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The recluse in a scruffy tweed coat who left Tate £3m
MORE details emerged this week of Nicholas Themans, the elderly recluse from Highbury who left £3 million to the Tate Gallery.
Former staff at a day centre in Archway, which he attended when he suffered depression, remembered him as a quiet but generous man who occasionally bought them boxes of chocolates. As reported in last week’s Tribune, neighbours in Highbury Crescent were amazed to discover that Mr Themans, who was being looked after by social services and lived in a rented flat, had been worth a fortune.
Mr Themans, 88, who died in January, left £3 million to the Tate Gallery and £50,000 to an anti-religious philosophical organisation The Rationalist Society, headed by Sir Jonathan Miller.
He also left £6,000 to the the day centre in Despard Road, Archway. He was referred there when he suffered depression 25 years ago, following the death of his mother, it is believed. St Andrew’s Centre, as it was then known, was later renamed Lanbo Day Centre.
Speaking for the first time, former mental health nurse at the centre, Deborah Burt, recalled Mr Themans as quiet but charming – and very generous. “He was always dressed in the same scruffy but expensive tweed coat and carried a copy of the Daily Telegraph,” she said.
She contacted the Tribune after reading last week’s report, which included an appeal for information.
“He was well spoken and very quiet but could be very nice. I think he came for about 18 months before he drifted away,” Ms Burt said.
The Tate, due to receive £3,321,232, has declined to comment on the legacy until all the legal papers have been officially cleared. Babson Omoley, manager at the Lanbo Centre, said he had yet to hear about the bequest.
NatWest estates, which was handling the will, would not comment on whether or not Mr Themans had surviving relatives. |
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