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- of St Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbright
Among the obituary notices in " The Times" (London) of. March 1st is one concerning the death of Capt. John Hope, R.N., of St. Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbright. Capt. Hope was the eldest son of the late Hon. Charles and Lady Hope, of Government House, Castletown, and he spent his boyhood in the Isle of Man. So attached was he to the Island that he sent his only son, Charles Dunbar Hope (now a captain in the Royal Artillery), to King William's College for his education. During his stay at the College, Capt. C. B. Hope was a boarder in the late Mr H. S. Christopher's house. The late Capt. John Hope, after passing through the Britannia, served on H.M.S. Euryars with H.R.H.. the late Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria. Service on the China station caused his health to break down, and he retired early from the service, succeeding his mother in the large properties which she inherited from her brother, the Earl of Selkirk. The late Capt. Hope leaves one married and one unmarried daughter, and one son. The son, Capt. Charles D. Hope, served with distinction during the South African war, but retired upon marriage. Immediately the war now in progress broke out he rejoined the army, and is at present engaged in transport duty France. He also has one son. Many of the old inhabitants of Castletown district will doubtless recollect Lady Isabella Hope and her family with with affection. Lady Isabella's father, the Earl of Selkirk. founded the Red River Settlement in Canada, and spent vast sums of money upon it. At his death his widow, Lady Selkirk, returned from Canada to St. Mary's Isle, where she lives most quietly while her son, the last Earl of Selkirk, was being educated at Eton. The notorious Scottish-American privateersman, Paul Jones, landed in St. Mary's Isle and attempted to kidnap the infant Earl of Selkirk of his day, but failed, and only succeeded in carrying off the silver then on the breakfast table. Fears afterwards this stolen silver was discovered in the place where it had been hidden. It was intact in the sack in which Paul and his men had placed it for purposes of transport, and the tea leaves were still in the teapot. The whole of the Hope family have the deserved reputation of possessing stern sense of duty. and they are also noted for modesty, never making any display of their many good deeds.
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