Sir Carl Meyer 1st Baronet - Biography

Sir Carl Ferdinand Meyer, 1st Baronet (23 December 1851 – 18 December 1922) was a British banker and mining magnate.

Personal life

Meyer was born in Hamburg, Germany, the second son of Siegmund Meyer and Elise Rosa Hahn daughter of Reuben Hahn. He became a naturalised British subject in 1877. In 1883 he married Adèle, daughter of Julius Levis of Hampstead by which he had a son Frank Cecil Meyer and a daughter.

Career

Meyer worked at first for the Rothschild family as their chief clerk and negotiator with the De Beers mining group. He then went onto work for De Beers and became deputy chairman of the company. He was also governor of the National Bank of Egypt, and member of the board of numerous other mining companies. He was given the title of "baronet" in 1910.

Meyer had a great interest in the arts, constantly showing support for opera, music and the theatre. In 1909 he donated 70,000 pounds to the Shakespeare National Memorial Theater, now rebuilt as the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. During the First World War Meyer wrote to The Times expressing his disapproval of the tactics used by the Germans in the war, including the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, prompted by a suggestion by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero that Britons of German origin should speak out publicly.

Notes

External links

• Portrait of Carl Meyer, Bridgeman Art Library