STURDY BACHELOR

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 305, 26 December 1931, Page 4 (Supplement)

STURDY BACHELOR

COMPLETE IN HIMSELF.

A REMARKABLE LIFE STORY.

Sir Thomas Lipton had round his bed as he lay dying four doctors, some of his oldest friends, two faithful secretaries, three devoted servants. But not one woman. Now this was an odd thing to happen to a man who, for threequarters of a century, had filled alike the public eye and the public Press with stories of his business enterprise, his princely charity, his gallant sportsmanship, his private generosities (writes .a "Woman Friend" in the "London Sunday Express"). For these are all qualities that appeal to women. And although Sir Thomas was always happy in the company of men, ne was no misogynist. He had a charming way with women, and when he had guests at his famous home at Southgate, which for years had been the Mecca for distinguished visitors from all parts of the world, he revealed a personality so j'adiant, so fascinating, that little wonder if some of the women guests to whom he had shown his courteous attention had entertained "hopes." He understood women; knew how to talk to them. Yet he died, as he had lived, one of the world's most eligible, most attractive bachelors.

Marie Corelli, in the heyday of her fame, was a frequent visitor to his home. The famous beauties of King Edward's reign have been at Osidge and in his yachts. The Empress Eugene in her later years had such a passion for- the society of Sir Thomas Lipton that she was never happy unless he was with her. He accompanied the Empress on many of her travels abroad, and he had often declared that if he had been at home during her last illness he would never have sanctioned an operation. He had a picture of the Empress and himself travelling in Egypt on the backs of donkeys. There was a long ago romance in his life —the girl he loved in his days of poverty, but' she looked with disdain on the penniless Irish lad. He used to watch her passing the shop in which he worked and would pull her long pigtail when he could, courting her in the Scottish way. But she married another, and it was this frustrated romance, I understand, that made him go off to America. Then prosperity came to him, and for many years while working up his business he had no time to.think of women. Where his influence could help, of course, he would give with both hands to good causes, but despite the fierce blaze of limelight in which he lived, there was never a breath of scandal about his life. He was as fidgety about his reputation as a spinster, and took every precaution about the reputation of any women guests whom he honoured with his friendship.

He was complete host in himself, and the absence of a hostess at Osidge was never noticed. His housekeeper, who was with him for many years, and who died a year or two ago, was a firm, capable woman, devoted to churchgoing and good work. Sir Thomas Lipton's life was so full and rich, his home as complete in its perfect organisation, his servants so devoted, "that he never actually felt the lack of a woman's hand. That, I think, is the secret of his celibacy. Putting romance on one side, I think Sir Thomas never married because he was complete in himself.