THE EGMONT EARLDOM

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1929, Page 18

THE EGMONT EARLDOM

CLAIM BY LONDON BAKER. SON OF NEW ZEALAND SETTLER. (Auckland Herald Correspondent.) London, May 28. Mr. James William Perceval, a 65-year-old baker, of Hornsey, North London, whose father and unde went to New Zealand in 1852, is reported to be making a claim to the Earldom of Egmoent. He alleges that the earldom has been in wrong hands since 1897. Th f i ninth' earl died last January, and i;\ March a distaui kinsman, Mr. Frederick Perceval, for 25 years a Canadian rancher, returned to England as the heir. Mr. J. W. Perceval, the claimant, elates that he is the son of Augustus George Perceval, son of the sixth ear! He has been legally advised that if thie can be proved he should have been the eighth earl and ought to have succeeded to the title in 1897. If his claim is upheld it will mean, therefore, that the eighth Earl of Egmont, who died in 1910, and the ninth earl, who died last January, had no right to the title, which enabled them to sit and vote in the House of Lords, nor to Avon Castle and estate, near Ringwood, Hampshire. It will mean, also, that the “Rancher Earl” is not entitled to be called “Earl of Egmont, Baron Perceval, Baron Arden, Baron-Lovel and Holland, and Sir Frederick Perceval, baronet.” His 14-year-old son will not be entitled to be known as Viscount Perceval. It is understood that the present holder of the title has not yet received any money from the estate, and that it is unlikely that anything will be done until the question of the claim is settled.

MR. PERCEVAL’S STATEMENT.

Mr. Perceval gives the following statement in support of his claim: —‘Tn 1852 Augustus George and Charles John, first and second sons of Arthur Phillip, brother of the then earl, went to .New Zealand, and met on their voyage two sisters, whom they married. In 1863 Augustus George returned to England with his wife. He returned to Australia the same year, leaving his wife in England. The family gave his wife money to go after him. She went to Sydney, where 1 was born. My father told me the date was December 11, 1863. After my birth she found her husband, and, as he refused to leave a Woman with whom he had gone away, handed me over to him She returned to Sydney, where she died on March 27. 1873.

“Lu 1875 we three came to England, my father and the woman being married on the way in Sydney, at St Phillip's Church. We reached England on June 25. 1875. My father took a house at 109. Finborough Road, Kensington. Afterwards we moved to Langfords, known as the White House, at Buckhurst Hill Essex. “About JS7B we moved to Bournemouth. Three or four years later we returned tn London. While living there —at Clapham—l went to King’s College, Strand, in the name of James William Perceval. I was taken away from King's College because Augustus Arthur, who was afterwards earl, was at the fire brigade headquarters and used to visit me too often.

“At the age of 18 I was apprenticed to a pastry cook and confectioner, E. Cress well, of Park Street, Camden Town, in'the name of James William Offley (the name of his Australian nurse). I served less than two years because the firm changed hands. When I was unemployed 1 went back to live with my father at Clapham. A few years later Augustus George and Margaret Amelia Perceval moved to Denmark Villas, Hoves. where my fatl. r died on August 19, 1896. 1 used to stay with them at this address for long periods.”

SON TAKES UP THE claim.

It is understood that the whole matter of prosecuting the claim of Mr. James William Perceval to the cparldom of Egmont is in the hands ot his son, Mr. "Augustus William Perceval, who lives at Ferrestone Road, Hornsey, North London. Mrs. Augustus William Perceval, the claimant’s daughter-in-law, said in an interview that her husband was very busy trying to establish his father s claim. She continued: —“My father-in-

Jaw has been a baker for many, years, and he feels that all the bother of this thing is too much for him at his age, so my husband is in charge of the matter. The claim was first advanced in 1907, but the solicitors advised my father-in-law to await a more opportune time. He took it that that would be when the earl died. He is very sanguine of being able to prove his claim, but this mainly depends on his birth certificate being found, and a search for it is being made in Australia, where he was born.”

A further grant in respect of settled land valued at £61,265 has been issued in connection with the estate of Charles John, ninth Earl of Egmont. He died on January 10 last, leaving unsettled property of the gross value of £61,152. The total value of the property passing at his death therefore amounts to £122,417.