PAUPER BARONET

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 147, 7 June 1932, Page 3

PAUPER BARONET

LIVING ON THE DOLE. MANY OFFERS OF MARRIAGE. Sir James Alexander Russel Murray, aged 57, Scottish baronet, and count of the Austrian Empire, has notified the Southampton labour exchange that he intends to apply for admission to the workhouse unless he obtains unemployment pay or work. Sir James, who is the thirteenth baronet, and a descendant of the Murrays of Philiphaugh, is living in an upstairs room of a house in the poorer quarter of Southampton. It is more than two years since he had regular employment. Since then he has been known as Southampton’s baronet on the dole. Last year the story of Sir James was told in a London newspaper, and the publicity given to him on that occasion brought him a number of letters from all parts of the world. “I had thirty-three offers of marriage,” he said. ‘‘One of them from a wealthy American woman staying at Brighton. I was unable to accept any of these offers because I am already married and have grown-up children. “The best offer I had was from a woman in Cannes, who volunteered to keep me if I would manage her estate and mimosa plantation in the south of France. I went there and worked for six months. She told mo that because of taxation and the fall in the value of the English pound, she was unable to carry on. I was sacked ” After he returned to England, Sir James spent two weeks in London living in a shilling-a-night lodging house. He came to Southampton early in April, and since then has not received any money from the labour exchange.

“On Friday,” he said, “there will bo three weeks’ money due to me. That is £2 5s 9d—not a big sum. but to a man like myself who pays sixpence for the only meat meal he has each day, it is great wealth. “So far I have existed on loans from friends, but now those loans are taking on the nature of gifts, and I have exhausted my friends. I can do no more. I am at the end of my tether.”