FORTUNE MADE

Hokitika Guardian, 16 November 1932, Page 6

FORTUNE MADE

ROMANTIC LIFE STORY,

THE GREAT RAND BOOM

LONDON, November 8,

A romantic life story is recalled by the death at Brighton, England, of Mr Leopold Hirsch, of London, a retired financier.

Mr IHirsch, who was in his 76th year, went to England in the middle ’eighties with only £5 in his pocket. He always remained proud of this fact. But though poor in material assets he vais rich in the qualities which were to lead him on to wealth and fame runhition, a keen brain, and an indomitab’o will to work and make good.

Born at Beyersdorf, a small Bavarian village, Mr Hirsch went to England at a time when the production of diamonds was already an industry at Kimberley and gold had* just been discovered on the Rand. He became a naturalised Englishman almost at once, but, to begin with, life was hard. His chance came when, a few years later, he met the late Sir Julius Wernher. The latter needed an honest broker who could be trusted bo carry out the daily operations of Wernher, Beit and Company during the: South •African boom of the ’nineties, and, at the same time, one who could keep his own counsel. Mr Hirsch wag chosen and thus the firm of L. Hirsch and Company came into being. From that day his fortunes never looked back.

A man of discriminating taste, Mi Hirsch spent part of his wealth in forming a collection of objets d’art, and his house in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, wa ß a veritable museum. The finest examples of tue 18th century English schools of painting would be seen there, together with some wonderful miniatures, bronzes and furniture.

Mr Hirsch was loved by his dependants, especially those at Suisg'll, in Sutherland, Scotland, a place he had for thirty-five years. If the children of a crofter o r a keeper showed ability and financial assistance was required to forward their education he was always ready to give generously. During the war Mr Hirsch and his brothers financed and ran a military hospital in Fishmongers’ Hall.