AN INTERESTING PERSONALITY.
The death of the late Mr Jean Aristide Dallas, which we have already recorded, as having occurred on the 17th inst., deserves more than a passing notice, since it removed from our midst a man of great personality and mental vigour, whose life story, if written in full, would furnish most interesting reading. Born at Bordeaux, France, in 1827, he was a descendant of the noble and romantic de Bragelonnes, a name immortalised by Dumas in the “Comte de Bragelonne,” a book of remarkable interest. He was a man of handsome and distinguished appearance. He received a liberal education in Paris, and was a classical scholar of rare attainments. As he was the possessor of a very retentive memory, his conversation was an education to the listener whom he admitted to his confidence. His command of language was extensive, and he drew upon his store of learning in a manner which fascinated his audience. On attaining his majority he inherited considerable possessions, which he was unfortunate enough to lose through mistaken speculations. Like many others of his countrymen, he decided to try his fortune in England, and resided there for some time. He was then attracted by, and sailed for, Australia, and tried his luck on the gold fields in the fifties, where his adventures were many and exciting. Tiring of the rough life of the diggings, he settled in Melbourne, where he taught French under Dr Bromby at the Church of England Grammar School, and also at the Kew High School, as well as privately. Among his pupils were many whose names are well known in Australia at the present day, and his accounts of their boyish escapades would no doubt have been highly relished by the principals could they have heard them. One of the boys who impressed him even at that time by his smartness was the Right Hon. Mr Deakin. Being once more seized by the wander fever he applied for, and was appointed to, the positions respectively of French master at the Otago Boys’ and Girls’ High School, and lecturer in French at Otago University. The former position he held from 1879 to 1884, and the latter from 1879 to 1901. Since the last-mentioned year he lived in retirement. His sister was married to the tenth Earl of Lindsay of the Byres, one of the most ancient of the Scottish nobility and the first of the Greater Barons and Lords of Parliament, showing a pedigree which dates from 1464, when Sir John Lindsay was Lord Lindsay of the Byres. It was the tenth Earl of Lindsay's father who was known as the Hero of Persia, a title that was bestowed upon him by reason of a stirring incident during the occurrence of hostilities between Russia and Persia. Upon one occasion, upon the Russians surprising the Persians’ camp during the absence (on a sporting excursion!) of their artillery horses, he descried his six brass guns ranged in front of the enemy's lines, whereupon he instantly harnessed his horses, and, galloping across the intervening plain through the hostile advanced posts, he cut down the guard, and brought off the guns in the face of the whole Russian army. The death, therefore, of Mr Dallas, far from his native land, was that of a man closely connected by birth and marriage with some of the ancient families of the Old World. He was twice married, and is survived by three daughters by the first marriage. The eldest daughter is married to Mr Henry Kelsall, son of Lady Eliott, of Maxpoffle, Roxburghshire, Scotland; the second to Mr Charles J. Ross, of Oaken Hott, Oxfordshire, England; and the third to Mr Robert Marten, of this city. The second wife of Mr Dallas, who also survives him, is a well-known resident of Dunedin. -Otago Witness, 29/4/1914.
No comments:
Post a Comment