GENEROUS PEER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 9

GENEROUS PEER.

Patron of Theatre Dies in i Modest House. J SOLD FAMILY SEAT. < j (Received 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 7. The "Daily Express" states that the Earl of La thorn, playwright and decorator, whose death at the age of 35 was reported yesterday, possessed unbounded generosity. He lost large sums financing plays. Altogether he spent £G5,000 on the theatre. Yet he never backed his own plays, saying that he.wanted recognition on their merits. He sold his family seat in Lancashire for £250,000 and died in a modest house in London. Edward William Bottle-Wilbraham, third Earl of Lathom, on leaving Eton became an officer in . the Lancashire Hussars, and after reaching the rank oi captain went to India as A.D.C. Governor of Bombay. Returning to London, he became interested in theatrical enterprises, and in 1920 lie produced Ine Little Visiters," founded on Miss Daisy Ashford's book. After financing several theatrical ventures he began writing himself under the name of Edward Wilbraham, producing in New York in 1925 "Ostriches." The following year , Ihe Way You Look at It," which attracted much attention for the,frank way in which, it handled sex matters, was produced in London. The next play, "Wet Paint," was vetoed by the Lord Chamberlain, and the Earl dropped sex matters in his last play, "Fear." As a whole, his productions did not enjoy long runs, but they showed that he possessed the gift of stagecraft. i; •