AN EARL'S BOUNTY

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12076, 2 March 1925, Page 8

AN EARL'S BOUNTY

GIFTS TO HIS MISTRESS WOMAN RECEIVED PRESENT OF FOURTEEN RACEHORSES. £IOOO A YEAR “PIN MONEY.” By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, February 27. Itttereting revelations were .made in the Chancery Court, when Mrs Brownlee claimed £19,471 from the late Earl of'Shrewsbury’s estate, a claim which | the present! Bari, the deceased’s grandeon, is resisting. - Counsel said that Mrs Brownlee met the deceased Earl in 1908,- when she was 19 years old. Soon afterwards she lived under his protection, the relationship continuing till the; Earl died in 1921. He gave her an allowance 'of £IOOO, a year, and made‘a will in 1920 leaving her the whole residue of his estate. A probate action on that issue was heard in 1922, and resulted in a settlement by agreement, but the terms were unaffected, by debts due. The claim originally totalled £30,000, but the plaintiff was not pressing her plaims s for £II,OOO for bets made for the deceased Earl. The present claim involves < 407 items, including household expenses and the salaries of her lady companions. Mr Justice Lawrence said that he thought Mrs Brownlee had an allowance of £IOOO a Counsel ‘ said t it was only pin money. The amount of £13,700 of the claim concerned a string of iU*|Horses which the Earl gave her m 1919, undertaking to_pay for their training and upkeep. The parties consulted, hut failed to reach a settlement. NEyER MARRIED. ' Mrs Brownlee, when admitted that they never had married, and she hadn’t an ITiOine when she first began to live with the Earl. The means she had since acquired had been through his bounty. The Ear] had “presented- her with 14 horses, and promised to pay all expenses. A number of. the horses had been sold, and the whole of the proceeds of the sale went to pay entrance, jockeys’ fees, and other expenses. : Robert Sjevier, in evidence, said that the Earl arranged that he should train for A(rs Brownlee, who wijuld race in her own name and colours, and that the Earl should be responsible.. PRESENT EARL AN INFANT. , The Judge at one stage reproved Sievier, and asked him. to apologise for his impertinence to counsel. •- - A± -the conclusion of. the: evidence the Judge pointed out that he was acting on behalf of an infant' whose interest in the case should be settled. He did not desire to put pressure ' on • Mrs Brownlee, but he could and would if necessary. v 1 The case was adjourned- till Tuesday, when the Judge-will meet the parties privately to hear the result of efforts to effect a settlement. . The present Earl of Shrewsbury is 10 years of age; he-is agodson of King George and The earldom was created in 1442.