PEERAGE AND £6,000,000 CLAIMED BY EDITOR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3711, 21 December 1912, Page 4

PEERAGE AND £6,000,000 CLAIMED BY EDITOR.

ROMANCE OF NEWBURGH EARLDOM.

Mr Wynford Berkeley, who is now quietly engaged in literary work at New Makion, Surrey, after a varied and busy life ranging from work in a cotton mill at the age of nine to tho editorship of several newspapers, is the latest claimant to the earldom of Newburgh and the Eyre estates in Derbyshire, which are said to be worth £6,000,000. Steps are being taken to establish his claim in the High Court.

His mother was, before marriage, a Miss Eyre. He was born at Hollinwood, near Oldham, in the humble home of cotton spinners, and began his career as a “half-timer.” "When the mill closed he was employed in the gas and water department of the Oldham Corporation, contributed to various newspapers, and "acted as Liberal registration agent for the Clitheroo Division. He also turned his mind to inventions, and perfected a. railway signalling apparatus which was used on the Great Northern. Railway and the State Railways of Austria.. Later Be became editor of newspapers in Lincolnshire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire.

“The pedigree of the Eyre family which I have in my possessions covers several centuries, and clearly supports my claim,” he said recently. “I have also statements by members of the family and by old residents and neighbors of my late grandfather, Thomas Eyre, all of whom remembered him visiting the Earl of Newburgh at Hassop Hall and hearing him addressed bv tlie earl as his cousin. They also declare that they heard the earl say that ho must prepare himself for the important position as head of the family which some day he would be called upon to fill. My grandfather, however, died before the earl, and his son, Thomas William Eyre, also died before he had an opportunity of asserting his claim. His widow retained possession of all his papers relating to tho claim, but when she died they got into other hands, and it was not until forty years afterwards that I became aware of my connection with the famlly“When this was first suggested to me I and a cousin made a most exhaustive enquiry int-o the whole affair, and it occupied us many years and caused us to travel about tho country many thousands of miles before I felt myself in a position to lay claim to the ’title. One of the most valuable things wo discovered was an old pocket-book of my grandfather s, full of notes about visits he had made to relatives in Derbyshire and \qrkshire, and containing many particulars of the family pedigree We discovered indisputable' evidence that, brought down the family connection of tho Eyres of Hassop to my mother’s brother, Thomas William Eyre, of HollinwoocL and we have secured counsel’s opinion as to our family being the rightful heirs. In the Failsworth district we found a number of old people vho knew my grandfather and his father. George Eyre, well, and I got them to tell their' story in the. presence of a country magistrate, who signed then statements. One of these statements was as follows: • T lived next, door to Thomas Eyre for many- years. I remember him saying ho was related to a loicl. I also remember him going to Derbyshire to see him. He came back in very high spirits, and said he would he very well off some time. He talked so much about the affair that the neitxhb-ors began to call him the Earl of Newburgh.’ ” Mr Berkeley will shortly commence proceedings in the Courts to assort Tils claim.