The Everingham Millions
A frenzied search for Everingham descendants in the 1930's
A little research by Kevin Everingham of MI, 1990-2009

Millions available to Everingham descendants?

This story gained prominence in 1930 when a notice began to surface that geared it's mailings to people with the name "Everingham." The mailings told about grand estates in England that were to be sold off, and how heirs were being sought to distribute the fortunes of the final sales of the huge Everingham estates. Many people were pulled into the idea of a possible gold-mine for our family, and wondered if maybe a great fortune awaited us Everinghams.

A story surfaced about an Everingham family that told of a man of high English society who had two "or more" sons. One son married the girl that his parents picked for him, as was common practice for the upper class in those days. The other brother, refused to be forced into marriage and was disinherited from the family's great prestige, power and money. The problem with this story is, that it has been used over many generations in other families and in countless fiction books totally unrelated to our family, for many years. The story continues with the one brother moving away to the American Colonies to start his new life.
text above from the book "Everingham family of Michigan", (c)2006

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, November 29, 1930, (shown here) Australians were alerted that their oldest known ancestor "Matthew James Everingham" may have been a disinherited heir to millions of an Everingham family fortune. It appears that this story began focused on Australians, but the temptation of wealth didn't remain there.

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia, printed this news article on December 8, 1930: News stories like this suggsted as much as £15,000,000 of English wealth was available from an English estate. Once stories like this are printed in a newspaper, they are taken as fact, especially in 1930! As expected, this story generated quite a lot of excitement in Australia and presumably a lot of money was probably spent researching family lines and paying lawyers. The word spread after this, to the U.S. Even after the original story was discovered to be probably false in England, it spread to the United States and Canada where more excitement spread, and possibly money to lawyers was also lost.

The article shown to the (right) was printed April 2, 1931... just after the information printed below; By February 21, 1931, the following headline appeared in Sydney Australia newspapers: EVERINGHAM MILLIONS _____________ False Pretences Charge. _______ DEFENDANT REMANDED. This story said.... "What have been commonly referred to as the "Everingham Millions" were mentioned at the Central Police Court yesterday, When Alfred James Carlisle McGrath, printer, 54 was remanded on a charge of having on or about February 12, at Sydney and elsewhere, falsely pretended to the committee of the Everingham Estate and descendants of Matthew James Everingham that he had seen the Will of the late Sir John Everingham, Bart., of Yorkshire and Surrey and that the will contained the following, or like words; John Everingham, Baronet of Surrey and Yorkshire in place of my will to recompense my dear son Matthew who left his Country with a slur on his name to go to a new Country with a stigmata on his name when a small effort on my part in going to court would have cleared him of this paltry crime, in that it made him leave his home and loved ones never to return. I might have saved him and by not doing would not have spent my closing years in sorrow and remorse. In having provided for my other sons, I leave my land and property, personal and otherwise, to my son Matthew James, his sons, and sons of sons and the trustees are the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Herries.... The Charege went on to allege that McGrath had falsely pretended that he had inspected the Public Records Office, Chancery Lane, London, the accounts and documents in connection with the estate of the late Sir John Everingham and that the estate at the time of the alleged persual of the records and documents was of the value of £23,750,000 in money and was being administered by the trustees, the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Herries, by means of which false pretences McGrath attempted to obtain moneys from the descendants of Matthew James Everingham, with intent to defraud. McGrath was admitted to £100 bail. _________________

The hearing was concluded at the Central Police Court, April 2, 1931. Of the 4 cases in which Alfred Carlisle McGrath, 54, was charged with false pretences in what is known as the "Everingham Millions" estates in England.
Mr. Shepherd S.M. committed the defendant for trial.

Lawyers from the United States, Canada, Australia and England dug into the validity of the claims and a great deal of money was spent on legal fees. It was a nice boom to the law business, but no big fortunes were uncovered. Even after the trial in 1931,... scams continued...

The following is a letter written in Ontario by an Everingham descendant April 27, 1932:

"We are expecting news from our Lawyer in England by the 25th. There is a lawyer in Toronto who has written me, and asked me for all information of our branch. He also wrote me that I was an heir to the Everingham Millions, that is the way he put it, so you can imagine how anxious I am to locate all heirs. The estate will not be settled until all claims are in ... I will close, hoping to hear from you soon, excuse the way I have written this, but I have written so much to all our heirs that I am nearly done out." Mrs. Alonzo Dell, Thorold, Ontario In hindsight, it's easy to say that the lawyers involved had bad intentions and this was a scam from the start. Today, we know that the Everinghams owned great estates, castles, and were the hereditary keepers of the very same Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood fame. The family also served several Kings, served in Parliament, held other public offices and had other important titles and riches. But by the 20th century, when the stories of inheritance emerged, all of this was splintered up among other families. From the mid 13th century,... Stainborough was occupied by the Everingham family that descended from John de Everingham. In 1610 the Everingham family sold the Stainborough estate to Thomas Cutler for a sum of around £3,000. Stainborough Castle was built by the 1st Earl of Strafford between 1727 and 1730 on the site of an iron age hill fort and on the highest point of the estate. This was many years after this perticular property left control of the Everingham family. Again ideas of Everingham Millions arose. This print of Everingham Park & Stainborough was done in 1890 "after the family no longer owned the Park, or buildings here". The main Everingham family of that era had died out and all that was left were distant relatives and other families that had married into the Everingham family. In the 1970's Auction flyers were printed in magazines showing this land for sale which again raised some interest in the U.S., in family millions. In 1978 the house and grounds at Stainborough entered a new phase when it became the Northern College. Over the years, the lands, manors, and castles had passed into other hands being passed down to fringe relatives and sold off over hundreds of years. So why would any of us have claim to them? One search for information produced a letter from Arundel Castle, west Sussex, England on June 22, 1983. They noted that the connection or lack of a connection of the Everingham family with the Dukes of Norfolk. The late Duke's mother was the owner of the Everingham estate in Yorkshire, she was Gwendolen Constable-Maxwell, Baroness Herries in her own right. The Constables were a Yorkshire catholic family who lived at Everingham for many centuries. The Maxwells, were a Scottish family who joined in marriage in 1758. Thus their estates have no connections to any American, Australian or Canadian Everinghams.