THE POTATO KING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16608, 4 December 1919, Page 4

THE POTATO KING.

A ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY. The greatest potato farming industry in this country—behind which lies tho romantic story of a farm labourer's rise to fame—lias been sold, it is stated, to a City of Loudon firm for a sum bordering upon £2,000,000, says the Daily News, Tho business is that of Messrs. AV. Dennis and Sons, the great Lincolnshire and Covcnt Garden firm of potato growers and dealers. Tho firm owns or farms more than 10,000 acres, and tho sale is described as tho largest agricultural transfer ever made in tills country. The purchasers, it is stated, intend to form a public company to run the business, and that some members of tiio Dennis family will remain identified with it as managers. The head of the firm is Air. AVilliam Dennis, whoso life reads like a fairy tale. Sixty years ago ho riddled potatoes on a Lincolnshire farm at less than £1 a week. In tho introval, with tho help of his sons, he has amassed probably a greater fortune than any farmer in the British Isles has ever done.

Bom at Horsington, Lincolnshire, in 1841, Mr. Dennis was engaged from boyhood in various capacities on a farm, and then became agent to an oldestablished Lotaion firm of potato merchants. In 1870 he began to buy and occupy freehold land, and, appreciating the possibilities of the rich soil of the district, he made potato growing his specialty. Ten years later, with the help of his son, Mr. Joseph Dennis, ho opened a wholesale dealer's business at King’s Cross Potato Market, and subsequently established branches at Coven t Garden and Leicester.

During tho eighties he bought up several farms as they came into the market, and in 1909 the family owned approximately 4000 acres. In 1907 the trading and farming interests of the firm were converted into a private limited liability company, tho directors and shareholders consisting of Mr. Dennis and his five sons.