DEATH OF MODEST MILLIONAIRE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13240, 16 January 1941, Page 7

DEATH OF MODEST MILLIONAIRE

LAST DAYS SPENT IN A COTTAGE

Born SI years ago in a cottage. Lord Vestey, millionaire meat and shipping king, whose death occurred a few weeks ago, wanted to die in a cottage—and did so. With his wife, he rented a small cottage in Buckinghamshire, in which he died after a heart attack.

“I do not want a big house, - ’ Lord Vestey told the estate agent. “I was born in a little house, and I want to die in a little house. All I want is a small room where I can be happy and comfortable.” Lord Vestey was a sprightly man, and seemed always to wear the same unostentatious dark suit. He had a white beard, which he kept carefully trimmed.

Just before leaving the local hotel where he stayed before taking the cottage, the licensee told him he was short of eggs. Lord Vestey recommended a brand of egg mixture which the licensee agreed to try. ‘‘Take £5 worth; it is my own mixture,” said the magnate. Later he said: ‘‘That is the first deal I have done in 11 years. Certainly I buy and sdll shares, and might make a few thousand pounds —or lose it —but this is different, because I have sold £ 5 worth of my own stuff.”

Left to Themselves

Lord Vestey and his brother, Sir Edmund Vestey, who is also a meat and shipping magnate, were the sons of a Liverpool provision merchant who sent them to America to try their luck. He paid their fares, then left them to rely on their own brains and energy. Sir Edmund went to Chicago and Lord Vestey to Buenos Aires, where he found thousands of pheasants for sale, but no local demand. This started him in the refrigeration business. He had the birds frozen and shipped them to Liverpool, where he built cold stores.] This was the beginning of the great Union Cold Storage Company. The brothers, who formed one of the keenest working partnerships Britain has ever known, held joint interests worth more than- £ 6,000,000.

Lord Vestey’s tvidow was formerly a clerk in the Chicago branch of the Vestey Company, and once temporarily replaced 'Lord Vestey’s private secretary. Later she took charge of the branch, then married Lord Vestey.