Ernest Cassel - Biography

Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC (3 March 1852 – 21 September 1921) was a German-born British merchant banker and capitalist.

Biography

Born in Cologne, Germany, Cassel was Jewish. His father Jacob Cassel owned a small bank, but the son Ernest arrived penniless in Liverpool, England in 1869. There he found employment with a firm of grain merchants. With an enormous capacity for hard work and a natural business sense, Cassel was soon in Paris working for a bank. The Franco-Prussian War forced him to move to a position in a London bank, as he was born in Prussia.

He prospered and was soon putting together his own financial deals. His areas of interest were in mining, infrastructure and heavy industry. Turkey was an early area of business ventures, but he soon had large interests in Sweden, the United States, South America, South Africa, and Egypt.

One of the wealthiest men of his day, Cassel was a good friend of King Edward VII, prime minister Herbert Asquith and Winston Churchill. In 1878, he married Annette Mary M. Maxwell at Westminster. Their only child, Maude Cassel (1879–1911), married Wilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple.

Cassell became a Roman Catholic at the behest of his wife, but many still considered him a Jew. The establishment was surprised to find out that he had converted when he chose to be sworn in to the Privy Council with the Catholic Bible.

Cassel retired from active financial operations in 1910. His philanthropic benefactions included £500,000 for educational purposes, £225,000 for a hospital for nervous diseases, £50,000 to King Edward's Hospital Fund in memory of his only child, besides large gifts during the First World War to the British Red Cross. He also built and endowed an Anglo-German Institute in 1911 in memory of King Edward VII. He owned a castle in Switzerland, Riederfurka, to which it was possible to arrive on the back of a mule. When the inhabitants of the town nearby said they were going to make a better road to his property, he answered: "If you do, I'm not coming here anymore." Felix Somary, who tells this anecdote in his autobiography, visited him there in 1914 to persuade him that war was inevitable.

Cassel had a famous art collection and many beautiful houses. He bred racehorses and owned Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket. After the early death of his wife Annette, his widowed sister Wilhemina (known as Bobbie) helped each other bring up his daughter and her son and daughter. His only child, Maude, also died as a young woman, leaving him two granddaughters on whom he doted, especially the eldest, Edwina, who looked after him in his old age. She later married Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Honours

Cassel's friendship with the King and achievements in international finance earned him many British and foreign honours. Contemporary society gossip suggested that he demanded these as a return for his services. In 1899, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG). In 1901, he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO). In 1902, he was made a Privy Counsellor. In 1905, he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG)

and, in 1906, he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). In 1909, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).

Awards received in thanks for services to foreign governments included Commander, first class, of the Royal Order of Vasa in 1900 from Sweden, the Grand Cordon of the Imperial Ottoman Order of Osmanieh in 1903, Commander of the Légion d'honneur in 1906 from France, the Order of the Crown, first class, in 1908 from Germany, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star in 1909 from Sweden, the Order of the Rising Sun, first class, in 1911 from Japan and the Order of the Red Eagle, first class with brilliants in 1913 from Germany.

Cassel died at Brook House, Park Lane, London. He and his wife are buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London, in a large grave in front of the Anglican All Souls' Chapel.

A few months after his death, Cassel's estate was probated at £6,000,000 (equivalent to £ today).

Legacy

In 1919, Cassel founded and endowed the Cassel Hospital, now at No. 1 Ham Common, Ham, near Richmond, London. The hospital is a therapeutic community for mental health patients; children, young people and families. It provides residential, day and outreach services. It is run by the NHS.

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