Volume I Part 4 (1/2)
From Hyderabad he was promoted in 1867 to the Governor-General's Council, but his health broke down under the sedentary life, and he retired and came home in 1869.
After some years of country life in Scotland, where he bought a small property, he settled near his brother in London, where he was a princ.i.p.al instrument in enabling Sir George Birdwood to establish the celebration of Primrose Day (for he also was ”one of Mr. Gladstone's converts”). Sir George Yule never sought 'London Society' or public employment, but in 1877 he was offered and refused the post of Financial Adviser to the Khedive under the Dual control. When his feelings were stirred he made useful contributions to the public press, which, after his escape from official trammels, were always signed. The very last of these (_St. James Gazette_, 24th February 1885) was a spirited protest against the snub administered by the late Lord Derby, as Secretary of State, to the Colonies, when they had generously offered a.s.sistance in the Soudan campaign. He lived a quiet, happy, and useful life in London, where he was the friend and unwearied helper of all who needed help. He found his chief interests in books and flowers, and in giving others pleasure. Of rare unselfishness and sweet nature, single in mind and motive, fearing G.o.d and knowing no other fear, he was regarded by a large number of people with admiring affection. He met his death by a fall on the frosty pavement at his door, in the very act of doing a kindness. An interesting sketch of Sir George Yule's Indian career, by one who knew him thoroughly, is to be found in Sir Edward Braddon's _Thirty Years of s.h.i.+kar_. An account of his share in the origin of Primrose Day appeared in the _St. James' Gazette_ during 1891.
[1] There is a vague tradition that these Yules descend from the same stock as the Scandinavian family of the same name, which gave Denmark several men of note, including the great naval hero Niels Juel. The portraits of these old Danes offer a certain resemblance of type to those of their Scots namesakes, and Henry Yule liked to play with the idea, much in the same way that he took humorous pleasure in his reputed descent from Michael Scott, the Wizard! (This tradition was more historical, however, and stood thus: Yule's great grandmother was a Scott of Ancrum, and the Scotts of Ancrum had established their descent from Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, reputed to be the Wizard.) Be their origin what it may, Yule's forefathers had been already settled on the Border hills for many generations, when in the time of James VI. they migrated to the lower lands of East Lothian, where in the following reign they held the old fortalice of Fentoun Tower of Nisbet of Dirleton. When Charles II. empowered his Lord Lyon to issue certificates of arms (in place of the Lyon records removed and lost at sea by the Cromwellian Government), these Yules were among those who took out confirmation of arms, and the original doc.u.ment is still in the possession of the head of the family.
Though Yules of sorts are still to be found in Scotland, the present writer is the only member of the Fentoun Tower family now left in the country, and of the few remaining out of it most are to be found in the Army List.
[2] The literary taste which marked William Yule probably came to him from his grandfather, the Rev. James Rose, Episcopal Minister of Udny, in Aberdeens.h.i.+re. James Rose, a non-jurant (i.e. one who refused to acknowledge allegiance to the Hanoverian King), was a man of devout, large, and tolerant mind, as shown by writings still extant. His father, John Rose, was the younger son of the 14th Hugh of Kilravock.
He married Margaret Udny of Udny, and was induced by her to sell his pleasant Ross-s.h.i.+re property and invest the proceeds in her own bleak Buchan. When George Yule (about 1759) brought home Elizabeth Rose as his wife, the popular feeling against the Episcopal Church was so strong and bitter in Lothian, that all the men of the family-- themselves Presbyterians--accompanied Mrs. Yule as a bodyguard on the occasion of her first attendance at the Episcopal place of wors.h.i.+p.
Years after, when dissensions had arisen in the Church of Scotland, Elizabeth Yule succoured and protected some of the dissident Presbyterian ministers from their persecutors.
[3] General Collinson in _Royal Engineers' Journal_ 1st Feb. 1890. The gifted author of this excellent sketch himself pa.s.sed away on 22nd April 1902.
[4] The grave thoughtful face of William Yule was conspicuous in the picture of a Durbar (by an Italian artist, but _not_ Zoffany), which long hung on the walls of the Nawab's palace at Lucknow. This picture disappeared during the Mutiny of 1857.
[5] Colonel Udny Yule, C.B. ”When he joined, his usual _nomen_ and _cognomen_ puzzled the staff-sergeant at Fort-William, and after much boggling on the cadet parade, the name was called out _Whirly Wheel_, which produced no reply, till some one at a venture shouted, 'sick in hospital.'” (_Athenaeum_, 24th Sept. 1881.) The s.h.i.+p which took Udny Yule to India was burnt at sea. After keeping himself afloat for several hours in the water, he was rescued by a pa.s.sing s.h.i.+p and taken back to the Mauritius, whence, having lost everything but his cadets.h.i.+p, he made a fresh start for India, where he and William for many years had a common purse. Colonel Udny Yule commanded a brigade at the Siege of Cornelis (1811), which gave us Java, and afterwards acted as Resident under Sir Stamford Raffles. Forty-five years after the retrocession of Java, Henry Yule found the memory of his uncle still cherished there.
[6] Article on the Oriental Section of the British Museum Library in _Athenaeum_, 24th Sept. 1881. Major Yule's Oriental Library was presented by his sons to the British Museum a few years after his death.
[7] It may be amusing to note that he was considered an almost dangerous person because he read the _Scotsman_ newspaper!
[8] _Athenaeum_, 24th Sept. 1881. A gold chain given by the last Dauphiness is in the writer's possession.
[9] Dr. John Yule (b. 176-d. 1827), a kindly old _savant_. He was one of the earliest corresponding members of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the author of some botanical tracts.
[10] According to Brunet, by Lucas Pennis after Antonio Tempesta.
[11] _Concerning some little-known Travellers in the East_. ASIATIC QUARTERLY, vol. v. (1888).
[12] William Yule died in 1839, and rests with his parents, brothers, and many others of his kindred, in the ruined chancel of the ancient Norman Church of St. Andrew, at Gulane, which had been granted to the Yule family as a place of burial by the Nisbets of Dirleton, in remembrance of the old kindly feeling subsisting for generations between them and their tacksmen in Fentoun Tower. Though few know its history, a fragrant memorial of this wise and kindly scholar is still conspicuous in Edinburgh. The magnificent wall-flower that has, for seventy summers, been a glory of the Castle rock, was originally all sown by the patient hand of Major Yule, the self-sowing of each subsequent year, of course, increasing the extent of bloom. Lest the extraordinarily severe spring of 1895 should have killed off much of the old stock, another (but much more limited) sowing on the northern face of the rock was in that year made by his grand-daughter, the present writer, with the sanction and active personal help of the lamented General (then Colonel) Andrew Wauchope of Niddrie Marischal.
In Scotland, where the memory of this n.o.ble soldier is so greatly revered, some may like to know this little fact. May the wall-flower of the Castle rock long flourish a fragrant memorial of two faithful soldiers and true-hearted Scots.
[13] Obituary notice of Yule, by Gen. R. Maclagan, R.E. _Proceedings, R.
G. S._ 1890.
[14] This was the famous ”Grey Dinner,” of which The Shepherd made grim fun in the _Noctes_.
[15] Probably the specimen from South America, of which an account was published in 1833.
[16] Rawnsley, _Memoir of Harvey Goodwin, Bishop of Carlisle_.
[17] Biog. Sketch of Yule, by C. Trotter, _Proceedings, R.S.E._ vol. xvii.
[18] Biog. Sketch of Yule, by C. Trotter, _Proceedings, R.S.E._ vol. xvii.
[19] After leaving the army, Yule always used this sword when wearing uniform.
[20] The Engineer cadets remained at Addis...o...b.. a term (= 6 months) longer than the Artillery cadets, and as the latter were ordinarily gazetted full lieutenants six months after pa.s.sing out, unfair seniority was obviated by the Engineers receiving the same rank on pa.s.sing out of Addis...o...b...
[21] Yule, in _Memoir of General Becher_.