GENEROUS BENEFACTOR

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 135, 4 December 1924, Page 15

GENEROUS BENEFACTOR

FOUND HANGED IN HIS

MANSION

FINANCIER OF THE QUEST

EXPEDITION

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 7th .October.

Mr. John Quiller Rowett, whose generosity made the last Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic possible, was found dead last week in his London house at Hyde Park Lerraee. After par-' taking of a hearty lunch, Mr. Rowett escorted his wife, who has recently been an invalid, to her motor-car for an afternoon drive, and, retiring to his study, gave instructions to be informed of ncr return./ When Mrs. RoUeit came back to the house about 4 o'clock the butler proceeded to the study, but his master was absent and his desk strewn wiui papers. Going to the bilhardroum adjoining lie found Mr. P.owett leaning ■ 111 the window recess, and believing that he had been overcome with a ht, made to lift him away. He' spoke to Mr. Rowett, but receiving no reply, he touched him lightly on the shoulder. When he saw no sign of life he became alarmed and ran for help. A policeman entered the house ana found that Mr. Rowett had slipped to the floor and lay on his back. Around his neck was a piece of unknotted cord with a wooden handle at one end and the other end broken, it was found to be part of the billiard-room windowcord. Doctors arrived and found that he had been dead for at least an hour.

At the inquest the dramatic theory was advanced by Dr. F. J. Barker, of Harley street, that death was clue to an accident. "I cannot help thinking," iie said, "that he was toying with tlie idea of suicide, and having what I may call a rehearsal of how it might be done. It is conceivable that he may have slipped and fell forward. Ho may have gone, not deliberately, a step further than he intended in carrying out the experiment and have lost his balance."

Mr. James Walter Coats, a brother-in-law of deceased, stated at the evidence that Mr. Rowett was a spirit merchant and director of his own company, and was 48 years of age. Witness had been in the habit of seeing deceased two or three times a week". He considered Mr. j Rowett had been in good bodily health. I although "not a particularly ' robust man," but of late he had not been cheerful. Various things had worried deceased, lately. BROKEN WINDOW-CORD. James C. Hopkinsj the dead man's butler, said Mr. Rowett had not been cheerful of late. On the Wednesday afternoon he saw Mr. Rowett sitting in his- study, and later, just before 4 | o'clock, lie saw him in the billiardroom. .' He was then in a huddled position, leaning against the side of the window. The window-cord was round his neck. At the moment, added witness, he only just saw the cord was round the neck. He could not say whether or. not it wag fixed. At first he thought deceased was in a fit, or had had a stroke.' "I went to him and shook him;" continued witness, "and then I saw the cord and felt his face, were extraordinarily good. ' ■ . .- The Coroner: Was the cord holding him up?— Yes. Witness added that Mr. Rowett showed no signs of life. Robert Henry Shapley, deceased chauffeur, said when he entered the billiardroom he found Mr. Rowett lying on the floor. There was. a small piece of window cord round his neck. The cord was .broken and loose. Witness examined him and found no signs of life. He had noticed of late that Mr. Rowett was not as cheerful as' formerly. In reply to further questions witness said that Mr. Rowett's domestic relations were exqtraordinarily good. Dr. Robert John Maybury, divisional police surgeon, who made a post-. mortem examination, said that from the groove round Mr. Row'ett's neck witness was of opinion that death wasdue to hanging. £70,000 FOR THE QUEST EXPEDITION. Mr. Walter John Wenham, a solicitor, of Gray's Inn square, who said he had acted as legal adviser to the deceased for six years, stated Mr. Rowett had begun to fret about the beginning of the present year. Replying to the Coroner, the witness said that, owino- to the failure of the firm of the late Sir John Henderson Stewart—which had given deceased .a great shock, as had also the tragic death of Sir John Stewart—he had suffered a financial loss of £100,000. The loss was on account of rum supplied in the ordinary course of business, deceased not having been involved in the late Sir John Stewart's business ventures, but having simply taken up the lauer'3 bills. The Quest expedition had, witness said, cost Mr Rowett £70,000. As the i«sult of the late Sir John Stewart's affairs deceased had been compelled to find money, and he had laid before his bankers a scheme which, witness believed, "was having their considerate attention." There had been every reason to believe that a satisfactory adjustment of deceased's affairs would have resulted, but Mr. Rowett was very sensitive of his good name in the city, and was greatly distressed at the necessity of subr.iittinoproposals to his bankers. °

The Coroner: Was there any reason to think that the scheme might not prove satisfactory?—No; on the contrary, there was. every reason to hope that a satisfactory adjustment would result. In further reply to the Coroner, the witness said deceased had been involved in another considerable investment which, had turned out unsatisfactory.

The Coroner, reviewing the evidence, said he was unable to accept the theory^ charitably advanced by Dr. Parker, that deceased had been rehearsing the tragedy. It was clear that, at the time he took his life, deceased was not of sound mind. The verdict, therefore, would |be that he committed suicide whilst of unsound mind.

MR. ROWETT'S BENEFACTIONS.

When his^ old school chum, the late Sir Ernest Shackleton, was proposing to set out in the Quest on what was destined to be his last voyage, Mr. Kowett promised £10,000 towards the cost of die expedition. Then one by one the other supporters fell out for varying* reasons, and finally Mr. Rowett was confronted with the fact that the expedition would drop through altogether unless he shouldered the entire responsibility. The decision to accept it was made without a moment's hesitation, and from that time onward Mr. Rowetfc threw himself whole-heartedly and unreservedly into the project. The explorers named the highest point of Gough Island, Mount Rowett, after him. Mr. Rowett also contributed £10,000 to the Institute for the Study of Animal Nutrition at Aberdeen, which was opened by the Queen in September, 1922, and in addition supplied sufficient funds to pur chase an experimental stock farm, with buildings adapted for conducting kid ing experiments! The institute waa

I named the Rowett Research Institute, and Aberdeen University conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. on Mr Rowett. Three years ago he was Master of the Fruiterers Company. H Q leaves a widow, a son, and two daughters In other directions Mr. Rowo'tt gavo generously of his means in a quiet, unostentatious manner. His contributions for several years to the Bland Sutton Institute for dental research at the Middlesex Hospital enabled its medical school to engage a special worker to investigate the cause n[ dental decay. As a result ni" the work some new ' organisms were found which, to a large extent, accounted for the ,decay of the teeth. He was not generally known at the hospital, as he only visited the laboratories where the research was carried out.