Welsh Journals

April 4, 1906. BYE-GONES. 219 REPLIES. BATTLE AT LITTLE WENLOCK (March 14, 1906).—Some of the weapons found at Willow Moor passed into the possession of the Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, who published an illustrated account of them in his Salopia Antiqua, 1841 (page 92). R.E.D. A SHROPSHIRE [AND CARDIGANSHIRE] SUPERSTITION (March 7, 1906).—"W.—M." says that in Shropshire to place a boot on the table is a sign of an approaching quarrel in the house. May I add that I have taken particular notice that the same superstition prevails in Cardiganshire in connection with bellows ? In the central part of the county, especially in the parish of Llanddewi Brefi, most people dread placing the bellows on the table, and whenever it is pla'ced there by accident, someone is sure to make the remark that some quarrel or ill-luck is soon to follow. By inquiry, I find that the superstition is prevalent also in the parish where I am staying at present, that is, Llanilar, six miles from Aberystwyth. Jonathan Cekedig Davies. CURRENT NOTES. Judge Gwilym Williams died on Sunday at his residence, Miskin Manor, near Cardiff, at the age of 67. Judge Williams was one of the most representative Welshmen of the day, and was the first County Court judge appointed with a knowledge of Welsh. The son of the Welsh bard Alaw Goch, he began life as a mining engineer and afterwards studied law. He was called to the Bar in 1863, became sti¬ pendiary magistrate for Pontypridd and Rhon- dda in 1872, County Court Judge of Mid-Wales in 1884, and County Court Judge of Glamor¬ ganshire a year later. The Judge was a keen Welsh Nationalist, a Liberal and Nonconform¬ ist, and all through life a strong supporter of the Eisteddfod. <(Eh£ Hate §>%t C §. §oame, itorxmet We regret to announce the death of Sir Charles Buckworth-Herne-Soame, Baronet, which took place at his residence at Dawley on Sunday. Sir Charles had been in failing health for some time, but his death came rather unexpectedly. Up to the last it was thought that an improvement was taking place, but he probably caught a chill, which brought on a relapse. Sir Charles was the eldest son of Mr. Charles Soame, third son of Sir Buckworth Herne- Soame, sixth baronet, by Hannah, daughter of Mr. Richard Procter of Hay. He was born on May 29th, 1830, and married on March 29th, 1855, his cousin Mary, daughter of Mr. Richard Fellows Procter, of Ironbridge. Sir John Buckworth of Sheen, who was created a baro¬ net in 1697, was sheriff of London in 1704. The fifth baronet assumed the additional sur* name of Berne on his marriage with Anne, daughter of Paston Heme of Haviland, Nor¬ folk ; and the sixth assumed the final surname of Soame in 1806. Sir C. B. Soame was edu¬ cated at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and had been in practice at Dawley for nearly half a century. He was a great reader, and was largely instrumental in starting the Dawley Literary Institute. In politics he was a staunch Liberal and Free Trader, and at the last elec¬ tion he was one of the nominators of Mr. C. S. Henry, the successful Liberal candidate for the Wellington Division. He took a keen in¬ terest in local affairs, and was a member of the first School Board at Dawley. He was a justice of the peace for Shropshire, and a member of the Salop County Council for some years. As a Churchman, he took a great in¬ terest in all Church matters, and was a regular attendant at Dawley parish church. Sir Charles leaves a son, Mr. Charles Soame, solicitor, of Dawley, who succeeds to the baron¬ etcy, and also two daughters—Mrs. Snape, wife of the Rev. R. Snape, Vicar of St. Bees, Cumberland, and Mrs. Harrison, wife of Mr. E. Daw Harrison, of Stone. APRIL 4, 19G6. NOTES. ROBERT, LORD CLIVE (Sept. 13, 1905.)— A series of articles by Sidney Low, entitled "A Vision of India," and now being published in the Standard, includes an account of Madras, from which the following extract may be worthy of a place in Bye-Gokes :— D.S. A3 you drive along the Marina, and watch the famous catamarans—the boats whose name you have known, and whose picture you have seen, all your life—skimming their way across the breaking waves, you wonder anew at the vigour and the genius which turned this strand into the seat of an Empire. And you look again at the mounds of Fort St. George, and also you marvel why Madras thinks so little of her one immortal name. In common with the rest of India she seems to have forgotten Robert Clive. She has a statue of Neill, the man of Cawnpore and Lucknow, one of the gallant soldiers of the Mutiny. But of a far greater than Neill and the other mutiny heroes she has, I think, no memorial at all. I am not sure that there is a single monument to Clive in the whole of India. We have yet to do justice to the man to whom, more than any other human being, we owe our Empire of the East. A SHAM SIR JOHN PRYCE AT NEW¬ TOWN.—I find the following in Cheshire Notes and Queries (No. 2, Vol. 7), in an account of Bridget Bostock, whose aid the well-known Sir John Pryce of Newtown solicited after the death of one of his wives, in the hope of restoring her