Peerage for Stuffy

King George VI's official birthday was an austere event last week.*Gone were most of the traditional trappings. But the custom of naming a Birthday Honors list was observed in a manner which provided a remarkable commentary on Britain's democratic wartime activities.

There were awards for dock laborers, trawler skippers, test pilots, A.R.P. workers, reception mothers for evacuees, and bus drivers; for farmers and miners; for clergymen and educators; for merchants, musicians and artists. Annie Norris, 67-year-old farm laborer's wife, received the British Empire Medal for "unremitting care" of child evacuees, as did a deaf & dumb air-raid warden, who divines air raids by the warning vibrations of a piece of metal held in his hand.

Britons were also pleased with the peerage their King gave to retired Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, known to everybody as "Stuffy." It was Stuffy who organized Britain's air defenses and led the R.A.F. Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. It was

Stuffy who, early in the war, in quiet confidence assured the nation: "Serious air attacks on these islands will be brought to a standstill in a short space of time."

At his own request, Stuffy retired last July to the quiet of his widower's home in Wimbledon to follow the war through the newspapers. At 61 he is still a trim, erect figure, more than ever engrossed in the spiritualist studies which have long interested him. In London's Sunday Pictorial Sir Hugh was quoted last week: "I am sure that our war dead live on. ... I have read messages from them."

*The King was 47 last Dec. 14, but the official date, always in June on account of weather, varies with events and the occupation of the King's servants. This year's celebration was set for June 10, was advanced a week for reasons unknown. Said an official announcement: "The King's birthday will be celebrated in London and at all stations both at home and abroad on Thursday, June 10, 1943. In the case of the Customs and Excise Department and of officers and servants of dock companies in England and Northern Ireland, the appointed day for the celebration is Saturday, June 19."

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