Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/160

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SIR JOHN HENNIKER HEATON

the marriage, Sermonda Burrell had two grandfathers living, the fourth Lord Gwydyr, who reached the age of 99, and Sir John Banks, the Queen's Physician in Ireland, who lived to be 98. Lord Gwydyr was born in 1810, and was present at the Coronation of George IV, when he saw the Hereditary Champion of England ride into Westminster Hall in armour and throw down his glove—this was the last time it was done. He was also present at the Coronation of William IV and Victoria, and was for thirty years Secretary to his uncle, Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, the Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain, and lived with him in the House of Lords. Although not present at the Coronation of Edward VII, Lord Gwydyr received a telegram of 100 words, answer prepaid, to know what was done in the robing-room at the last state opening of Parliament by Queen Victoria.

H. H.'s second son, Reginald, Commander R.N. married Mary, daughter of the late Colonel Houstoun of Clerkington. Herbert, Assistant Colonial Secretary of Mauritus, married Phoebe, daughter of the late Lindsay Talbot-Crosbie of Ardfert Abbey, Co. Kerry. Arthur, Lt.-Commander R.N., married Vera, daughter of the late Hamilton Atherley. His elder daughter, Elizabeth Ann, married Algernon Paget, son of Berkeley Paget; and his younger daughter, Rose, married Major Adrian Porter, King's Messenger, son of Colonel Morton Porter.

Occasionally, on Sunday evenings a family party would gather in the library, and H. H., while energetically striving to keep pace with his ever-growing correspondence, would keep his sons and daughters amused with extracts from the various letters he kept pulling out of his pockets. Sometimes an important