Wives of the Prime Ministers, 1844-1906Lee, Elizabeth
History
Wives of the Prime Ministers, 1844-1906
Lee, Elizabeth
Great Britain -- Biography; Statesmen's spouses -- Great Britain -- Biography; Women -- Biography
It was a great triumph, but, like most human triumphs, spiced with
bitterness. It was not that a few people who should have known better
thought it clever and smart to gibe at the quiet, elderly Scotch
couple. Lady Campbell-Bannerman was a dying woman, and those near her
knew it. For twenty years she had struggled with a disease of which
the end was certain from the beginning, and the end was now near. She
dragged herself from her sick-bed to be present at the first reception
given by Sir Henry at Downing Street, and stood by his side. She was
unfashionably dressed, and, as a consequence of her illness, terribly
stout, and for many the outstanding memory of the evening was Sir
Henry’s manifest anxiety and preoccupation about her. All through the
year 1906 she got steadily worse, her sufferings increased by the
unusual heat. It was hoped that the change to Marienbad might do her
good. She liked the place, and had visited it regularly for twenty-five
consecutive years. She knew herself unfit to travel, but insisted on
going, because “Henry would get no holiday if I don’t go. It is not
sufficient change to go anywhere in Scotland or England” (a remark many
harassed politicians can echo). She stood the journey well, and it was
hoped the change might do her good. But the improvement was only a
flicker. She died on 30th August. The preliminary funeral ceremony took
place at Marienbad, and was attended by many notable people, including
a representative of King Edward VII. The King was at Marienbad at
the time, and made all the arrangements for the service his personal
concern. There had always been a warm friendship between him and
Sir Henry, a circumstance perhaps equally perplexing to the “unco”
patriotic among the satellites of the one and the “unco guid” among
the followers of the other. But Lady Campbell-Bannerman’s body, as
befitted one who was Scotch in every fibre of her being, was taken to
her home in Scotland and buried in Meigle kirkyard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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