at Ravensworth Castle, Durham, to the Hon. Susan Liddell, daughter of the first Lord Ravensworth, and sister to the Countess of Mulgrave, Viscountess Barrington, Lady Williamson, Mrs. Trotter, and the Hon.

Georgiana Liddell, afterwards Lady Bloomfield.

By the death of the third Earl of Hardwicke on November 18, 1834, Captain Yorke succeeded to that earldom, to which he had long been heir- presumptive. As already mentioned, the third earl's elder son, Viscount Royston, had been lost in a storm in the Baltic in 1808, and two younger sons had died in infancy. Captain Yorke therefore succeeded to the estates in Cambridgeshire and to the historic mansion of Wimpole. These came into the possession of his family by purchase, the Lord Chancellor having acquired them from Edward Lord Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, for 100,000. I print here a letter describing Wimpole in 1781, written by the Countess of St. Germans to her aunt Lady Beauchamp, [Footnote: Wife of Sir William Beauchamp of Langley Park, Norfolk, sister of Mrs.

Charles Yorke.] as ill.u.s.trating life at a country house at that period.

'MY DEAR AUNT (writes Lady St. Germans from 'Wimple' October 1781), We came to this place last Monday about half-past three o'clock; just time enough for dinner and found all the good family in perfect health. Lady Bell Polwarth is now here, also my brothers. P. Y. had been here before, Charles came yesterday on purpose to meet Mama, and goes away again to- morrow. He is not at all the worse for his journey but looks remarkably well. Here is likewise an unhappy victim of a clergyman on a visit. His name is Rouse and he is minister of some place near Wrest. This is the society here at present, and now I shall tell you of our journey, and how I like the place. Mama had desired my brother Phil as he pa.s.sed through Hertford to order four horses to come to Tytten after six o'clock and four more to be ready at the Inn to change, but knowing the forgetfulness of the young gentleman, Mama and I were in a peck of troubles lest he should forget the horses, and then we could not have gone. However, they did come, and at eleven o'clock after various directions and orders given we packed off and got to Hertford safely.

Changed horses without alighting and proceeded to Buntingford, where we changed again. As we pa.s.sed by Hammells we saw the new Lodges which are built at the entrance of the Park, and look very pretty; at present they are only brick, but are to be painted white. When we entered Cambridgeshire, I confess I was not struck with the beauties of the country, but thought it very ugly, disagreeable, and uninteresting.

However, when we approached the environs of Wimple, I was in some measure repaid by the delightful appearance of the Park and country round it, for the ugliness of that we had pa.s.sed through. I a.s.sure you I was very much pleased with the beauty of the grounds and the grandeur of the house itself. Most part of it is furnished in the old style, as for example, Mama's and my apartment are brown wainscots, and the bed- curtains and hangings are crimson damask laced with gold most dreadfully tarnished. The rooms below stairs are excellent, and very handsomely furnished. Lady Grey, the Marchioness, has just fitted up some new apartments, that are beautiful, particularly the new dining-room which is very elegant indeed. Her Ladyship was so kind as to take us yesterday morning to see the new park building, which is very pretty. It commands a very fine and extensive prospect and is seen at a great distance. I have not yet seen the ruined tower which I can behold from my window.

Everything here is quite new to me, as though I had never seen it before, for you know it is at least seven years ago since my brother drove us over at full gallop, all the way from Hammells. The State Bed, which you may remember stood below stairs, is now moved upwards into one of the new rooms. The paper with which the walls are covered is common and white to match the bed, and there are two dressing-rooms belonging to it. In short, I like the place exceedingly. Lady Grey is very kind to me, and I am much obliged to her for permitting me to come. One thing here, however, is disagreeable to me as I have never been used to it, and that is, the sitting so long after breakfast and dinner. We breakfast at ten o'clock and sit till twelve. Then if the weather is fine, which it is not to-day, we take a walk, if not, retire to our own apartments. From half-past two till four is spent in dressing. From four till past six at dinner. Then coffee, afterwards working, looking at prints, talking and preaching till ten. Then I go to bed, and supper is announced. Everybody is in bed at eleven; before breakfast Mama and I have some little time, as we get up at eight. I always take a walk in the garden before breakfast. Before that time everyone but Lady Grey and my Lord go into the Library, which is a n.o.ble apartment.

'My brother has come home delighted with having found in Ireland a hard name to puzzle everybody to death with. This was the name of a young lady at Limerick, not more than 6 foot 4 inches without her shoes. What do you think of Miss Helena Macgillokilycuddy? This name is always in his mouth, but I believe he has added four syllables to the real word.

As to Charles, he was charmed and captivated with another young lady at Limerick, a Miss Fitzgerald, whom he danced with and thought the most amiable of the company. In short, they are much pleased with their journey, and are ready to break a lance with anyone in favour of the Irish. I must not forget to tell you that they ran away from Dublin with two new coats, without ever paying for them. I have no news to send you.'

Lady Grey mentioned in this letter married the second Lord Hardwicke, who had no son.

There is an interesting allusion to Wimpole and its a.s.sociations in one of Lord Melbourne's published letters to Queen Victoria. After giving Her Majesty some particulars of the place, and mentioning incidentally that he was 'very partial to Lord Hardwicke,' Lord Melbourne says:

'The cultured but indolent Lord Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, had married Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, who brought him 500,000, most of which he dissipated. Their only child Margaret, "the n.o.ble, lovely little Peggy" of Prior, married William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland. Lady Oxford sold to the nation the Harleian Collection of Ma.n.u.scripts, now in the British Museum (to hold which the gallery at Wimpole was built). There is much history and more poetry connected with it. Prior mentions it repeatedly, and always calls the first Lady Harley, daughter of the Duke of Newcastle, "Belphebe." If Hardwicke should have a daughter he should christen her "Belphebe." The Lady Belphebe Yorke would not sound ill.'

Thus Lord Melbourne to Queen Victoria. I may perhaps add that my father had three daughters, but it did not occur to him to give either of them that name. Prior died at Wimpole in 1721, and his portrait was hung in the library, and on the table are framed the following lines by the poet:

'Fame counting thy books, my dear Harley, shall tell No man had so many who knew them so well.'

At Wimpole accordingly my father, after an active life at sea which had continued with scarce an interruption for sixteen years, settled to the quieter life of a country gentleman; he was a good agriculturist, identifying himself with all the interests of the land, and resolutely opposing any changes which he considered detrimental to the prosperity of the country. I should add that he became a successful breeder of shorthorns, and that he was President of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1845, when the show was held at Derby.

In 1834 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. Sir Robert Peel recommended his name to King William, as he explained in a letter to Lord Hardwicke, as an exception to the rule 'which disinclines the minister to continue a member of the same family in succession in the office of Lord-Lieutenant of a county ... a rule by which in ordinary cases I should wish to abide, but not for the purpose of depriving me of the real satisfaction of making an exception in the case of the present vacancy in the county of Cambridgeshire, and naming you to His Majesty, which I have done this day for the appointment of Lord-Lieutenant.' Upon the return of Sir Robert Peel to power in 1841, Lord Hardwicke's great influence and loyal principles were recognised by his appointment as Lord-in-Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

It was in that capacity that my father was appointed to attend King Frederick William IV of Prussia, the elder brother of the Emperor William I, upon his visit to England in the early months of 1842. An interesting letter from Mr. John Wilson Croker to my father shows that Lord Hardwicke took pains to inform himself as to the character and tastes of his Prussian Majesty before entering upon his period of waiting. Mr. Croker was staying with Sir Robert Peel, where the minister was entertaining the Duke of Cambridge:

'I have as I promised you' he writes, 'turned the conversation on the subject of the K. of Prussia, and as the Duke of Cambridge happens to be here, we have heard a good deal on the subject of H.M. The sum is that H.M. is a good and enlightened man, well read in books and well versed in current literature and affairs; a Christian in heart and rather fond of theology, so much so, that he has read twice over, they said, Gladstone's book on the Church.

'I am not surprised at the "twice over," if H.M. really wished to understand the author. I found that one reading left me as much in the dark as I was at the first, and I only doubt whether a second perusal would have made me any wiser.'

As ill.u.s.trating the King's religious feeling I may mention that among His Majesty's experiences with Lord Hardwicke was a visit they made together to Newgate, where they were present in the chapel at a service Elizabeth Fry was holding for the prisoners. The King knelt and was deeply affected, and my father always described the scene as 'deeply touching' and said that he left the prison with an ideal memory of that great and holy woman.

The King of Prussia became much attached to Lord Hardwicke during this visit to England, and made him promise a return visit to Prussia. This took place in June of the same year, when my father went to Berlin and accompanied the King on a visit he made to the Czar Nicholas at St.

Petersburg. My father wrote a series of letters to my mother while upon this journey, describing much that he saw and did, and as these give many interesting particulars of the Czar and his Court, and describe some of the old towns in North Germany in a way which may tempt many a wanderer to visit some of them even to-day, I here print some extracts from them.

The first of these is dated June 20, 1842, from Hamburg, where my father was detained by a short illness, during which he had the help of Mr.

Schetky, the marine painter to Queen Victoria, whose acquaintance he had made years before at the Naval College at Portsmouth. It gives some interesting particulars of the great fire which raged in that city on May 4, 1842, and two days following, and destroyed 2000 dwelling-houses as well as many churches and public buildings.

'I send you some little sketches of parts of the dilapidated town showing the ruins of the great church of Saint Peter. The history of the fire is told in a few words; no one knows how it began, the want of order, power, and a commanding head was the cause of the great devastation ... the mob said "in a free town we can do what we like."

They pumped spirits from the engines instead of water by mistake, and thus a scene of devastation and plunder was begun which ceased only from the exhaustion of the people and a shift of the wind.

'Then came in some troops from Prussia and Denmark, and order was restored. The number of lives lost is not known, but not above two hundred it is believed.

'As you well know, Hamburg is a free town and a republic of itself, governed by the Burgomaster and a senate. It is one of the three remaining Hanse towns.... The loss suffered here is to be now stated, it is fairly computed at 12,000,000 pounds sterling; of this 8,000,000 falls on individuals and foreign and British insurance offices; 4,000,000 on the city of Hamburg. The foreign insurance offices have paid very well; the Hamburg, that is the individual who had such an office, is ruined and can pay nothing; the city of Hamburg will borrow 4,000,000, and raise the interest by a tax on the houses of the city throughout. The cause of this is that Hamburg allowed no foreign insurance to be made for a house, but the whole city is an insurance office against the destruction of a house by fire. What the house contains as furniture, &c., the city has nothing to do with. So each individual will receive for his house destroyed by fire its value from the city, but he will be taxed to pay the interests of the money. This may not be quite clear, it requires rather more words to make it so. I hope to find a letter from you in Berlin.--Yours,

'CHARLES.'

The next letter was written from Berlin.

'I arrived here this morning at four o'clock from Hamburg to Boitzenburg, where we slept.

'I went down to the King (at Sans Souci) by railroad; he was at dinner, I got some brought to me by his old servant. The King soon came out of his dining-room to me and gave me a most hearty welcome, and took me into the garden, where all the court ladies and gentlemen were gathered; presented me to the Queen, both asked after and about you and were very kind. I can hardly say how much interest I felt in being for a few moments at Sans Souci again; it is a most beautiful place. It is wonderful to think of its creation, but there will be speedy decay and dissolution, if it is not ere long repaired. The Palace is small, and not worthy the name of a Palace, but beautiful. I am not expected to remain long I think, from what I gather.

'As I was staring about the town yesterday evening after my return from Sans Souci, I was tapped on the shoulder and informed that the King desired that I would come to sup with him at nine, so as it was half past eight, off I went to dress. By the by I did not tell you that after our dinner at Sans Souci the whole Court moved up to Berlin by railroad, thus I was at the Palace at nine. The supper was served at six small tables, without any covering, the plate and gla.s.ses standing on the mahogany. At one table sat the King and Queen, the Princess of Prussia and the Duke of Brunswick; the rest of the party and his household were at the other tables. A seat of honour was kept for me by the great lady of the Court, but I had already found myself seated by a maid of honour whose sweet smiles had attracted me and I did not think it worth while to move. You need not be alarmed, for the stock of beauty here is small.

The King and Queen both crossed to speak with me before and after supper, and on taking leave for the night the King kindly shook me by the hand. The King is gone, he visits some of his provincial towns on his way, and takes no one with him but one Aide-de-camp and no escort. I go tomorrow in my own carriage, thank G.o.d; a route is given me, a number painted on the carriage, and all paid, so I go like the devil without anything to pay. I shall be at Dantzic before the King.

'The road from Hamburg to Berlin lies through a portion of the Danish territory and the territory of the grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin and the Prussian, the whole way the country is cultivated, the Danish territory of Holstein is sandy and little done with it. That of M.

Schwerin is of a better quality, though what we should call moderate soil but very fairly cultivated. I never saw better farming in my life, or a country more cared for, the crops looked well and not a weed to be seen, the road-side planted, and every tree that was young staked and tied, the side of the roads mowed and trimmed, and stone gutter on each side of a fairly macadamized road. I felt humbled after my boasting thoughts of England, as this pattern they have no doubt followed, but the Prince of Mecklenburg Schwerin deserves well of his people for his superior copy. The people are well clothed, and I have not been asked for a farthing since I came to this country.

'Then in Prussia on crossing the frontier the authorities were most civil, cast an eye at the carriage, made a bow, and would not look at an article; the regulations of Prussia are in all departments most excellent, and a painstaking discipline exists everywhere, which makes the position of the traveller quite charming. Here only one side of the road is macadamized, the other half is the soil, but the road is very wide, so down hill you take the soil, very safe. All through Prussia, as far as I have been, the farming is very good, the land very clean, but the soil very, very poor; it is a great desert in fact, made habitable by the perseverance and industry of the people; round this town it is wonderful to see what can be done by the hand of man. This town stands in a desert of driving sand, but the town has created a soil round it which is now pushing the desert back every year, and it is now in the centre of a large circle of fine green fields and corn lands; of course the produce is not great but the labour is small, and the improvement progressing. The accommodation is very fair even to an Englishman. The innkeepers are a very respectable cla.s.s, and though I have not seen a bed that is larger than a child's crib without curtains, yet they are clean, soft, and well made with lots of pillows for the head.