John Athersuch
This book tells the story of Dora Schintz a little-known female philanthropist who inherited a vast fortune and was at one time owner of one of the finest houses in the country. She rose to prominence in the world of hackney horses, gave generously to charity and financed hospitals for incurables and the wounded of The First World War. Her generosity led her to fund an inspired engineer and inventor, which eventually contributed greatly to her financial ruin. Her final years were spent in poor health living in boarding houses until she died alone and in penury.This book will appeal to readers researching women philanthropists at the turn of the 19th century, hackney horse enthusiasts and those with an interest in the history of the various estates where she lived.Born in 1868 into extraordinary wealth founded upon mineral mining in Chile and a fertilizer plant in France but leaving an estate of under £2,000 on her lonely death in 1954, Dora Schintz lived a life of extremes. High society balls, horse-breeding and national equestrian competitions, fast cars and sustained generous philanthropy contrasted sharply with personal frugality, ferocious litigiousness and a surprising financial naivety that ultimately led to bankruptcy and isolation in a residential hotel. A self-confessed loner, she remains an enigma.
