1883-92 
AN OLD FRIEND 
263 
never forgot those friends with whom his 
younger days were intimately associated, and in 
this connection a letter from Mr. William White 
Cooper is interesting : — 
^ May 38, 1886. 
‘ My very dear Friend, — I think it due to you 
as my oldest and most valued friend to com- 
municate direct to you the information that I 
have this day received from Mr. Gladstone — ^the 
announcement that the Queen intends to confer 
upon me the honour of knighthood. . . . When 
I look back upon the incidents of my life I am 
struck with the part played by you in them : 
How you went down to Derby to my wedding 
and gave away my dear wife ; how I owe to 
you the delightful tour we had together in 
Germany, of which memory recalls so many 
little incidents ; how we “faced” one another in 
the ranks of the H.A.C. at the Coronation ; how 
we went to the Grand Review at W^oolwich and 
saw the great people, including old Soult, and 
saw the big gun fired, the report of which gave 
me a kick in the stomach ! But I must stop. It 
has been my proud lot to see jozi receive the 
honours so justly your due, and at a very humble 
distance I follow ! . . . . 
‘ I am ever most sincerely yours, 
‘ W. White Cooper.’® 
Mr. White Cooper’s death knighthood could be actually 
took place very shortly after- conferred upon him. 
wards ; before, indeed, the 
