EARL OF LATHOM DEAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 892, 8 February 1930, Page 9

EARL OF LATHOM DEAD

PLAYWRIGHT AND DECORATOR “BOUNDLESS GENEROSITY” LONDON, Friday. The death has occurred of the Karl of Lathom, aged 35. The “Daily Express” comments that the Earl of Lathom possessed unbounded generosity. He lost large sums in financing plays and altogether spent £65,000 on the theatre. Yet he never backed his own plays, saying he wanted recognition on his merits. He sold the family seat at Lancashire for £250,000 and died in a modest house in London. Edward William Bootle-Wilbraham, third Earl of Lathom, playwright and artistic house decorator, was at school at Eton when, on the death of his father in 1910, he succeeded to the title and the estate of about 11,000 acres at Ormskirk, Lancashire. On leaving Eton he became an officer of the Laeashire Hussars (Yeomanry), and after reaching the rank of captain w€.*nt to India as A.D.C. to the Governor of Bombay. On liis return he became associated with, theatrical enterprises.

The earl had also a distinct leaning toward artistic decoration, and, while still engaged in play-writing, made use of it by starting a business for the improvement of the internal embellishment of English houses. Travelling frequently on the Continent and elsewhere, he collected all the best ideas and adapted them to the English home. One of his successful assistants was Mrs. Xenia Morison, a widow, whom he married in 1927, after she had been in his shop for a few months.