DISPOSAL OF ESTATE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 249, 2 August 1937, Page 5

DISPOSAL OF ESTATE.

LATE BARON ORMATHWAITE. former housekeeper and . SONS. (United Fives Association —Copyright} (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) LONDON, August 1. Baron Ormathwaite, who died in March, left his entire property, worth £107,351, equally to Rose Spary, his former housekeeper and wife of nis former valet, and to her sons, aged respectively nine and fourteen years. Mrs Spary says that Lord Ormathwaite was almost blind for two years. “We helped him in every way possible,” she said. “He was very good to us and was godfather to our sons, but we were not aware he was rich. He lived at the rate of. £6OO a year. Queen Mary regularly sent Lord Ormathwaite Christmas presents. Last year her Majesty visited him and found him sitting in an invalid chair. She tucked her gift of a warm rug around him and chatted for an hour.’

Mr Spary, who is unemployed, does not expect his wife and children will receive a farthing. He says the estate was mortgaged to the hilt. Lord Ormathwaite was unlucky in his investments and lost a large sum on the turf and at Monte Carlo. The fact that he left his mansion with 12 servants to live with them was proof he had no money.

Arthur Hlenry John Walsh, third Baron Ormathwaite, was born in London in 1859. Educated at Eton, he was a lieutenant in the First Life Guards from 1878 to 1886. He was M.P. for Radnorshire from 1885 to 1892. He was his Majesty’s Master of Ceremonies from 1910 to 1920. “Who’s Who” describes him as owning 26,300 acres. The heir to the title is the Hon. George Walsh, who was born in 1863.'