THE LATE HON. A. J. F. EGERTON, M.P.

Te Hon. Alfred John Francis Egerton was the second son of the second Earl of Ellesmere, and brother to the present Earl, his mother, the present Dowager Lady Ellesmere, being a daughter of the Earl of Cawdor, He was born in London on the 6th February, 1854, and died on the 29th September last. He represented the Eccles Division of Lancashire in Parliament from 1885, being elected in that year after an exciting contest with Mr. Vernon K. Armitage, the Liberal Candidate, 4,559 votes being recorded in his favour against 4,312 for his opponent. He again fought successfully for the seat at the General Election in 1886, when he polled 4,277 votes against 3,985, received by his opponent, who, on that occasion, was Mr. E. D. Gosling. The contest which ensued upon his lamented death was one of the most memorable in the history of modern political warfare, and its issue, both from a party and a personal point of view, assumed an importance Which has given a prominence to the Eccles Division of Lancashire which no previous event in its history has rivalled. Its immediate effect was the return of Mr H. J. Roby, an advocate of Home Rule and of a Miners' Eight Hours Bill; - its ultimate effect has yet to be disclosed by the progress of events.

The late Mr. Egerton was, therefore, a prominent figure in the life of the busy district which he represented in Parliament. The scion of a noble family, of whose wealth and munificence many monuments exist in the neighbourhood in the shape of the beautiful church at Worsley, and various schools, dispensaries and cottages for the use of the tenantry and the poor people on the estate, he maintained to the extent of his influence the honourable and worthy traditions of the family. There was also displayed in him an amiability of disposition and a frank and engaging manner, which gave him a charm in private life and won him many friends even among his political opponents. His death was due to that fell disease known as consumption, against which medical skill has hitherto been so strangely unable to cope. What in future may be the benefits in store for mankind through the wonderful scientific penetration and application of Dr. Koch, the great Berlin specialist, it is too soon as yet to predict. But there is ground for hope that ere long one of the great scourges of English life may be counteracted, in the same manner as smallpox has been checked by the discovery of Dr. Jenner, and as other diseases attendant upon animal life have been modified or prevented by the skill of M. Pasteur. Mr. Egerton was educated at Eton, and when eighteen years of age he joined the Grenadier Guards, serving seven years as lieutenant. After leaving the army he married, in 1881, Isabella Corisande Gertrude, daughter of the late Mr Hamilton Gorges, of Kelbrea, County Meath, Ireland. She survives him, but there are no children. He had been in failing health for the last two years, and with a view of restoring his constitution, visited New Zealand last winter, and he had not been long at the Antipodes before news reached his family that his health had greatly improved. He returned to England in the Spring and took up his residence at his mother's mansion, Burwood House, Cobham, Surrey. The supposed improvement in health, however, was not maintained, notwithstanding the most anxious solicitude and attention, and the end came quickly, plunging those acquainted with him into the deepest grief, which was accompanied by an exceedingly sympathetic manifestation throughout the district.

The fine, gentlemanly, upright character of the Egertons, in all the relations of life, public and private, were well exemplified in the late Member. Though so comparatively young a man, he displayed great aptitude in dealing with political subjects. Statesmen, it may well be said, are born, not made. For the sterling, undeviating principle which must underlie all true statesmanship, the Egerton family is distinguished both by nature and education. The young Member was one of its exponents; and of the same high qualities his uncle, the Hon. Algernon Egerton, who came forward at the urgent request of the Conservatives of the division to contest the vacant seat, gave remarkable examples, which spite of his non-success at the poll, has placed him if possible still higher than before in the estimation of supporters and non-supporters alike. This, however, is a chapter of the late election which belongs to political record, rather than to personal biography. The late Member did not by any means seek to enter Parliament simply as a member of the noble house to which he belonged-though it has been well remarked that the grand work which the Egerton family has done for Lancashire might fairly have entitled him to a seat on that account. At a meeting held in the division, the Chairman, in urging Mr. Egerton's claims, referred to his being a descendant of the Duke of Bridgewater, whose instrumentality in making the Bridgewater Canal had done so much for the commercial prosperity of Lancashire, and it was on that ground, and the fact that some 20,000 inhabitants of the county were dependent on the Egerton family, that he asked them to send their present candidate to represent them. Mr. Egerton, however, prefaced a pithy and cogent speech by declining to be nominated as a representative merely of his family, or of his ancestors, "but," he added, " I wish to represent the constituency itself. It was not for him to say what his ancestors had done. He hoped they had done their work properly, and he would, if elected, do his utmost to follow in their footsteps." Mr. Egerton was not a great orator, but even his opponents admit that the duty which he undertook he fulfilled with a consistency and ability which could only have been expected of a more robust and experienced man. The last occasion on which he addressed a public meeting in the division was at the open air fete of the Worsley Primrose League, on Saturday, July 7th, 1888.

The continuity of the representative connection of the Egerton family with the division has been temporarily broken by the result of the recent election. It has long been a recognised fact, however, that the urgency of political considerations often causes ruthless estrangements, and the Eccles Division furnishes another example.

We are indebted for a portrait of the deceased gentleman to the courtesy of Mr. Ambler, photographer, of Queen's Chambers, Market Street.