The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1923. A TALE OF MILLIONS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 98, 30 August 1923, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1923. A TALE OF MILLIONS.

A romantic story is involved in the statement recently cabled from London that a mass meeting of claimants to the Fazackerley millions was to be held at Preston (Laucasshire). The estate is now reported to be worth many millions, and it is understood there are claimants from , America, Australia, and New Zealand. Thus for the second time inj twenty-flve years a family of man;

branches will hold a meeting in Preston, Lancashire, the town of its origin, to decide what might be done to release a fortune of millions of pounds from Chancery, where it has been for close on thirty years. During that time no heirs have had possession of it, and lack of funds and unity have prevented the family taking the matter to the courts 'of England for a decision. The story of the Fazackerley fortune seems like a great romance and, indeed, like many true stories, it is stranger | than fiction. It was pride that brought about an alienation of two brothers, and the quarrel v/hich later took place was the real reason why the rightful heirs never inherited a for- 1 tune which would have kept many families in affluence for any length of time. Mr Thomas Fazackerley, of Riccarton, who was present at I the previous meeting of claimants I gave a Christchurch pressman some | facts regarding the fortune. Nicholas Fazackerley was born towards the end of the seventeenth century, and about 1730 he was Lord Mayor of London. Later, he was elected to the House of Commons as member for Preston, and, in the end, his public life was crowned by a knighthood. He was a lucky man, and he was possessed of a Midas quality, for every venture he embarked upon in commerce or otherwise was successful. His uncle and godfather left him a fortune of one million and a-half, this coming under his control a the age of 21. From that f time on it multiplied until his death. The heart of the city of Liverpool belonged to him, and that part of the town known as Fazackerley still belongs to the estate, and yields enormous revenue. Large portions of London streets also belonged to him, and still the rents are pouring into the estate, but nobody is getting any benefit from the revenue now,

and all because of a quarrel between the brothers almost two csntur ies ago. Nicholas, the elder, was fabulously rich, but the other, a farmer of Preston, though comfortable, was not affluent. He had little to do with Nicholas because he was conscious of a gulf between them, and he felt that he could not accept a friendship which had a savour of patronage about It. Nicholas married a young country woman named Ratiiffe, but had no family, and on his death-bed he asked for his brother, who was the only blood relation he had left. It was then his intention to leave his fortune to his brother and his children, but Fate made the wheel spin another way. The brother, feeling that Nicholas should have made overtures to him sooner, in a message to the dying man said: “So long I have done without you I need no helping now.’’ Enraged at this, Nicholas made a new will, in which he left his fortune to the Ratiiffe family as long as it existed. The fortune descended through the Ratiiffe family, but about 30 years ago that family became extinct, and nobody knows now who the next heir should be. The last Ratiiffe to hold the money died 30 years ago, and as he approached the end he tried to get the estate settled, but was unable to do so.