SIR HARRY PRESTON

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 71, 21 September 1936, Page 14

SIR HARRY PRESTON

UNIQUE PERSONALITY

There was no one in the world quite like Sir Harry Preston, who hai died at Brighton, aged seventy-six, say* the "Daily Telegraph." r His personality was unique. By some strange magnetism he attracted peoplo who were famous in all walks of life, and his friendships were numbered in thousands. Hotelkeeper. sportsman, and. above all, a lover of .boxing, he was a host whose cheerful demeanour was always the same. . . . ■ . A friend of princes, peers. Cabinet! Ministers, politicians, writers, artists, actors, millionaires, lawyers, and. Nt fact, of all sections of the community, he held his court, and always the background was Brighton. When King Edward.was Prince oS Wales Sir Harry met him several times. On one occasion he asked the Pnnca if he would dine with him before going to a fight at.the Albert .Hall. The reply was.in the negative, but i as-ait alternative Sir Harry was asked to dine at St. James's Palace. This placed him in a difficulty, for;he. had alreadyarranged to entertain fourteen guests. The Prince solved the difficulty at once. "Bring them with you, n* commanded. ." , - «,«,.• Sir Harry Preston in his youth was a pupil teacher at Lewisham for what he described as.the three longest years of his life. Then he became.a,xlerie in a shipping office.- and the job. -to said, was tolerable only because his visits to the docks opened;, up visions of adventure, and his evenings; were free for the excitement of the ■ boxing ring. ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■•'■'. ' '!- A TAVERN LANDLORD. He learned boxing, and the .know* ledge stood him in good stead when.h» became the landlord of a p Londoa tavern and organised "scraps •£> '«*• back room while the police walked u> tocently past the respectable > portals. He knew practically al the -greatt boxers of the last half-century.- and ha critically compared the^ mm*. ofm« like Jack Johnson, Jimmy Wiae, Jtamy priscoll. Jack .Dempsey,, Fran* Moran, Langford. - Beckett, Sharkey. Jeffries, Fitzsimmons. Carpentier. and T BnuTh'e was equally conversant withi achievements in other directions. He had cycled on "penny-farthings .with, record beaters, and bought one,of the 'first motor-cars to be made in this C°He tr arranged Brighton's Erst ; motoi-» race, and remembered Sir Malcolm Campbell when that great driver used racing cars at Brooklands wi,th wooden; wheels that had to have a P"j£« water thrown over : them between "hl'knew most of the pioneer flying men, and went for nights -with •■ Gustav Hamel and Grahame' White. At Bournemouth he managed his firVt hotel. One of his p»d»<wU Marconi, then a-young .man who had come to England in order to begin m earnest his experiments ™^ ; ™j£g* Afterwards Sir Harry settled in Brigl*. ton. •' ••. ■ • WOEK FOR CHABIX¥. During the war. as well as in.recent years. Sir Harry raised many thousands of pounds for the Brighton and local hospitals and for distressed soldiers By means of his annual boxing tournaments and other gatherings he collected an immense sum for tha SUsiex and other charities. It was to recognise Sir,Harry> services to sport and philanthropy that ml 1927 more than a hundred friends gave him a dinner. He. was also. presented! with a silver salver having'a. liost o3 interesting autographs engraved on '.it, that of the present King, then Print* of Wales, being in the centre. Sir Harry married twice, and:hn^fe one daughter by each marriage.