LLOYD GEORGE'S NEW HOME

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 12 January 1921, Page 7

LLOYD GEORGE'S NEW HOME

HISTORIC MANSION HANDED TO NATION VALUE OF £350,000 Lord and Lady Lee have offered ■ to transfer Chequers Court to the nation forthwith instead of on the death of the survivor of them, as provided by the trust deed execut- ■ cd on July 11, 1917. Under the latter Chequers Court, with the contents and certain endowments, was to be transferred to the nation as a permanent home for the Prime Minister for the time being, subject, however, to a condition That the donors were to be entitled to the use of the property during their joint lives and the life of the survivor. This condition has nuw been withdrawn, and the trustees, who include the Prime Minister, Lord Curzon, the Lord Chief Justice, and Mr Austen Chamberlain, have accepted the gift. Lord Lee met them at 10 Downing Street, and explained that he wished the transfer to take effect frorm January 1, 1921. In thanking him for his gift, the trustees asked him to convey their thanks and appreciation to . Lady Lee for her part in the matter. Thus, for the first time in history, the Prime Minister of Great Britain will have an official country home, where lie can entertain foreign Ministers and others requiring Government hospitality. The contents of the house go with it. They comprise, in addition to the furniture, a collection of Cromwelliam portraits and relics; a handsome library of valuable books, chiefly of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and mostly in their original bindings; a collection of pictures by various masters; and a number of papers and manuscripts of historical interest, British and foreign. It is a unique gift, and one of the most generous national benefactions which have been made. The total value is probably about £350,000, for in addition to the valuable house and furniture, Lord and Lady Lee are transferring investments which will provide sufficient income to keep up the place, cover the cost of a permanent nucleus staff of servants, and a residential allowance for the official occupant. Provision is also made for the maintenance of the estate as a model or experimental farm under the Board of Agriculture. Chequers Court is a, lovely old house, situated in Buckinghamshire, and is less than forty miles from Downing street. It has been restored by Lord Lee with great judgment, and is furnished appropriately. Commanding some of the best views and the purest air on the Chilterns, the mansion is partly of Tudor and partly of Elizabethan origin. It was for years the home of descendants in the female line of Oliver Cromwell, and when Lord Lee was carrying out the restorations he came across the death mask of Cromwell hidden in an aperture in one of the walls. The house is not without modern conveniences. Amongst other things, it contains a wonderful electric pianola, which reproduces music as played by great pianists—Paderewski, Pachmann, etc. Lord Lee has had a remarkable career. He is the son of a clergyman. For twelve years he served as an officer in the Royal Artillery, and was professor of strategy at the Royal Military College in Canada for five years. He sat in the House of Commons for eighteen years, and during the war helped Mr Lloyd George at the Ministry of Munitions, and subsequently was a great success as Director-General of Food Production. He is now Minister of Agriculture, and during his occupancy of this post has carried out much-needed reforms. Lady Lee is an American.