CLAIM TO MILLIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3803, 1 February 1927, Page 54

CLAIM TO MILLIONS.

OLD ENGLISH ESTATE. CHRISTCHURCH FAMILY'S BELIEF. CHRISTCHURCH, January 29. It seldom happens that a claim to a large estate is made after over 100 years have elapsed, but such a claim is actually being made by a Christchurch family. The interested persons believe they are entitled to valuable estates in Liverpool, estimated to be worth about £20,000,000. So hopeful are the claimants of success that two of them, father and son, will shortly embark for England in order to. be personally represented in contesting the claim at law. In the event of the case going in favour cf the claimants the following will be the beneficiaries:—John Tabley, civil servant, 383 Worcester street, Linwood; Henry Tabley, civil servant, 611 Worcester street, Linwood; James Tabley, tanner, Ollivier’s road, Linwood; Mrs M. Sfiaw, Hillview street, Linwood. In an interview to-day Messrs R. P. and L. E. Tabley, sons of Mr John Tabley, said that in the first instance the information with reference to the claim was received from an indirect source. They learned that a man named Horrocks in Australia had gone to England making claim to a share of the estates. The income from the estates was about £1,000,600 per annum. They got the first clue through the name Tabley, and the estates now being claimed were the Tabley estates. Horrocks had spent two years in England, and collected hundreds of documents by which to prove his claim. The’ sons had been appointed to deal with the claim on behalf of the Tableys. .If the claim were successful the father would get the estate, and they would all benefit in equal shares. The only other Tableys known to the beneficiaries were in Australia, and were related to the claimants. Their information was based on the' facts collected from Horrocks’s documents. Solicitors in high standing in London had advised that the properties were subject to long leases, and the Statute of Limitations would not bar the true owner during the term of these leases. Horrocks was prepared to spend up to £20,000 to establish his claim of one-fifth. An interesting fact was that Horrocks’s own solicitors had advised him to drop his claim and spend his money in helping to establish Tabley’s claim. The claim for the estates was arousing great public interest in Lancashire. The estates comprise in all 27, situated in Lancashire (Liverpool, Wigan, and the adjacent districts), estimated to be producing an income of over £1,000,000 per annum. In 1335 most of the property was in the possession of the Crown, and was granted by Edward 111 to Gilbert Ford. Subsequently other portions of the estates now claimed were granted to this person by Henry VIII, and until 1772 the descendants of Gilbert Ford held these estates. At this time Robert Ford died, leaving the property to two sons, William and Edward. The property accrued to William Ford by survivorship, and he died on October 22, 1801. John Tabley was the heir at law, being first cousin to William Ford, and nephew of Robert Ford, but by means of a forged will Christopher Mottler obtained possession in 1801. A portion- of the estates were sold by Mottler in 1801 to Robert Marsden, against whom in 1807 John Tabley successfully brought in an action for ejectment. Shortly afterwards John Tabley was forcibly dispossessed of the property, and it was from this John Tabley that the present claimants considered they were descendants and the persons now entitled to these estates as heirs at law.