Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/355

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GRIERSON—GUAM
321

secutive period than any predecessor, exceeding by a year the 10 years’ tenure of Grenville (1791–1801), Pitt’s colleague in the first war against republican France, and of Castlereagh (1812–22), the Foreign Secretary under whom Waterloo was won and the Treaty of Vienna signed. In his official methods he carried out his own precept that foreign policy required not striking effects nor bold strokes but careful steering. An ardent lover of peace, he had been driven, through no fault of his, to lead Great Britain into the World War; he left a tradition in his office of steady work, a resolute will, and a clear head, and of that straightforwardness, sportsmanship, and courtesy which distinguish the best type of English gentleman.

After his resignation Viscount Grey took no part in public life for more than a couple of years. Happily, rest and quiet worked a decided improvement in his eyesight, and in the autumn of 1919 he felt himself well enough to comply with the wish Mr. Lloyd George’s Government that, pending the appointment of a permanent ambassador after Sir Cecil Spring-Rice’s premature death, he should go on a mission to Washington to deal with questions arising out of the peace. He only remained there three months; while his sympathetic personality made numerous friends for himself and for his country, the quarrel in progress between the Senate and President Wilson over the Treaty of Versailles hampered him seriously in fulfilling the charge entrusted to him. His public appearances in England in the years immediately following the war were very few; but he showed a keen interest in the League of Nations; and he took a leading part at the foundation, in July 1920, of a British Institute of International Affairs in order to promote among Englishmen international thinking.

He published in 1899 a book on Fly-Fishing, his favourite recreation. In 1885 he married Dorothy, daughter of Shellcross F. Widdrington, of Newton Hall, Northumberland. She was killed in a carriage accident in 1906; there were no children of the marriage. (G. E. B.)  

GRIERSON, SIR JAMES MONCRIEFF (1859–1914), British general, was born Jan. 27 1859 and joined the Royal Artillery in 1877. Noted from the outset as an exceptionally keen student of his profession, he served on the staff in the Egyptian Expedition of 1882 and the Suakin Expedition of 1885, and again, having in the meantime passed through the Staff College, in the Hazara Expedition of 1888 (for the latter campaign he was in 1895 promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel). From 1896 to 1900 he was military attaché at Berlin. As a colonel he was with Lord Roberts during the advance from Bloemfontein into the Transvaal; but he was then transferred to China to act as British military representative on the staff of Field-Marshal Count Waldersee, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces against the Boxers. For his services he was given the C.B.

In 1904 he was appointed Director of Military Operations and promoted major-general, and he held command of the 1st Div. at Aldershot from 1906–10. Promoted lieutenant-general in 1910 and made a K.C.B. in 1911, he was in 1912 put in charge of the Eastern Command. On the outbreak of the World War Sir J. Grierson was selected for the command of the II. Army Corps. He proceeded to France, but died suddenly on Aug. 17 while his troops were still assembling in the area of operations. A good linguist and unusually well acquainted with most of the European armies, Grierson had taken full advantage of his varied military experience, and had shown himself well fitted for high command in the field.

GRIFFITH, SIR SAMUEL WALKER (1845–1920), Australian lawyer and statesman, was born at Merthyr Tydvil June 21 1845, the son of the Rev. Edward Griffith, afterwards of Brisbane. He was educated at the university of Sydney, graduating in 1863 and winning a travelling fellowship two years later. In 1867 he was called to the Queensland bar, and was also called in New South Wales and Victoria. He became Q.C. in 1876. He entered the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (1872), was Attorney-General 1874–8 and again 1890–3, was Minister for Public Instruction 1876–9 and 1883–4 and for Public Works 1878–9, and was Premier of Queensland from 1883–8 and again from 1890–3. From 1893 to 1903 he was Chief Justice of Queensland and from 1899 to 1903 also Lieutenant-Governor. In 1903 he became the first Chief Justice of the Australian Commonwealth and held that office until 1919. He was the chief bulwark of the Conservative cause in Australia and his cold, clear intellect, never deflected by passion and rarely by sympathy, has left a deep stamp on Australian national life. His early draft of a constitution for the Federation was rejected because it was not “popular” enough, but its one essential check remained in the later “popular” constitution that of a High Court with supreme power over the Executive and the Legislature. He published The Queensland Criminal Code, as well as a translation of Dante’s Divina Commedia (1912). He died at Brisbane Aug. 9 1920.

GROENER, WILHELM (1867–  ), German general, was born Nov. 22 1867 at Ludwigsburg, Württemberg. In 1912 he was a sectional chief of the railway section of the German army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. During mobilization in 1914 he was at the head of the German field railway service. In 1915 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and from May 27 1916 to Aug. 1917 he was at the head of the War Office and a member of the directorate of the War Food Supply Office. He subsequently returned to the front as divisional commander and leader of an army corps, and in 1918 was chief of staff of the army group under the command of Linsingen and afterwards of Eichhorn. From Nov. 1918 to Sept. 1919 he was the successor of Ludendorff in the position of quartermaster-general. He retired as a protest against the signature of the Treaty of Versailles. During his tenure of office at the Ministry of War Gen. Groener was instrumental in maintaining, in spite of strikes and other difficulties, the coöperation of the German trade unions in securing a steady supply of munitions.

GROSSMITH, GEORGE (1847–1912), English comedian (see 12.619), died at Folkestone March 1 1912.

His son, George Grossmith (1874–  ), English comedian and third of the name, who made his first appearance at the Shaftesbury theatre in an operetta by his father, became a well-known figure in musical comedy, especially at the Gaiety theatre, London. He was the author, or part author, of many musical plays, songs and revues, and took a leading part in popularizing revue in London. Together with Edward Laurillard he became lessee and manager of several London theatres. During the World War he served as lieutenant in the R.N.V.R.

GROSSMITH, WEEDON (1853–1919), English comedian, brother of the second George Grossmith, was born in London June 9 1853. He was educated as a painter and exhibited at the Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery; but in 1885 he joined Rosina Vokes’s theatrical company and went on tour in the provinces and in America. He first appeared in London at the Gaiety theatre in 1887 as Woodcock in Woodcock’s Little Game; but his earliest notable success was made in A Pantomime Rehearsal. He played with Irving at the Lyceum theatre, with Tree at the Haymarket and with Mrs. John Wood at the Court theatre. In 1894 he entered into management on his own account at Terry’s theatre and produced a play of his own, The Night of the Party. His gift of quiet humour brought him much success, and among his best impersonations may be mentioned Archibald Bennick in The New Boy, Jimmy Jinks in Baby Mine, the Earl of Tweenwayes in The Amazons, “Boney” in The Misleading Lady and the Judge in Stopping the Breach, this being the last role he ever played (1917). In 1913 he published his autobiography, From Studio to Stage. He married Miss May Palfrey, who was also an actress. He died in London June 14 1919.

GRUNDY, SYDNEY (1848–1914), English dramatist (see 12.640), died in London July 4 1914. His last play, A Fearful Joy, was published in 1908.

GUAM (see 12.648). The population of the island on July 1 1920 was 14,724, of whom the natives numbered 13,698; foreign-born, 548; personnel of the naval station, 478. In shape the island, which has an estimated area of 225 sq. m., bears a resemblance to the sole of a human foot. Apra harbour, with