THE LEICESTER EARLDOM

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 11

THE LEICESTER EARLDOM

■■■ ■ A'MELBOURNE CLAIMANT. . . A petition to His Majesty the King; (says the Melbourne "Age") was forwarded through the Governor-General in the early part of this year on behalf of Mr. William Styles Coke, known as Mr. Hnzelton, living at a confectionery shop in High Street, l'rahran, praying .-.that His Majesty would have it declared that he is tho Earl of Leicester. Air. Coke now says he lias positive information ihat his claim has .been allowed, and ho is . only , awaiting the . arrival of letters 'patent. Mr. Coke; who is seventy-eight years -of age,,! explains that the oarldom of Leicester having become extinct through the failure of the male, lino in 1759, in 1837 was recreated. 'The eldest son of the holder of the, recreated earldom was Mr. Coke's' father. ' When Mr. W,. S. Coke was only bight years of age'al violent quarrel',took place between his!.fathe l r'' r al# , 'gran'dfather'. !: ';' ; ;:'' K, '- ' '-. ln ! lß42theold earl died, and Mr. W. S. Cokefs father-renounced the title and estates ■jn. favour of Edward' Keppel, the present earl,.a gontloman who was not related- to the family. ; The; 'present earl,"Mr." W. S. Coke says—and this appears to be the,weakest part of his statement—knew he could only rightfully hold tho earldom during Mr. Coke's father's life, as tho latter could not break tho entail nor bar the succession. [The earl, , he, asserts,' accepted, the position on that understanding.' Mr. Coko's father died seventeen years ago. As soon as possible after his father's demise Mr. W. S. Coketook steps, as the deceased's eldest son, to assert his claim to the peerage. For that purpose', ho , went to England ' ahout 1895, with the result that after tho lapse of about a, year and a half .his means failed, and ho was obliged to return to Australia. Mr. .Coke says he has now!letters from the earl admitting his claim, and the whole thing has been settled. He indicated to our representative the "Hon. Lady Coke," his only daughtpr, a single young lady, who was just :then serving,someono, with a bag of lollies, and who had not got sufficiently used to tho dignity to refrain, from,, laughing. Her mother, "the, Countess of ■ Leicester," however, seemed quite selfrpossessed at the back of the, shop. , ■ • ■ The claimant is a particularly sane, alert, quick-witted, and healthy old gentleman of spare physique, who says he has the fullest use: of all his' faculties, and has taken two walks this week for exorcise,, one of fourteen miles and tho other of eighteen miles, without being over-fatigued. Ho came to Victoria in 1852, was a, pioneer in tho Becch--worth district when the Ovens rush was on, afterawfds living, on the Buckland and at Bright. As a storekeeper ho mado a great deal-of money.: Later, ho.was proprietor'of tho Footscray Smelting Works until about twelve years ago. By profession he is a metallurgist, flis-only son died a short time ■ back. ': -. . '.':, ~..,, ■; ■■ ■ .. ; ■ .. :

■Tho present-', earl, has, fourteen children. Recording to "Burke's Peerage," ho holds the title as ; son the "first earl's second marriage, but Mr. Coke .says this is incorrect. The estate yields about £70,000 a year.