crushed the “Banyailand trek” across the Limpopo (1890–91). Loch, however, with the approval of the imperial government, concluded in July–August 1890 a convention with President Kruger respecting Swaziland, by which, while the Boers withdrew all claims to territory north of the Transvaal, they were granted an outlet to the sea at Kosi Bay on condition that the republic entered the South African Customs Union. This convention was concluded after negotiations conducted with President Kruger by J. H. Hofmeyr on behalf of the high commissioner, and was made at a time when the British and Bond parties in Cape Colony were working in harmony. The Transvaal did not, however, fulfil the necessary condition, and in view of the increasingly hostile attitude of the Pretoria administration to Great Britain Loch became a strong advocate of the annexation by Britain of the territory east of Swaziland, through which the Boer railway to the sea would have passed. He at length induced the British government to adopt his view and on the 15th of March 1895 it was announced that these territories (Amatongaland, &c.), would be annexed by Britain, an announcement received by Mr Kruger “with the greatest astonishment and regret.” Meantime Loch had been forced to intervene in another matter. When the commandeering difficulty of 1894 had roused the Uitlanders in the Transvaal to a dangerous pitch of excitement, he travelled to Pretoria to use his personal influence with President Kruger, and obtained the withdrawal of the obnoxious commandeering regulations. In the following year he entered a strong protest against the new Transvaal franchise law. Meanwhile, however, the general situation in South Africa was assuming year by year a more threatening aspect. Cecil Rhodes, then prime minister of Cape Colony, was strongly in favour of a more energetic policy than was supported by the Imperial government, and at the end of March 1895 the high commissioner, finding himself, it is believed, out of touch with his ministers, returned home a few months before the expiry of his term of office. In the same year he was raised to the peerage. When the Anglo-Boer war broke out in 1899 Loch took a leading part in raising and equipping a body of mounted men, named after him “Loch’s Horse.” He died in London on the 20th of June 1900, and was succeeded as 2nd baron by his son Edward (b. 1873).
LOCHABER, a district of southern Inverness-shire, Scotland,
bounded W. by Loch Linnhe, the river and loch Lochy, N. by
the Corryarrick range and adjoining hills, N.E. and E. by the
district of Badenoch, S.E. by the district of Rannoch and S. by
the river and loch Leven. It measures 32 m. from N.E. to S.W.
and 25 m. from E. to W., and is remarkable for wild and romantic
scenery, Ben Nevis being the chief mountain. The district has
given its name to a celebrated type of axe, consisting of a long
shaft with a blade like a scythe and a large hook behind it, which,
according to Sir Walter Scott, was introduced into the Highlands
and Ireland from Scandinavia. It was the weapon of the old City
Guard of Edinburgh. The pathetic song of “Lochaber no more”
was written by Allan Ramsay.
LOCHES, a town in France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Indre-et-Loire, 29 m. S.E. of Tours by rail,
on the left bank of the Indre. Pop. (1906) 3751. The town, one
of the most picturesque in central France, lies at the foot of the
rocky eminence on which stands the castle of the Anjou family,
surrounded by an outer wall 114 m. in circumference, and consisting
of the old collegiate church of St Ours, the royal lodge
and the donjon. The church of St Ours dates from the 10th to
the 12th centuries; among its distinguishing features are the
huge stone pyramids surmounting the nave and the beautiful
carving of the west door. The royal lodge, built by Charles VII.
and used as the subprefecture, contains the tomb of Agnes Sorel
and the oratory of Anne of Brittany. The donjon includes,
besides the ruined keep (12th century), the Martelet, celebrated
as the prison of Lodovico Sforza, duke of Milan, who died there
in 1508, and the Tour Ronde, built by Louis XI. and containing
the famous iron cages in which state prisoners, including—according
to a story now discredited—their inventor Cardinal
Balue, were confined. Loches has an hôtel-de-ville and several
houses of the Renaissance period. It has a tribunal of first
instance, a communal college and a training college. Liqueur-distilling
and tanning are carried on together with trade in farm-produce,
wine, wood and live-stock.
On the right bank of the Loire, opposite the town and practically its suburb, is the village of Beaulieu-lès-Loches, once the seat of a barony. Besides the parish church of St Laurent, a beautiful specimen of 12th-century architecture, it contains the remains of the great abbey church of the Holy Sepulchre founded in the 11th century by Fulk Nerra, count of Anjou, who is buried in the chancel. This chancel, which with one of the older transepts now constitutes the church, dates from the 15th century. The Romanesque nave is in ruins, but of the two towers one survives intact; it is square, crowned with an octagonal steeple of stone, and is one of the finest extant monuments of Romanesque architecture.
Loches (the Roman Leucae) grew up round a monastery founded about 500 by St Ours and belonged to the counts of Anjou from 886 till 1205. In the latter year it was seized from King John of England by Philip Augustus, and from the middle of the 13th century till after the time of Charles IX. the castle was a residence of the kings of France.
LOCHGELLY, a police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, 712 m.
N.E. of Dunfermline by the North British railway. Pop. (1901)
5472. The town is modern and owes its prosperity to the iron-works
and collieries in its immediate vicinity. Loch Gelly, from
which the town takes its name, situated 12 m. S.E., measures 12 m.
in length by 34 m. in breadth, contains some trout and pike, and
has on its west banks Lochgelly House, a seat of the earl of Minto.
The Romans are said to have had a station at Loch Ore in the
parish of Ballingry, 214 m. N. by W., which was drained about
the end of the 18th century and then cultivated. To the N.E.
rises the hill of Benarty (1131 ft.). Hallyards, about 2 m.
S.E. of Lochgelly, is a ruined house that once belonged to Sir
William Kirkaldy of Grange, who held Edinburgh Castle for
Queen Mary. Here James V. was received after his defeat at
Solway Moss in 1542, and here a few Jacobites used to meet
in 1715.
LOCHGILPHEAD, a municipal and police burgh of Argyllshire,
Scotland, at the head of Loch Gilp, a small arm on the
western side of Loch Fyne. Pop. (1901) 1313. The herring-fishery
is the chief industry, but there is some weaving of woollens
and, in summer, a considerable influx of visitors. Ardrishaig
(pop. 1285), a seaport on the west of the mouth of Loch Gilp, is
the east terminus of the Crinan Canal. It is the place of transhipment
from the large Glasgow passenger steamers to the small
craft built for the navigation of the canal. It is an important
harbour in connexion with the Loch Fyne herring-fishery, and
there is also a distillery. During the summer there is a coach
service to Ford at the lower end of Loch Awe.
LOCHMABEN, a royal and police burgh of Dumfriesshire,
Scotland, 8 m. N.E. of Dumfries, with a station on the Caledonian
railway company’s branch from Dumfries to Locherbie. Pop.
(1901) 1328. It is delightfully situated, there being eight lakes
in the immediate neighbourhood, while the river Annan, and the
Waters of Ae, Kinnel and Dryfe are in the vicinity. The town
hall is a handsome edifice with clock tower. At the south end of
Castle Loch, the chief lake, stand the ruins, a mere shell, of
Lochmaben Castle, dating from the 13th century, where local
tradition declares that Robert Bruce was born—an honour which
is also claimed, however, for Turnberry Castle on the coast of
Ayrshire. In the parish church is a bell said to have been presented
to King Robert by the pope after reconciliation with him.
A statue of the king stands in front of the town hall. Whether
it were his birthplace or not, the associations of Bruce with
Lochmaben were intimate. He exempted his followers in the
district from feudal service and their descendants—the “kindly
tenants of Lochmaben”—were confirmed in their tenure by the
court of session in 1824. The Castle Loch is the only fresh water
in Scotland, and possibly in the British Isles, where the vendace
(coregonus vandesius) occurs. This fish, which is believed to be
growing scarcer, is alleged on doubtful authority to have been
