Sir Robert Mond

Sir Robert Ludwig Mond FRS, FRSE (9 September 1867 — 22 October 1938) was a British chemist and archaeologist.

Early life and education

Robert Mond was born at Farnworth, Widnes, Lancashire, the elder son of Ludwig Mond, chemist and industrialist. He was educated at Cheltenham College, Peterhouse, Cambridge, Zurich Polytechnic, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. At Glasgow he studied under William Thomson.

Chemistry He collaborated with his father in the discovery of the gaseous compound nickel carbonyl. He perfected the industrial production of iron carbonyl, and discovered the first derivative of a metallic carbonyl (cobalt nitroso-carbonyl) and a new ruthenium carbonyl For a time he made trials of scientific farming. Following his father's heritage he became a director of Brunner Mond & Company and because of a connection with nickel mines in Canada he was a trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Archaeology He then took an interest in Egyptian archaeology and worked with some of the major archaeologists of the time, including Percy Newberry, Howard Carter, Arthur Weigall and Alan Gardiner. With the last named he worked on the Theban necropolis. After World War I he was involved with the preservation of the tomb of Rameses. He built up a considerable collection of artifacts which he bequeathed to the British Museum. He also performed archaeological work in Palestine, France and the Channel Islands and assisted in the foundation of a British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Robert Mond also took an interest in model soldiers building up a collection of 900 figures representing all the regiments in Napoleon's army.

Honours and benefactions Mond helped convert a house in Paris into the Maison de la Chimie which supported the work of chemistry in France and he was a benefactor of the British Institute in Paris. He also made large benefactions to the universities of Liverpool, Manchester and Toronto. He was knighted in 1932. He received numerous honours including the honorary degrees of LL.D from the universities of Liverpool and Toronto, and D.Sc from the University of London. He was made president of the Faraday Society (1930–1932)and was awarded the Messel medal of the Society of Chemical Industry. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Royal Society. In France he became Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, thereby joining the Institut de France. He was elected president of the Société de Chimie.

Personal life Robert Mond married twice. In 1898 he married Helen Levis and they had two daughters but Helen died in 1905, following the birth of their second daughter (born in 1901). In her memory Mond founded the Infants' Hospital in Vincent Square, London. In 1922 he married Marie-Louise Guggenheim (née Le Manach) of Belle-Île-en-Terre, Brittany and following this spent more of his life in France. He died in Paris, was cremated at the Père Lachaise Cemetery and his ashes were buried at his home at Belle-Île-en-Terre.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mond

Biographical Summary

Mond, Sir Robert Ludwig. 09/09/1867-22/10/1938. Ref: 1871. Male.

• Titles and British Honours: Knight(1932).
• Place of Birth: Farnworth, Near Widnes, Lancashire.
• Place of Death: Paris, France.
• Place of interment: Ashes at Belle Isle en Terre,Brittany, France.
• Profession: Industrial Chemist, Archaeologist.
• Appointments Held: Director 1897, Brunner, Mond & Co, Director later Chairman, Mond Nickel Co.
• Schools and Tutors: Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire.
• Undergraduate Studies: BA (Cantab.), Zurich, Edinburgh & Glasgow Universities.
• Postgraduate Studies: LL.D(Hon Liverpool, Toronto).
• Marital Status: Married 1st (1898) Helen Edith Levis d.1905, 2nd (1922) Marie Louise Le Manach (Mrs Simon Guggenheim).
• Mother: Frida Loewenthal.
• Father: Ludwig Mond, FRS 1839-1909.
• References: DNB 1931-1940,1949, 622-3; Obituary Notices of Fellows of The Royal Society,2, 627-32 signed J.F.Thorpe (Portrait); Proc Roy Soc Edinb, 59, 1938-39, 273-5; Who Was Who 3.
• Memberships: FRS(1938), FSA, Faraday Society(President 1930-2), Societe de Chimie Industrielle.
• Date of Election: 02/06/1890.
• Proposers: Alexander Crum Brown, Sir W Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Sir G Sims Woodhead, A Peebles Aitken (Billet 5/5, 19/5/1890).
• Fellow Type: OF.

SOURCE: Waterston, Charles D; Macmillan Shearer, A (July 2006). Biographical index of former fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002: Biographical Index. II. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. page 660

Other References

• Wikipedia contributors. "Robert Mond." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
• JTA ARticle from 1932: http://www.jta.org/1932/06/04/archive/dr-robert-mond-and-mr-leonard...
• JTA Article from 1933: http://www.jta.org/1933/07/30/archive/sir-robert-mond-takes-helm-of...
• Faraday Society obit: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1938/tf/tf9383401369/...

A more personal, anecdotal account, from Robert Temple's "The Monds": http://www.robert-temple.com/family/the_monds.html

A family group photo of my Mond cousins (right), taken in the 1880s in England. The young man at the left is the single blood relation with whom I have the most in common, Robert Mond, my second cousin twice removed (i.e., my grandmother’s second cousin). He was later knighted as Sir Robert Mond, LLD, FRS, FBA, Commander of the Legion of Honour, etc. He had little interest in the family business, which he left to his younger brother, sitting beside him with his arms folded. Having inherited a fortune, Robert Mond set about making good use of it. He became an Egyptologist, and he financed and led several archaeological expeditions to Egypt. He became the chief patron of Sir Flinders Petrie, who is my own favourite Egyptologist. I had no idea until after I had already abridged Sir James Frazer’s The Golden Bough myself as The Illustrated Golden Bough, that Robert Mond was also Frazer’s patron, and kept him going financially during the years when he was writing The Golden Bough. Robert Mond was also the founder and first President of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and he founded and funded its now-famous scholarly journal, Ambix, to which he wrote the first contribution in Volume One, Number One, in May, 1937. Robert lived in Berkeley Square in London, though I do not know in which house. He married twice, but no Monds are descended from him, as he had daughters but no son. None of the cousins whom I know has ever been able to give me any idea of what happened to all his books and papers. He died in Paris on October 22, 1938. The National Portrait Gallery in London has a bronze statuette of Robert. All I have of his is a single book from his personal library, with his grand armorial bookplate in the front, but no signature. Well, that’s not strictly true. I do have one other thing of his: our common interests.