438 
The  late  Lord  Vernon. 
In  1868  he  moved  the  ‘Journal’  Committee  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  to  make  inquiries  into  the  working  of  these 
factories  in  America;  and  in  1870  we  find  him  subscribing  to 
the  starting  of  one  in  Derby,  about  the  same  time  as  the  Hon. 
E.  Coke  set  up  his  at  Longford  in  the  same  county. 
In  December  of  the  same  year,  the  chair  was  taken  by  Lord 
Vernon  at  the  Society  of  Arts,  when  Mr.  Jenkins  delivered  a 
lecture  on  Cheese  Factories.  The  success  which  has  attended 
these  undertakings  is  well  known  ; and  to  Lord  Vernon,  as  one 
of  the  first  pioneers  of  the  movement,  no  inconsiderable  share  of 
the  credit  is  due. 
Only  two  years  ago  Lord  Vernon  established  at  Sudbury  a 
butter-factory — one  of  the  first  of  the  kind  in  England.  Owing 
to  the  novelty  of  the  undertaking,  many  difficulties  had  to  be 
encountered  ; and  it  required  all  his  patient  perseverance  and 
-close  personal  attention  to  bring  it  into  working  order. 
It  has  been  greatly  appreciated  by  his  tenants  and  neigh- 
bours, to  whom  a ready  and  steady  sale  for  their  milk  is  invalu- 
able ; and,  with  some  new  machinery  and  improvements  sug- 
gested and  introduced  by  the  present  Lord  Vernon,  and  under 
the  management  of  his  brother,  the  Hon.  W.  Vernon,  it  is 
rapidly  becoming  an  important  concern. 
His  tenants  at  once  showed  their  complete  confidence  in  their 
landlord’s  judgment,  and,  at  the  risk  of  offending  their  former 
customers  in  the  trade,  without  hesitation  agreed  to  supply  the 
milk  at  market  price.  They  have  never  since  regretted  their 
decision,  and  they  now  obtain  a regular  and  steady  sale,  with  a 
certainty  of  payment. 
During  the  year  of  his  presidency  of  the  Society,  in  1871,  some 
of  the  hardest  work  that  ever  fell  to  his  lot  was  performed  by 
Lord  Vernon  in  connection  with  the  fund  raised  to  supply  to  the 
French  peasants  the  seed  which  the  ravages  of  the  German  war 
had,  over  large  districts,  deprived  them  of.  Lord  Vernon  con- 
sented to  preside  at  a preliminary  public  meeting,  and  to  act  as 
Chairman  of  the  Fund  afterwards. 
In  such  work  as  this,  all  his  sympathy  and  energy  were  sure 
to  be  fully  engaged  ; and  during  the  greatest  part  of  the  year  his 
labour  was  incessant  in  the  cause.  Ably  supported  by  his  inde- 
fatigable lieutenant,  Mr.  Jenkins,  and  his  co-Secretaries  (Sir 
Brandreth  Gibbs  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Delano),  who  were  foremost 
in  giving  shape  to  the  suggestions  originally  brought  forward 
by  Mr.  Howard,  and  loyally  helped  by  his  colleagues  on  the 
Committee,  Lord  Vernon  toiled  on  day  after  day,  often  from 
morning  to  evening,  writing,  organizing,  and  meeting  the  ever- 
new  difficulties  which  the  nature  of  the  undertaking  presented. 
t An  article  by  Mr.  Jenkins  in  vol.  viii.  of  the  ‘ Journal,’  gives 
