One of Agatha Christie’s friends

I went to a blue plaque unveiling in Torquay. The plaque commemorates the fact that Frederick Struben ( 1851-1931 )once lived in this beautiful house, with its magnificent gardens, and views over the sea. He was born in South Africa., and was apparently one of the founders of Johannesburg. He and his his brother Harry made vast fortunes from gold. Frederick was a geologist and discovered the Confidence Reef, an  extremely rich vein deep below ground. With his new found wealth he retired to England in 1889, came to Torquay, and bought this property in 1894., which was the boyhood home of Viscount Field Marshal Herbert Plumer, who is the subject of the other blue plaque. Struben  lived here from 1894 to 1917, moving out of Torquay in 1917 to a mansion on the edge of Dartmoor, because of the introduction of trams, and fears they would scare his horses, pulling his carriage. He was a great benefactor to the town and immensely rich in a place  of very rich people. The  plaque says ‘ Among his social circle was the family of Agatha Christie’. 
The house was sold in 1917 to shipping magnate Sir James Knott and given its present name Wylam Lodge. 
See Frederick Struben  in the EXTRA photo.