The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03
NEW CLAIMANT ID WEALTHY EARLDOM Vast Eyre Estates Valued at
 S3O,OOO,OOO BRIERLY IS CLAIMANT Is Now Literary Man and Began His Life in Cotton Mill-Claim
 Will Go Into Law Courts
 for Adjustment
BRIERLY IS CLAIMANT
From the London Standard

From the London Standard
 l new claimant has come forward Co 1 the earldom of Newburgh, and to the great Eyre estates in Derbyshire, in the person of MT. Wynford Brierly of
 New Maiden. Surrey The present Earl
 of Newburgh is prince Marquis Ban
 dini. Lord Of yarano in the Roman states. Duke of Mondragone, and
 Count of Carinola in the late kingdom
 of Naples, and the title came to him through the Princess Guistiniani, who was found by the House of Lords in 1858 to be the rightful Countess of
 Newburgh The Eyre estates are said
 to be worth f6,O00,OO0
 Mr Wynford Briefly who is now | engaged in literary work, is the son of
 John and Betty Brierly (nee Eyre),
 who were cotton operatives. MT. Bri-
 erly was born at Hollinwood, near oldham, and began life in cotton mill
 as a half-timer. at the age of nine Later he obtained position in the gas and water department of the Oldham
 corporation, and during the eight years he was there devoted all the time he e uld to improving his education. He contributed articles to various news papers and periodicals, and some years
 later was appointed editor of Derby
 shire journal. He was also for some
 time the liberal registration agent for the Clitheroe division.
 MT. Brierly says that he has obtained the opinion of eminent counsel, and
 that 1t is favorable to his claim, which
 will be brought forward in the law courts as soon as 1t is possible for him to do so. MT. Brierly possesses a pedi- gree which he says shows him to be the rightful heir to the earldom of Newburgh, and the statement of claim
 which Is to be presented in the courts is backed up by afhdavits of relatives as to the absolute certainty and proof of his familys connection with the
 E'yres of Ha ssop; of visits to Hassop hall paid by his grandfather, Thomas
 Eyre, who received letter from Fran eis Eyre, the Earl of Newburgh, ad- dressing him as his dear cousin
 MT. Brierly believes himself to be the eldest surviving son of the senior
 branch of the Eyres of Hassop. and en- titled to claim the earldom and priority of residence at Hassop hall But he
 admits that he is entitled to only a
 share of the reputed f6,O00, 900, as he is enc of five children now living of one of the daughters of Thomas Eyre.
 Seen on Saturday at his New Maiden residence, MT. Brierly said: "The pedi- gree of the Eyre family, which I have in my possession, covers several cen turies, and clearly supports my claim have also in my possession state
 ments made by members of the family
 and by old residents and neighbors 1 l..f lot 1 fof
 all of whom remembered him visiting
 The Earl of Newburgh at Hassop hall. and hearing him addressed by the earl
 as his cousin. They also declared that
 they had heard the earl say to him that l he must prepare himself for the inn l rortant position as head of the family which some day he would be called
 upon to fill. My grandfather however l died before the earl, and his son,
 Thomas William Eyre, also died before
 he had an opportunity of asserting his claim. His widow retained possession l Of all his papers relating to the claim, but when she died they got into other hands, and it was not until 40 years afterward that I became aware of my connection with the family. When this was first suggested to
 me I and cousin made a most ex-
 haustive inquiry into the whole affair." and it occupied us many years, and caused us to travel about the country many thousands of miles before I felt myself in a position to lay claim to the title. One of the most valuable things we discovered was an old pocketbook of my grandfather's. which was full of
 notes about visits he had made to rela- tives in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, and contained many particulars of the fam fly pedigree, which have been of great value to me in drawing up my state
 ment of claim. With the aid of this pocketbook we were able to trace a relative at Sheffield, and learned that
 40 years earlier a number of important documents relating to the family had
 been lodged with solicitor After a great deal of trouble these documents were shown to us, and amongst them ] we discovered indisputable evidence that brought down the family connec- tion of the Eyres of Hassop to my mothers brother, Thomas William | Eyre of Hollnwood."
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