HOLLOWAY AS A PHILANTHROPIST

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 779, 15 October 1873, Page 3

HOLLOWAY AS A PHILANTHROPIST

Once upon a time, as the story-bo >k* say, a poor lad ent' red the service of an old gentlemau, who, dying, bequealhed the la I a couple of recipes for the manufacture of some harmless pills and possibly soothing ointment. By dint of energetic pushing in the first instance, and of unlimited advertising afterwards, these medicines came into repute all over the world The proprietor of them accumulated tens of thousands of pounds, hundreds of thousands of pounds, and ultimately millions. He purchased the magnificent estate ofTottenhurst Park,in Berkshire, collected a supurb gallery of pictures, and lived en qrand seigneur. Two years ago he resolved to devote the bulk of his fortune to charitable purposes, and, concealing his name, advertised in the I uglish papers for infoimation and suggestions as to the most judicious method of expending money for a benevolent purpose. As a matter <f course, an avalanche of begging letters descended upon him, but many sensible and practical communications were also received. From these he learned that one of the most pressing necessities of the United Kingdom was a lunatic asylum for the middle classes. Accordingly he devoted £IOO,OOO to the erection of an institution of this kind upon his own estate in the immediate vicinity of the well known Virginian Water. The structure is now approaching completion, and as the founder visited most of the asylums in Great Britain before deciding upon his plans, and consulted all the best authorities on the subject, it is believed that the new establishment will be one of the most perfect of the kind in the Mother country; while it is said that many of the improvements intioduced are likely to be copied by the Government in the national asylums. Numerous other schemes, each of which will involve the outlay of what most persons would regard as a princeiy fortune, are being unostentatiously proceeded with by the philanthropist referred to, who, having neither wile or child, and being sixty years of age, is preparing to divest himself of the whole of his accumulations, amounting, it is said, to upwards often millions sterling, before death steps in and taker him from them. Hence his name will be associated with the names of the three Americans—Ezra Cornell, George Peabody, and Peter Coopereach of whom did likewise. Most of his time is stated to be devoted to works of benevolence, and' the shrewdness of his business habits enables him to baffle, in most cases, the designs of impostors. His name will be easily remembered by his countrymen, for it is the familiar one of Thomas Holloway.— Argus.