Royal Honors

P: Rosie Rosenberg is a John Smith sort of name. Last week the thousands of Rosie Rosenbergs had cause to rejoice. His Majesty George V, Defender of the Faith, King and Emperor, had just conferred the august title "Commander of the Civil Division Order of the British Empire" upon Miss Rose ("Rosie") Rosenberg.

U. S. Citizens remember how Rose Rosenberg landed in New York last fall amid salutes, sirens, cheers and a blizzard of ticker tape; how she went by special train to Washington and was received at the White House; how she moved in a triumphal pageant through Canada and finally sailed for home and England with James Ramsay MacDonald whose hard-slaving private secretary she is.

P: Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby is not a name like Rosie Rosenberg. His father was private secretary to the late great Victoria, Queen and Empress, who made "dear little Arthur" her pageboy. From knee breeches and gold lace Mr. Ponsonby grew up to be a Liberal politician, but his conscientious objection to the World War caused him to be ostracised by all his friends and he was forced into the Labor Party. Last week, as one of the staunchest intimates of the Prime Minister, Mr. Ponsonby, M. P., was created Baron.

In the U. S., Onetime Page Ponsonby is chiefly famed for his book Falsehood in Wartime (Dutton, $2), exposing Allied lies used to win the War. Its most devastating passage is a simple sequence of five newspaper clippings:

When the fall of Antwerp became known the church bells were rung.

Koelnische Zeitung (Cologne).

According to the Koelnische Zeitung, the clergy of Antwerp were compelled to ring the church bells when the fortress was taken. --Le Matin (Paris).

According to what Le Matin has heard from Cologne, the Belgian priests who refused to ring the church bells when Antwerp was taken have been driven away from their places.

--The Times (London).

According to what The Times has heard from Cologne "via Paris, the unfortunate Belgian priests who refused to ring the church bells when Antwerp was taken have been sentenced to hard labor.

--Corriere della Sera (Milan).

According to information to the Corriere della Sera from Cologne via London, it is confirmed that the barbaric conquerors of Antwerp punished the unfortunate Belgian priests for their heroic refusal to ring the church bells by hanging them as living clappers to the bells with their heads down. Le Matin (Paris).

P: Only one other Labor peer was created last week, Major Dudley Leigh Aman, by profession a wireless expert, who did yeoman service as a speaker during the last General election. With Baron Ponsonby and Baron Aman the number of Laborites in the House of Lords is now 14, as against approximately 500 Conservatives and 90 Liberals. It had been rumored that Scot MacDonald would "advise" (i.e. instruct) the King to create 100 Labor peers, but the public excitement sure to follow such a perfectly justifiable move was deemed not worth risking until Labor has an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons.

P: Additional peers created last week numbered four, all Barons, all elevated for non-political reasons. First is Oil Tycoon Sir Charles Wakefield, onetime Lord Mayor of London. He prefers to be known as the patriotic champion of British supremacy in speed, having backed Major Sir Henry Seagrave in the latter's successful attempt to set a land speed record (231.36 m. p. h.) at Daytona Beach, Fla. last year. He also backed the flight to Australia of Sir Alan Cobham, "Lindbergh of Britain."

Second of the non-political barons is Sir William Joseph Noble, chairman of the Cairn Line of S. S. Ltd., onetime president of the United Kingdom's Chamber of Shipping. Next is Air Marshal Sir Hugh Montague Trenchard, who retired last week as Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force and was succeeded by Air Marshal Sir John Maitland Salmond. Last of the new barons is Rt. Hon. Sir Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, alternate British Delegate to the League of Nations.

P: Four baronets and 26 knights were created, none of international note except perhaps Louis Bernard Baron, son of the late, rich U. S. tobaccoman who was dubbed a baronet. Baronetcy is an honorable but mongrel rank half way between knighthood and peerage which entitles its proud possessor to be called "Sir," and to add to the name the abbreviation "Bart." In ascending order ranks in the British peerage are: Baron, Bishop, Viscount, Earl, Marquess, Duke.

P: Miss Agnes Maude Royden, one of the first female preachers in England, who two years ago had her engagements to speak in Boston and Chicago cancelled because of rumors that she smoked openly and unashamed (TIME, Jan. 16, 1928), was created by His Majesty a Companion of Honor "for eminence in the religious life of the nation."

P: Sir Abe Bailey, potent South African diamond tycoon, is husband of Lady Bailey, greatest British aviatrix, who has personally guided a plane from England to the nether tip of South Africa and back (TIME, Jan. 28). At the age of 40 she became last week Dame Mary Bailey--a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a rank equivalent to knighthood.

P: Last and least on the Royal New Year Honors List were Midshipman Cobham and Able Seaman Niven who received the Medal of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire for bravery in connection with the explosion of a gun turret on the battleship Devonshire.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.