PETERSFIELD.
A ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE.—Many years ago Sir Roger Charles Tichbourne, Bart, then heir to the estates of his father, the late Sir James Tichbourne, of Tichbourne Park, Hampshire, suddenly left England, unaccompanied by servants, and news was shortly afterwards received at home that the ship Bella, in which he had embarked, was wrecked off the American coast, and young Sir Roger was drowned. Since that period the father has been borne to the tomb, also his younger and last son, Sir Alfred Tichbourne, at whose decease a few months ago great sorrow was expressed by all the friends of the family that no son remained to inherit the vast possessions, which had descended to the family from a period long prior to the Norman conquest. Shortly after this, however, all anxiety on this subject was removed by the announcement that the widow of Sir Alfred Tichbourne had given birth to a posthumous son and heir, and great were the rejoicings that ensued. For several years nothing positive has occurred to disturb the general conviction that Sir Roger was dead, though it has once or twice been rumoured that he was still alive in the colonies. About three weeks ago, however, public curiosity was again kindled by vague rumours that the missing baronet was still alive, and not only alive, but that he might be expected with his wife shortly in England, as he had taken passage from Australia with the view of returning to claim his inheritances. This rumour has received some confirmation by the recent arrival of Australian mails, from which it would appear that either Sir Roger is really alive, or that somebody has personated him in the colonies. The Yass Courier of July 25th gives the following history of the career of the lost baronet :—‟For some months past a vague kind of rumour has been current in Wagga Wagga to the effect that a veritable British peer was quietly residing, under an assumed name, in our midst. It was rumour, however, to which very little credibility was attached, and was oftener the subject of jocular allusions than serious remark. It now turns out that, though not quite correct in form, it still approximated very nearly to truth. As yet, we have certainly had no English noblemen for a resident, though we really have been daily brushing up against a baronet for the last two or three years without knowing it, The individual to whom we refer has, up to the present time, been known to our townsmen only as ‟Tom Castro,” and during his residence amongst us has occupied an humble station in life. Recent events have disclosed the fact that his real name is not Castro, but Roger Charles Tichbourne, eldest son and heir-at-law to the late Sir James Tichbourne, Baronet. of Tichbourne Park, Hants to the title and estates of whom he now succeeds, together with an income of between ten and fifteen thousand pounds per annum. The history of the new baronet is rather a singular one. In or about the year 1854, being then quite a lad, and of rather a roving disposition, he quitted England in the ship Bella, which was, a few weeks later, wrecked of the port of Rio Janeiro. Young Tichbourne escaped to the land, minus his worldly goods, and then assumed the name of Castro, and, as nothing was then afterwards heard of him, it was believed that he had perished, and, in the British peerages, he was reported dead. South American manners not being suited to his tastes, he again embarked on board a ship bound for Australia, and, in due course, arrived in Sydney. Being then without either money or friends, he was thrown entirely upon his own resources, and experienced his full share of the rough vicissitudes of colonial life. After trying his hand at various callings and travelling over a great portion of the colony he at last became connected with a small business in Tumut, which he subsequently gave up, and then removed to Wagga Wagga, where until within the last few weeks he has continued to reside, and where, in the early part of the present year, he was married, Soon after his departure from England, his father, Sir James Tichbourne, died, and his estates then passed to his second son, Alfred Joseph, who was afterwards married to a daughter of the Earl of Arundel. After a time, a knowledge of these events came to the ears of our quondam friend Castro, but, as he had been much attached to his younger brother in his early childhood, and as he felt that his lengthened colonial wanderings had, in a measure, unfitted him for the life of an English country gentleman, he did net attempt to disturb the succession, and still continued to preserve his incognito. His brother Alfred Jospeh is now dead, and, as the strongest reason for the voluntary resignation of his patrimony is now removed Mr. Castro has resumed his real name and taken the title which belongs to him of right, and is now about to proceed to England, as Sir Roger Charles Tichbourne, to take possession of the estates. Sir Roger was, we believe, to have sailed by the Kaikoura, but arrived in Sydney a few hours too late. The Titchbournes, or, as they were formerly called, the Detchburnes are a very old family, who have been settled, for many generations, in the county of Hampshire.” The Goulburn Herald, of the 25th July, says:— ‟The mother-in-law of the new baronet is Mrs. James Pain, a Goulburn resident and wife of a laboring man. Lady Tichbourne is the daughter of Mrs. Pain’s first husband, who was a plasterer, named Bryan, and met his death some years ago by falling down stairs or off a ladder during the progress of the erection of a house:” and the Tumut Times, of the 27th August, gives further corroborative evidence of ‟Thomas De Castro,” who ‟left Tumut, and opened a butchering establishment in Wagga Wagga,” with a description of the “said ‛Thomas Castro,’ being no less a person than Sir Roger Charles Tichbourne.” It, however, slightly differs from the preceding accounts, by stating that ‟not having been in communication with his family for some years, he was not aware of his good fortune.” Altogether, the affair appears to be one of the most romantic in the records of the wonderful.