LANDLADY’S LUCK

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21394, 11 July 1939, Page 7

LANDLADY’S LUCK

WEALTHY LODGER LEAVES UNUSUAL WILL By a will written on a page from an exercise book. Captain Harold Charles Cavendish Fitzroy, a relative of the Duke of Grafton and a cousin of the Speaker of the House of Commons, left all his property to his landlady, Mrs Mary Brassington. a widow, states the News of the World. He died in her arms in the boarding house in Southend. where he had lived for the past 14 years, after Mrs Brassington had found him gasping on the floor. A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Fitzroy died from heart failure, following acute bronchitis, Consequently it was not necessary to hold an inquest. Document Produced After Mr Fitzroy’s death Mrs Brassington produced a document dated August 28, 1928. which she understood was his will. This stated: "... 1 hereby bequeath and leave the whole of my personal property and effects, and any money due to me in Barclays Bank. Southend, to Mary Brassington, widow of Henry Brassington, late of the Royal Navy, it being understood that Mary Brassington. at my death, communicates the same to my solicitors, whom I hold responsible to pay ray funeral expenses, the same to be as little as possible. I hereby revoke all former wills and do the same in grateful thanks to my landlady.” The estate, it is understood, includes 6000 £1 shares in the Gas Light and Coke Company, which produce an income of £6 a week. Mr Fitzroy had been living on the interest of a marriage settlement and from a portion of his sister's estate. The latter, it is understood, will pass to his two children. Mr Charles Cavendish Fitzroy, who is on business abroad, and Miss Mary Georgina Anne Fitzroy. who lives at Harrow. After Mr Fitzroy’s death Mrs Brassington said: “I have last the best friend a woman ever had. He first stayed with me when we lived a* Westcliff, and then came here with us. He became one of the family. The garden and his political work for the Junior Imperial League were his principal occupations.” Mr Fitzroy was at one time a lieutenant in the Durham Light Intan'ry and when he was 22 he married Miss Eliza Mary Butt, who died in 1924. In his youth he was one of the “bloods” of the West End of London, driving his own four-in-hand, and a member of the best society. During the Great War he served as a private in a cavalry regiment.