Henry Pomeroy Davison, Sr.

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Henry Pomeroy Davison, Sr.

Also Known As: "Harry"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Troy, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States
Death: May 06, 1922 (54)
Locust Valley, Nassau County, New York, United States
Place of Burial: 117 Ryefield Road, Locust Valley, Nassau County, New York, 11560, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of George Bennett Davison and Henrietta Bliss Davison
Husband of Mary Kate Davison
Father of F. Trubee Davison; Henry Pomeroy Davison, Jr.; Alice Trubee Gates and Frances Pomeroy Cheney
Brother of Mary Lucinda Le Braz; Henrietta Davison; Edward Davison and Mary Lucinda Le Braz

Managed by: Private User
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About Henry Pomeroy Davison, Sr.

Henry Pomeroy Davison, Sr.

Davison was born on June 12, 1867, in Troy, Pennsylvania, the oldest of the four children of Henrietta and George B. Davison. Henry's mother died when he was nine years old in 1877.

Career

After completing his education he became a bookkeeper at a bank managed by one of his relatives, and at age 21 he gained employment at a bank in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the hometown of his wife. Three years later he moved to New York City, where he was employed by the Astor Place Bank, and sometime later became president of the Liberty National Bank. Several years later he was involved in the founding and formation of the Bankers Trust Company.

In 1909 he became a senior partner at JP Morgan & Company, and in 1910 he was a participant in the secretive meeting on Jekyll Island, Georgia that laid the foundation for the creation of the Federal Reserve system in 1913.

Involvement with the Red Cross

After the United States entered World War I in 1917, Davison was named chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross. In this capacity, he led a campaign to win financial support for the Red Cross, quickly raising four million dollars used to fund Red Cross ambulances. In recognition of his service he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, one of the few civilians so honored.

After the war ended, he pressed for the creation of an international organization to coordinate the work of the different national Red Cross societies. Based on his recommendation, the League of Red Cross Societies was founded on May 15, 1919, by the societies of Great Britain, France, Japan, Italy, and the United States. Davison, wanted the League of Red Cross Societies to supersede the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in controlling the Red Cross action in international affairs. He argued that:

It should be in reality, and not merely in name an International Committee, a Committee on which there will be representatives from all countries, instead of, as at present, a committee consisting of amiable but somewhat ineffective Geneva gentlemen. That which calls itself "international" has grown rather provincial… New blood, new methods, a new and more comprehensive outlook, these things are necessary.

The League was established in 1919 with Davison as its chairman. However, "Swiss aloofness or unilateralism was hard to overcome", and the relationship between the ICRC and the League became, and remained, a problem for years to come.

In 1919, Davison published The American Red Cross in the Great War, a book describing the wartime activities of the Red Cross. He remained chairman of the league until his death in 1922.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the league's name since 1991) grants the Henry Davison Award in his memory.

Personal life

Davison's home in New York at 690 Park Avenue and East 69th Street, designed by Walker & Gillette in 1917.
On April 13, 1893, he married Kate Trubee (1871–1961). Together, they had two sons, and two daughters:

  • Frederick Trubee Davison (1896–1974), was a director of personnel for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
  • Henry Pomeroy Davison Jr. (1898–1961), was a director at Time Magazine who married Anne Stillman (1902–1987), daughter of James A. Stillman
  • Alice Trubee Davison (1899–1983), who married Artemus Lamb Gates (1895–1976) in 1922
  • Frances Pomeroy Davison (1903–1969), who married Ward Cheney, a son of Charles Cheney, a partner at J.P. Morgan & Company, in 1926.

Davison died on May 6, 1922, at the age of 54 at his family estate, Peacock Point in Locust Valley, Long Island, while undergoing an operation to remove a brain tumor. He had undergone two prior failed brain operations. He left the bulk of his estate to his wife to be held in trust.

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Henry Pomeroy Davison, Sr.'s Timeline

1867
June 13, 1867
Troy, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States
1896
February 7, 1896
1898
April 3, 1898
Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States
1899
September 6, 1899
Englewood, Bergen, New Jersey, United States
1903
November 11, 1903
Engelwood, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States
1922
May 6, 1922
Age 54
Locust Valley, Nassau County, New York, United States
????
Locust Valley Cemetery, 117 Ryefield Road, Locust Valley, Nassau County, New York, 11560, United States