Great knightly soul who came in time to serve his country's need.

The line is an elevated tribute, casting its subject as a chivalric figure (“knightly soul”) whose personal virtues are validated by timely public service. The emphasis on “came in time” suggests providential or fateful arrival at a decisive national moment, implying that character is proven not merely by private goodness but by answering a collective crisis. In Sangster’s idiom—often moral, patriotic, and commemorative—the phrase reads like memorial verse, praising self-sacrifice and duty while idealizing the subject as both noble and effective. The sentiment also reflects a late‑19th‑century taste for framing civic leadership in medieval-romantic terms to heighten moral authority.