BOTTOMLEY’S ASHES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 257, 29 October 1937, Page 7

BOTTOMLEY’S ASHES

UNDERTAKER’S PROBLEM STILL NO CLAIMANT LONDON, Oct. 27. A Marylebone undertaker, Mr. E. Tarbuck, who conducted the funeral, proposes to advertise the urn containing the ashes of Mr. Horatio Bottomley, which is still in his workshop. He states that unless the ashes are claimed shortly they will be destroyed. He says that the actress, Peggy Primrose, who was a close friend of Mr. Bottomley for 23 years, arranged to carry out Mr. Bottomley’s wish that the ashes be scattered at his old home at Upper Dicker, Sussex, but he had not heard from her for two years. Mr. Tarbuck added: “None of Mr. Bottomley’s relatives have communicated with me concerning the funeral. Miss Primrose paid the £27 bill. We made an effort to trace someone to claim the ashes, but without success. Now I must follow the only course open." Miss Primrose appeared in wartime revues and also in the post-war musical “Dear Little Lady,” in which Mr. Bottomley lost £BO,OOO. She spent many nights by the dying man’s bedside and was the only person present at his death on May 26, 1933. She also attended the funeral. She lived in his old flat for some time after his death, after which she left London. Recent efforts to trace her have been unsuccessful. MISS PRIMROSE LOCATED Received Oct. 28. 11.55 p.m. LONDON,. Oct. 28. The Chronicle found Miss Primrose living in rooms at the top of a block of North London flats. “As you see, I am a poor woman now,” she said,’ intimating that she would collect the urn immediately. “Bottomley told me to dispose of his ashes as I wished. rl know what I shall do with them but it must remain a secret. It Is true that I paid the funeral expenses but I have not been able to collect the ashes during the intervening years. Yes, there is a reason, but T do not wish to talk about it."