HOME LIFE
Mercies new and never-failing
Brightly shine through all the past,
Watchful care and loving-kindness.
Always near from first to last,
Tender love, Divine protection,
Ever with us day and night ;
Blessings more than we can number
Strew the path with golden light.
HESTER PERIAM HAWKINS.
O happy home where Thou art not forgotten
When joy is overflowing, full and free ;
0 happy home where every wounded spirit
Is brought, Physician, Comforter, to Thee.
C. J. P. SPITTA ; translated by S. L. FINDLATER.
WHEN our parents married in 1873 the first home was at 7 Kensington Gore, South Kensington, almost in the shadow of the Royal Albert Hall. Four years later a move was made to 39 Linden Gardens on the north side of Hyde Park, and there they lived until my father's death forty years on. The family consisted of four sons and one daughter, all destined to fare forth in time from the home-land. My own arrival upon the scene was thus announced to a relative in Ireland:
" My knowledge of infants less than a month old is mostly derived from the description of the younger Dombey. And all I can say is that young Anderson entered the world neither very red, very bald, nor very ugly ; but on the contrary with a most pleasing complexion, a fair head of hair (fair in both senses) and a general appearance that has gone far to reconcile me to my fate. Like Tom Sticker's infant, he resembles his father about the back of the neck ; he takes after his mother in respect of whiskers."
In his old age, when my own younger daughter was born, he wrote to his sister in Dublin : " I am sending the following notice to the Morning Post: ` At Dunara, Helensburgh, on the 8th instant, to Sir Robert Anderson, K.G.B., another grand-daughter. Both doing as well as could be expected. Friends will please accept this intimation. No flowers by request.' " A postscript added " A. won't let me send the notice."
His parents with his unmarried sisters lived for many years in Knapton House, Monkstown, about six miles from Dublin.
During our childhood the summer holidays were always spent with them, our father joining us for his leave. No slight attraction was a three-acre garden wherein were all manner of fruits. From Knapton shorter visits were paid to Glenburn, an old-world cottage at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, belonging to our Uncle Sam (Sir Samuel Lee Anderson, whose wife was a Barcroft of Newry, Co. Down). This provided many country delights and so did Howth House where our Uncle Walter Boyd (Justice of the High Court of Justice in Ireland, later Sir Walter Boyd, Bart., P.C.) and his family spent the summer months. There we never tired of grubbing in the harbour in the intervals of bathing, fishing, sailing, or tramping over Howth Head which looked down on the Bay of Dublin. ("My heart you're troublin'.")
Until his retirement in 1900 my father's daily routine was more or less as follows : after family prayers, away to the Home Office or Scotland Yard ; back again just in time for dinner ; much of the evening given up to the writing of his many books, except when official work had been brought home or when he had preaching or other evening engagements. Naturally therefore we did not see much of him, even when we were at home, apart from Sundays and public holidays and during vacations. During the Scotland Yard period, however, after the regular summer leave was over, he used to take a house somewhere on the outskirts of London where we could all be together. As long as it was within the far-flung boundaries of the Metropolitan Police area this was in order, and he was able to join us on the tennis court in the evenings. Occasionally at other times we had games of tennis with him at the National Club, then situated on the Thames Embankment not far from " the Yard." For many years he was on the Club committee, and in 19 17 was elected an honorary member.
His official position brought certain incidental advantages to us. I remember watching the Lord Mayor's Show and other spectacles from the Home Office windows in Whitehall ; whilst in the C.I.D. days reserved seats for cricket matches at Lord's or the Oval did not come amiss, nor did the opportunity of following the Boat Race in the police launch.
Of all the many processions one saw in London, Queen Victoria's funeral made the most lasting impression on me. From the top of the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, reserved for the police and their friends, giving a view of the whole length of Constitution Hill down to the Palace, one watched the slow approach of the great sombre cavalcade on that grey winter day, Behind the gun carriage rode the first British king even our parents had ever seen. In his biography of Edward VII, Sir Sidney Lee writes of Queen Victoria : " Her prolonged tenure of Royal place and of such Royal power as the British constitution allowed her fed the popular fancy that death would never claim her, and that her reign was unending." In those days there was no telephone in our house ; an old-fashioned telegraph instrument spelled out messages from Scotland Yard on a dial, and members of the family became fairly proficient at reading them. To this day I have a vivid recollection of taking the message on 22nd January 1901 which began : " The Queen died . . ." ; and of feeling that the stable world in which one had grown up was no more.
A memory of a very different kind is of the annual performances by the Metropolitan Police Minstrels in aid of the Police Orphanage. To us youngsters they were amongst the high-lights of the year ; I doubt whether any professional coons could have excelled them. We were keenly interested in the individual artistes, as we were also in the constables who were on duty day and night outside our home. A special favourite amongst the Minstrels was named Stroud, many of whose quips passed into the family vocabulary.
All his life my father was fond of exercise. He often walked down to his office across Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, then through St. James's Park to Whitehall ; about three miles with only a fraction of it in the streets. He was proud of being a Londoner and of the amenities of the capital in respect of its public parks. A favourite story was of an incident occurring on one of these walks. " One morning on my way to Scotland Yard," he relates, " I picked up a brooch. As it was a prominent object lying in the middle of the path, I took for granted it had been dropped by one or other of two nurse-maids walking ahead of me, the only human beings in sight. The trinket was an O. U. Duck' brooch, the vowels being intertwined in a cipher with a little gilt duck underneath. The first of the girls told me at once she did not wear a brooch. When I overtook the other and asked had she dropped one, she replied : ' I think so, 'sir ; what kind is it ? ' Had I produced it she would certainly have claimed it ; but with a stolid face and in a leaden tone I said, You. Duck.' ` O, you go along,' she exclaimed with a toss of her head, as she jerked herself away. On arriving at my office I gave the brooch and the story to my Superintendent, and within twenty minutes the trinket was in the Lost Property Department and the story in every branch of the Commissioner's Office."
Rotten Row in those days was a great meeting-place for society folk riding or walking. One of my brothers and I were with my father when he met and introduced us to Lord Rosebery, (5th Earl of Rosebery, Prime Minister 1894-5) who, I remember, spoke of the insomnia which was such a trial to him. One of my father's books, by the way, which would seem to have been sent somewhat apologetically brought this characteristic note : " My dear Anderson, On the contrary, I shall read every word, and thank you heartily for it. Yours sincerely, R.
My brother Edmund says the mention of Rotten Row reminds him of a day when he was walking there with my father, and the Duchess of Somerset (wife of the 15th Duke), passing on horseback close to the rails, greeted him and remarked that it was a fine day. My father cordially agreed, but before she was out of ear-shot asked my brother what she had said. He replied more or less sotto voce, but it was no good ; " Speak up ; I can't hear." So the information had to be given to the world. " Well," said my father, " I knew whatever she said would probably be true, so I assented ! " That they had thoughts in common about matters of deeper import than the weather is shown by these words from her
" Thank you very much for the book The Honour of His Name. I like it much and the teaching it contains. You are right ; no words
should fail to express the high tribute we should prefer in hymns (or sermons) to the Divine Master.
" SUSAN SOMERSET."
When my father was appointed to Scotland Yard a horse and police groom were placed at his disposal, and he then usually rode to the office ; his diaries refer to those whom he met. Sir Edward Bradford (the Chief Commissioner) was often his companion. Other names occurring now and again are those of Colonel Adams, Frank Bevan, Lord Dynevor, Lord Eustace Cecil, George and Edmund Hanbury, G. J. Shaw le Feuvre, Sir Joseph Pease, Abel Smith, Ernest Tritton, Lord Spencer (Viceroy of Ireland 1869-74) (" Talked of Long John O'Connor etc."), also John McNeill, the famous preacher and evangelist. One entry is : " Rode with Miss P. with whom I had an earnest talk."
One whom he greatly enjoyed meeting in the Row, and with whom he had many a talk, was Lord Wolseley (Viscount Wolseley, Commander-in-Chief of the Army in succession to H.R.H. the
Duke of Cambridge, 1895-1900). A note from the latter refers to them : I have only just returned from a yachting cruise, but now hope to meet you often on horse-back again during our rides in the Park." My father's diaries often speak of their meeting ; one entry is : " Lord W. hailed me to announce the relief of Ladysmith last night." In this connection a note in the 19o2 diary is of interest : " Had a noteworthy talk with Sir R. Harrison [Gen. Sir Richard Harrison, G.C.B., Inspector-General of Fortifications 1898-1903] about Lord W.'s work at the Department. Two years ago, when panic seized War Office and Government, he alone kept his head. We were very near a European war, and Lord W. would have taken the command at Aldershot." Another diary entry is : " Lord W. gave me his Decline and Fall of Napoleon." I believe this subject was often the topic of their talks. When my father had sent Lord Wolseley a very different kind of book, the reply was:
" My DEAR SIR ROBERT,-Thank you many times for your great
kindness in sending me a copy of your book Pseudo-Criticism. I hope to study-it, and I am sure to obtain from its pages-as I have so often
done in conversation-many most useful lessons. I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I do.
" Always believe me to be,
" Yours most sincerely,
" WOLSELEY."
Sir Robert had a quaint way of expressing himself which often intrigued the public. During the Anglo-Boer war enteric fever was a serious menace, and it was stated that the men could not be restrained from drinking any water they came across. In a letter to a London paper he asserted that thirst was a matter of habit, and that he himself had not been thirsty for a quarter of a century 1 Many provincial journals quoted this as a curiosity. Incidentally, having campaigned in Central Africa, I have, more sympathy with the " Tommies."
He was a law unto himself as regards clothes apart from uniform or evening dress. Until folk like the Labour members introduced less formality, frock coats were de rigueur at Royal Garden Parties. My father disliked the garment and I think never possessed one ; he did not in the least mind being the only man in the assemblage without it. I remember, by the way, my mother's scornful account of presumably distinguished guests at one of these functions stampeding for the refreshment marquees the moment they were free to do so. An experience related in a racy letter from Mrs. Sholto Douglas really must come in here. My father had been her escort to a Royal Drawing Room, and she wrote afterwards:
" I shall be always grateful ; it was a really kind action ; and if you had any idea how enthusiastically I love our Great Relation [H.M. Queen Victoria], and how I longed to see her, you would be glad you had helped me to accomplish this. I felt lone and lorn when your silver coat-tails had turned and left me behind." She then describes the roomful of people with whom she found herself " Certainly they had never learnt ` Court behaviour,' for when the moment came there was such a rush as I shall never forget. I was hustled and banged, and for three terrible minutes I wished I had been a rough and that I had on no finery that would spoil in a free fight, and no reputation to lose by `unladylike behaviour.'
" However, having squeezed the two poor long-suffering soldiermen flat as pulp against the doorways in our mad career, we emerged on the other side panting but solemn, everybody having steadfastly held her place against all comers, and we fell into decorous line.. . . I have not gone through it all for many years, and my condition was lonely and unsupported, but I fixed an eye on the one person in the world I most wanted to see, and descended as near to her level as my stiff knee would allow. The whole Row behaved with great kindness and friendliness, and the Duke of Connaught at the end made so many remarks about Arthur [her brother, Maj.-Gen. A. H. Paget. Their father was Gen. Lord Alfred Paget] that it is a wonder the next terrified female coming on behind didn't tumble over my tail and cause a sensation."
My father often thoroughly enjoyed such " functions." His diary for I908 has this about a Garden Party at Windsor when my mother was with him : " We had a delightful day. Met heaps of friends and acquaintances. Had a shake hands with the Queen [Alexandra] and the Duke of Connaught." He did not find any difficulty in passing from them to the deeper interests of his life and vice versa ; the diary for 9th July I891 records : " Garden Party at Marlborough House for the Queen [Victoria] and the German Emperor " ; and the next day : " Dined at Lord Kinnaird's. Bible Reading at Miss Kinnaird's ; Titus iii. Bland, Mahony etc. Back to K.'s to dress, and then to State Ball." The variety of his engagements is illustrated by these diary entries on a day in 19 1I : " 3 p.m. Lady Jane Taylor's meeting re Socialist Sunday Schools. The Duchess of Somerset in the Chair. I was the first speaker. . . . 6 p.m. Dined at Whitefriars' Club, Anderton's Hotel. Anthony Hope Hawkins was Prior. Irving, the actor, the guest ; he spoke, then Sir Henry Matthews, then me ! " The diaries have occasional references to interesting things he heard. In January 1903 I find this : " Dined with Adams. General Moncrieff of Scots Guards told me how he was ordered with i 8o men to Osborne in 1869 to protect the Queen because of a letter warning of a plot to kidnap her ! "
My recollections of the great Moody and Sankey evangelistic campaigns are not very clear. I remember being at one of their crowded meetings when Mr. Sankey's singing made a greater impression on me than the address. My people were specially attracted by the preaching of the Rev. George F. Pentecost, who with Mr. George C. Stebbins as his singing half-section formed another team, as one would say to-day. Dr. Pentecost was a great Bible student, and his Gospel addresses were full of doctrinal teaching. This appealed to my people as much as his remarkable personality, and both evangelists became great friends of ours. Mr. Stebbins, who was the composer of many popular hymn tunes, wrote one for my father's Safe in Jehovah's Keeping. Dr. Pentecost afterwards occupied the pulpit of Marylebone Presbyterian Church for some time, and we often went to hear him ; although he usually preached for an hour I never found it too long. I remember one occasion when, speaking on the " words " Being rooted and grounded in love," he paused and, looking down on some of the worthy elders of the kirk sitting near the pulpit, remarked " Some of you are rooted and grounded in Presbyterianism."
We youngsters were interested in all the varied guests visiting our home. In addition to ordinary relations and friends some came for the sake of a talk on Biblical themes. One of these, the Rev. J. J. B. Coles, a retired clergyman, would drop in unexpectedly to any meal. Once when this happened to be breakfast he was so absorbed in his talk that he was quite oblivious of the need for getting on to the day's work. Turning to my father he asked if he had been thinking lately about the Vision of the Vials in the Book of Revelation (or some such topic). Like a flash my father replied : " I'll tell you if you eat your fish " ; and this brought him down to earth with a bump. Mr. Coles never failed to be interesting and original. Answering a letter from him on some question of interpretation my father wrote : " I'd rather have your heresies than the orthodoxies of most men ; for even when you are really heretical you suggest thought, and that I always value ! " Another frequent caller was Professor Hechler, who had been chaplain to the British Embassy in Vienna, and had there come into contact with the Emperors of Austria and Germany and other potentates and diplomats. I clearly recollect his telling us how he had met Theodor Hertzl in the early days of the Zionist movement, and had asked him whether he was seeking to fulfil the Old Testament prophecies of the restoration of Israel to Palestine. Having pointed out that it was useless for anyone to try to fulfil prophecy, Dr. Hechler was amazed to learn that Hertzl was not in the least interested in the prophecies, nor indeed in the spiritual and religious aspect of Judaism. I learned later that this was confirmed by Rabbi J. L. Landau, of the United Hebrew Congregations in Johannesburg, who told also that Hertzl at that time did not believe in the possibility of Hebrew becoming again a living language, but that his attitude changed in many respects afterwards.
One of the most popular visitors at all times was our family physician, Dr. A. R. Hamilton Bland. When we were kids he always made time for fun with us, so that being ill was no misfortune. Mr. Earle Bland, his brother, used to play the same role during the holidays in Ireland to our great content. Another doctor who paid non-professional visits at unorthodox hours was Dr. T. Gilbart-Smith ; a familiar sound at the locked and bolted hall door about midnight would announce his arrival with the latest yarns and jokes. My father's own sense of humour, by the way, sometimes surprised those who imagined him always serious and sedate. His friend Mr. Fegan said that he had a delight truly Irish in dropping a bombshell in any gathering, and the more staid the company the more he enjoyed startling them. An occasional diary entry gives an amusing flash. This of a meeting for men at which he was the speaker : " A girl with a music-hall shake and scream sang a solo." And this about a lecture at Newcastle " A middle-aged and aggressive spinster was enthusiastic ; had heard Gladstone, Bright, etc., but never such an address as mine ! "
Mr. Fegan's own sense of humour may be judged from this incident mentioned in the Quarterly Record of his Homes. On his way back from a football match once he called for his mother, who had been at a prayer meeting. An old gentleman opening the door to young Fegan, who was wearing a button-hole, said kindly " I always think when I see a young man with a flower in his buttonhole that he has not done with the earth-he is earthy." Fegan thought for a moment and replied, Well, Sir, I always think the same when I see an old man eating a potato ! " My father was always fond of children and enjoyed playing with them. But, especially as he grew older and his deafness in creased, he found the school-boy type rather beyond his range. In our Cambridge days my brothers Alan and Edmund and I were actively associated with boys' camps, whilst Graham was doctor in a Training Ship, and always got on well with boys in the Navy. My father remarked once that he failed to understand how we could be his sons, because to him the boy was the natural enemy !
In connection with these camps-run by 'varsity men for public-school boys in the holidays-we had occasional " squashes " for boys living within reach of our home ; these were in the nature of reunions for those who had been at the camps. To make room for a hundred or more in our drawing-room the furniture had to be shifted and cane seats brought in. For this and other preparations all available hands were needed, a scratch meal being fitted in somehow. My father would retire gracefully to his study, where he would have his dinner in peace before settling down to the evening's work. His diary for 19o8 has a note of one of these occasions : " Over 100 came, a crowded room-full. The Chaplain-General [Taylor Smith] bossed the show. He came at 6 and dined with me at 7. He gave a very earnest and solemn address at the meeting after supper." The gatherings followed the camp routine ; a sing-song followed by supper (in lieu of cocoa and biscuits), and then evening prayers. Amongst other speakers were Admiral Sir James Startin, A.M., and Mr. Arthur Mercer. Sometimes my father would only put in an appearance at the close of the evening, telling the boys that if they had enjoyed themselves he hoped they would show it in the usual manner-by coming again. A very interesting account of the Universities Camps for Public Schools, known to-day as the 'Varsities and Public Schools Camps, was written by Tom Inskip, of King's College, Cambridge, now Viscount Caldecote. For some years the late Robert Medill acted as Brigade-Adjutant (i.e. organiser), the Brigade-Commandant being Colonel Charles Russell.
Amongst the recollections of still earlier days some of the happiest are associated with Sunday afternoon children's services. We were fortunate in having as leaders of these at different times three men who made a great appeal on the human side quite apart from their spiritual power. The first was the Rev. W. R. Mowll, curate of All Souls Church, Langham Place, and later Vicar of Brixton. I can see him now demonstrating the breast stroke after the meeting, his massive frame poised precariously on a drawing-room piano stool. Another was Dr. A. T. Schofield, one of the most interesting personalities and speakers imaginable. Both were special friends of our family, as was Mr. A. C. P. Coote, afterwards Sir Algernon Coote, Bart., H.M.L., of Ballyfin, Ireland, who greatly influenced us at the all-important 'teen age.
" Religion " was never a thing apart in our home nor a solemn matter to be reserved for Sundays and special occasions. It was all of a piece " with the rest of life and seemed entirely natural. The element of compulsion was altogether absent, even on Sundays, when it was never a case of " Must we go ? " but rather of " May we not go? " (to church or meeting). And it was a real pleasure to accompany my father when he was preaching or speaking. We were, by the way, definitely not unthinking hero-worshippers ; if heredity counts for anything we could hardly help being critical. But it was impossible not to be impressed by the way in which he seemed able to deal with almost every problem brought to him, every question on which light was sought. His friend Colonel Richard Adams said of him afterwards : " I knew your father for more than thirty years ; and I can say that he was one of the ablest men I ever knew. In any case where the facts were all before him he seemed almost intuitively to arrive at a correct conclusion."
One of my unfading memories is of his reverence for the Scriptures. A visible token of this was dislike of seeing anything, even a hymn-book, placed on top of a Bible. He was intensely reserved and did not easily show his deepest feelings. One therefore specially values words like these from Lady Kinnaird (Alma Kinnaird, nee Agnew), who wrote to my mother on hearing of his death : " His anxiety was always for you these past months, and his last letter to me in Scotland a few weeks ago ends with, ` If our Lord were on earth I would cross to its farthest bounds to ask Him to heal my Agnes.' "
In later years, as indicated in the closing chapter of this book, he was often depressed by a sense of loneliness and by his deafness. Probably those who have no experience of this affliction and the accompanying head-noises have little conception of what sufferers have to bear, and how much they need sustaining grace. A letter quoted in Chapter VI from the Archbishop of Sydney gives a hint of this. Recalling memories of Dover, Dr. Mowll says : " I remember as I walked with him once down to the sea-front after a meeting his shouting to me, `But for the grace of God I would not be fit for a bear to live with ! ' "
His diaries at one stage frequently refer to disturbed nights, with attacks of " blue devils," when he even had to go downstairs and read. He may have been suffering in this way when he wrote to his friend Duncan Davidson:
" MY DEAR D.D.,-Your words of cheer about my effort are encouraging. I cherish no thought of evil toward you in regard to my visit to Inchmarlo, but only thoughts of gratitude for kindness that made a duty visit to Aberdeen a very enjoyable outing. But I have not forgiven myself for my outbursts. I was jumpy all that week through being over-wrought." After a spell of bad nights in 19o8 there is this note : " I had an epoch-making experience in prayer and got very near to God. He heard me. I have asked that the years that remain to me may be bright with His blessing. The cloud passed off, and I had freedom from the depression. . . . Had the best night yet."
" Goodness and Mercy." These words recur again and again in the diaries throughout his life. On Ist January 1904 there is this entry : " Arthur in Cape Town, Alan in Amoy, Graham at Haslar, Edmund in Birmingham, Agneta here. All well. ` Goodness and Mercy.' " Another diary note in 1895 reveals some of his thoughts about us : " I spoke [at Talbot Tabernacle] on Hebrews xi. 15, ` They might have had opportunity to have returned,' i.e. turned back ; specially thinking of my own boys." With never-failing remembrance, right on to the close of his earthly life, the absent members were mentioned individually at family prayers. And the petitions came straight from the heart. In a letter to my mother after his death, Mr. Duncan Davidson said:
" I was privileged by his speaking to me of his tender feelings and love to you and his family. He had a rarely tender heart. I always felt I could come to him for instruction and strength and close fellowship, and I thank God for him."
He was indeed, as is often the case with outwardly reserved folk, very dependent on sympathy and responsive to it. In his younger days there existed between his brother Samuel and himself a rare friendship. For many years scarcely a day passed without their exchanging letters between London and Dublin. After my uncle's death in 1886 right on to his own passing more than thirty years later he felt the loss of that companionship and fellowship.
My father seems hardly ever to have destroyed a letter ; and after his death, when a five-storey house was being exchanged for a moderate-sized fiat, the family were confronted with a problem indeed. I got back to London from South Africa early in 1919 to find the available members wrestling with it ; the quotations given in this memoir are taken from only a few of the letters which were preserved. They may be sufficient to support the opinion expressed in early years by Mrs. Piazzi Smith, wife of the astronomer with whom he came into touch officially in Edinburgh. Writing about his book The Gospel and its Ministry, Mrs. Smith said : " From our first acquaintance with you we felt there was something in you different from the ordinary run of men."
THE LIFE-PARTNER AND THE FAMILY
My Shepherd is the Lamb,
The Living Lord Who died ;
With all things good I ever am
By Him supplied ;
He richly feeds my soul
With blessings from above,
And leads me where the rivers roll
Of endless love.
My soul he doth restore
Whene'er I go astray,
He makes my cup with joy run o'er
From day to day.
His love so full, so free
Anoints my head with oil ;
Goodness and mercy follow me,
Fruit of his toil.
(From my mother's favourite version of the 23rd Psalm.)
Them in their perfect bliss unseen No gulfs of space from us divide ;
'Tis but the Lord Who walks between, And they-His other side. I
FROM the age of thirty-two until his death at seventy-seven my father had the inestimable blessing of the companionship and selfless devotion of the one whose memory is very precious to many besides her own kith and kin.
Agnes Alexandrina Moore was the elder daughter of Ponsonby Arthur Moore, whose father, a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, was a grandson of the fifth Earl of Drogheda. On the death of his cousin, the third and last Marquess, the earldom passed to my mother's only brother, Ponsonby William Moore. She was then raised to the rank of an earl's daughter as if her father had succeeded to the title.
The Moore family are on record as living in Kent from about the time of the Norman Conquest. One Thomas de la More (whose name was variously written De More, De la More, and Atte More), held the Manor of More Place in Ivy Church in the days of Henry II. A grandson had a place called Moore Court at Benenden ; a " Moore Chapel " in the Benenden Church was destroyed by fire in the seventeenth century. Moore Court, about 500 years old, still exists, but has been partly rebuilt and a good deal altered. A photograph of the picturesque old moat, at Benenden Manor is shown in the History of the Moore Family written by my aunt Anne (Countess of Drogheda), from which the above and other facts are taken.
The connection of the family with Ireland dates from about 1550, when Edward Moore (knighted in 1579) went over. A grant of the house and lands of Mellifont Abbey near Drogheda was made to him by Queen Elizabeth. Mellifont was originally an abbey of Bernardine Monks said to have been founded by Donagh O'Carroll, Prince of Ergall, about 1142. The ruins have now passed into the possession of the Eire government, and a caretaker enlightens visitors about the evil deeds of the Moores some 300 years ago. Poor old Ireland !
In 1592 Hugh Roe O'Donnell (" Red Hugh," Prince of Ulster), after escaping from captivity in the Castle of Dublin, was given shelter on his journey by Sir Edward Moore. The latter seems to have been one of the first persons to warn the English government of the preparations for the equipment of the Spanish Armada. His son, Sir Garrett, was created Baron Moore of Mellifont by James I ; he served in Ireland under the Earl of Essex and the Lord-Deputy Mountjoy against the Earl of Tyrone, the great O'Neill. In 1603 O'Neill made his submission at Mellifont to Mountjoy, who was then Governor of Ireland.
Sir Garrett later became the first Viscount Moore. His grandson is mentioned by John Buchan-in his Oliver Cromwell thus : " Almost his [Cromwell's] last act in Ireland was to write to the Governor of Dublin to secure civil treatment for the young royalist Lord Moore who had recently surrendered." Moore's estates had been sequestrated ; in 1653 however Mellifont was restored to him ; he was made Governor of Drogheda and later became the first Earl of Drogheda.
From 1725 the family home was Moore Abbey in County Kildare, where St. Evin had founded a monastery in the sixth century ; the house was built on the site of the ancient abbey and was originally known as the House of Monasterevin (or Monasterevan). Moore Abbey was rented for a time to the late John MacCormack, the famous singer ; but it has now been sold by my cousin Henry Drogheda, the 10th Earl, head of the Ministry of Economic Warfare during the recent war, and awarded the K.C.M.G. in 1945. Like so many other historic Irish homes it had escaped being burned down.
Our maternal grandmother was Augusta Sophia Gardner, daughter of General the Hon. William Henry Gardner, whose father, Admiral Alan Gardner, the first Baron Gardner, is frequently mentioned in the Ffarrington Diaries. Nelson wrote of him in 1872 : " As to Capt. Gardner's behaviour, I will answer for it. There is not a better officer or more of a gentleman this day in the Service."
When my father told his friends Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Bland of his engagement, Mrs. Bland's reply was:
" You're quite right in your conjectures about us, for notwithstanding you're being such an unworthy member of society we all have a sneaking regard for you, and are all heartily glad that the long-looked-for event is really going to take place. I am quite sure the future Mrs. R. A. is particularly nice, for no one has ever been able to accuse you of bad taste, whatever else bad you may have about you ! I am glad she is Irish ; we will be able to understand each other all the better.
" What was it you fell in love with ? For evidently you are most awfully in love. So make a clean breast of it to me, and I will forgive you all your past, present and future sins. Kit's delight will be very great when he gets your letter."
I have found two short letters from my father to his bride just before the wedding. In one he speaks of " this last and crowning pledge and proof of God's love." The other ends, " Now, my love, Goodnight ; I trust before forty-eight hours are over we'll thank God together for each other and the mutual love we have to one another. How gracious and kind and good He has been to me."
There is much in these days to give cause for grave concern in the decay and disruption of home life. It is good to look back with grateful memories to the standard set up and the life lived by our parents, and not least to the single-minded devotion of the mother. After reading the first edition of this memoir our friend the late Rev. J. C. Johnston, D.D., of Dublin, wrote:
" I think there are few men like your father in that his religion and his Saviour were what really mattered in his life ; and this is why his children are like him. I cannot help thinking that one great cause of godless children is homes where religion is a name and pro fession rather than a reality. It must have been, and I see from his letters that it was, a source of unfailing gladness to him that his children walked in the Truth. And I know your beloved mother was in all things his inspiration and his helper."
This kind word of Dr. Johnston's finds an echo in all our hearts. Our mother had real gifts as a writer and speaker ; but she shrank from much publicity, being often happiest in some obscure service. One instance was the help given to our friends the Misses Hurst in their mission work in a poor district of London, where for years she used to lead Mothers' Meetings, play the hymns at Gospel services, and for some time conduct a class for young women.
In later years she came into prominence as President of the Women's Protestant Union in succession to Mrs. W. R. Arbuthnot, presiding at their meetings and contributing a Monthly Chat to the magazine. She always took a deep interest in foreign missions, especially in China, where her cousins Tom and Jessie Pigott, with their son Wellesley, were amongst the martyrs of the " Boxer ' rising. Her interest was naturally greatly intensified when my brother Alan went to China as a missionary of the English Presbyterian Church. She was a member of the Women's Missionary Association committee and later a vice-president.
Her own family were old-style evangelical Anglicans in England and Ireland ; but she had no more interest than my father had in mere denominationalism. She was wholeheartedly with him in all his varied ministry ; but she found a true spiritual home in the Notting Hill Presbyterian Church, and later at Hampstead, where, after my father's death, she and my sister were devoted members of the Rev. John Chalmers Lyon's congregation. But in the fullest sense-and God grant this may never become exceptional-she always gave her strength to the home. A happy result was an early confidence never afterwards lost. Her sons knew, not only in school and college days, but when in later years the seas separated us, that our interests were her constant care, that our friends were remembered and ever made welcome, and we ourselves unceasingly borne upon her heart before the Throne.
When all four were scattered the weekly home letters never failed ; and she would not listen to the suggestion of carbon copies even for part of them. The last I received from her was written within a few days of the Home-call when she was suffering from great and increasing weakness. When we were children she devoted herself to us so completely that she was seldom persuaded to accompany my father on his many visits to friends, although thoroughly enjoying them when she did go. After her title had been bestowed she was presented at Court by her sister-in-law Lady Drogheda, but thereafter apart from one or two Drawing Rooms and an occasional Garden Party she rested contentedly on her laurels.
In addition to other family friends my mother had many who were in a special sense her own, some of these friendships dating from schooldays ; one thinks of Mrs. Lear, Miss Craigie, Mrs. Downes, Mrs. Wyndham Guinness, Miss Colley, Miss van Straubenzee. She kept in touch with relatives in a way truly Irish, including cousins of every degree ; she was an expert in genealogies. To her own mother, who had been early widowed, she was devoted. Her only sister, Alice, married the Rev. T. Russell Wade, a missionary in India of the Church Missionary Society, but after only a year together she died. When Mr. Wade married again my mother took the family to her heart just as if they were indeed her own belongings. One of the daughters, Lilian, married the late Dr. Vernon Starr of Peshawar and became widely known in India. She is now the wife of Col. Guilford Underhill, late of the Indian Army.
Although kindly and gracious to all, my mother had strong likes and dislikes, her transparent honesty making it difficult at times to conceal the latter. She was a convinced total abstainer from alcohol. I remember her saying that in her youth she often found herself the only lady at a dinner party not taking wine, whilst in later years it was the exception in the circle of her friends and acquaintances to see women drinking intoxicants. Amongst her many interests besides those mentioned elsewhere in this chapter were the Christian Alliance of Women and Girls and the London Lock Hospital.
In I9IO she came to South Africa and was with us at Lovedale when our first child was born, to be gathered at once to her loving heart. Our friend Oswin Bull, afterwards Director of Education in Basutoland, was a fellow-voyager in the Kenilworth Castle. He recalled the time thus when he heard of her death:
" To me your mother was always one of the Great-Hearts. There are not very many who deserve the title in its fullest meaning ; but those who do are the people who make all the difference in life to their own folk and to a great many more besides. I shall always remember how delightful it was to have her travelling out with me, and how inevitably she became the centre of the Christian circle on board."
Other companions on the passage to Cape Town were the Rev. E. W. Lasbrey, rector of Wynberg ; the Bishop of St. John's, Kaffraria (Dr. Williams) ; and Charles A. Pilson, who was coming to join the Lovedale staff. We heard afterwards incidentally of the satisfaction felt by the other second-class passengers when she was called out of the obscurity to present the sports and other prizes for the whole ship ! Those who have experience of the quaint " class-consciousness " which used to exist in such vessels will appreciate this !
Another South African friend, the late Mrs. Robert Sharp, wrote of her:
" I loved her the first time I saw her ; and I have always held her up to my girls as one of the most perfect examples of really gracious Christian womanhood. Such constant thought of others and forgetfulness of self, and yet such dignity and grace-it was a wonderful combination."
Miss Wardrop, who followed her as President of the Women's Protestant Union, spoke of her as " wonderful, so capable, so bright, so gifted." An old friend said that " somehow a radiance was around her," and another : " She was so loving and understanding, so wise and so fresh in thought and spirit."
In the New Alliance Club Notes Mrs. Albert Head wrote:
" Unswerving loyalty to Christ and to the whole counsel of God and His truth was an outstanding mark in her character. But while her loyalty made her as a rock in matters of principle, she was never dogmatic in her opinions, but had a large-hearted understanding of others which kept her from being hard. She was one whose life and personality, with their spiritual and intellectual power, represented an age which is quickly passing.
"As someone read a sentence from a sermon preached after the death of our beloved Queen Alexandra the words struck me as so applicable to Lady Agnes that I venture to quote them :-' Wherever she went she radiated happiness and blessing. Those 'little acts of spontaneous thoughtfulness and kindness which were such a feature in her life will never be forgotten.'
" It was always a joy to see her enter a room or Chair a meeting, or to have the privilege of a quiet talk with her, and leave her presence refreshed in mind and spirit. She was a woman of exceptional gifts in many ways. God had endowed her with excellent brain power ; and her wise judgment and quick perception as well as her gift of sympathy made her of immense value in the various fields of service with which she was connected. Christ-like, noble, wise, enthusiastic for the truth, unsparing of herself and caring for others, she was one of the few of whom it can truly be said, `Whose faith follow.' "
A tribute was paid in the magazine of the South Africa General Mission to " her simple faith, her strong courage, gentle firmness, clear insight, virile opposition to error of any kind because it hid the face of the Lord Jesus, and kept men and women from seeing Him."
From some 275 letters received by my sister after our mother's death I take a few expressions showing how her life and influence were helpful to a great company of those who knew and loved her.:
" You must feel very, very proud of her ; all she has done and been ; the way she has stood by her ideals in these years of change and restlessness. . . . We thank God for her beautiful completed life and for the remembrance of the triumph of His grace in and through her. . . . Your dear mother was one of the true saints of God by whom this earthly life is sweetened ; her memory and influence will abide fragrant, precious and fruitful in the lives of many. . . . There are few who will be wafted Home with so many benedictions from those she has helped and blessed in numberless ways. . . . Witnesses the Bible calls for, and she is the witness for you and for how many more, a witness to the unseen and eternal. . . . The memory of her grace and beauty of spirit has rejoiced and comforted countless folk. . . . She attracted me much ; I always thought her so real . . .
" Lady Agnes will be missed tremendously by a very large number to whom she has been endeared by her real goodness and unswerving faith. . . . She appeared to me a rare spirit, loving and true ; and she has gone to her own Land which is best. . . . I should think that those who opposed her convictions would find it hard not to love her. . . . The power and efficacy of intercession like hers we shall not know in this world ; but we know it was a very real power in your brother's missionary work and in many another cause. . . . I did love her and always felt better for being in her company ; there was a fragrance about her which marked her out as an ` elect lady.' . . . She was such a dear and so attractive, and had such a beautiful calm face to gaze upon. . . . I always felt as if she lived in a higher, purer, holier atmosphere. She could live wisely in this world, and yet be so completely above all its littlenesses and ambitions. . . . I always felt that the beauty of the Lord was upon her, and His savour went forth wherever she was."
Shortly before her death a friend wrote to her : " I am one of the far-behind ones to whom the Lord Jesus shining through your life has been a help and inspiration."
" Never was there anyone quite like her in understandingness and force of character," said Mrs. Lettice Bell. " I always thought of her as expressing beauty and strength. All must feel that a rock has gone, and in these days of uncertainty and change the rocks seem doubly valuable." And this word came from Capt. Keith Wisely : " That true humility, manifestly the fruit of the spirit of love and self-sacrifice, was an inspiration, and her beautiful influence will live on amongst us and lead us higher and heavenward whither our Lord had called her." " In all the long years of our friendship," wrote Miss Emma Bland, " I have never known your mother to speak, look or act in any way unworthy of her position, spiritually, socially or intimately ; and at present I cannot think of anyone else I have known as long of whom I could say as much ! "
Here are a few words from China. Reginald Rogers, one of my brother Alan's colleagues, after recalling some special acts of thoughtfulness, said : " Surely souls such as your mother should have a place very near the Throne in the glory." And Miss Lydia Ramsay wrote from Chuanchow : A fascinating personality. She carried joy and blessing into whatever circle she entered. The shining of those eyes and the sheer kindness of her and the love she beamed on us. She was so alive and it was always a joy to be with her." A letter from Mr. S. A. Khaw, (Chinese) Principal of Westminster College, Chuanchow, said " From the time I first made her acquaintance and enjoyed her kindness her image has been deeply impressed upon my mind, and I shall never forget her life and example. We at Westminster have lost one of our best friends. Lady Agnes gave her son to Westminster, and Westminster was always in her prayers."
Writing from the West Nile district, Fred Morris, now Bishop in North Africa, said:
" Lady Agnes was no ordinary friend to us both, from the day of Camp Squashes through sundry lunches to the time when Madge and I as an engaged couple were asked to dinner at Linden Gardens. I remember it was she who told me in her own sweet way that there would be troubles as well as joys in the married life, with the assurance that He was sufficient for all."
And these words came from my friend John Kingon, now the Rev. J. R. L. Kingon, M.A., D.Sc., whom I committed to the care of my folk when he went as a boy from Cape Town to London:
" I shall never cease to thank God for the great privilege of coming into your home as an extra son, carrying with it a special place in your mother's heart. What it meant to me during my student days to come about No. 39, and feel that I was always welcome and free and understood. . . . There was such a beautiful understanding spirit and atmosphere. I always feel that dear Lady Agnes was a second mother to me. This will tell of the loyalty and love of one who owed so very much to her mothering."
In the goodness of God my wife and I were in Britain in 1925, the last year of my mother's earthly life. Her diary for that year contains many expressions of gratitude to Dr. Ruth Balmer, other doctors and nurses and many friends during a long and trying illness. It records special acts of kindness by her nephew Dr. J. Barcroft Anderson and by Sir Godfrey Collins, M.P.
In the Women's Protestant Union magazine Mrs. (Agnes) Boyd told of a meeting of the Prophecy Investigation Society just a year before her death:
" No one who was present will ever forget an incident at the end of the meeting, when our beloved President rose and repeated without apparent effort or hesitation the whole of the hymn beginning, ` To Thee and to Thy Christ, 0 God." With serene countenance and unfaltering voice she thus expressed her full assurance and hope. Even then her frailness was obvious, but we shall always recollect the ringing triumphant refrain, repeated in every verse, 'We sing, we ever sing.'"
Another great friend, Dr. " Dick " Emerson, wrote of a time nearer the end : " I shall never forget how full of cheer and brightness Lady Agnes was when I saw her last ; full of joy and gladness at the prospect of the victorious end which she knew must be at hand." Before we had to leave again for South Africa we were able to say goodbye and to take part in a service of Holy Communion held in her room by her beloved minister, John Chalmers Lyon. Soon after we reached Cape Town my sister cabled : " Mother went peacefully Home Saturday (November 7th). Enjoyed all your letters Tuesday."
She was laid to rest at Kensal Green, where my father had been buried seven years before. Mr. Chalmers Lyon was assisted in the service by two other valued friends and former ministers, Dr. Hugh Falconer and the Rev. Joseph Rorke. The 23rd Psalm and the Hymn " Ten thousand times ten thousand, In sparkling raiment bright," gave fitting expression to the feelings of those who loved her. " Falconer's prayer was a great uplift," wrote Mr. Lyon. " He's a saint and a poet, and these qualities under God make him a prophet with a by-ordinary insight into the things of the Spirit. I'm sure nobody will forget the whole impression of that service with its triumphant song at the close. That was the right note to-day." Dr. Falconer said Sir Godfrey Collins had remarked that he had never been at a funeral service with so much thanksgiving ; he was arrested by that note.
Back in 19 14 Dr. Falconer himself was just as it were returning from the edge of the grave, having been told he had not a month to live. At that time he sent my mother a letter of exceptional beauty and insight. I quote it not only for its own sake, but also as showing his confidence in her understanding sympathy
" MY DEAR LADY AGNES, It is good indeed to hear from you again and to be assured of your loving remembrance. . . . I almost think I may become strong enough to preach again.
" How ashamed one is of one's preaching ! What poor little fragments of the amazing Truth as it is in Jesus one has doled out ! Yet it is so tremendously difficult to say even what God gives us to see, that we poor preachers must go hence with ninety-nine hundredths of our story untold, and almost all our music still unuttered.
I have been thinking for instance of those words, ` heirs of God,' and of ` son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine ' (And this, mind you, to the jealous elder brother of the prodigal) ; and of `joint heirs with Christ'-the Lamb Who opens the book of all providence and history and grace. What is one to make of that ?
" Then what of the thought planted out in creation, the ABC of which Science struggles to learn ; the beauty at which Art hints ; the harmony a few tones of which Beethoven and the musicians utter ? Above all the grace (peace, joy, love, sympathy, service) given to the heart of the saints. And all this ours-the astounding secrets of Godan estate which we (the whole Body of Christ) are to inherit. 0, who can express it ? Or even the tiny bit of it that is sometimes given him to see ?
" O, dear Lady Agnes, what a society is ours-fellowship for the furtherance of the Gospel, fellowship in Christ, partakers of the Glory, joint-heirs with Him of GOD !
" Give my love to Sir Robert and all the others. What can I do but ` give thanks upon every remembrance of you all,' as indeed it is right that I should do on your behalf, so that supplication should be `with joy ' ? May your love abound more and more.
" Yours ever gratefully,
" HUGH FALCONER."
Dr. Falconer was author of The Unfinished Symphony and other works. For many years he was Minister of the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle.
My brothers and I were educated first at Combe Down School, Bath, an off-shoot of Monkton Combe, where Mr. W. Franklin, the founder and principal, had been a house-master. Amongst our friends there in early days were Leonard and Edgar Faithfull ; five brothers of the family of Fighting Battyes " of Indian fame ; scions of the Irish houses of Phibbs and Butler-Stoney ; Fred and Arthur Macnutt ; Llewellyn Lloyd the Welsh rugby player ; and our cousins Cecil and Henry Boyd, afterwards Major C. A. Boyd, M.C., and Col. H. A. Boyd, D.S.O., both rugby internationals and the latter an amateur golf champion. The school moved afterwards to Weston-super-Mare and was renamed Clarence School. Later still, when Canford School was founded at Wimborne, a hundred Clarence boys migrated there with Mr. (now the Rev.) J. S. Macnutt, who became the first Head of Canford ; another master who accompanied them being Mr. " Tom " Tilsley.
From Combe Down I went to the Leys, Cambridge, and my brother Edmund to St. Paul's. Agneta, our only sister and the youngest of us, was educated at Oak Hill House, Hampstead. Long continued care and self-denial enabled my father to give all his sons a university education. Alan, my next brother, was the first to leave the old country. After taking his degree at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he began to prepare for the ministry of the English Presbyterian Church in London, later being one of the first students of Westminster (Theological) College, Cambridge. He was an office-bearer in the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, and acted as adjutant at some of the Universities Camps for Public Schools under such commandants as Major Pelham Burn and Major Liebenrood. He played tennis and rugby for Pembroke, afterwards keeping up his tennis when possible in the Far East.
After being assistant to Dr. George Hanson at Marylebone Church, he was accepted for the South China field of the English Presbyterian Church Foreign Missions. His ordination took place at a valedictory service for him and others leaving for India and China in the Stratford Church on 6th October 1902. Those taking part included the Revs. C. Anderson Scott, Alexander Connell, Hugh Falconer, George Hanson and Alexander Jeffrey, and my father, whose diary notes " We were all present." Alan sailed for Amoy on 21st November 1902.
When he went to China not only did his interest in boys continue but work amongst them formed the chief part of his service for many years ; for he was the founder and Principal of the Westminster College Schools at Chuanchow, where his work lay until in 1931 he was transferred to Malaya because of his knowledge of the Amoy dialect. The esteem in which " Old Boys " held Westminster was shown by the large sums given to it by those who were successful in business or professional life. In honour of the twentyfifth anniversary of my brother's arrival in China old students erected a building which, in spite of his protests, was named the Anderson Library.
The last birthday greeting from him to my father had this reply:
" You have taken time by the fore-lock as regards my birthday ! We are not a birthday-observing family, but I wish I had the anniversary several times in the year if it brought such a letter as yours. Yes, you have had a busy life of late, and I am deeply thankful for all your letters tell us of your work, and very specially of the acceptance you have with various classes of people who can help you. It gives cause for much thankfulness to our God and Father. If my letters to you are few, it is because Mother and Agneta are such admirable correspondents. I don't think I am a Pharisee, but there is no doubt they are Scribes ! "
In Malaya his work has lain chiefly amongst the large Chinese population, although many services have been held for Europeans in the various States ; the Mission headquarters are in Singapore. At the time of the Pearl Harbour attack he was on furlough in South Africa ; as it was impossible to return he pleaded the cause of China in the Union and Rhodesia, assisting in raising a large amount for China Relief funds. He afterwards went to India, eventually getting safely back to Singapore about Christmas 1945, when he was rejoiced and greatly encouraged at finding that so many of the Chinese Christians had stood firm through the ordeal of the war years.
Amongst family friends not connected with the Church or the Mission who took a deep practical interest in the Chuanchow work for my brother's sake were Captain W. H. Dawson, Captain G. A. Keith Wisely, Mr. James E. Mathieson and Lady Blanche Smith.
The first world war brought deep sorrow to our home in the loss at sea of my brother Graham. Having taken the medical course at Trinity College, Dublin, and the Adelaide Hospital, he entered the Royal Navy as Surgeon. After Mediterranean service in the Cruiser Leander, he was appointed to the old wooden Training Ship Impregnable at Devonport, and later to H.M.S. Scylla on the West Indian Station, being promoted Staff Surgeon in 1911. He had been presented to King Edward VII by my father at a Levee in 1906.
When war broke out in 1914 he was in H.M.S. Royal Arthur of the Training Squadron, which vessel became a unit of the loth Cruiser Squadron in the North Sea. In December 1914 he sailed from Tilbury in the Auxiliary Cruiser H.M.S. Clan Macnaughton. Only two months later she was lost with all hands (284 officers and crew) when on patrol duty west of the Hebrides on or about the 3rd February 1915. The only trace of the ship ever reported was some wreckage bearing her name washed up on the north coast of Scotland.
Many years later a retired Merchant Service officer living near Cape Town told us of his ship having picked up a wireless signal from the Clan Macnaughton asking permission to heave-to on account of the gale which was raging. But there is reason to believe that the disaster was due to a drifting mine, one of those laid by the German vessel Berlin which caused the loss of H.M.S. Audacious in Loch Swilley. (See The Big Blockade, by E. Keble Chatterton, pp. 100 and 101.)
Graham had married Nora, daughter of Paymaster-in-Chief A. H. Martin, R.N. ; their only child, Barry Loftus, died at the age of eight months. My sister-in-law served as Deputy Administrator W.R.A.F. during the remainder of the war. She lives at Beech House in Bagshot, which has been a home for nephews and many others. My brother was a good all-round athlete and very musical. When still a boy his thoughts turned to foreign mission work ; his mother's diary has this entry on 4th August 1895: " Graham walked with me and unfolded his great wish to join the Student Volunteer Missionary Union, and his desire for missionary work. May God guide the precious boy aright." He attended the great Missionary Conference at Liverpool in 1896, presided over by Donald Fraser, afterwards of the Livingstonia Mission.
Although his path did not lead to the mission field there is abundant evidence that his influence in the Service was ever on the side of right. In a short sketch The Bond of Sacrifice stated that " a more gifted and popular officer it would be hard to find," and that one of his former captains had said of him, " I feel that I have lost my best friend."
Edmund, the youngest son, was a scholar of Queen's College, Cambridge. He was a member of the college rugby team, as he had been of the school fifteen at St. Paul's. Taking the mathematical and engineering triposes, he graduated B.A. in 1902. He was an officer in the boys' camps already mentioned, and helped in work for telegraph boys when getting practical experience of electrical engineering in Birmingham ; he became an A.M.I.C.E.
Nearly the whole of his life since has been spent in Africa, first in connection with the Uganda Company at Kampala, 1907-10, then in the Public Works Department at Lagos and Calabar. In 1913 he came to help in teaching and other work at Lovedale, South Africa ; but during the war of 1914-18 he returned to England, receiving a commission in the Royal Army Service Corps. Happily he was at home at the time of our father's death.
Afterwards he spent some time on the Gold Coast and then took up sheep farming in the Middelburg district of the Cape, where he became a recognised local preacher in the Methodist Church, and gave active support to their work in the district and farther afield. The farm has now been sold and a new home in South Africa is being sought.
Agneta, the only daughter, lived at home until after her mother's death, when she too came to South Africa to join the farmer brother. Whilst in England she took part in many activities of the. Presbyterian Church, being secretary of the Fellowship and a member of the Assembly's Foreign Missions and Welfare of Youth Committees, and that of the Women's Missionary Association. Always deeply interested in her brother Alan's work, she paid a visit to him in 1928-9, touching at various places in China, Formosa and Malaya where there are mission stations. Another interest was the Children's Special Service Mission ; she was in the house-parties at seaside services held at Nairn, Port St. Mary and Seaford, and joined a winter sports party in Switzerland. She also gave much help in the office of the Pocket Testament League.
My sister stood the somewhat drastic change from the London life to the Karoo farm remarkably well, quickly settling down to entirely new conditions, finding many fresh interests and making new friends whilst keeping up with the old ones. Far from being cut off from the outside world, she has carried on a voluminous correspondence with folk in the four corners of the earth, being thus a very helpful link between far-scattered relations and friends. Weekly letters are exchanged with Mrs. George Trench (daughter of Sir Samuel and Lady Lee Anderson) in Dublin, keeping us in touch also with our Boyd cousins and other Irish friends.
The eldest of the family, I myself went up from the Leys School to Trinity College, Cambridge, continuing the medical course at the London Hospital. A college representative on the C.I.C.C.U. committee, I was also an officer and later doctor in the boys' camps. Meeting there Dr. (afterwards Sir Wilfred) Grenfell led to three visits to the North Sea in connection with the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. For a time I helped Dr. W. T. Pigott in the Dublin Medical Mission, where my cousin Alice Boyd has been an honorary worker for most of her life.
In 1903 I came to the Cape to join the late Dr. Robert Sharp in medical practice. During about four years at Woodstock, with invaluable aid from willing helpers and the co-operation of my partner, a boys' club was started and later a Sea Cadet Corps, one of the Jlrst in the Empire. My friend Mr. F. M. Hornibrook acted as O.C. of the Sea Cadets for nearly twenty years (except when on war service). He was succeeded by an " Old Boy," Mr. E. J. Rackstraw, M.C. The Sea Cadets have now been absorbed into the South African Naval Service ; but a Sea Scout Group (the " 1st Table Bay") was formed in 1927, as a development of the original Boys' Club.
An invitation to the Lovedale Native Missionary Institution in 1908 was accepted, and eight years were spent in charge of an average number of 400 African youths in the Boarding Department. In 1909 Charlotte, eldest daughter of the late William Sloan of Helensburgh on the Clyde, became my wife. On being told of our engagement my father said : " If like Abraham of old I had had to find a wife for you, she is the one I would have chosen ! "
She helped in the Lovedale work until I joined the South African Medical Corps in 1915 for the campaign in Central Africa. (Twice mentioned in Despatches.) After being separated for over three years, and a year in Britain, we returned with our children to settle in Cape Town. Mary Esme, the elder, after a period of Y.W.C.A. service, is now Lady Superintendent of the Girls' School at Lovedale, where she was born, and takes part in all the work of the Institution and district, including Wayfarer Guides. She was offered the Lovedale post by the late Principal, Dr. A. W. Wilkie, C.B.E., the appointment being confirmed by the Church of Scotland Foreign Mission Committee.
Our younger daughter, Violet Agnes, lives at home ; she is an active helper at the Schools and 'Varsities Camps run in connection with the Children's Special Service Mission, and the Schools and 'Varsities Christian Union (akin to the Crusaders' Union), as well as in work amongst non-European girls carried on by the Y.W.C.A. In addition to those just named, my wife and I have varied interests too numerous to detail here. Amongst mine are the Sea Scouts, the Alliance of Honour, and various Church and evangelistic activities. 1l'ly wife is an ex-President of the Y.W.C.A. and is keenly interested in the Andrew Murray Missionary Home, the hospitality and fellowship of which have been enjoyed by an average of nearly 400 missionaries on furlough or passing through Cape Town during the years of war.
It was to his sister Frances, always called Fanny, that my father wrote most of his letters during the Revival days in Ireland. After their parents' death her elder sister Martha, true to her name, looked after the Dublin home besides quietly doing innumerable good deeds, whilst Aunt Fanny gave much time to Christian service amongst men of the old-time British army. For very many years she was associated with the Sandes Soldiers' Homes, continuing her interest in them after she came to live with my folk in London in 1916.
Miss Sandes' great life-work began on a very small scale in her parents' home in Tralee when she was only a girl. Seven years later the first Home was opened in Cork ; but she then became very ill and was told she would never be fit for active work. Yet when Enlisted, her story of the Homes, was published in 1902 there were already sixteen in Ireland and four in India ! When she died in 1934 General Sir Ian Hamilton said she had exercised a more powerful and beneficent influence on the army during her sixty-six years of active service than many richly decorated generals.
Miss Sandes received the honour of a C.B.E., and when her death occurred at one of her own Homes in Ballykinler Camp she was accorded a military funeral. Now after seventy-six years the work is being carried on amongst various branches of the Forces in England, Northern Ireland and India. H.R.H. the Princess Royal has recently accepted the Presidency, Lieut.-General Sir William Dobbie being Vice-President.
In the early years Miss Sandes called on my mother to enlist her support. " Since that seemingly chance visit," she wrote, " I have said goodbye to hotel life in London, for Sir Robert and Lady Agnes Anderson's house has been a home for me whenever I have needed one." She told also how, meeting on that occasion Miss Fanny Lee Anderson, whom she had known in schooldays, led to their long association in the Soldiers' Homes. The work in India was carried on for over forty years by another friend of ours, Miss Theodora Schofield, who was assisted for a time by my cousin Mary Lee Anderson.
During the London years Aunt Fanny had many other interests and hosts of friends, being very popular with young folk on account of her ready sympathy and unfailing humour. Like my mother and sister she was a faithful scribe, her letters being full of fun and the latest tit-bits of news. She was a staunch supporter of Mr. Chalmers Lyon's church, and became a familiar figure at the London " May Meetings," liking to be the first to arrive and the last to go, lest she should miss any of her friends.
She gave much help to her friend Miss Wakefield MacGill in the work of the Pocket Testament League. The Keswick Conventions were highlights for her, and until a year before her death she never missed the High Leigh Conference of the Officers' Christian Union. An expression of regret at her absence then (in 1934) and of affectionate greeting was sent to her with fifty-six signatures, including those of two admirals and many other officers.
In 1935 she passed peacefully away after only a week's illness, in her ninety-second year ; my wife and I had arrived in England shortly before, and were able to be with her and to be present at the funeral, which was conducted by the Rev. J. Chalmers Lyon assisted by Bishop Taylor Smith, another great friend. Once again the dominant note was one of thanksgiving for long years of loving faithful service.
