oreopaint.blogg.se

My father was always inventing things, usually concerning matters of interest to himself, to do with sport and so on, but many of his inventions were copied and commercialised without benefit to him and some are still in use today. One day at Hyde Park Corner he broke down and discovered afterwards that several nuts had been sucked off their bolts into the cylinders! He was also one of the first members of the Royal Automobile Club and one of the first to take a car to Ireland where not only animals but also people took to their heels!

In the 1890's he took to motoring and was one of the first to make the run from London to Brighton and back (100 miles) in one day - then almost like flying the Atlantic solo, with at least six or seven punctures occurring! One of his first cars, I think, was a Benz, with the enormous pistons and cylinders mounted horizontally. From an early age he had become a remarkable shot (shooting from the left shoulder, as his left eye was the stronger) both with shot-gun and rifle (rather unusual to be good at both) and combined his studies with various sporting expeditions. He did not actually attend the University but had a tutor and learned to speak very good German. Later he went to Heidelberg in Germany to complete his education. The Militia was rather closer to the Regular Army than the Territorials by which it was replaced, training etc.

He was commissioned into the Royal Monmouthshire Regiment (Militia) Royal Engineers, his commission being signed by Queen Victoria with her own hand as was then the custom. As it happened, he was for some reason prevented from taking the Preliminary and presenting himself at Burlington House, where the Final was being held, he was allowed to do both parts and duly passed. This was in two parts - the Final and the Preliminary, which had to be passed first. When my father left Eton at the age of seventeen, he decided on a military or semi-military career and went to a famous military crammer to prepare for the Army Exam. In his Eton days he was a Page of Honour to the Queen and often, having asked my father to go for a walk, would disappear into Windsor Castle to carry out his duties, leaving his unfortunate friend to cool his heels outside!Īctually in the late 1920's and early 1930's I represented my parents at his second marriage and also his funeral as they were abroad on both occasions.

He was a god-son of Queen Victoria and eventually held many Court appointments and became among other things Chairman of the Great Western Railway. After a time he quite enjoyed himself and made many friends, of whom one, perhaps his greatest, he was to keep in quite close touch with for a very many years - Victor Spencer-Churchill (who later was created Viscount Churchill) a relative of the Duke of Marlborough and also Winston. His elder brother, Howard, was already there, but being four years older and soon to leave was not of much use to him. He was sent to Eton in the middle of a half (term) at the age of ten - (there was no Common Entrance or any exam in those days) and quite naturally was miserable for some time, being the absolute bottom of the school.