John Patrick, Third Marquess of Bute, K.T. (1847-1900), a MemoirHunter Blair, David Oswald, Sir
Religion
John Patrick, Third Marquess of Bute, K.T. (1847-1900), a Memoir
Hunter Blair, David Oswald, Sir
Bute, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, Marquess of, 1847-1900
There was a rather well-known and self-important Mr. Winkley, quite a
figure among Harrow tradesmen (writes a school contemporary of Bute's,
son of a famous Harrow master, and himself afterwards {20} headmaster
of Charterhouse), a mutton-chop-whiskered individual who collected
rates, acted as estate agent, published (I think) the Bill Book, sold
books to the School, &c. He occupied the house beyond Westcott's, on
the same side of High Street, between Westcott's and the Park. There
John Smith resided with the Marquess of Bute.
Mr. Smith, whose mother lived at Pinner, used to visit her there every
Saturday, and to take over with him on these occasions one or two of
his pupils, who enjoyed what was then a pretty rural walk of three
miles, as well as the quaint racy talk of their master, and the
excellent tea provided by his kind old mother.
Another of his schoolfellows, Sir Henry Bellingham, writes:
I remember first meeting Bute on one of these little excursions. Mr.
Smith had told me that the tall, shy, quiet boy (he was a year younger
than me, but much bigger) had neither father, mother, brother nor
sister, and was therefore much to be pitied. I wondered why he did not
come more forward, and said so little either to Smith himself or to
Mrs. Smith; for Smith was a man who had great capabilities for drawing
people out, and was a general favourite with every one. The impression
I had of Bute during all our time at Harrow was always the same--that
of his very shy and quiet manner.
[Sidenote: 1862, A real palm branch]
Undemonstrative as he was by nature, Bute never forgot those who had
shown him any kindness, and he always preserved a grateful affection
for John Smith, who accompanied him more than once during the summer
holidays to Glentrool, Lord Galloway's lodge among the Wigtownshire
hills, and enjoyed some capital fishing there. Bute wrote to him in
{21} later years from time to time, and during the sadly clouded
closing period of the old man's life, when he was an inmate of St.
Luke's Hospital, he gave him much pleasure by sending him annually a
palm branch which had been blessed in his private chapel. More than
twenty years after Bute's Harrow days, he received this appreciative
letter from his former master:
St. Luke's Hospital,
Old Street, E.C.,
_Easter Tuesday_, 1887.
DEAR LORD BUTE,
I must try and write a few lines, asking you to pardon all defects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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