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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. in. MAY 27, 1911.

EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CHAPLAINS. I shall be greatly obliged if any of your readers can give me information about the following chaplains on the Madras Estab- lishment:

1. James Traill, appointed 1815, resigned 1822.

2. Joseph Wright, appointed 1821, retired 1837.

3. William Chester, appointed 1833, died in India 1836.

Traill was not a graduate; but as he was one of Simeon' s nominees, he must have been (I think) a Cambridge man. There were two Joseph Wrights in 1821 who were graduates and clergymen. I wish to know which of them was the Madras chaplain. One graduated from Emmanuel, and the other from St. John's, Cambridge. Chester was not (I think) a graduate.

Perhaps some of your leaders may be able to put me in communication with living members of these families.

Please reply direct.

(Rev.) FRANK PENNY.

3, Park Hill, Baling, W.

JUNTOS AND THE HORSEWHIPPING

OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD.

(11 S. iii. 227, 292, 375.)

MR. P. H. WILLIAMS throws some new light on this curious tradition concerning my great-great-grandfather. He says that the Duke " went to Lichfield Races when his son was lying dead in his house." He further says that the Duchess of Bedford left a quantity of silver to the man who had horse- whipped her husband, " in recognition of his conduct." Both these statements invite examination.

I. The Duke's son Lord Tavistock died on Sunday, 22 March, 1767, having fractured his skull by a fall from his horse on the 9th of the same montn. He died at his own house Houghton House, near Ampthill. At the time of Lord Tavistock's death the Duke was ill in bed at Bedford House, Bloomsbury. I take these facts from original correspondence of the date, which lies before me as I write. One natu- rally inquires whether there were races at Lichfield in the week beginning 22 March, 1767 ; and, if there were, whether it is pro- bable that the Duke got up from his sick- bed in London, and journeyed down into

Staffordshire to attend them while his son was lying dead. From the 9th of March, when the fatal accident occurred, there is a blank in the Duke's journal till the 10th of April. He may, indeed, have been horse- racing during the interval ; but is it likely ?

2. Gertrude, Duchess of Bedford, widow of the Duke whose doings \ve are investigat- ing, died 1 July, 1794. No doubt her will could easily be traced. It would be inter- esting to know whether the plate left to the horsewhipper, and the reason for leaving it, are mentioned. The Duchess- was a proud, imperious woman and a political intriguer : but I know no reason to suppose that she would have been gratified by the horse- whipping of her husband.

GEORGE W. E. RUSSELL.

MR. PRYCE HOMFRAY WILLIAMS' s version of the circumstances which brought about the assault committed on John, 4th Duke of Bedford, at Lichfield Races, lacks any authority except " family tradition," a treacherous guide in nine cases out of ten, as readers of ' N. & Q.' need not be reminded. MR. WILLIAMS will find few likely to be " convinced " by his story, for whilst this attack on, the Duke took place in 1748, the offenders being convicted at Stafford Assizes in August that year (as MR. BLEACK- LEY pointed out, ante, p. 292), it was not till nineteen years later that Francis, Marquis of Tavistock, perished in con- sequence of a fall while out hunting. The Duke's grief at his son's death " was for a time so violent that his life was believed to be in danger" ('D.N.B.,' vol. xlix. p. 450), and Horace Walpole's published correspond- ence attests the same fact.

In these circumstances, and until MR. WILLIAMS can produce more trustworthy authority than his " family traditions," his further allegation that Duchess Gertrude bequeathed a quantity of plate to her husband's assailant can hardly be con- sidered credible.

Gertrude, Duchess of Bedford, died 1 July, 1794 (' D.N.B.'). I have a catalogue of jewels, late her property, sold at Christie's after her decease, and some of her plate may possibly have *been sold also. H.

HISTORIC FIRES IN ANCIENT ROME (US. iii. 209). Prof. Hiilsen's date of 283 A.D. is most assuredly not due to any confusion with the fire of 238, described by Herodian and the ' Histpria Augusta.' The evidence for the later disaster is partly documentary,