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WINDSOR AND RICHMOND GAZETTE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1932.7,TheEveringham MillionsAS VIEWED FROM AN ENGLISH ANGLEWRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR THE “W. R. GAZETTE”(BY J. VANCE MARSHALL)rWHERE there’s smoke there's fire* even a legend has some reason for its origin.*The mere fact of there being a persistent rumor of an unclaimed Everingham inheritance points to the possibility of its existence. It is worth the whileof all interested parties (and* incidentally, I am not) to have the matter threshed out. If it be proved true then there is great wealth to be had; if not, then! there would be the satisfaction of knowing that the mystery had not been setaside unsolved.■ iTjVROM the English standpoint the Interest in the Everingham Millions Is only general. The Englishman knows that millions of pounds of wealth in his country are tied up in such a way that the rightful heirs ho. e no access to ltr and also that in ,hunu-fcds of cases the wrongful heirs have gut hold uf it. Tell the Englishman that the Everinghams of Australia are having withheld from them an inheritance in England rightfully theirs and he will reply, “Qualte possible. There are lots of others in the same boat. Bui it's all a matter of law courts, and you know what the bally old law courts cost, old chapThe Englishman knows that big fortunes exist here that have been either lodged in chancery, delivered Into the hands of trustees, ur side-tracked by legal jugglery into the possession of persons or syndicates having not one genuine iota of a claim to them.Sometimes the English papers ‘splash'* the story of an unclaimed fortune and interest is stirred up, but it soon dies away. Recently the national newspapers gave prominence to the fact that approximately sixty million pounds in chancery was walling to be released, apart from fortunes amounting to a far greater sum tied up in other ways, These journals urged that the getting into circulation of these vast sums of money would do much to Lessen the financial depression that has the world in its grip. And the English public read this and shrugged Its collective shoulders. It is well aware that hoarded and misapplied millions exist, but It also knows that the rightful claimants must fight to win and that fighting In the law courts of London costs money*And now with regard to the Everingham Millions, which form the subject of this article.It would appear that the name of the founder of the Australian branch of the Everingham family was one, James Matthew Everingham, not Matthew James, as is com* monly supposed in Australia.It IS on record at the Public Records Office, Chancery Lane, London, also In the Old Bailey Records, London, that James Matthew Everingham was sentenced to seven years’ Imprisonment on July 7th, 17SL Although only fifteen years of age lie was attached to a chain gang working on the hulks of the Thames waterfront.The next record of his movements appears in the Public Records Office, Chancery Lane. It is the record of his deportation to New South Wales in. 1786—that is after having served two years of the term to which he was sentenced. In this record his name is given as Matthew Everingham, the James being omitted. However, a sedulous search of all records on file at Old Bailey, Chancery Lane, Scotland Yard and Somerset Hbuae shows that mi Matthew James Everingham was ever either eon-and further that tho was the only Evering-The only record of the of Matthew James Is Somerset House, where the mar-Matthew James Everingham and Rhymes Is recorded as havingtaken place in Australia. Evidently he transposed his Christian names, on arrival InAustralia for reasons best known to himself. Anyway, as only one Everingham was transported to Australia, beyond all doubt the James Matthew Everingham recorded as having been convicted at Old Bailey and the Matthew Everingham recorded as having been transported with the first shipment of convicts to New South Wales are Identical with the Matthew James Everingham who, after completing his sentence (most of which he served in Australia as assistant to the Private Secretary of Governor Phillip) was eventually domiciled in the Hawkeabury district.Before proceeding further, it may be well, to set down something of what little Is known of the boyhood of James Matthew Everingham. His father, It appears, was a Yorkshire gentleman of Independent means and good connection who was established possibly at either Beverley or Cherry Burton. It has been suggested that this gentleman was either o knight or a baronet, but that he allowed the title to lapse owing to the disgrace of his son's con vie* lion. His name was John, but as many Sir John Everlnghsms have figured in the history and social life of Yorkshire over the more recent centuries it Is a little difficultTo verify the Identity of the father of Jamesvicted or deported, Matthew on record ham ever deported.name in found in rlage of Elizabeththe formMatthew, Still all the facts connected with the family are traceable by one able to devote time and effort,“Sir” John had three sons and one daughter, Of the mother of these children nothing so far seems to have been traced,James Matthew It he founder of the Australian branch of Everinghama) was the eldest and heir to any title or entailed estate.After James Matthew came Gilbert- Although it is difficult to find any record of his going, it la known that Gilbert emigrated to America, where, In about tho year 1S00| he married at Niagara, Catherine To-mon. Thus was established the Americanand Canadian branch of the Everingham family.The third son of Sir' John Everingham, Charles, by name, died unmarried.There was also one daughter, and it is she who is alleged to be the centre of an important romance. It is said that she became the third wife of the then Duke of Norfolk, marrying him in the year 1810,This, it is alleged, did not link the Everingham a and the ducal family of Norfolk (really Howard) together, as prior to that they were blood relations. It is said that the duke in marrying Sir” John's daughter,married his first cousin, and that JohnMatthew and his brothers and little sisterdop ordering his son to return home forthwith, But the breach between young Janies Matthew and his stepmother was too great and the lad decided to remain where he wiis*rClements was very annoyed at not receiving a premium, and instructed tho boy that without such a payment he must make no attempt to study while in his employment.However, James Matthew Everingham waa made of studious and ambitious material and persisted in studying in secret. And It was tills desire to succeed In life without the help of his family that led him to commit the Judiciously trivial act that brought about his undoing.His master, Clements, saw him reading a copy of Burns' Justice,1' a standard work on law. He asked him how the book had come into his possession, and the boy confessed that he had borrowed it in his name. Clements, enraged to think the lad was teaming law without a premium, denounced the action as thieving. Refusing to listen to reason, explanation or supplication ho handed the boy over for prosecution.Thus it was that on July 7thp 1784, James Matthew Everingham, aged 18, was indicted at Old Bailey In that he falsely pretended to one, Owen Owens, a servant of one, Samuel Shepherd, of the Middle Temple Law Library, that he was sent by a Mr. Clements to borrow a certain book on law, to wit, Burns' Justice/*Then poor James Matthew Everingham, aged 16, got a sample of old fashioned English justice. With due solemnity he was proven guilty (he pleaded so) and was sentenced to 7 years hard labor and removed to prison hulk on the River Thames, to work in a chain gang till two years later when he was transported in a convict ship to the other side of the world/1.And now, with regard to the Everingham fortune that is alleged to exist and to be the rightful Inheritance of the Australian branch of the family as being the descendant of the eldest son of Sir” John, In this connection I know that a committee in Australia lias appointed a Mr, McGrath to act as investigator, arid I have no desire to tres-Id® * • ** * • ’pass on his preserves. In all instances where I have perused Government records I have been advised by officials or have found traces of his efficient search* Because of his personal interest and time to concentrate on unearthing data he is better able than I to outline and trace the history of the missing millions. *However, the activities of another personof LSttlehmpton. The present Duke* fl ing times tight from a ducal standpoint, elded# on the advice of his trustees, to the town—lock# stock and barrel!. The p | he asked \.r * a modest million pour Then came i * astounding news that negotiations had broken down and the was off, as the local borough council unearthed the fact that the duke did own the place. Also# lately, the duke's presentatlves raised the rental of the f shores of the town of Bognor (lately ; ronlsed by the King as a seaside res I from a nominal half a crown a year to s hundrds of pounds* A protest was rai * Investigations made, and again the duke proven to have no right to the area* O on sly it is more than possible that t and usage have endowed the Norfolks 1!wmmmone?WAS ONCE A BANK!• ■ ■ -— mm --- • -a -- ■ ■- ■ m —- ■ ■ -— m m —■ “S— 4% =*rr-: ■’r:■ * .'V*!%-, *. -r-, - —«■ '» ! !■ ■*lt;i_ i.i....-■■V. *■.i.i.-v.-. . “- ■ ■.•_«! ! ! !o' V.■!*! ’•■v., .. * ■ ■Vs■: 7 •' • : r-; : I:;:--•:■ .■.’.V.'I ■. V.o \i . .. .. .sy,v,“iCi ... •; '/:;v M$This dwelling in George-street, Wind* sor, was once a bank* The bulldinj with its quaint windows and shut ters, and arch over the door, date back well over a hundred years. Be cause of its old colonial doorway, thi building has been sketched and paintec by practically every artist in thCommonwealth.IIV:o»;.Vo:'.'.v .*1■v.v88!satt::o:o:o:ox-xvVj: r-r.:w -\vKf O:lt;S? X*a.-S.I :■:«:■W I,-■ !%■j.V■. •ZwStw,.. * -v. ■ jApu.IV::b _______mV.'.v!v'.-1axe* .MlI.O. i. . .■ J-:v”i -.i--:1-::#V-small joy whei In his body, a.v*v.aV IWINDSOR COURT HOUSEErected In 1817—115 years ago—-the Court House is one of Windsor's most historic buildings. Fronting the Bench Js the subscription oil painting of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and one of the town s most valued possessions* In front of the Bench is the dock, an antiquated great Iron cage, and above It is a gallery with a panelled cedar front.v■ H■.:=■ mused to visit Arundel Castle, the historical Sussex seat of the Norfolks, and play hide and seek about its battlements.The only Issue of the marital union of the Norfolks and the Everlnghams is said to have been one son. This child proved to be an imbecile and was taken by Its parents to Romo to receive the blessing of the Pope and to have special prayers offeree! for its recovery. However, the pilgrimage avail* ed nothing as the afflicted boy soon afterwards died.Again reverting to the family of Sir” John Everingham. It appears that his first wife died while his eldest child, James Matthew, was still a boy. He then married an Irish widow, herself the mother of two children. It is said that because of his inability to get on With his step-mother, James Matthew, at the age of fourteen, left home and went I to London. Because he was a lad of enterprise and good connections, also being desirous of studying for the law, he obtained employment in the office of a solicitor, Mr, Clements, in the Middle Temple, near the Law Courts In London*This Clements ottered to teach the boy law on condition that he got his father to pay a premium* This the father refused todo not preclude my touching on the major facts relating to the case. It appears that no fortune in the name of Everingham is tied up in Chancery* but this by no moans suggests that one does not exist. The Ever-Ingham fortune was supposed to have been left in the hands of trustees pending its being claimed by the rightful heir, The fortune is said to have consisted of an estate, or better said, several estates, existing in Yorkshire, Sussex and Ireland.As no claim was lodged * by the heir fn question It in further said that the proper-ties, as has often transpired in England, became absorbed by larger estates, Strange it may seem, but it is frequently the case, that large landholders in England do not know what property is theirs and what Im not. Moreover, they care very little so long as, by fair mefta 0r foul, their agents continue to collect for them the rents. Possession ever was pino tenths of the law.In the case of the Everingham estates It !s hinted that they became incorporated In the domains of the Dukedom of Norfolk* This is not beyond the realms of possibl-bllity, as the following extraordinary fact emphasises. For long the Dukes of Norfolk had been regarded as owners of the towniIrentals from properties for which they produce no genuine title of ownership. -Who can assert without the fullest Inve gallon being made that properties o\\ by the Everingham* of the eighteenth nineteenth centuries have not been S: tracked into the same channels as the t« of Littlehampton and the foreshores of E nor. As I said at the outset of this art ‘ Where there’s smoke there’s fire/' It is to those who have a personal interest the supposed estates to trace the source the smoke*The Duke of Norfolk Is a man of at 2-1. He wears spectacles, is not over cle as he failed to qualify for entry to eit ! Oxford or Cambridge, and so far has lt;achieved notoriety by almost choking having a chicken bone stick in his throa However* he is no comes to a tilt at taw that pf the Royal Family, runs the bli blood in England. His lineage can be ti *d to Hereward, the Duke of the Saxon riod. his family name of Howard bein; corruption of Here ward, He la outragec ly wealthy, despite his unblushing attei a while ago to corner a cool million by :ling property that did not belong to hHis mother, the Duchess of Norfolk ( duke is sUU unmarried) is the Baron Herries in her own right* She married present duke's father as his secdnd \ (she being a second cousin) and she he as her personal possession Everingham Pc Everingham* in the East Riding- of Yc shire.Everingham is a pretty rural village s: ated between the towns of Pocklington Market Welghton# and is noted for its ne by ancient earthworks, its Roman Cath chapel* said to he of Saxon construction, productive adjoining farm lands. Its i turesque lake and well wooded parka, show herds of deer and the wealth of Lady of the Manor* Baroness Herries Everingham* DucheSs of Norfolk and r ther of the premier peer of England, present, duke.If the Everlnghams of Australia, and w them the Everlnghams of Canada, can pn kinship with the noble house of Norfolk, by assiduous and combined effort they mi then, apart from the wealth that would theirs, they could boast the bluest bllt; of English aristocracy—-the same blood coursed through the veins of an Engl queen, Catherine Howard, one of the fated wives of Henry VIII-MUftlC IN THE HOMEMeans added happiness and social pi sure. Buy one of PALING'S THOROUG Ly RENOVATED PIANOS. Write particulars and EASY TERMS to George-street, Sydney#—•
Newspaper Details
Windsor and Richmond Gazette
Windsor, New South Wales, AU
Fri, Nov 25, 1932
Page 18
Full Page
Clipped by
Vanessa L.
AU 10 Sep 2023
Other Publications Near Windsor, New South Wales
Windsor Express and Richmond Advertiser
Windsor and Richmond Gazette
Windsor Hawkesbury Herald
Windsor Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser
Windsor Hawkesbury Chronicle and Farmers Advocate
