George Peabody

George Peabody (/ˈpiːbədi/PEE-bə-dee;[2] February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.

Biography

Peabody was born in what was then South Danvers (now Peabody), Massachusetts. His family had Puritan antecedents in the state, but was poor, and as one of eight children George suffered some deprivations during his upbringing: these factors influenced his later philanthropic tendencies. His birthplace at 205 Washington Street in Peabody is now the George Peabody House Museum, a museum dedicated to preserving his life and legacy. In 1816, he moved to Baltimore, where he would live for the next 20 years.

Peabody first visited the UK in 1827 for business reasons, and over the next decade made four more trans-Atlantic trips, establishing a branch office in Liverpool, and later the banking firm of George Peabody & Co. in London. In 1837 he took up permanent residence in London, remaining there for the rest of his life.

In February 1867, on one of several return visits to the United States, and at the height of his financial success, Peabody's name was suggested by Francis Preston Blair as a possible Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinet of President Andrew Johnson. At about the same time, his name was also mentioned in newspapers as a future presidential candidate. Peabody described the presidential suggestion as a "kind and complimentary reference", but considered that he was too old for either office.

Although he was briefly engaged in 1838 (and later allegedly had a mistress, who bore him a daughter, in Brighton), Peabody never married. He died in London on November 4, 1869, aged 74, at the house of his friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson. At the request of the Dean of Westminster and with the approval of the Queen, Peabody was given a temporary burial in Westminster Abbey.

His will provided that he be buried in the town of his birth, Danvers, Massachusetts, and Prime Minister Gladstone arranged for Peabody's remains to be returned to America on HMS Monarch, the newest and largest ship in the Royal Navy. He was laid to rest in Harmony Grove Cemetery, in Salem, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1870. Peabody's death and the pair of funerals were international news, with hundreds of people participating in the ceremonies and thousands attending.

Business

While serving as a volunteer in the War of 1812, Peabody met Elisha Riggs, who, in 1814, provided financial backing for what became the wholesale dry goods firm of Riggs, Peabody & Co., specializing in importing dry goods from Britain. Branches were opened in New York and Philadelphia in 1822. Riggs retired in 1829, and the firm became Peabody, Riggs & Co., with Peabody as senior partner.

Peabody first visited the UK in 1827 to purchase wares, and to negotiate the sale of American cotton in Lancashire. He subsequently opened a branch office in Liverpool, and British business began to play an increasingly important role in his affairs. He appears to have had some help in establishing himself from William and James Brown, sons of another successful Baltimore businessman, the Irishman Alexander Brown, who managed their father's Liverpool office, opened in 1810.

In 1835, Peabody established the banking firm of George Peabody & Co. in London. It was founded to meet the increasing demand for securities issued by the American railroads, and – although Peabody continued to deal in dry goods and other commodities – he increasingly focused his attentions on merchant banking. The bank rose to become the premier American house in London. Peabody took Junius Spencer Morgan (father of J. P. Morgan) into partnership in 1854 to form Peabody, Morgan & Co., and the two financiers worked together until Peabody’s retirement in 1864. Peabody frequently entertained and provided letters of introduction for American businessmen visiting London, and became known for the Anglo-American dinners he hosted in honor of American diplomats and other worthies, and in celebration of the Fourth of July. In 1851, when the US Congress refused to support the American section at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, Peabody advanced £3000 to improve the exhibit and uphold the reputation of the United States. During the run on the banks of 1857, Peabody had to ask the Bank of England for a loan of £800,000: although rivals tried to force the bank out of business, it managed to emerge with its credit intact.

Following this crisis, Peabody began to retire from active business, and in 1864 retired fully (taking with him much of his capital, amounting to over $10,000,000, or £2,000,000). Peabody, Morgan & Co. then took the name J.S. Morgan & Co.. The former UK merchant bank Morgan Grenfell (now part of Deutsche Bank), international universal bank JPMorgan Chase and investment bank Morgan Stanley can all trace their roots to Peabody's bank.

Philanthropy

Peabody is the acknowledged father of modern philanthropy, having established the practice later followed by Johns Hopkins, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates. In the United States, his philanthropy largely took the form of educational initiatives. In Britain, it took the form of providing housing for the poor.

In America, Peabody founded and supported numerous institutions in New England and elsewhere. At the close of the American Civil War, he established the Peabody Education Fund to "encourage the intellectual, moral, and industrial education of the destitute children of the Southern States." His grandest beneficence, however, was to Baltimore; the city in which he achieved his earliest success.

In April 1862, Peabody established the Peabody Donation Fund, which continues to this day as the Peabody Trust, to provide housing of a decent quality for the "artisans and labouring poor of London". The trust's first dwellings, designed by H.A. Darbishire in a Jacobethan style, were opened in Commercial Street, Spitalfields in February 1864.

Peabody's philanthropy was recognised and on 10 July 1862 he was made a Freeman of the City of London, the motion being proposed by Charles Reed in recognition of his financial contribution to London's poor. He became the first of only two Americans (the other being Dwight D. Eisenhower) to have received the award. A statue of him was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1869 next to the Royal Exchange, London, on the site of the former church of St Benet Fink (demolished 1842-6).

One of his longtime business associates and friends was renowned banker and art patron William Wilson Corcoran.

George Peabody is known to have provided benefactions of well over $8 million, most of them in his own lifetime. Among the list are included:

1852 The Peabody Institute (now the Peabody Institute Library), Peabody, Mass: $217,000 

1856 The Peabody Institute, Danvers, Mass (now the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers): $100,000

1857 The Peabody Institute (now the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University), Baltimore: $1,400,000

1862 The Peabody Donation Fund, London: $2,500,000

1866 The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University: $150,000

1866 The Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University: $150,000

1867 The Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, Mass: $140,000

1867 The Peabody Institute, Georgetown, District of Columbia: $15,000 (today the Peabody Room, Georgetown Branch, DC Public Library).

1867 Peabody Education Fund: $2,000,000

1875 George Peabody College for Teachers, now the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. The funding came from the Peabody Education Fund

1866 The Georgetown Peabody Library, the public library of Georgetown, Massachusetts

1866 The Thetford Public Library, the public library of Thetford, Vermont: $5,000

1901 The Peabody Memorial Library, Sam Houston State University, Texas

Recognition and commemoration

In 1862, Peabody was made a Freeman of the City of London.

On March 16, 1867, he was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal.

Also in 1867, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Harvard University, and an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law by Oxford University.

In 1869, the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN, was named in his memory.

The town of South Danvers, Massachusetts, changed its name in 1868 to The City of Peabody, Massachusetts, in honor of its favorite son.

A statue sculpted by William Wetmore Story stands next to the Royal Exchange in the City of London, unveiled by the Prince of Wales in July 1869: Peabody himself was too unwell to attend the ceremony, and died less than four months later. A replica of the same statue, erected in 1890, stands next to the Peabody Institute, in Mount Vernon Park, part of the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1900, Peabody was one of the first 29 honorees to be elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, located on what was then the campus of New York University (and is now that of Bronx Community College), at University Heights, New York.

Wikipedia

Philanthropist, Businessman. Noted philanthropist whose donations made possible the recovery of higher education in the southern United States after the Civil War. Began working in grocery store at age 11. Moved to District of Columbia and Georgetown, Maryland to work in uncle's store. Lifelong bachelor. By age 19 he was a partner in Peabody, Riggs and Company, successful dry goods business. Moved to England to expand business, 1827, and lived in other parts of Europe until 1837. Settled in London, 1837, started George Peabody & Company, financial services and banking company. Worked to sell US government bonds to European buyers, enabling several state governments to maintain financial health after Depression of late 1830s. Partner with Junius Spencer Morgan, father of famed financier JP Morgan. Played key role in selling securities to finance Union effort in Civil War. After amassing a fortune of over $14 million, decided to begin philanthropic activities. Established several charities in US and England that concentrated on improving housing for working poor and improving higher education. Charities included Peabody Institutes in Peabody and Danvers, Massachusetts, and Baltimore, Maryland; Peabody Donation Fund in London, England; Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, and Peabody Education Fund. Donations eventually totaled about $9 million. Peabody Education Fund made donations that enabled colleges including Vanderbilt University to rebuild after Civil War. Received honors from both US and Great Britain. Freeman of the City of London, one of only two Americans to receive this honor (the other was Dwight Eisenhower). Buried temporarily in Westminster Abbey. Body transported to US on HMS Monarch so he could be buried in his hometown of South Danvers (now Peabody). Bronze statue of him behind Royal Exchange of London unveiled by Prince of Wales, July 23rd, 1869. Member, Hall of Fame for Great Americans. (bio by: Bill McKern)

Find-A-Grave

George Peabody, philanthropist, born in Danvers, MA Feb. 18, 1795 and died in London Nov. 4, 1869. Mr. Peabody spent his early years in Danvers Mass., attending school there. After having been taught to read and write , be became a clerk at age 11, afterwards serving in the same capacity at Thetford, Vt. and in Newburyport, MA. He then went to Georgetown, DC and assumed the management of a store belonging to his uncle, John Peabody. In 1814 he became a partner of Elisha Riggs in a dry goods house, which a year later moved to Baltimore, MD and in 1822 established branches in New York and Philadelphia. By the retirement, in 1829, of Mr. Riggs, he became the head of the firm, and in 1837 he settled in London, establishing the banking house of George Peabody and Company. For negotiating the sale of $8,000,000 worth of bonds, in 1835, in London, when others had failed, by which he sustained the credit of Maryland, and giving to the state his commission of $200,000, a vote of thanks was returned to him by the legislature. This was his first large gift. He supplied the sum required to arrange and display the contributions from the United States to the great London exhibition of 1851. The same year he gave the first of a series of 4th of July dinners in London, which was attended by the Duke of Wellington and many other distinguished personages, and to which the Queen sent her own and Prince Albert's portraits to decorate the hall. These annual entertainments were a source of great satisfaction to Mr. Peabody, who believed that they contributed in no small degree to a better feeling between his native and his adopted country. The year following he presented $10,000 to the second Grinnell expedition, under Dr. Elisha K. Kane, sent in search of Sir John Franklin, and $30,000 to found the Peabody institute and library at Danvers (now Peabody), to which he subsequently added $170,000, with $50,000 more for a similar institution in North Danvers. He generously endowed both American institutes and English with financial assistance which he derived largely from U.S. government bonds during the civil war. He founded the Peabody institute in Baltimore, gave to the Phillips Andover academy, and Kenyon college. in 1862, he completed his plans for building lodging houses for the poor of London, contributing in all 2,500,000, with which, to the present time (1877), buildings have been erected in different districts of the metropolis, capable of accommodating 20,000 persons. At the time of his death Westminster Abby opened its gates for the first non royal person from another country, but he had stated that he wished to be laid to rest at the side of his mother. Because of this, the finest and swiftest frigate in the British navy, the "Monarch" was dispatched to return his body home to his native land. Admiral Farragut, with an American squadron received him and he was buried at Danvers (Now Peabody). Mr. Peabody never married and the balance of his fortune was bequeathed to his relatives. He was the most liberal philanthropist of ancient or modern times.

Cape Cod History

Other References

• "George Peabody", Westminster Abbey
• Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 16 2018, 11:07:46 UTC

Google Doodle March 16, 2018 https://g.co/doodle/vpjn95

https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&ictx=2&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjopff_9fH...

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/797/george-peabody

George Peabody

BIRTH 18 Feb 1795

Danvers, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

DEATH 4 Nov 1869 (aged 74) London, City of London, Greater London, England

BURIAL Harmony Grove Cemetery Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

MEMORIAL ID 797 Philanthropist, Financier He is remembered for being a financial genius and in his old age, the “father of modern philanthropy”. Since he never married or had children, he mentored Junius Spencer Morgan, to step into his shoes upon his retirement. His business career began at the age of eleven with on-the-job training in his brother's grocery store; he had very little formal education. His father's death in 1811 impacted his life greatly as his family had to sell their home to resolve debt and to provide for his widowed mother and younger siblings. When his brother's store burnt to the ground, he relocated to Washington, D.C and Georgetown, Maryland to work in his uncle's store. He served in the War of 1812 where he met Elisha Riggs. By the age of nineteen, he was a partner in Peabody, Riggs and Company, a successful dry goods store with locations not only in Baltimore, Maryland, but in New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In three years, he made $40,000, thus resolving his father's debts. He traveled frequently to England to purchase dry goods for his stores. On one trip, he negotiated an $8,000,000 loan for the nearly bankrupted State of Maryland, accepting no commission on the transaction but learning the ways and means of world finance. He relocated permanently to England in 1837 expanding his business as George Peabody and Company, a financial service and banking company; he stayed in England the rest of his life except for three visits to the United States. He sold U.S. Government bonds to European buyers, enabling several state governments to maintain financial health after the Depression of the late 1830's. As he earned his fortune, he watched his pennies and for a dozen years, had long workdays without a day off. He partnered with Morgan, the father of famed financier J.P. Morgan. Ten years later, he retired and his business was changed to J.S. Morgan and Company, relocating the main office to New York City from London; then J.P. Morgan inherited the firm changing the name to J. P. Morgan and Company; and today, his original business is the financial giant, JPMorgan Chase. During the American Civil War, he played a key role in selling securities to finance the Union Army. After amassing a fortune of nearly $20 million, he decided to begin philanthropy activities. He established several charities in the United States and England: After the Civil War, he visited the war-torn Southeastern United States, resulting in the Peabody Education Fund, which was endowed with $3,500,000 to promote education for nearly 50 years for children of all races in the eleven Confederate States and West Virginia. This educational fund enabled many southern colleges, such as Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, to rebuild after the Civil War. In some cases, state funds were required to match his donations. In Baltimore, he founded the Peabody Library in 1857, which is now a research center for John Hopkins University. Also in Baltimore, another part of the Peabody Institute was a conservatory for music education and an art gallery, which with the library, became the first cultural center in the United States. In his hometown, the Peabody Essex Museum, which ranks among the top 20 art museums in the nation, and the Peabody Library are two of his endowments. The Natural History Museum at Yale University and the Museum of Archaeology at Harvard University also made his list. To get rid of the London's rat-infested slums, in 1862 he donated $2,500,000 for the construction of apartments for working poor of high moral character. Naming only a few here, Peabody's endowments go on and on. He has received many honors: On July 10, 1862, the prestigious award, The Honorary Freeman of the City of London, was presented to him for his charitable works, as well as the recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal in 1867. In 1868 his birthplace of Danvers was changed to Peabody, Massachusetts. On July 23, 1869 a bronze statue to honor him was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in London, followed with a replica erected in Baltimore in 1890. In 1900, he became one of the first 28 members of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in the State of New York. He was offered the title of a Baronet or Knighthood by Queen Victoria of England, but he refused. The house of his death was marked with a British Historical Blue Plaque. The British had arranged for his body to be the first American to be buried in Westminster Abbey in London, but following the request in his will, his body was transported to the United States making his final resting place near his birthplace. Both the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes were a half-mast in a sorrowful respect for George Peabody. According to some sources, he donated half of his wealth.

Bio by: Linda Davis