VAST RICHES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 March 1939, Page 2

VAST RICHES

FAMOUS ELLERMAN MILLIONS

SECRETS OF FORTUNE.

RICHEST MAN IN BRITAIN

The death of Sir Wiliam Cox, who managed a considerable part of young Sir John Ellerman’s millions and was his closest adviser, will. I understand, mark a turning-point in the life of the richest man in Britain, writes a special correspondent of the “Sun Express, London. No man will ever be appointed again to share with Sir John all the secrets of the Ellerman fortune. Sir John has now decided to manage his own financial affairs. His decision to do so is particularly important because in a few years’ time he will become master for the first time since his father’s death in 1933 of the full interest yielded by the entire Ellerman possessions. Under his father’s will the full fortune only comes to him when he reaches the thirties.

In the five years since 1933 a new chapter has been added to this most remarkable of all the greatest British fortunes. When the late Sir John Ellerman died his millions were mainly in shipping, real estate, brewery and newspaper shares. But in addition there were vast interests • in scores of industrial companies, and huge sums of cash in the banks which had been accumulated against death duties. It took three years to complete the tally of the estate, but in the end it was sworn at £36,684,000. This was an abnormally low estimate due to the fact that Sir John had died in the course of the slump period when values were low. At one period a few years earlier Sir John himself valued his estate at the colossal figure of £71,000,000.

Death duties of £18,000,000 were paid, which left the present Sir John Ellerman, then about 24 years of age, with a starting fortune of £18,000,000.

Since then there has been an astonishing rise in values which, aided by the fact that Sir John Ellerman lives very frugally and leaves his wealth to accumulate, has resulted- in a rise to a total, at present of something in the region of £60,000,000. At this figure it is by far the greatest fortune in Britain, and probably in Europe. There are indeed few fortunes in the world that equal it. A SHY HEIR. When Sir John Ellerman inherited the fortune on his father’s death his financial education had barely begun. That was where the importance of Sir William Cox lay. Sir William, who had risen from a minor part in the Ellerman organisation to a position of great power, quickly won the confidence of the shy heir whom he had known since babyhood. Sir John learned to lean on the sound advice and great experience of Cox. He was able to retire into quiet privacy. During the last year or two, however, he has begun to come more out of his shell. He is now visiting more frequently the offices in Moorgate, from where the principal Ellerman concerns are directed. Further evidence that he intended to lead the life of a millionaire was his purchase last year of 20 Kensington Palace Gardens, London. There he now entertains on a scale fie never attempted before.

The attachment between the old man and the young one was very close. When Sir William died suddenly in Nottingham, Sir John hurried there by mq'tor-car. ' He felt a great personal grief and himself arranged for the body to be taken back by road. He followed behind in another car. Sir John now intends to delegate some of Sir William’s powers to one or two men he can trust.

One of these is likely to be thirty-six-year-old Mr Raphael de Sola, his brother-in-law. Mr de Sola is a financier, with shipping interests both in England and in India. He has already handled some of the EJlerrnan investments. The complicated control of the Ellerman millions has never been clearly understood by the general public. It may be interesting if I clear up some of the misunderstandings.

When the late Sjr John Ellerman made his will he appointed three trustees who were to manage the estate until his son was over thirty. These trustees are young Sir John himself, Mr Frederick George Burt (the late Sir John’s confidential secretary), and the Debenture Securties Investment Trust Company, Limited, of which eighty-two-year-old Sir Miles Mattinson, K.C., is chairman. Sir Miles is considered the greatest trust expert in the City of London. A fourth name should really be tdded to the trusteeship. This is Mr Hubert Stanley Holden, managing director of the Ellerman Lines, Limited, the great Ellerman shipping expert and the man who has more shipping responsibilities than any other man in Britain. LARGE INVESTMENTS. Sir Miles Mattinson. Mr Burt and Mr Holden are the only directors of the Debenture Securities Investment Trust. These three men, with Sir William Cox, formed the inner "brains trust’’ of the Ellerman companies. The will directed that any matter of importance in relation to the Ellerman estate in its entirety was to be dealt with by the trustees. Between two and three million pounds were handed over for Sir John’s personal use immediately on his father’s death. He has had other large sums, amounting to about another £3,000,000, since then. The investment of most of this personal fortune of £6,000,000 was one of the duties of Sir William Cox.

The will “trust” is distinct from the Ellerman Property Trust. Nearly all the share capital of the Property Trust company belongs to the estate which the “will trustees” control. In addition, other large real estate possessions are also controlled by the trustees, although Sir William Cox managed many of them. The management of these estates will not have to be considered by the trustees. If Sir John manages them as part of his persona] affairs he will do so without taking any official managing directorships. It-is probable that when Sir John has a fuller income at his command be will allow large sums to accumulate in the banks, as his father did. The first Sir John laid the foundations of his colossal fortune by owning ships. Shipping is still the most valuable branch of the Ellerman interests. Lines controlled by the Ellerman millions have 700,000 tons at sea, the largest shipping combine in Britain. Sir John owns 104 large ocean-going steamers in one Ellerman company alone.

As an instance of his soaring wealth, the profit earned by Ellerman Lines, Limited, in 1937 was £1,177.906. That was 61 per cent more than in 1926, and

the 1936 profit was 23 per cent more than the year before that. Sir John Ellerman, the master of the sixty million fortune, is now twenty-nine.