The funeral of the 14th Lord Petre 1908

The reason for including some of the Petres is partly they are a great story, and also that at George Lynch, and Carmela Lescher’s wedding the present from “the Hon. Mrs. Petre” was “a writing case” . She can only be Julia, who becomes the 15th Lady Petre in June 1908, and the Dowager Lady Petre five months later.

chapel ThorndonParkThe funeral of Lord Petre took place at Thorndon Hall, Brentford, on Monday morning. A Requiem Mass was celebrated in presence of the Archbishop of Westminster, and the music was rendered by fourteen members of Westminster Cathedral Choir, under the conductorship of Mr. R. R. Terry. The following music was sung :—In the chapel : “Dies irae,” Anerio ; “De Profundis,” Tollemache ; ” Ne irascaris,” .Farrant; ” Libera me,” Casciolini ; “In Paradisum,” Gregorian ; and during the procession : ” Miserere,” Viadana ; ” Benedictus,” Terry. The priests taking part in the service were Father Norris, Father Musgrave, Father Grant and Father Shepherd. After the Requiem the body was laid to rest in the private cemetery in the grounds. A large number of people attended and all the chief county families were represented. Among the mourners were the Hon. Philip Petre (who succeeds to the title), and the Hon. Mrs. Petre, Mr. Lionel Petre, and Miss Petre, the Hon. Albert and Mrs. Petre, the Earl of Granard, Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. Bretherton, Count and Countess Blucher, Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Petre, Mr. Lawrence Petre, Miss Agnes Petre, Mrs. Chadwick, Lord Clifford, Lord Mowbray and Stourton, Mr. F. L. Petre, Mr. 0. T. Petre, Mr. B. Petre, Mr. Lydden Clark, Mrs. de Windt, Lord Howard, Sir Henry Bedingfeld, ord Howard, and Mr. R. Bedingfeld. R.I.P.

The above text was found on p.15, 27th June 1908 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

George Lynch 1862 -1929

George-Lynch
George Lynch

George Lynch married Carmela Lescher in October 1902. This was a nicely complicated family wedding. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Harwood Lescher, the bride’s parents are both O’Bryen cousins. Mrs. Frank Harwood Lescher (nee Mary O’Connor Graham Grehan), is Celia O’Bryen’s niece. She is the eldest daughter of Patrick Grehan III, Celia’s brother. Frank Harwood Lescher is the son of Joseph Sidney Lescher, whose sister Harriet Lescher is the second wife of Patrick Grehan Junior, so he is Celia O’Bryen’s step-mother’s nephew.

So the O’Bryen boys are all first cousins of the bride’s mother, and first cousins once removed of the bride’s father. This makes [Thomas] Edward, Frank [Graham], [Mary] Carmela [Anne], and [Mercedes] Adela Lescher all second cousins. 

I’ve been slowly tracking down who’s who at the wedding, and will be posting that soon, but if you want to read the un-annotated write-up of it it’s here.

Back to George, this is his entry from the Catholic Who’s Who, 1908

Lynch, George — born in Cork 1868; educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston; explorer in the Pacific Islands and Western Australia; correspondent for The Daily Chronicle in the Spanish American War, and during the Boer War for Collier’s Weekly, and other papers; his daring effort to leave Ladysmith during the investment involved his capture and imprisonment in Pretoria. He has since been with the International Forces to Pekin, followed the Russo-Japanese War, and been several times round the world. Mr Lynch married (1902) Carmela, daughter of Frank Harwood Lescher, and is the author of The Bare Truth about War — The Impressions of a War Correspondent — The War of the Civilizations and other books.

OBITUARY: MR. GEORGE LYNCH, 1929.

George Lynch demonstrating his patented gloves for handling barbed wire in August 1916

We regret to state that Mr. George Lynch, F.R.G.S., the explorer and war correspondent whose inventive genius was so useful during the Great War in the work of overcoming barbed-wire entanglements, died at his residence in West London on December 29, aged sixty. Mr. Lynch was a Cork man. After early education at St. Vincent’s College, Castleknock, he came to England and entered the Oratory School. A traveller at heart, he found an opportunity, as a young man, to explore ‘extensively the Pacific Islands and Western Australia. After the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he became correspondent, for those operations, to the Daily Chronicle; and during the Boer War he acted in a similar capacity for the Illustrated London News and for Collier’s Weekly. A daring attempt to get out of Ladysmith at the time of the famous siege led to his being captured and imprisoned by the enemy. Since that time Mr. Lynch had been with the International Forces to Pekin, had followed the Russo-Japanese War, and was with the Belgian Army in the Great War; it was in this last campaign that he invented the S.O.S. (” Save Our Skin “) gloves and other appliances for dealing with barbed wire. In his time he represented many important papers, and he had been six times round the world.

Among Mr. Lynch’s published work, apart from his many letters from seats of war, were several volumes based on his experiences : The Impressions of a War Correspondent; The Bare Truth about War; The War of the Civilizations; Realities; The Path of Empire, Old and New Japan.

The funeral took place on Wednesday last, after a requiem at St. Mary’s, Bayswater.—R.I.P.

The  text immediately above was found on p.21, 5th January 1929 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher” The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

Lescher – Wilson 1887

This is a rather modest wedding in comparison with some of the grand society weddings a decade later. It’s probably projecting far to much on it being an accountant choosing value for money….. The age difference seems to be about right for the times. He’s thirty eight, and she’s twenty eight, and rather sadly it’s a fairly short marriage because Herman dies of flu, ten years later in March 1897.

 

interior brompton oratory
Interior, Brompton Oratory

MR. HERMAN LESCHER was married on Saturday last at the Church of the Oratory to Miss MARY AGNES WILSON. The wedding was of a very quiet character, the party consisting only of the immediate relatives of the bride and bridegroom. The marriage service was performed by the Rev. Father Crook, of St. Mary’s Chelsea, assisted by Father Gordon, of the Oratory, and the Rev. Wilfrid Lescher, O.P. The bride was attended by her niece, Miss Madeleine Wheeler, and Miss Carmela Lescher, niece of the bridegroom, as her bridesmaids. Brompton_Oratory-2Father Gordon preached a short and touching exhortation to the newly married couple at the conclusion of the ceremony, and after breakfast at the house of Mrs. Robert Wilson,

Mr. and Mrs. Herman Lescher left town for Clifton, en route for North Devon.

The above text was found on p.25, 6th August 1887 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher” The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .