Ernest Cassel
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The Right Honourable Sir Ernest Cassel GCB GCMG GCVO PC |
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painted by Anders Zorn, 1886
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| Born |
Ernest Joseph Cassel 3 March 1852 Cologne, Prussia |
| Died | 21 September 1921 (aged 69) Brook House, Park Lane, London, England |
| Resting place | Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Merchant banker |
| Known for | Merchant banker and capitalist |
| Net worth | £7,333,000 |
| Spouse(s) | Annette Mary Maud Maxwell (m. 1878–81) |
| Children | Amalia Mary Maud Cassel |
| Parent(s) | Jacob Cassel Amalia Rosenheim |
Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC (3 March 1852 – 21 September 1921) was a British merchant banker and capitalist. Born and raised in Prussia, he moved to Britain at the age of 17.
Cassel was born in Cologne, in what is now Germany, the son of Amalia (Rosenheim) and Jacob Cassel. His family were Ashkenazi Jews. His father 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. Being of Prussian origin, the Franco-Prussian War forced him to move to a position in a London bank.
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 H. H. Asquith and Winston Churchill. In 1878, he married Annette Mary Maud Maxwell at Westminster. Their only child, Amalia Mary Maud 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 into the Privy Council with the Catholic Bible.
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