STEEL TURNS TO GOLD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 419, 10 November 1930, Page 9

STEEL TURNS TO GOLD

FORTUNE OF £55,000,000 MR HENRY PHIPPS’ ESTATE FORMER PARTNER OF CARNEGIE The Hon. Mrs F. R. Guest, wife of Captain the Hon. F. E. Guest —former British Air Minister, a brother of Lord Wimbourne, and cousin of Mr Winston Churchill—will, it is expected, inherit an immense fortune under the will of her father, Mr Henry Phipps, the American multi-millionaire, whose death was reported recently. More millions will be distributed than any individual estate has ever yielded before, says tho Daily Express. A preliminary estimate puts the value of the Phipps estate at £55,000,000. Another heiress under tho will is expected to be Mrs Guest’s sister, Helen, who married Mr J. Bradley Martin, the New York banker. Mr Bradley Martin is- a frequent visitor to Great Britain, and brother of the Countess Craven. The Bradley Martin-Phipps wedding, at Beaufort Castle, Beauly, Inverness, was a famous social event of 1903. Two sons of Mr Henry Phipps are as well known in London social life as in New York. Mr John 8. Phipps, the eldest son, married Miss Margarita Grace, whose father, Mr Michael Grace, was born in Ireland, won a fortune in Peru, and for many years lived at Battle Abbey, Sussex. Mr John 8. Phipps was married at Battle Abbey. Mrs John S. Phipps is u sister of the Countess Donoughmore, whoso husband, Earl Donoughmore, is deputy-chairman of the House of Lords and chairman of its committees. Another son, Mr H. Carnegie Phipps, married Miss Gladys Mills, who has marriage relationships with the Caven-dish-Bentincks, the Duke of Portland’s family. He has spent much of his life in Scotland, where he rented the sporting estates of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. Mr Henry Phipps was tho partner of the late Andrew Carnegie. Mr Carnegie devoted £70,000,000 to public purposes during his life and loft £7,000,000 at his death. Mr Phipps made lavish gifts during his life, but died with the bulk of his fortune intact. These two giants of the American steel industry lived parallel lives. Carnegie was a poor Scots boy, and Phipps was the poor son of an English shoemaker who settled in Philadelphia. Carnegie became an errand boy and Phipps an office boy. Both turned their thoughts to develop the steel industry, and both turned steel into gold. While Mr Carnegie in later life dispensed lavish hospitality at Skibo Castle, Mr Phipps lived like a prince in the neighbouring Beaufort Castle, which he rented from. Lord Lovat. He frequently stayed in London and at Knebworth, which he rented from Lord Lytton. The nearest approach to an estate of £55,000,000 is tho £38,000,000 estate of Mr H. P. Whitney, who died two years ago. Other enormous fortunes make a poor show in comparison; for example: Mr Thomas F. Rvan . £25,000,000 Sir David Yule . . . . £20,000,000 Mr John Wanamakcr . £15,000,000 Lord Iveagh £11,000,000 Ten members of the Coats cotton family left in all £25,000,000, and one estate in the tobacco family approached £10,000,000.