While “lord” has retained its original application as a title of nobility or rank without extension, an example which has been followed in Spanish usage by “don,” “lady” has been extended in meaning to be the feminine correlative of “gentleman” throughout its sense developments, and in this is paralleled by Dame in German, madame in French, donna in Spanish, &c. It is the general word for any woman of a certain social position (see Gentleman).
LADYBANK, a police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, 512 m.
S.W. of Cupar by the North British railway, 12 m. from the left
bank of the Eden. Pop. (1901) 1340. Besides having a station
on the main line to Dundee, it is also connected with Perth and
Kinross and is a railway junction of some importance and
possesses a locomotive depot. It is an industrial centre, linen
weaving, coal mining and malting being the principal industries.
Kettle, a village 1 m. S., has prehistoric barrows and a fort.
At Collessie, 212 m. N. by W., a standing stone, a mound and
traces of ancient camps exist, while urns and coins have been
found. Between the parishes of Collessie and Monimail the
boundary line takes the form of a crescent known as the Bow
of Fife. Monimail contains the Mount, the residence of Sir
David Lindsay the poet (1490–1555). Its lofty site is now
marked by a clump of trees. Here, too, is the Doric pillar,
100 ft. high, raised to the memory of John Hope, 4th earl of
Hopetoun. Melville House, the seat of the earls of Leven, lies
amidst beautiful woods.
LADYBRAND, a town of the Orange Free State, 80 m. E. of
Bloemfontein by rail. Another railway connects it with Natal
via Harrismith. Pop. (1904) 3862, of whom 2334 were whites.
The town is pleasantly situated at the foot of a flat-topped hill
(the Platberg), about 4 m. W. of the Caledon river, which
separates the province from Basutoland. Ladybrand is the
centre of a rich arable district, has a large wheat market and is
also a health resort, the climate, owing to the proximity of the
Maluti Mountains, being bracing even during the summer
months (November–March). Coal and petroleum are found in
the neighbourhood. It is named after the wife of Sir. J. H. Brand,
president of the Orange Free State.
LADY-CHAPEL, the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin
and attached to churches of large size. Generally the chapel was
built eastward of the high altar and formed a projection from the
main building, as in Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Wells, St
Albans, Chichester, Peterborough and Norwich cathedrals,—in
the two latter cases now destroyed. The earliest Lady-chapel
built was that in the Saxon cathedral of Canterbury; this was
transfered in the rebuilding by Archbishop Lanfranc to the
west end of the nave, and again shifted in 1450 to the chapel on
the east side of the north transept. The Lady-chapel at Ely
cathedral is a distinct building attached to the north transept;
at Rochester the Lady-chapel is west of the south transept.
Probably the largest Lady-chapel was that built by Henry III.
in 1220 at Westminster Abbey, which was 30 ft. wide, much in
excess of any foreign example, and extended to the end of the
site now occupied by Henry VII.’s chapel. Among other
notable English examples of Lady-chapels are those at Ottery-St-Mary,
Thetford, Bury St Edmund’s, Wimborne, Christchurch,
Hampshire; in Compton Church, Surrey, and Compton
Martin, Somersetshire, and Darenth, Kent, it was built over the
chancel. At Croyland Abbey there were two Lady-chapels.
Lady-chapels exist in most of the French cathedrals and churches,
where they form part of the chevet; in Belgium they were not
introduced before the 14th century; in some cases they are
of the same size as the other chapels of the chevet, but in others,
probably rebuilt at a later period, they became much more
important features, and in Italy and Spain during the Renaissance
period constitute some of its best examples.
LADY DAY, originally the name for all the days in the church
calendar marking any event in the Virgin Mary’s life, but now
restricted to the feast of the Annunciation, held on the 25th of
March in each year. Lady Day was in medieval and later times
the beginning of the legal year in England. In 1752 this was
altered to the 1st of January, but the 25th of March remains one
of the Quarter Days; though in some parts old Lady Day,
on the 6th of April, is still the date for rent paying. See
Annunciation.
LADYSMITH, a town of Natal, 189 m. N.W. of Durban by
rail, on the left bank of the Klip tributary of the Tugela. Pop.
(1904) 5568, of whom 2269 were whites. It lies 3284 ft. above
the sea and is encircled by hills, while the Drakensberg are some
30 m. distant to the N.W. Ladysmith is the trading centre of
northern Natal, and is the chief railway junction in the province,
the main line from the south dividing here. One line crosses Van
Reenen’s pass into the Orange Free State, the other runs northwards
to the Transvaal. There are extensive railway workshops.
Among the public buildings are the Anglican church and the
town hall. The church contains tablets with the names of 3200
men who perished in the defence and relief of the town in the
South African War (see below), while the clock tower of the
town hall, partially destroyed by a Boer shell, is kept in its
damaged condition.
Ladysmith, founded in 1851, is named after Juana, Lady Smith, wife of Sir Harry Smith, then governor of Cape Colony. It stands near the site of the camp of the Dutch farmers who in 1848 assembled for the purpose of trekking across the Drakensberg. Here they were visited by Sir Harry Smith, who induced the majority of the farmers to remain in Natal. The growth of the town, at first slow, increased with the opening of the railway from Durban in 1886 and the subsequent extension of the line to Johannesburg.
In the first and most critical stage of the South African War of 1899–1902 (see Transvaal) Ladysmith was the centre of the struggle. During the British concentration on the town there were fought the actions of Talana (or Dundee) on the 20th, Elandslaagte on the 21st and Rietfontein on the 24th of October 1899. On the 30th of October the British sustained a serious defeat in the general action of Lombard’s Kop or Farquhar’s Farm, and Sir George White decided to hold the town, which had been fortified, against investment and siege until he was relieved directly or indirectly by Sir Redvers Buller’s advance. The greater portion of Buller’s available troops were despatched to Natal in November, with a view to the direct relief of Ladysmith, which meantime the Boers had closely invested. His first attempt was repelled on the 15th of December in the battle of Colenso, his second on the 24th of January 1900 by the successful Boer counterstroke against Spion Kop, and his third was abandoned without serious fighting (Vaalkranz, Feb. 5). But two or three days after Vaalkranz, almost simultaneously with Lord Roberts’s advance on Bloemfontein Sir Redvers Buller resumed the offensive in the hills to the east of Colenso, which he gradually cleared of the enemy, and although he was checked after reaching the Tugela below Colenso (Feb. 24) he was finally successful in carrying the Boer positions (Pieter’s Hill) on the 27th and relieving Ladysmith, which during these long and anxious months (Nov. 1–Feb. 28) had suffered very severely from want of food, and on one occasion (Caesar’s Camp, Jan. 6, 1900) had only with heavy losses and great difficulty repelled a powerful Boer assault. The garrison displayed its unbroken resolution on the last day of the investment by setting on foot a mobile column, composed of all men who were not too enfeebled to march out, in order to harass the Boer retreat. This expedition was however countermanded by Buller.
LAELIUS, the name of a Roman plebeian family, probably settled at Tibur (Tivoli). The chief members were:—
Gaius Laelius, general and statesman, was a friend of the elder Scipio, whom he accompanied on his Spanish campaign (210–206 B.C.). In Scipio’s consulship (205), Laelius went with him to Sicily, whence he conducted an expedition to Africa. In 203 he defeated the Massaesylian prince Syphax, who, breaking his alliance with Scipio, had joined the Carthaginians, and at Zama (202) rendered considerable service in command of the cavalry. In 197 he was plebeian aedile and in 196 praetor of Sicily. As consul in 190 he was employed in organizing the recently conquered territory in Cisalpine Gaul. Placentia and Cremona were repeopled, and a new colony founded at Bononia.
