THE LATE LORD LYELL [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The death of Lord Lyell may be to some of your readers a reminder of his life rather than a shock, for he had very completely retired from the public eye. Yet even those will grieve when they recall his past activities in public and his shy _ kindnesses in private. As the grandson of Leonard Horner and nephew of Sir Charles Lyell it was only natural to find him a scholarly and intellectual man, and that geology was his favourite subject. When he succeeded to the Forfarshire property he had to give up science except as a hobby and devoted himself to the improvement of the estate in many directions, agriculture, forestry in particular, and even sport ; and, ably helped by Lady Lyell, he rebuilt Kinnordy. Though it may have been against the grain, public spirit and strong Liberal principles induced him to enter Parliament as a supporter of Mr. Gladstone, and he sat for Orkney and Shetland for fifteen years. Much of his happiness in those days must have lain in the thought of what he would hand on to his only son, Charles Lyell. He, in 1914, was married, was Member for an Edinburgh Constituency and chosen by Sir Edward Grey as Parliamentary Private Secretary. Everything promised a happy and distinguished career, but in France he was badly burnt and nearly killed in an explosion. He seemed to recover enough to serve again and went to Washington as Assistant Military Attache, and there he died. Lord Lyell also lost a daughter in Canada. These sorrows and disappointments came upon him with old age and he became more of a recluse. Lately illness attacked him and he suffered the amputation of a foot, the beginning of the end. He had succeeded, not without struggling, in living a life that was Of value to his
country and his generation.—I am, Sir, de., C.
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