Duke’s Fortune

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 159, 8 July 1938, Page 10

Duke’s Fortune

£1,000,000 SAVED FOR HEIRS LONDON, June 1«. The ninth Duke of Devonshire whose £112,000 will has just been published, saved his heirs more than £1,000,000 in death duties. This great sum is lost to the Exchequer, which, receives only about £27,000 under the will, because 32 years ago the duke turned his estates into a company. At that time he was a millionaire, with seats at Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, Bolton Abbey, Lismore Castle, Waterford, and other places. Tho estates comprised about 190,000 acres. The Chatsworth Estates Company, wheih was formed on October 26, 192 r >, had a nominal share capital of £2,300,000 in £1 shares (300,000 pre ferenco and 2,000,000 ordinary). Tho directors were the Duke of Devonshire (permanent governing director and chairman), his heir, the Marquess of Hartington (now the 10th duke), and Mr. U. B. Burke, land agent, of Bakcwell, Derbyshire. The objects of tho company were defined as "the acquisition of lands, buildings, etc., to carry on i arming, quarrying, mining, and selling timber, to manago lands, buildings, and other property, etc."