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A Granddaughter Of Stirling
Looks" Back
By SIR JOHN KIRWAN
W HEN a naval officer
32 years old in 1823
Sir James Stirling, founder
of Western Australia, mar
ried a daughter of James
Mangles, of Woodbridge,
Surrey, a one-time member
of Parliament for his county.
Of their four sons and six daugh
ters, one son was a colonel in
the Royal Artillery and another
was killed at Cawnpore during the
Indian Mutiny of 1857. The only
son who was married rose to be
vice-admiral, was naval aide-de
camp to Queen Victoria and for
a time commodore on the Austra
lian station. Two daughters re
mained single, but the other' four
married men of position and
wealth and their numerous des
cendants today include some of
the most notable families of Great
Britain.
One daughter, Elinore, married in
1856 James Alexander Guthrie, a
Scot and a director of the Bank
of England. They had many child
ren, one of whom, the Hon. Mrs.
Violet Stuart Wortley, C.B.E., has
become well known as an author
ess, most of her works being the
result of historical research.
"Life Without Theory.'
As an octogenarian, Mrs. Stuart
Wortley recently published a fas
cinating autobiography with the
title, "Life Without Theory"-a
quotation from Disraeli, who ad
vised: "Read no history; nothing
but biography, for that is life with
out theory." At an early age she
married Major-Gen. the Hon. E.
Stuart Wortley, C.M.G., D.S.O.,
who died in 1934. During their
married life of more than 40 years
they lived in various parts of the
world where her husband as a
soldier and as a diplomat held
responsible positions. The auto
biography, which is published by
Hutchinson and Co., London, is
a retrospect of a most eventful
career written in an easy, simple
and effective style.
It brings with the recollection, one
sombre morning at the close of
the Franco-Prussian, war of
1870-71, of the presence in Ryde
of the ex-Emperor Napoleon III
and the ex-Empress Eugenie, and
ends in 1946 with a gathering of
200 people in the writer's palatial
and historic home, Highcliffe
Castle, Hampshire, to mark at
once her 80th birthday and the
wartime accomplishments of the
little village of Highcliffe. over
looking the English Channel.
Within this 75-year period lie
memories of personal experiences
during several major events emer
gencies and crises with which sbe
was brought into contact in Egypt,
Russia, Persia, Italy, Greece, Hun
gary, Malta, France and Germany,
where she stayed at embassies and
legations.
She met most of the world's dis
tinguished men and women. Her
accounts of English and contin
ental society-lbright, elegant and
influential at a time when it was
enjoying one of its most glittering
periods-are vivid. Before Wodld
War I the late Kaiser lived at
Highcliffe Castle for more than
three weeks as the guest of the
authoress and her husband. Ac
cording to her, he never forgot
the early influences of his mother,
who was English and consequently
was not as anti-British as he was'
represented.
In her reference to her husband's
family and its past, there is ja
strangely modern ring in a quota
tion from a letter written some 140
years ago by Sir Charles Stuart,
who was then a member of the
diplomatic staff in Paris. Addressed
to Lord Buckinghamshire, it
stated:
"We have been informed in the
coarsest terms that all connectidh
between England and Russia is at
an end. It seems to have been the
study of the latter to add insolence
to perfidy in the mode of convey
ing the communication and the
most zealous advocate of the coun
try cannot excuse the tone of re
proach and impertinence which her
Ministers have adopted to palliate
their dishonourable conduct."
Extensive traveller as Mrs. Stuart
Wortley has been, she has never
Elinor, daughter of Sir James Stirling and mother of Mrs. Stuart Wortley, whose reminiscences are discussed on this page. (From a painting by Sir Frederick Leighton). Help
Elinor, daughter of Sir James Stirling and mother of Mrs. Stuart
Wortley, whose reminiscences are discussed on this page.
(From a painting by Sir Frederick Leighton).
been to the State founded by her
grandfather, notwithstanding that
she is deeply interested in its pro
gress. However, she is anxious to
visit Western Australia and hopes
to be able to come next year.
Her autobiography makes refer
ences to the Stirling family. She
writes: "My mother was very
beautiful, sleek, dark hair framed
an oval face; her features were
classical; Sir Frederick Leighton
did her justice in a full-length pic
tue and painted her again as one
of the 'Wise Virgins', in a fresco de
corating the chancel of the church
at Lyndhurst. She married my
father at the age of 17 and was
left . a widow with nine children
when still very young." She goes
on to say: "It was the custom for
the wives and families of senior
officers to accompany their men
folk on cruises across the seven
seas. Something of this errant, hap
hazard existence seemed' to cling
to my mother, for she was a born
wayfarer, hating routine and con
ventionalities, submitting unwill
ingly to social duties. No-one plan
ned their life less than she and to
be called upon to guide the des
tines of nine children was to be
asked to do more than she could
bear. She just let us drift; we
drifted. There never was one so
unmaternally minded."
Mrs. Stuart Wortley's father died
in 1873 and four years later her
mother married again. The second
husband, Foster Fitzgerald Arbuth
not, is described as a strange char
acter, versed in Oriental languages
and philosophy with a queer as
sortment of friends, including "that
rather terrifying individual, Sir
Richard Burton, whose introduc
tion into the peaceful atmosphere
of a normal English family sent
light tremors through the pulses."
Arbuthnot, although an agnostic,
intolerant of intolerance and in
terested in the religious beliefs of
different races, yet was touchingly
careful not to hurt his wife's "child
like attitude" towards her Church
and faith. To please her he would
attend the Sunday morning service,
whether in London or in the coun
try. Having donned the correct
formal coat, "performed the pre
scribed rites such as praying into
his hat on arrival at the family
pew, he would, during the sermon,
sink into a state of suspended
animation, afterwards, with com
mendable generosity, putting his
contribution in the plate while all
the time his mind was far away
thinking over the subtleties of
some Eastern problem."
"No Need To Fuss."
Mrs. Stuart Wortley adds: "To
the end of her life my mother said
her prayers nightly unassailed by
any doubts. 'God's in Heaven, all's
right with the world,' was her con
viction. Moreover, to establish her
further in her confident belief that
this was the best of all possible
worlds, there was Queen Victoria
on the Throne, with first , 'Dizzy'
and later the Marquis of Salisbury
at her ' Majesty's elbow to direct
the Ship of State. There was no
need to fussl"
The earnestness and zeal of Sir
James Stirling and his wife in fur
therance of the public well-being
was also strong in their daughter.
Mrs. Stuart Wortley, writing of her
girlhood says: "I remember how
deeply we were shocked by the
publication of General. Booth's
book, 'Darkest London,' which
brought home to us that all Queen
Victoria's subjects did not get three
or four good meals a day, nor en
joy refreshing slumber under suffi
cient eiderdowns and blankets.
Upon reading it my mother rushed
to her writing desk and cheque
book and there and then sent a
donation to General Booth, the
first instalment of an annual sub
scription. My sister and I reacted
similarly, adopted a slum area,
started with all youth's enthusiasm
working at a club for factory girls
and organised a holiday home for
the members near our own home
in Surrey. Once aroused to the
lamentable condition of the 'sub
merged tenth,' the national con
science reacted to the situation,
but how strange, we thought, that
that awakening had been so long
in Coming."
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