WEALTHY CLIPPENS ESTATE

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

WEALTHY CLIPPENS ESTATE

QUEST OF DUNEDIN CLAIMANT. FORTUNE AMASSED IN INDIA. William McLachlan, one of the “red caps” authorised for luggage work on the Dunedin railway station, has come back from the Old Country. He undertook the trip in support of the claim of his father, Jahn Cochrane McLachlan, to be sole next-of-kin to Dr. Peter Cochrane and his son Peter Cochrane, and as such entitled to the Clippens Estate. Another voyage to the Homeland will be commenced in November next year by Mr. W. McLachlan for the purpose of further pursuing what is necessarily a protracted claim. The estate of Clippens, near Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, belonged to the Cochranes for 200 or 300 years- In or about 1670 it was occupied by Hugh Cochrane, who married his cousin, Margaret Cochrane, in 1673. They had four children —Hugh, John, Robert, and Elizabeth. Hugh had as lawful issue two sons, Hugh and John. This Hugh did not marry. John married and had two children—Joan, who died without issue, and ■ Peter, who became a doctor and married Margaret Douglas Fearon, who bore two sons, Peter and John. The John who was the son of the original Hugh Cochrane had two sons, Patrick and Hugh. Patrick’s only grandchild died without issue. Hugh, the brother of Patrick, was the uncle of Dr. Cochrane. This Hugh, who became a sergeant in the Scots Greys, had o:t-.- daughter Helen, who married James Glen. Their two sons died unmarried; their daughter Janet married Archibald McLachlan, who died in America. To the McLachlans two children were born, John and Janet. Janet died unmarried. John married Rosina Simpson, and they had one son, John Cochrane McLachlan, who is now alive and claims to be the only direct descendant of the' whole line covering a period of 256 years. DR. COCHRANE’S WEALTH. The Clippens’ case came into prominence after the death of Dr. Peter Cochrane, who retired from the membership of the First East India Medical Board. He went to India when quite -young, became very wealthy, and returned to Scotland. About 1808 he married Margaret Douglas Fearon and built the new Clippens mansion. He died in 1831 before his sons, Peter and John, were twenty-one years of age. The estate consisted of the mansion and grounds and farms of Clippens and other lands and freeholds, including a Louse in Calcutta. The clear residue of the personal estate in annuities was £147,163 13s 2d, beside a reserve of Sicca rupees in India and smaller sums. Several claimants arose and made application under the ruling of the English law, and it was during the application of one named James Lord that the Vice-Chancel-I lor gave a ruling to the effect that Dr. Cochrane and his son Peter were domiciled in Scotland, and that the will should be interpreted under the rules of the Scottish Court. As a result, fresh claimants appeared, but m 1863 the proper Commisjarv Court of Scotland found that John McLachlan, son of: Janet McLachlan, was next of kin to Peter Cochrane, and he was, therefore, appointed heir-at-law. f This John McLachlan, an umbrella maker, had one son, John Cochrane McLachlan, the present claimant. His father before dying in August, 1883, instructed him to take up the. claim. He did so to the extent of making some inquiries, and was told to apply, a step that he did not take at the time because of the possibility of costs which he thought would .be beydnd his means. He came to New Zealand in 1904 with his wife and two sons, one of whom is the “red cap” now intervening on bis aged father’s behalf.