Two Rich Uncles

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 388, 23 June 1928, Page 11

Two Rich Uncles

Hamilton Man’s Good Luck

Bankers Leave Fortune of £28,750

(From Our Oxen Correspondent) HAMILTON, To-day. MYTHICAL rich uncles have formed the subject of many a jest but there is no joke about the £28,750, which two rich uncles have left Mr. Leonard Wilfred Williams Brown, of Hamilton.

As reported in yesterday’s cables, Mr. Brown has inherited £IO,OOO under the will of an uncle, Mr. Chas. Joseph Brown, and he has now received advice that an additional £18,750 has been left him under the will of another uncle, Mr. William James Brown. The fortunes of the Brown family were founded by Mr. Samuel James Brown, grandfather of Mr. Leonard Brown, of Hamilton. The former owned two private banks, known as William Williams Brown and Company, Leeds, and Brown, Jensen and Company, London. The businesses were carried on by Mr. Charles Joseph Brown, from whom Mr. Brown receives the £IO,OOO, and his brother, the late Mr. William James Brown. The latter died last August, leaving a net personality of £300,000, a quarter of which is to be divided among four of the family, making Mr. Leonard Brown’s share £18,750. This brings Mr. Brown’s fortune up to £28,750. Legal correspondence that has passed between the executors of the wills and Mr. Brown attest to the

accuracy of the position in which Mr. Brown finds himself. The other beneficiaries in the fortune left by Mr. Charles Brown are two brothers and a sister of Mr. Leonard Brown, who livo in Christchurch. The fortunate recipient of this great fortune, Mr. Leonard Brown, is 56 years of age and was born in Christchurch. He has been in Hamilton for 14 years. Formerly he was caretaker of the Municipal Baths, and latterly has been conducting a registry office and agency business, which, in view of existing labour conditions, can hardly have proved very profitable. Ho has always taken a keen interest in sport, especially swimming, athletics and Rugby football, and he has always been a most assiduous worker when any of these sports have been held. In fact, it is not going too far to say that he has always been the “willing horse,” and his own interests have suffered accordingly. He is president of the Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association and chairman of the Hamilton Rugby Union Advisory Board. He is also handicapper for various Waikato sports fixtures and swimming events. Mr. Brown is married and lias six children, and his father is living in retirement in Auckland.