UNUSUAL FORTUNE

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1936, Page 9

UNUSUAL FORTUNE

TIRED OF MONEY. Three men in Sussex have to carry out a difficult task in distributing £20,000, representing part of a surprising fortune. They are Messrs. Leslie Charles Wintie. of Gildredge Road, Eastborne, solicitor; Lionel Hanson, of Wellcombe Cottage, ’ Willingdon, Sussex; and Charles Thomas, of Eastbourne, the executors under the will of Mr. Caleb Diplock, of South Down Hall, Polegate, Sussex, who died on March 23 at the age of 95. To the astonishment of the district, Mr. Diplock left estate worth altogether £527,936, with net personalty £507,229. On this estate duty of £178,587 has been paid. He left £20,000 for distribution among such hospitals, homes and institutions as his executors may select for soldiers disabled in the war; £5OOO to the Princess Alice Memorial Hospital, Eastbourne; £5OOO each to the executors; £5OO to Ada Calder; £lOO to his gardener. George Page; £5O to his cook, Bertha Andrews; £5 to bis housemaid, Winifred Venns.

The residue, which is expected to amount to £250,000, Mr. Diplock left “for such charitable institutions or objects in England as his executive may select.”

Mr. Diplock, a confirmed bachelor, inherited wealth from his father, who owned a brewery at Eastbourne, and other property. More money came to him when his father and sister died.

He had no near relations, being the last survivor of three brothers. For 10 years he had been an invalid.

A shrewd business man, he invested his capital in house property, and did well out of the post-war boom.

He was once chairman of Eastbourne Gas Company, and the story runs that, when he took office he changed the day of the company’s meetings so that he could get a cheap rail ticket from Polegate. The executors have already received applications from charities in all parts of the country for a share of the estate.

Mr. Wintie, one of the three executors, stated: “In deciding what to do with the money I expect we shall first consider Eastbourne charities, then Sussex charities, and the balance will be used for other charities. “Our first scheme will probably be to build a number of almshouses at Polegate and endow them.

“In recent years Mr. Diplock had had not the slightest concern for money. I think be had grown rather tired of it. It has been said he left the disposition of it to executors because he did not know how to do it himself.

“His huge fortune arose because he had an income of £15,000 a year, and he lived only at the rate of one or two thousand.”