LARGE SUM FOR CHARITY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 222, 20 August 1931, Page 12

LARGE SUM FOR CHARITY.

BLIND HERMIT’S FORTUNE. LONELY PATHETIC FIGURE. Mr Morris Lyon, the blind silversmith hermit of Holborn, London, who for the last six years lived above his shuttered and closed shop, attended by two faithful old servants, has left £IOO,OOO, most of which is ultimately destined for charitable purposes. At one time the friend of judges and famous K.C.’s, Mr Lyon was in his last days a lonely, pathetic figure. For more than sixty years, with the help of his brother and five sisters, he worked hard, and by his skill and industry amassed a fortune. He has directed that a large portion of this fortune shall be devoted to the building and maintenance of a convalescent home, which shall be known as the Morris and Samuel Lyon Home.

A sum of money has been set aside for the purchase of a piece of land, the will stipulating that it must he wuthin a radius of thirty miles from the Mansion House. Thousands of pounds have been bequeathed to various hospitals for immediate use. Mr Lyon, after he became blind, lived a life of the greatest frugality, denying himself the comforts that a man of his position might enjoy in his old age. Often his friends had pressed him to move from the rooms above his shop, and then, when he went blind, they tried to make him buy a motor car.

But old Mr Morris Lyon was steadfast in his aim; he would not even go away for a holiday. He was not a miser, but the sorrow of blindness had changed his outlook on life, and he vowed that he would save every penny, so that when he died his money should go to aid those men and women who were not blessed with the fortune of good health. Mr Lyon used to wear a valuable pair of cuff-links. Just before his death he broke them. He went into the street and bought another pair for sixpence, saying to his old servant, “They will be good enough for me now.”

The deceased was the last of his line except for. two nephews. They devoted themselves to him in his old age Every day they visited the shop, and did everything they could for him. He has remembered their help and bequeathed to them certain life interests.

Two old servants, who served him faithfully for more than twenty years have not been forgotten. They, too’ have been left life interests, which at their deaths will pass on to charitable objects. The shop and premises worth many thousands of pounds are to be sold. ’

“Mr Lyon was a great character and a great man,” said Mr L. Nordon one of the executors. “We were friends for many, years, and in memory of that friendship he appointed me an executor and left me a legacy.”