Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d'Erlanger

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Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d'Erlanger , also Leo Friedrich Alfred Baron von Erlanger (born July 2, 1898 in London , † October 25, 1978 in Geneva ) was an English businessman and banker.

Business activity

He was a merchant, banker and, after the First World War, a promoter of the British aircraft industry. From 1947 he was also manager of Channel Tunnel Investment Ltd. , the later Eurotunnel . Like his ancestors, he was dedicated to banking. After the death of his uncle Emile Beaumont Baron d'Erlanger in 1939, he became head of the renowned but small private bank Erlanger Ltd. in the City of London and in 1958 operated the takeover of this bank by the Merchant Bank Philip Hill Higginson under the leadership of their partner Kenneth Keith , which then renamed Philip Hill Higginson Erlanger Ltd. assumed. He received a good purchase price of £ 2.5 million. However, it quickly came to a falling out with Keith, known for his aggressive business practices, later Baron Keith of Castleacre, who refused to accept Leo d'Erlanger as chairman of the group. 1965 merged Keith the bank with the private bank M Samuel to Hill Samuel & Co .

Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d'Erlanger also participated in the ventures of his cousin Sir Gérard John Leo Regis Baron d'Erlanger (1905–1962).

family

Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d'Erlanger was the eldest son of Francois Rodolphe Baron d'Erlanger and his wife Maria Elisabetha Cleofee Scolastica Countess Barbiellini- Amidei . Since his maternal grandfather Count Barbiellini Amidei l'Elmi from old Tuscan nobility chamberlain of Pope Leo XIII. had been, was Leo XIII. Godfather of this child and namesake. His paternal grandparents were the banker and railroad financier Frédéric Emile Baron d'Erlanger (1832-1911) and his American grandmother Marguérite Mathilde Slidell. His maternal grandmother was American Harriet Lewis, born in New London, Connecticut.

Leo d'Erlanger married Edwina Prue (* 1921 in New York City ; † August 18, 2008 in Geneva ) an American in 1929 . She had previously been junior editor of Vanity Fair magazine for Clare Boothe Luce in New York City, top model of Jean Patou's haute couture house in Paris and legendary ballroom dancer under the name Edwina Saint Clair . The couple left Great Britain for tax reasons in 1974 and lived alternately in Geneva and in Sidi Bou Saïd , northeast of Tunis . They had two children:

  • Tess Edwina May (1934-14 August 2008 in Spelsbury, Oxfordshire )
  • Rodolphe Frédéric Baron d'Erlanger (1945–2000), ⚭ I)?, II) 1982 Lady Caroline Mary Cholmondeley, daughter of Sir George Hugh Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley and his wife Lavinia Margaret Leslie
    • Leo Frédéric Hugh d'Erlanger (* 1983)
    • Joshua Robert David d'Erlanger (* 1987)

literature

  • Gabriele Mendelssohn: The Erlanger family. Bankers - patrons - artists. Leinpfad Verlag, Ingelheim 2005, ISBN 3-937782-24-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William D. Rubinstein, Michael Jolles, Hilary L. Rubinstein: The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4039-3910-4 , p. 215 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  2. ^ Laurent Bonnaud: The Channel Tunnel, 1955-75: When the Sleeping Beauty Woke Up. In: The Journal of Transport History , March 2001. Abstract online at questia.com, accessed October 4, 2015
  3. ^ John Orbell: British Banking: A Guide to Historical Records
  4. ^ The Telegraph, Lord Keith of Castleacre , Sept. 2, 2004
  5. ^ Kirchholtes, Hans-Dieter: "Jewish private banks in Frankfurt am Main", Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1989, p. 52, ISBN 3-7829-0351-X
personal data
SURNAME Erlanger, Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English merchant and banker
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1978
Place of death Geneva