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Gen'l. Robert E. Lee (1807-70) and Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869). at
General Robert E. Lee (1807-70) Met Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23-August 30, 1869.
By Franklin Parker and Betty J. Parker 63 Heritage Loop, Crossville, TN 38571.
Email bfparker@frontiernet.net
The hot spring health spas of Virginia were the first gathering places of southern and northern elites after the Civil War. It was at the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the most popular of the hot spring spas, that Robert E. Lee and George Peabody met by chance for a few weeks during July 23-August 30, 1869. For each this meeting was a symbolic turn from Civil War bitterness toward reconciliation and the lifting power of education.
Lee was then president of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia (1865-70, renamed Washington and Lee University from 1871). Peabody had just (June 29, 1869) doubled to $2 million his Peabody Education Fund, begun February 7, 1867, to advance public education in the South.
Historical circumstances had made both Lee and Peabody famous in their time, Lee's fame more lasting; Peabody's, strangely, soon forgotten. Yet when they met in 1869 Peabody was arguably better known in the English speaking world and more widely appreciated.
For Lee, age 62, hero of the lost Confederate cause, it was next to the last summer of life. For Peabody, age 74, best known philanthropist of his time, it was the very last summer of life. They were the center of attention that summer of 1869 at "The Old White." They ate together in the public dining room, walked arm in arm to their nearby bungalows, were applauded by visitors, and were photographed together and with others of prominence.
Robert E. Lee's Father
Born in Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, Robert Edward Lee was the son of Revolutionary War hero Henry Lee (1756-1818), popularly known as "Light Horse Harry." Henry Lee was a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress (1785-88), member of the Virginia Convention for the Continental Congress (1788), served in Virginia's General Assembly (1789-91), was Virginia Governor (1792-95), was appointed by George Washington to command troops to suppress the "Whiskey Insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania (1794), served in the U. S. Sixth Congress (1799-1801), and last served in the War of 1812.
Despite this impressive record (Congress voted him a gold medal for his American Revolutionary War exploits) Henry Lee was a less than satisfactory husband, a poor family breadwinner, an absentee father to his five children, was often hounded by creditors, and was several times imprisoned for debt.
Robert E. Lee was age six when he last saw his father, who left to regain his health in the West Indies. Young Lee was age eleven when his father died. Robert E. Lee's biographer, Emory M. Thomas wrote: "All his life, Robert Lee knew his father only at a great distance."
Robert E. Lee's Career
Robert E. Lee attended private schools in Alexandria, Virginia. At age 18, with family finances prohibiting attending a private college, Robert E. Lee, bent on a military career, applied for admission to the tuition free U. S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. His family and friends sent petitions and letters of recommendation to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun (1782-1850). In the summer of 1825 R. E. Lee entered West Point as one of 107 new cadets.
Forty-seven of that entering class graduated, Lee among them. He was an exemplary cadet, without a single demerit, held every cadet post of honor, and graduated second in his class of 1829. He was assigned to the engineer corps where he soon won a high reputation. On June 30, 1831, two years after graduating, he married Mary Randolph Custis, daughter of a grandson of Mrs. George Washington (Martha Washington, 1731-1802).
Distinguishing himself as chief engineer in river drainage and fort-building projects, he served in the Mexican War, where General Winfield Scott (1786-1866), valuing his military and engineering skills, constantly consulted him.
Lee was superintendent of West Point (1852-55). He was the United States military officer ordered to put down the John Brown (1800-59) insurrection at Harper's Ferry federal arsenal, Virginia, October 16, 1859. Abolitionist Brown's fanatical attempt to steal federal weapons in order to arm slaves for an insurrection against the South helped precipitate the bitter four-year Civil War.
Faced with the "irrepressible conflict," General Winfield Scott reportedly told President Abraham Lincoln that Lee was worth 50,000 men. Lee was offered command of Federal forces, April 18, 1861, but declined. He told Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876), who approached him on behalf of President Lincoln: "...though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no part in an invasion of the Southern States." Loyal to Virginia, Lee resigned from the United States Army, April 20, 1861. In Richmond Virginia, at the request of the Virginia Convention, he was placed in command of the Virginia forces, April 23, 1861. Lee's organizing ability, grasp of military strategy, and his integrity held out for four bitter Civil War years against overwhelming Union strength in numbers, manpower, and economic resources. Faced by inevitable crushing defeat Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant, Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9, 1865.
He told his defeated troops: "...You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that our merciful God extend to you his blessing and protection."
With the Confederate cause lost, Lee sought obscurity and declined to lend his name to commercial ventures. When first invited to the presidency of small, obscure and struggling Washington College, Lexington, Virginia (August 1865), Lee hesitated. He wrote the trustees that he was "an object of censure" to the North, that his presence might "cause injury" to the college.
Knowing that Lee's name and fame would attract students, the trustees persisted. Lee accepted. His biographer Emory M. Thomas wrote that Lee quickly "established himself as a presence in Lexington," and that in the five years of life left to him (1865-1870) became "the savior of Washington College."
Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
The first inn at what is now the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, was built in 1780, long before West Virginia became a state in 1863. It was a favorite resort for southern elites who gathered there to meet relatives and friends, to rest and recuperate, and to drink and bathe in its healthful mineral springs. Lee, with heart trouble, needing rest, was an occasional health spa visitor, particularly at the Greenbrier.
At the Greenbrier the summer of 1868, Lee heard that some young northern visitors were receiving a frosty reception. He asked the young southern women who surrounded him if one of them would go with him to greet and welcome the young northern guests.
The young lady accompanying him, Christina Bond, asked, "General Lee, did you never feel resentment towards the North?" She recorded his quiet reply, "I believe I may say, looking into my own heart, and speaking as in the presence of my God, that I have never known one moment of bitterness or resentment." The next summer of 1869 at the Greenbrier he met George Peabody for the first and only time.
Peabody's Career
George Peabody was third of eight children born to a poor family in Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), 19 miles from Boston, Massachusetts. After four years in a district school (1803-07) and four years apprenticed in a general store (1807-10), the 16-year-old in 1811 worked in his oldest brother's clothing store in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
His father's death that year (May 13, 1811) left the family in debt, their Danvers home mortgaged, with the mother and five younger siblings forced to live with relatives. The Great Fire in Newburyport (May 31, 1811) occurred eleven days after his father's death. The fire, coming as it did during an economic depression in New England, led many to leave that town and migrate to the South.
An improvident paternal uncle whose Newburyport store had burned in the fire encouraged his 16-year-old nephew, George Peabody, to open with him a drygoods store in Georgetown, District of Columbia. Needing credit, backed by Newburyport merchant Prescott Spaulding's (1781-1864) recommendation, Peabody secured a $2,000 consignment of goods, basis of his first commercial venture in the Georgetown drygoods store (1812).
His uncle soon left for other enterprises. Young Peabody operated the store and was also a pack peddler selling goods to homes and stores in the D. C. area. With Washington, D. C., under siege by the British he volunteered and served briefly in the War of 1812.
Fellow soldier and older experienced merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), took the 19-year-old Peabody as traveling junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), Georgetown, D.C. The firm, which imported clothing and other merchandise for sale to U. S. wholesalers, moved in 1815 to Baltimore and by 1822 had Philadelphia and New York City warehouses.
Peabody early took on the support of his family. He sent clothes and money to his mother and siblings, and by 1816, at age 21, he paid off the family debts and restored his mother and siblings to their Danvers home. Handling the Peabody home deed, Newburyport, Massachusetts, lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote George Peabody (December 16, 1816): "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent."
Peabody paid for the education at Bradford Academy (now Bradford College), Bradford, Massachusetts, of five younger relatives. He bought a house in West Bradford for his relatives studying at the academy, where his mother also lived for several years.
He later paid for the complete education of nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), first U. S. paleontologist at Yale University; nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), Harvard-trained lawyer, niece Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) Chandler (b. 1835), and others.
Deprived, as I was...
Peabody's May 18, 1831, letter to a nephew named after him, George Peabody (1815-32), son of his oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841), hinted at his motive for educating his relatives and for his later philanthropies.
Particularly fond of this nephew, Peabody paid for his schooling at Bradford Academy and received regular reports of his nephew's progress. When this nephew asked his uncle for financial help to attend Yale College, Peabody replied in a poignant letter.
Peabody wrote his nephew: (his underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me."
Sadly, this favorite nephew died at age 17 on September 24, 1832, in Boston of scarlet fever, his potential unfulfilled.
Selling Maryland's Bonds Abroad
As purchasing partner in the United States and abroad for Riggs, Peabody & Co. (renamed Peabody, Riggs & Co., 1829-48), Peabody made four buying trips to Europe during 1827-37.
In the mid-1830s several states began internal improvement of roads, canals, and railroads requiring European investment capital through state bonds sold abroad. In 1836 the Maryland legislature voted to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. On his fifth trip abroad, February 1837, Peabody represented both his firm and was also appointed one of three agents to sell abroad Maryland's $8 million bond issue.
In the financial Panic of 1837 the two other agents returned home without success. Peabody remained in London the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three visits to the United States. Nine U. S. states in financial difficulty, including Maryland, stopped interest payments on their bonds sold abroad. Peabody faced a depressed market, with British and European investors angry at nonpayment of interest on their U. S. state bonds.
Peabody bombarded Maryland officials with letters urging that interest payments on Maryland bonds be resumed, and retroactively. His letters were published in U. S. newspapers. Abroad, he also publicly assured foreign investors that interest nonpayment was temporary and that repayment would be retroactive. He finally sold his part of the Maryland bonds to London's Baring Brothers.
The Panic of 1837 eased. The nine defaulting states resumed their bond interest payments. Peabody's faith that they would do so was justified and appreciated. His integrity became known to an ever-wider circle.
Some minor fame came to Peabody when the Maryland Legislature (1847-48), realizing what he had done, voted him unanimous thanks for upholding its credit abroad and for declining the $60,000 commission due him.
He had not wanted to burden the state treasury during its financial difficulty. In transmitting these resolutions of thanks, Maryland Governor Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) wrote Peabody, "To you, sir...the thanks of the State were eminently due."
London-Based Banker
In London, Peabody gradually reduced his trade in drygoods and commodities. Under the firm name of George Peabody & Co. (1838-64) he made the transition from merchant to international banker. He sold U. S. state bonds to finance roads, canals, and railroads; helped sell the second Mexican War bonds; bought, sold, and shipped European iron and later steel rails for U. S. western railroads; and helped finance the Atlantic Cable Co.
Asked in an interview, August 22, 1869, how and when he made most of his money, the London-based securities broker and international banker said, "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly."
Morgan Partnership
Often ill and urged by business friends to take a partner, Peabody on October 1, 1854, at age 59, took as partner Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose 19-year-old son John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) began his banking career as New York City agent for George Peabody & Co., London On retirement, October 1, 1864, unmarried, without a son, and knowing he would no longer control his firm, Peabody asked that his name be withdrawn.
George Peabody & Co. (1838-64) continued in London as J. S. Morgan & Co. (1864-1909), Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-89), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since 1989), a German-owned international banking firm.
Peabody was thus the root of the J. P. Morgan international banking firm. He spent the last five years of his life (1864-69) looking after his philanthropic institutions, begun in 1852 with the motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations."
Philanthropist
Peabody early told intimates and said publicly in 1850 that he would found a useful educational institution in every town and city where he had lived and worked. His 1827 will left $4,000 for charity. His 1832 will left $27,000 for educational philanthropy out of a $135,000 estate.
Founded Seven Libraries
Ultimately his philanthropic gifts of some $10 million included seven Peabody institute libraries, with lecture halls and lecture funds. These were, like the lyceums and the later chautauquas, the adult education centers of their time.
Later, Andrew Carnegie's (1835-1919) libraries and other funds, John D. Rockefeller's (1839-1937) funds and foundations, Henry Ford's (1863-1947) funds, and those of others far surpassed Peabody's philanthropy. But it was Peabody's gifts which first initiated, set policies, patterns, and inspired the later vast educational foundation movement.
The seven Peabody Institute Libraries are in: Peabody, Danvers, Newburyport, and Georgetown (all in Massachusetts); and in Baltimore, where the Peabody Institute of Baltimore (from 1857, total gift $1.4 million) consisted of a unique reference library whose books from European estates Peabody, through agents, bought and shipped to Baltimore. The Library of Congress early borrowed from its rare book collection.
The Peabody Institute of Baltimore also had an art gallery, lecture hall and lecture fund, a Conservatory of Music, and gave annual prizes to Baltimore's best public school students. In 1982 the Baltimore Reference Library and the Peabody Conservatory of Music became part of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Other Peabody libraries are in 6-Thetford, Vermont, where he visited his maternal grandparents at age 15, and in 7-Georgetown, D.C.
Three Museums of Science
He endowed the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (anthropology); the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University (paleontology), both 1866; and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (1867), containing maritime history and Essex County historical documents, including most of George Peabody's letters and papers.
Other Gifts
He gave the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts (Baltimore) $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school (1851); Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, $25,000 for a mathematics professorship (1866); Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, $25,000, for a mathematics and civil engineering professorship (November 1866); and former general, then President Robert E. Lee's Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee University, 1871), Lexington, Virginia, $60,000 for a mathematics professorship (September 1869).
He gave $20,000 publication funds each to the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore (November 5, 1866), and the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (January 1, 1867). He gave to the United States Sanitary Commission to aid Civil War orphans, widows, and disabled veterans $10,000 (1864). To the Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy, he gave $19,300 (April 5, 1867). He built a Memorial Congregational Church in his mother's memory in her hometown, Georgetown, Massachusetts, $70,000 (1866).
For patriotic causes he gave to the Lexington Monument in what is now Peabody, Massachusetts, $300 (1835); the Bunker Hill Memorial, Boston, Massachusetts, $500 (June 3, 1845); and the Washington Monument, Washington, D. C., $1,000 (July 4, 1854).
Peabody Education Fund
His most influential U. .S. gift was the $2 million Peabody Education Fund (PEF, 1867-1914) to promote public schools in the eleven former Confederate states plus West Virginia, added because of its poverty. For 47 years the PEF helped promote public schools in the devastated post-Civil War South, focusing on public elementary and secondary schools, then on teacher training institutes and normal colleges, and finally on rural public schools.
Without precedent, the PEF was the first multimillion dollar U.S. educational foundation. Historians have cited its example and policies as the model forerunner of all subsequent significant United States educational funds and foundations.
Famous in his time, largely forgotten since, even underrated by most historians, George Peabody was in fact the founder of modern American philanthropy.
Many of the over 50 distinguished PEF trustees (during 1867-1914) who held high offices in the U. S. were also trustees of other later, larger, and richer funds and foundations. They thus helped spread the PEF's influence far and wide.
The common goal of these late nineteenth century, early twentieth century funds and foundations was to use private foundation wealth as levers to help solve education, health, and economic welfare problems in the U. S. South, elsewhere in the U. S., and worldwide.
High Offices Held by PEF Trustees
Twelve of the over 50 PEF trustees were state legislators, two were U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justices, six were U.S. ambassadors, seven U.S. House of Representatives members, two U. S. generals, one U. S. Navy admiral, one U. S. Surgeon-General, three Confederate generals, seven U.S. Senators, three Confederate Congressmen, two church bishops, six U. S. cabinet officers, three U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland), or eight U.S. presidents if Peabody Normal College and its predecessor institutions are included, and three financiers.
The three financiers who were PEF trustees included J. P. Morgan, himself an art collector and philanthropist of note; Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93), inspired as PEF trustee to found Drexel University, Philadelphia; and Paul Tulane (1801-87), inspired as PEF trustee to found Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Permitted to disband when their mission was accomplished, the PEF trustees gave (1914): $474,000 to fourteen state university colleges of education in the South; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, South Carolina; and funds to the Southern Education Fund, Atlanta, still aiding African-American education. The bulk of the PEF, $1.5 million (required matching funds made it $3 million), went to George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79), Nashville, sited next to Vanderbilt University, which still thrives as Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (hereafter PCofVU, since 1979).
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Traced genealogically in Nashville for some 220 years, Davidson Academy (1785-1806) was chartered by North Carolina eleven years before Tennessee's statehood; rechartered as Cumberland College (1806-26); rechartered as the University of Nashville (1826-75); rechartered as Peabody Normal College (1875-1909, created and supported by the PEF); rechartered as George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79), which continues as PCofVU (from 1979).
Faced with greater class and race divisions and with greater financial difficulties than counterpart colleges in other U.S. sections, what is now Peabody College of Vanderbilt University rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world.
Peabody Homes of London
Wanting to do something for the working poor of London, Peabody followed social reformer Lord Shaftesbury's (1801-85) suggestion--that low-cost housing was the London poor's greatest need. Peabody gave a total of $2.5 million (from 1862) to subsidize low rent model housing in London.
Some 34,500 low income Londoners (March 31, 1999) lived in 14,000 Peabody apartments on 83 estates in 26 of London's boroughs. The Peabody Trust, which built and administers the Peabody Homes of London, valued at some $1.53 billion, is Peabody's most successful philanthropy (and least known by Americans).
Last U.S. Visit
Long ill, sensing his end was near, George Peabody made his last four-month U. S. visit, June 8 to September 29, 1869, to see family and friends and to add gifts to his U. S. institutes. Greatly weakened, he was met in New York City by intimates who also sensed this as his last U.S. visit.
The New York Times, June 9, 1869, reported his arrival "in advanced age and declining health...." "Wherever he goes," the article read, "he is worried by begging letters from individuals expecting him to get them out of some scrape... Now that he is in America he should be left to the quiet and repose he so greatly needs."
He went to Boston (June 10, 1869), then rested in Salem, Massachusetts, at nephew George Peabody Russell's (1835-1909) home.
On July 6, 1869, his nephew wrote to his uncle's intimate business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who was at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia: "...Mr. Peabody...is weaker than when he arrived.... He has...decided to go to the White Sulphur Springs...[and asks you to] arrange accommodations for himself, and servant, for Mrs. Russell and myself."
In mid-June 1869 Peabody quietly visited the Boston Peace Jubilee and Music Festival and listened to the chorus. At intermission, Boston Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (1810-74) announced Peabody's presence, which brought "a perfect storm of applause."
In a Sunday, June 20, sermon closing the Boston Peace Jubilee, the Reverend William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905) mentioned that George Peabody had done more to keep the peace between Britain and America than a hundred demagogues to destroy it.
On June 29, 1869, in more than doubling his fund for southern education, he wrote his trustees: "I now give you additional bonds [worth] $1,384,000..... I do this [hoping] that with God's blessing...it may...prove a permanent and lasting boon, not only to the Southern States, but to the whole of our dear country...." He added $50,000 to his first Peabody Institute Library (Peabody, Massachusetts, total gift $217,600). At the July 14, 1869, dedication of the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Massachusetts (to which he gave a total of $100,000), he said: "I can never expect to address you again collectively.... I hope that this institution will be...a source of pleasure and profit."
At a July 16, 1869, reception, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Massachusetts, his 30 guests who arrived by special train from Boston included former Massachusetts Governor Clifford Claflin (1818-1905), Boston Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, U.S. Senator Charles Sumner (1811-74), and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94). Poet Holmes read aloud a poem titled "George Peabody" written specially for the occasion.
Two days later (July 18, 1869) Holmes described Peabody in a letter to U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77) as "the Dives who is going to Abraham's bosom and I fear before a great while...." On July 22, 1869, longtime friend Ohio Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) wrote to Peabody's philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94): "The White Sulphur Springs will, I hope, be beneficial to our excellent friend; but it can be only a very superficial good. [His] cough is terrible, and I have no expectation of his living a year...."
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23-Aug. 30, 1869
This was the background when Peabody arrived by special train at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23, 1869. Present was Tennessee Superintendent of Public Instruction and later U.S. Commissioner of Education John Eaton, Jr. (1829-1906).
John Easton wrote in his annual report: "Mr. Peabody shares with ex-Governor Wise the uppermost cottage in Baltimore Row, and sits at the same table with General Lee, Mr. Corcoran, Mr. Taggart, and others.... Being quite infirm, he has been seldom able to come to parlor or dining room, though he has received many ladies and gentlemen at the cottage.... His manners are singularly affable and pleasing, and his countenance one of the most benevolent we have ever seen."
Peabody's confinement to his cottage prompted a meeting on July 27, 1869, at which former Virginia Governor Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) drew up resolutions of praise read in Peabody's presence the next day (July 28, 1869) in the "Old White" hotel parlor. The resolutions read in part: "On behalf of the southern people we tender thanks to Mr. Peabody for his aid to the cause of education...and hail him 'benefactor.'"
Peabody, seated, replied, "If I had strength, I would speak more on the heroism of the Southern people. Your kind remarks about the Education Fund sound sweet to my ears. My heart is interwoven with its success."
Peabody Ball
Merrymakers at the "Old White" held a Peabody Ball on August 11, 1869. Too ill to attend, Peabody heard the gaiety from his cottage.
Historian Perceval Reniers wrote of this Peabody Ball: "The affair that did most to revive [the Southerners'] esteem was the Peabody Ball...given to honor...Mr. George Peabody.... Everything was right for the Peabody Ball. Everybody was ready for just such a climax, the background was a perfect build-up. Mr. Peabody appeared at just the right time and lived just long enough. A few months later it would not have been possible, for Mr. Peabody would be dead."
The PEF's first administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80), present at White Sulphur Springs that July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, recorded why Peabody's presence there was important to the PEF's work in promoting public education in the South. Sears wrote: "...both on account of his unparalleled goodness and of his illness among a loving and hospitable people [he received] tokens of love and respect from all, such as I have never before seen shown to any one. This visit...will, in my judgment, do more for us than a long tour in a state of good health...."
Famous Photos of George Peabody and Robert E. Lee
Peabody, Lee, and others were central figures in several remarkable photos taken at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on August 12, 1869. In the main photograph the five individuals seated on cane-bottomed chairs were, left to right: Turkey's Minister to the U.S. Edouard Blacque Bey (1824-95); General Robert E. Lee, Peabody, William Wilson Corcoran, and Richmond, Virginia, judge and public education advocate James Lyons (1801-82).
Standing behind the five seated figures were seven former Civil War generals, their names in dispute until correctly identified in 1935 by Leonard T. Mackall of Savannah, Georgia (from left to right): James Conner (1829-83) of South Carolina, Martin W. Gary (1831-81) of South Carolina, Robert Doak Lilley (1836-86) of Virginia, P.G.T. Beauregard (1818-93) of Louisiana, Alexander Robert Lawton (1818-96) of Georgia, Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) of Virginia, and Joseph L. Brent (b.1826) of Maryland.
There is also a photo of Peabody sitting alone and a photo of Lee, Peabody, and William Wilson Corcoran sitting together.
Peabody's Gifts to Lee
That August 1869 Peabody gave Lee a small private gift of $100 for Lee's Episcopal church in Lexington, Virginia, in need of repairs (William Wilson Corcoran also gave $100). Peabody also gave to Lee's Washington College Virginia state bonds he owned worth $35,000 when they were lost on the ship Arctic, a Collins Line steamer, sunk with the loss of 322 passengers on September 27, 1854, 20 miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland.
Peabody 's petition to the Virginia legislature to reimburse him for the lost bonds had been unsuccessful when he gave Lee's college the value of the bonds for a mathematics professorship. Eventually the value of the lost bonds and the accrued interest, $60,000 total, were paid by the State of Virginia to Washington and Lee University With wry humor Lee's biographer C.B. Flood described George Peabody's gift: "It was generosity with a touch of Yankee shrewdness: you Southerners go fight it out among yourselves. If General Lee can't get [this lost bond money] out of the Virginia legislature, nobody can."
Peabody left White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, August 30, 1869, in a special railroad car provided by longtime friend, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad President John Work Garrett (1820-84). Lee rode a short distance in the same car with Peabody. They parted, never to meet again.
Peabody recorded his last will (September 9, 1869) in New York City, had his tomb built at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts (September 10, 1869), ordered a granite sarcophagus to mark his grave, and boarded the Scotia in New York City September 29, 1869. He landed at Queenstown, Ireland, October 8, 1869, and was rushed to rest at the London home of longtime business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), where he died November 4, 1869.
Lee Sent His Photograph
On Sept. 25, 1869, at the request of Peabody Institute Librarian Fitch Poole (1803-73, Peabody, Massachusetts), Lee sent Poole a photograph of himself, adding that he would "feel honoured in its being placed among the 'friends' of Mr. Peabody, who can be numbered by the millions, yet all can appreciate the man who has [illumined] his age by his munificent charities during his life, and by his wise provisions for promoting the happiness of his fellow creatures."
Lee on Peabody's Death
Reading of Peabody's death in London (November 4, 1869), Robert E. Lee wrote (November 10, 1869) to Peabody's nephew George Peabody Russell, who had been with his uncle in White Sulphur Springs and there had met Lee: "The announcement of the death of your uncle, Mr. George Peabody, has been received with the deepest regret wherever his name and benevolence are known; and nowhere have his generous deeds--restricted to no country, section or sect--elicited more heartfelt admiration than at the South. He stands alone in history for the benevolent and judicious distribution of his great wealth, and his memory has become entwined in the affections of millions of his fellow-citizens in both hemispheres."
"I beg, in my own behalf," Lee continued, "and in behalf of the Trustees and Faculty of Washington College, Virginia, which was not forgotten by him in his act of generosity, to tender the tribute of our unfeigned sorrow at his death. ¶With great respect, Your obedient servant R.E. Lee."
Concern Over Lee's Attending Peabody's Funeral
Lee had been invited to attend Peabody's final funeral service and eulogy, South Congregational Church, Peabody, Massachusetts, followed by burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, February 8, 1870.
But Peabody's intimates feared that Lee's attendance might evoke an ugly incident. After President Lincoln's assassination, Congressional radical Republicans, bent on revenge, crushed the defeated South with military rule. This anger was also strong among New England abolitionists.
Robert Charles Winthrop, Peabody's philanthropic advisor and president of the PEF trustees, who was to deliver Peabody's funeral eulogy February 8, 1870, feared that Lee's attendance might bring on a demonstration. On February 2, 1870, Winthrop wrote two private and confidential letters, the first to Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870): "There is apprehension here, that if Lee should come to the funeral, something unpleasant might occur, which would be as painful to us as to him. Would you contact friends to impart this to the General? Please do not mention that the suggestion came from me." Winthrop also wrote to Corcoran: "I write to you in absolute confidence. Some friends of ours, whose motives cannot be mistaken, are very anxious that Genl. Lee should not come to the funeral next week. They have also asked me to suggest that. Still there is always apprehension that from an irresponsible crowd there might come some remarks which would be offensive to him and painful to us all. I am sure he would be the last person to involve himself or us, needlessly, in a doubtful position on such an occasion."
Winthrop continued to Corcoran: "The newspapers at first said that he was not coming. Now, there is an intimation that he is. I know of no one who could [more] effectively give the right direction to his views than yourself. Your relation to Mr. Peabody & to Mr. Lee would enable you to ascertain his purposes & shape his course wisely.... I know of no one else to rely on."
One of the two Washington College trustees who planned to attend Peabody's funeral had earlier written to Corcoran (January 26, 1870): "I first thought that General Lee should not go, but have now changed my mind. Some of us believe that if you advise the General to attend he would do so. Use your own discretion in this matter."
Lee Too Ill to Attend
Lee explained in a January 26, 1870, letter to William Wilson Corcoran: "I am sorry I cannot attend the funeral obsequies of Mr. Peabody. It would be some relief to witness the respect paid to his remains, and to participate in commemorating his virtues; but I am unable to undertake the journey. I have been sick all the winter, and am still under medical treatment. I particularly regret that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you. Two trustees of Washington College will attend the funeral. I hope you can join them."
On the same day Winthrop wrote his letters (February 2, 1870), Lee wrote his daughter Mildred Childe Lee (1846-1904) that he was too ill to attend: "I am sorry that I could not attend Mr. Peabody's funeral, but I did not feel able to undertake the journey, especially at this season."
Corcoran too replied to Winthrop that Lee had no intention of coming. Corcoran could not imagine, he wrote, that so good and great a man as Lee would receive anything but a kind reception. Himself ill, Corcoran wrote to Lee his regret that he could not attend to pay his respects to "my valued old friend." Peabody's intimates were relieved at confirmation that Lee's illness would definitely keep him from the funeral.
Trans-Atlantic Funeral Overview
Lee, Corcoran, and much of the English-speaking reading public, awed by Peabody's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral, awaited its final scene: Robert Charles Winthrop's eulogy and Peabody's final burial (both February 8, 1870).
Peabody's funeral was unprecedented in length, pomp, and ceremony; was marked by cold stormy weather; involved the highest officials of England and the United States; was vastly publicized in the press of both countries; and was observed in person by many thousands of Britons and Americans. That funeral included:
1-a Westminster Abbey service (November 12, 1869) and temporary burial there for 30 days (November 12-December 11, 1869). When Peabody's will became known requiring burial in Salem, Massachusetts,
2-the British cabinet decided (November 10, 1869), at Queen Victoria's suggestion, to return his remains for burial in the U. S. on Her Majesty's Ship HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, repainted for this grim occasion slate gray above the water line, with a specially built mortuary chapel. Next came a
3-U. S. government decision (made between November 12-15, 1869) to send the United States corvette USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to accompany HMS Monarch to the United States. Then followed
4-transfer (December 11, 1869) of Peabody's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, on a special funeral train to Portsmouth, England, impressive ceremonies at the transfer of remains from Portsmouth dock to HMS Monarch, specially outfitted as a funeral vessel. Next came the
5-transatlantic crossing of HMS Monarch and the USS Plymouth (December 21, 1869 to January 25, 1870) from Spithead near Portsmouth, past Ushant, France, to Madeira Island off Portugal, to Bermuda, and north to Portland, Maine, chosen by the British Admiralty because of its deeper harbor. A covert rivalry had early erupted between
6-Bostonians and New Yorkers about which city could provide the more solemn ceremony as receiving port. Thinking themselves the center of northeast society and fashion, each was disappointed when the British Admiralty chose Portland, Maine, whose deeper harbor more safely accommodated HMS Monarch's large size.
A contemporary news account described the petty jealousy: "When the mighty men of Boston knew that England's..."Monarch" was bringing the body of the great philanthropist to his last resting place, they called a meeting and decided with what fitting honors and glories it would be received.... but, when the telegraph flashed the astounding news that little Portland was to be the port...all was changed....[Bostonians were sure] that the Portlanders...would blunder...." On January 14, 1870, on President U. S Grant's approval,
7-U. S. Navy Secretary George Maxwell Robeson (1829-97) ordered Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70), a PEF trustee, to command a U.S. naval flotilla to meet HMS Monarch and USS Plymouth in Portland harbor, Maine (January 25, 1870). HMS Monarch's captain then requested, on behalf of Queen Victoria,
8-that the coffin remain aboard the Monarch in Portland harbor for two days (January 27-28, 1870).as a final mark of respect. Thousands of visitors, drawn to the spectacle, viewed the coffin in the somberly decorated Monarch's mortuary chapel. Peabody's remains then
9-lay in state in Portland City Hall (January 29-February 1, 1870), viewed by thousands.
10-A special funeral train from Portland, Maine, bore the remains to Peabody, Massachusetts (February 1, 1870). 11-Lying in state of Peabody's remains took place at the Peabody Institute Library (February 1-8, 1870).
The final ceremony, the press announced to an awed public, was to be 12-Robert Charles Winthrop's funeral eulogy at the South Congregational Church, Peabody, Massachusetts, attended by New England governors, mayors, Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur, and other notables (February 8, 1870). Final burial would then follow at 13-Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts.
Why Such Unprecedented Funeral Honors?
Daily reports on Peabody's sinking condition in London had appeared in the British press. After his death the London Daily News recorded (November 8, 1869): "We have received a large number of letters, urging that the honours of a public funeral are due to the late Mr. Peabody's memory."
The Dean of Westminster Abbey, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-81), was in Naples, Italy, November 5, 1869, when he read of Peabody's death. Years later he recorded: "I was in Naples, and saw in the public papers that George Peabody had died. Being absent, considering that he was a foreigner, and at the same time, by reason of his benefactions to the City of London, entitled to a burial in Westminster Abbey, I telegraphed to express my wishes that his interment there should take place."
The Alabama Claims
Peabody died during tense, near warlike U. S.-British angers over two U. S. Civil War incidents, the Alabama Claims (1864-72) and the Trent Affair (September 8, 1861). CSS Alabama was a notorious British-built Confederate raider which sank 64 northern cargo ships during 1862-64.
Without a navy, with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents slipped secretly to England, bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others, which sank northern ships and cost northern lives and treasure.
Officially neutral in the U. S. Civil War, British officials were continually reminded of their breach of neutrality by U. S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86). Official U. S. demands for reparations for damages from British-built raiders (from1862) were resolved at a Geneva international tribunal (1871-72), requiring Britain to pay the United States $15.5 million indemnity.
At Peabody's death, November 4, 1869, this Alabama Claims controversy was unresolved and tense. Americans were angry; Britons were resentful. A desire to defuse angers over the Alabama Claims was one reason British officials first, and then United States officials to surpass them, outdid each other in unusual homage to Peabody's remains during his transatlantic funeral.
Trent Affair
There was also lingering resentment over the still rankling November 8, 1861 Trent Affair. On the stormy night of October 11, 1861, four Confederate emissaries, seeking aid and arms from Britain and France, evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, South Carolina, went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent, bound for Southampton, England.
The Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies (November 8, 1861) by USS San Jacinto's Captain Charles Wilkes (1798-1877). Confederates James Murray Mason (1798-1871, from Virginia), John Slidell (1793-1871, from Louisiana), and their male secretaries were forcibly removed and imprisoned in Boston harbor's Fort Warren Prison.
Anticipating war with the U. S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But United States jingoism subsided. President Abraham Lincoln reportedly told his cabinet, "one war at a time," gentlemen, got the cabinet on December 26, 1861, to disavow the illegal seizure, and released the Confederate prisoners on January 1, 1862. But resentments lingered.
Besides softening near war U .S.-British tensions, another reason behind the Peabody funeral honors was British leaders' sincere appreciation for Peabody's gift of homes for London's working poor. Many marveled that an American would give that kind of gift in that large amount to a city and country not his own. Britons also valued Peabody's two decades of efforts to improve United States-British relations.
Prime Minister Gladstone
On November 9, 1869, in a major speech at the Lord Mayor's Day banquet, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1808-98) referred to British-U.S. difficulties and then mentioned Peabody's death: "You will know that I refer to the death of Mr. Peabody, a man whose splendid benefactions...taught us in this commercial age...the most noble and needful of all lessons--...how a man can be the master of his wealth instead of its slave [cheers]."
"And, my Lord Mayor," Gladstone continued, "most touching it is to know, as I have learnt, that while, perhaps, some might think he had been unhappy in dying in a foreign land, yet so were his affections divided between the land of his birth and the home of his early ancestors, that...his [wish] has been realized--that he might be buried in America, [and] that it might please God to ordain that he should die in England [cheers]. My Lord Mayor, with the country of Mr. Peabody we are not likely to quarrel [loud cheers]."
Prime Minister Gladstone's cabinet met at 2:00 P.M., November 10, 1869, and confirmed Queen Victoria's suggestion of a Royal Navy ship to return Peabody's remains. Peabody funeral researcher Allen Howard Welch wrote: "The Queen, in fact, was personally grieved, and it was her own request that a man-of-war be employed to return Peabody to his homeland."
In the handing over ceremony of Peabody's remains from U .S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley to HMS Monarch's Captain John Edmund Commerell (1829-1901), December 11, 1869, Portsmouth, England, U. S. Minister Motley explained: "The President of the United States, when informed of the death of George Peabody, the great philanthropist, at once ordered an American ship to convey his remains to America. Simultaneously, the Queen appointed one of Her Majesty's ships to perform that office. This double honor from the heads of two great nations to a simple American citizen is, like his gift to the poor, unprecedented. The President yields cordially to the wish of the Queen."
Praise for the Peabody Homes of London, 1862
Peabody's housing gift for London's working poor was announced March 12, 1862, while the U. S. and Britain still raged over the September 1861 Trent Affair. Peabody's gift evoked surprise and admiration in the British press, a sampling of which follows.
London Times, March 26, 1862: "Mr. George Peabody has placed £150,000 in the hands of a committee to relieve the condition of the poor of London. It is seldom that good works are done on such a scale as this one by an American in a city where he is only a sojourner.... [He] gives while he lives to those who can make no return.... He does this in a country not his own, in a city he may leave any day for his native land. Such an act is rare...."
London Daily Telegraph, March 27, 1862: "The noble gift of Mr. Peabody actually takes away the public breath...and sends a thrill through the public heart.... A man gives his fortune during his lifetime for an object going back to a resolution he had held more than a quarter of a century...to elevate the poor. Party strife and national bickering have not changed this good American; wars and rumours of wars have not turned him...from his...purpose."
London Morning Herald, March 27, 1862: "One of the merchant princes of the world has just presented [London] with a gift for which thousands will bless his name.... Whilst his countrymen are warring...with each other, this generous American is working out...good-will among his adopted people." London Sun, March 27, 1862: " How can England ever go to war with a nation whose leading man among us thus sympathizes with and blesses her poor? Who of us will not set the deed of Mr. Peabody...against that of Captain Wilkes....?"
London Review, March 29, 1862: "From America of late has come war, desolation, and animosity. The close ties of...friendships that linked Englishmen and Americans...seemed dissolved.... In the midst of this comes Mr. Peabody's gift to discard prejudices on both sides of the Atlantic. We have had a desperate family quarrel, and almost come to blows; Mr. Peabody...by a well-timed act...awakens...better sentiments."
Leeds Mercury, March 27, 1862: "An American citizen has now come forward to excite the wonder and admiration of the world."
When friend and sometime agent Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), a Vermont-born London resident genealogist, sent Peabody these London newspaper clippings, Peabody replied: "I had not the least conception that it would cause so much excitement over the country."
British Honors
British honors evoked by Peabody's gift to London included membership in the ancient guild of the Clothworkers' Company of London (July 2, 1862). He was granted the Freedom of the City of London (July 10, 1862), the first of only five American so honored; others being President U. S. Grant, June 15, 1877; President Theodore Roosevelt, May 3, 1910; General John J. Pershing, July 18, 1919; and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 1, 1945.
Peabody had been denied membership in London's Reform Club (1844) when Americans were disdained because nine U. S. states had stopped interest payments on their bonds sold abroad.
When payment was resumed retroactively Peabody, who had publicly urged this course, was admitted to the Parthenon Club (1848), the City of London Club (1850), and the most prestigious Athenaeum Club (March 12, 1862).
The Fishmongers' Company of London made Peabody an honorary member (April 18, 1866). When Oxford University granted him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (June 26, 1867), undergraduates cheered, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal (June 29, 1867) recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond a doubt, Mr. Peabody."
Peabody's seated statue, sculptured and cast by Salem, Massachusetts-born William Wetmore Story (1819-95), paid for by public subscription, was unveiled July 23, 1869, on London's Threadneedle Street, near the Royal Exchange, by Queen Victoria's eldest son, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The only four statues of Americans in London include George Peabody (1869), Abraham Lincoln (1920), George Washington (1921), and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1948).
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria's advisors had informed Her Majesty that, when asked privately, Peabody had declined either a baronetcy or the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. To accept would be to lose his U. S. citizenship, which he felt he could not do. Her Majesty's Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell (1792-1878) suggested instead a letter from the Queen and the gift of a miniature portrait of the Queen, such as was given to foreign ambassadors who signed a treaty with Britain.
The Queen's letter to Peabody, March 28, 1866, expressed thanks for his "noble act of more than princely munificence...to relieve the wants of her poor subjects residing in London. It is an act...wholly without parallel.... "The Queen...understands Mr. Peabody to feel himself debarred from accepting [other] distinctions." [She asks him instead] "to accept a miniature portrait of herself, which she will have painted for him, and which...can...be sent to him in America."
Peabody thanked the Queen by letter on April 3, 1866. He received Her Majesty's miniature portrait from British Ambassador Sir Frederick Bruce (1814-67) in Washington, D.C., March 1867. It was 14" long by 10" wide, had been especially painted for him by British artist F. A. C. Tilt, baked on enamel, and set in a sold gold frame, said to have cost $70,000. It was deposited in a specially built vault, with Peabody's other honors, in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Massachusetts.
John Bright to the Queen on George Peabody
British statesman and Member of Parliament John Bright (1811-89), who had befriended Peabody from 1867 and had gone fishing with him on the Shannon River, Limerick, Ireland, dined with the Queen, December 30, 1868. Bright recorded in his diary the conversation: "Some remarks were made about Mr. Peabody: it arose from something about Ireland, and my having been there on a visit to him. [The Queen] remarked what a very rich man he must be, and how great his gifts."
[Bright recorded that Peabody] "told me how he valued the portrait [the Queen] had given him, that he made a sort of shrine for it, and that it was a thing of great interest in America. Peabody then "said to me, 'The Americans are as fond of your Queen as the English are.' To which she replied, 'Yes, the American people have also been kind to me.'"
Queen Victoria's Second Letter to Peabody
Leaving London suddenly on what he knew would be his last U. S. visit, Peabody was in Salem, Massachusetts, when he received Queen Victoria's second letter. She wrote (June 20, 1869): "The Queen is very sorry that Mr. Peabody's sudden departure has made it impossible for her to see him before he left England, and she is concerned to hear that he is gone in bad health."
The Queen continued: "She now writes him a line to express her hope that he may return to this country quite recovered, and that she may then have the opportunity, of which she has now been deprived, of seeing him and offering him her personal thanks for all he has done for the people."
Publishing the Queen's letter, the New York Times added: "Queen Victoria has paid our great countryman a delicate and graceful compliment. Mr. Peabody left England unexpectedly, his departure known only to a few friends. His feeble health became known to the Queen through London newspapers. With her goodness of heart which Americans never fail to appreciate she sent him a personal letter." On July 19, 1869, Peabody replied, assuring the Queen of his "heartfelt gratitude."
Queen Victoria's Last Contact
Learning of Peabody's hasty return to London (October 8, 1869), before she knew of his precarious condition, she asked her privy councilor Arthur Helps (1813-75) to invite Peabody to visit her at Windsor Castle. Helps wrote to Sir Curtis Lampson in whose London home Peabody rested (Oct. 30, 1869): "'Regarding Mr. Peabody, the Queen thinks the best way would be for her to ask him down to Windsor for one or two nights, where he could rest--and need not come to dinner, or any meals if he feels unequal to it; but where she could see him quietly at any time of the day most convenient to him." But it was too late. Largely unconscious his last days, Peabody died November 4, 1869.
U. S. Honors
Chief among Peabody's U. S. honors was the U. S. Congressional Resolution of Thanks and Gold Medal for his PEF, passed in the U.S. Senate (March 8, 1867), in the U. S. House (March 9, 1867), and signed by President Andrew Johnson (March 16, 1867), who welcomed Peabody at the White House (April 25, 1867). These, his Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University (July 17, 1867), and his other honors received in the U. S. and England, are displayed in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Massachusetts.
Winthrop's Eulogy, February 8, 1870
All was ready for the final act: Winthrop's eulogy of George Peabody, February 8, 1870, a bitterly cold day. Thousands poured into tiny Peabody, Massachusetts, by special morning trains which ran full from Boston. Large crowds were quiet and respectful. The 50 state troopers had little to do but give directions. South Congregational Church filled quickly. Queen Victoria's son, Prince Arthur (1850-1942), in the seventh pew from the pulpit, held all eyes. His retinue, including British Minister to the U. S. Sir Edward Thornton, sat nearby.
Behind Prince Arthur sat HMS Monarch Captain John E. Commerell, USS Plymouth's Captain William H. Macomb, Admiral Farragut's staff, Massachusetts Governor William Claflin, Maine Governor Joshua L. Chamberlain, the mayors of eight New England cities, Harvard University President Charles William Eliot (1834-1926), and others.
On the first six rows sat Peabody's relatives, elderly citizens who knew him in youth, and the trustees of his institutes and funds. Anthems were sung. Scripture was read. Robert Charles Winthrop rose to give the eulogy.
Robert Charles Winthrop was the descendant of an early governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Harvard University graduate, trained in Daniel Webster's law office, member and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Peabody's philanthropic advisor, and the PEF board of trustees president. Winthrop began: "What a career this has been whose final scene lies before us! Who can contemplate his rise from lowly beginnings to these final royal honors without admiration? His death, painless and peaceful, came after he completed his great dream and saw his old friends and loved ones."
Winthrop continued: "He had ambition and wanted to do grand things in a grand way. His public charity is too well known to bear repetition and I believe he also did much private good which remains unknown. The trusts he established, the institutes he founded, the buildings he raised stand before all eyes."
"I have authority for saying," Winthrop continued, "that he planned these for many years, for in private talks he told me all he planned and when I expressed my amazement at the magnitude of his purpose, he said to me with guileless simplicity: 'Why Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea to me. From the earliest of my manhood, I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my heavenly Father, day by day, that I might be enabled, before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which He has bestowed upon me by doing some great good to my fellow-men.'"
The words underlined above are engraved on Peabody's marker in Westminster Abbey, London, where his remains rested for 30 days, November 12-December 11, 1869. That marker and the above words on it were refurbished for the February 12, 1995, bicentennial ceremony of Peabody's birth held in London's Westminster Abbey.
Winthrop further said: "To measure his gifts in dollars and pounds or in the number of people served is inadequate. He did something more. The successful way he arranged the machinery of world-wide philanthropy compels attention. It is a lesson that cannot be lost to history. It has inspired and will continue to inspire others to do likewise. This was the greatness of his life."
"Now, all that is mortal of him," Winthrop said, "comes back, borne with honors that mark a conquering hero. The battle he fought was the greed within him. His conquest was the victory he achieved over the gaining, hoarding, saving instinct. Such is the conqueror we make ready to bury in the earth this day. Winthrop continued: "And so was fulfilled for him a prophecy he heard once as the subject of a sermon, on which by some force of reflection lingered in his mind and which he more than once mentioned to me: 'And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark; but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, or night: but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light.'"
Winthrop said that Peabody first heard this text, Zechariah 14: 6-7, in a sermon by the Reverend Dr. John Lothrop (1772-1820) of Brattle Street, Boston, date not known.
Winthrop concluded: "And so we bid thee farewell, noble friend. The village of thy birth weeps. The flower of Essex County stands at thy grave. Massachusetts mourns her son. Maine does honor to thee. New England and Old England join hands because of thee. The children of the South praise thy works. Chiefs of the Republic stand with royalty at thy bier. And so we bid thee farewell, friend of mankind."
Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass.
The New York Times described the final burial scene at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1870: "There were about two hundred sleigh coaches in the procession. The route was shortened somewhat in consequence of the prevalence of the storm. On arriving at the Peabody tomb, there was no special service, the coffin being placed reverently therein, after which the procession returned to the Institute, and the great pageantry attending the obsequies of the great philanthropist was ended."
Harmony Grove Cemetery's 65 acres of avenues and walks, first laid out in 1840, had been a thick walnut grove when Peabody was a boy. He could see it from the attic of the house where he was born. On a knoll where he had once played he had chosen the family burial plot on Anemone Ave., lot number 51. There, where he had brought together the remains of his mother, father, sisters, and brothers, he was laid to rest. Ninety-six days of unprecedented funeral honors had ended. His works remain. Public memory of him has since grown dim, except at his institutes and among those who care to search the records.
Memory has also dimmed of those few days that summer of 1869 at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, when two old men, one from Massachusetts, the other from Virginia, turned from Civil War strife to the healing power of education.
One, a lifelong soldier, had become president of a struggling college; the other, a volunteer for 14 days in the War of 1812, merchant, London-based banker, and creator of philanthropic institutions. The two old men walked arm in arm, enjoyed each other, spoke of educating new generations, of reconciliation, of healing, and of better days to ahead.
END.
Addendum:
For free access to most pages of Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1995, rev. updates, with photos), access:
Gen'l. Robert E. Lee (1807-70) and Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869). at
General Robert E. Lee (1807-70) Met Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23-August 30, 1869.
By Franklin Parker and Betty J. Parker 63 Heritage Loop, Crossville, TN 38571.
Email bfparker@frontiernet.net
The hot spring health spas of Virginia were the first gathering places of southern and northern elites after the Civil War. It was at the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the most popular of the hot spring spas, that Robert E. Lee and George Peabody met by chance for a few weeks during July 23-August 30, 1869. For each this meeting was a symbolic turn from Civil War bitterness toward reconciliation and the lifting power of education.
Lee was then president of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia (1865-70, renamed Washington and Lee University from 1871). Peabody had just (June 29, 1869) doubled to $2 million his Peabody Education Fund, begun February 7, 1867, to advance public education in the South.
Historical circumstances had made both Lee and Peabody famous in their time, Lee's fame more lasting; Peabody's, strangely, soon forgotten. Yet when they met in 1869 Peabody was arguably better known in the English speaking world and more widely appreciated.
For Lee, age 62, hero of the lost Confederate cause, it was next to the last summer of life. For Peabody, age 74, best known philanthropist of his time, it was the very last summer of life. They were the center of attention that summer of 1869 at "The Old White." They ate together in the public dining room, walked arm in arm to their nearby bungalows, were applauded by visitors, and were photographed together and with others of prominence.
Robert E. Lee's Father
Born in Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, Robert Edward Lee was the son of Revolutionary War hero Henry Lee (1756-1818), popularly known as "Light Horse Harry." Henry Lee was a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress (1785-88), member of the Virginia Convention for the Continental Congress (1788), served in Virginia's General Assembly (1789-91), was Virginia Governor (1792-95), was appointed by George Washington to command troops to suppress the "Whiskey Insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania (1794), served in the U. S. Sixth Congress (1799-1801), and last served in the War of 1812.
Despite this impressive record (Congress voted him a gold medal for his American Revolutionary War exploits) Henry Lee was a less than satisfactory husband, a poor family breadwinner, an absentee father to his five children, was often hounded by creditors, and was several times imprisoned for debt.
Robert E. Lee was age six when he last saw his father, who left to regain his health in the West Indies. Young Lee was age eleven when his father died. Robert E. Lee's biographer, Emory M. Thomas wrote: "All his life, Robert Lee knew his father only at a great distance."
Robert E. Lee's Career
Robert E. Lee attended private schools in Alexandria, Virginia. At age 18, with family finances prohibiting attending a private college, Robert E. Lee, bent on a military career, applied for admission to the tuition free U. S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. His family and friends sent petitions and letters of recommendation to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun (1782-1850). In the summer of 1825 R. E. Lee entered West Point as one of 107 new cadets.
Forty-seven of that entering class graduated, Lee among them. He was an exemplary cadet, without a single demerit, held every cadet post of honor, and graduated second in his class of 1829. He was assigned to the engineer corps where he soon won a high reputation. On June 30, 1831, two years after graduating, he married Mary Randolph Custis, daughter of a grandson of Mrs. George Washington (Martha Washington, 1731-1802).
Distinguishing himself as chief engineer in river drainage and fort-building projects, he served in the Mexican War, where General Winfield Scott (1786-1866), valuing his military and engineering skills, constantly consulted him.
Lee was superintendent of West Point (1852-55). He was the United States military officer ordered to put down the John Brown (1800-59) insurrection at Harper's Ferry federal arsenal, Virginia, October 16, 1859. Abolitionist Brown's fanatical attempt to steal federal weapons in order to arm slaves for an insurrection against the South helped precipitate the bitter four-year Civil War.
Faced with the "irrepressible conflict," General Winfield Scott reportedly told President Abraham Lincoln that Lee was worth 50,000 men. Lee was offered command of Federal forces, April 18, 1861, but declined. He told Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876), who approached him on behalf of President Lincoln: "...though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no part in an invasion of the Southern States." Loyal to Virginia, Lee resigned from the United States Army, April 20, 1861. In Richmond Virginia, at the request of the Virginia Convention, he was placed in command of the Virginia forces, April 23, 1861. Lee's organizing ability, grasp of military strategy, and his integrity held out for four bitter Civil War years against overwhelming Union strength in numbers, manpower, and economic resources. Faced by inevitable crushing defeat Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant, Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9, 1865.
He told his defeated troops: "...You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that our merciful God extend to you his blessing and protection."
With the Confederate cause lost, Lee sought obscurity and declined to lend his name to commercial ventures. When first invited to the presidency of small, obscure and struggling Washington College, Lexington, Virginia (August 1865), Lee hesitated. He wrote the trustees that he was "an object of censure" to the North, that his presence might "cause injury" to the college.
Knowing that Lee's name and fame would attract students, the trustees persisted. Lee accepted. His biographer Emory M. Thomas wrote that Lee quickly "established himself as a presence in Lexington," and that in the five years of life left to him (1865-1870) became "the savior of Washington College."
Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
The first inn at what is now the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, was built in 1780, long before West Virginia became a state in 1863. It was a favorite resort for southern elites who gathered there to meet relatives and friends, to rest and recuperate, and to drink and bathe in its healthful mineral springs. Lee, with heart trouble, needing rest, was an occasional health spa visitor, particularly at the Greenbrier.
At the Greenbrier the summer of 1868, Lee heard that some young northern visitors were receiving a frosty reception. He asked the young southern women who surrounded him if one of them would go with him to greet and welcome the young northern guests.
The young lady accompanying him, Christina Bond, asked, "General Lee, did you never feel resentment towards the North?" She recorded his quiet reply, "I believe I may say, looking into my own heart, and speaking as in the presence of my God, that I have never known one moment of bitterness or resentment." The next summer of 1869 at the Greenbrier he met George Peabody for the first and only time.
Peabody's Career
George Peabody was third of eight children born to a poor family in Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), 19 miles from Boston, Massachusetts. After four years in a district school (1803-07) and four years apprenticed in a general store (1807-10), the 16-year-old in 1811 worked in his oldest brother's clothing store in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
His father's death that year (May 13, 1811) left the family in debt, their Danvers home mortgaged, with the mother and five younger siblings forced to live with relatives. The Great Fire in Newburyport (May 31, 1811) occurred eleven days after his father's death. The fire, coming as it did during an economic depression in New England, led many to leave that town and migrate to the South.
An improvident paternal uncle whose Newburyport store had burned in the fire encouraged his 16-year-old nephew, George Peabody, to open with him a drygoods store in Georgetown, District of Columbia. Needing credit, backed by Newburyport merchant Prescott Spaulding's (1781-1864) recommendation, Peabody secured a $2,000 consignment of goods, basis of his first commercial venture in the Georgetown drygoods store (1812).
His uncle soon left for other enterprises. Young Peabody operated the store and was also a pack peddler selling goods to homes and stores in the D. C. area. With Washington, D. C., under siege by the British he volunteered and served briefly in the War of 1812.
Fellow soldier and older experienced merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), took the 19-year-old Peabody as traveling junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), Georgetown, D.C. The firm, which imported clothing and other merchandise for sale to U. S. wholesalers, moved in 1815 to Baltimore and by 1822 had Philadelphia and New York City warehouses.
Peabody early took on the support of his family. He sent clothes and money to his mother and siblings, and by 1816, at age 21, he paid off the family debts and restored his mother and siblings to their Danvers home. Handling the Peabody home deed, Newburyport, Massachusetts, lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote George Peabody (December 16, 1816): "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent."
Peabody paid for the education at Bradford Academy (now Bradford College), Bradford, Massachusetts, of five younger relatives. He bought a house in West Bradford for his relatives studying at the academy, where his mother also lived for several years.
He later paid for the complete education of nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), first U. S. paleontologist at Yale University; nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), Harvard-trained lawyer, niece Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) Chandler (b. 1835), and others.
Deprived, as I was...
Peabody's May 18, 1831, letter to a nephew named after him, George Peabody (1815-32), son of his oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841), hinted at his motive for educating his relatives and for his later philanthropies.
Particularly fond of this nephew, Peabody paid for his schooling at Bradford Academy and received regular reports of his nephew's progress. When this nephew asked his uncle for financial help to attend Yale College, Peabody replied in a poignant letter.
Peabody wrote his nephew: (his underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me."
Sadly, this favorite nephew died at age 17 on September 24, 1832, in Boston of scarlet fever, his potential unfulfilled.
Selling Maryland's Bonds Abroad
As purchasing partner in the United States and abroad for Riggs, Peabody & Co. (renamed Peabody, Riggs & Co., 1829-48), Peabody made four buying trips to Europe during 1827-37.
In the mid-1830s several states began internal improvement of roads, canals, and railroads requiring European investment capital through state bonds sold abroad. In 1836 the Maryland legislature voted to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. On his fifth trip abroad, February 1837, Peabody represented both his firm and was also appointed one of three agents to sell abroad Maryland's $8 million bond issue.
In the financial Panic of 1837 the two other agents returned home without success. Peabody remained in London the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three visits to the United States. Nine U. S. states in financial difficulty, including Maryland, stopped interest payments on their bonds sold abroad. Peabody faced a depressed market, with British and European investors angry at nonpayment of interest on their U. S. state bonds.
Peabody bombarded Maryland officials with letters urging that interest payments on Maryland bonds be resumed, and retroactively. His letters were published in U. S. newspapers. Abroad, he also publicly assured foreign investors that interest nonpayment was temporary and that repayment would be retroactive. He finally sold his part of the Maryland bonds to London's Baring Brothers.
The Panic of 1837 eased. The nine defaulting states resumed their bond interest payments. Peabody's faith that they would do so was justified and appreciated. His integrity became known to an ever-wider circle.
Some minor fame came to Peabody when the Maryland Legislature (1847-48), realizing what he had done, voted him unanimous thanks for upholding its credit abroad and for declining the $60,000 commission due him.
He had not wanted to burden the state treasury during its financial difficulty. In transmitting these resolutions of thanks, Maryland Governor Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) wrote Peabody, "To you, sir...the thanks of the State were eminently due."
London-Based Banker
In London, Peabody gradually reduced his trade in drygoods and commodities. Under the firm name of George Peabody & Co. (1838-64) he made the transition from merchant to international banker. He sold U. S. state bonds to finance roads, canals, and railroads; helped sell the second Mexican War bonds; bought, sold, and shipped European iron and later steel rails for U. S. western railroads; and helped finance the Atlantic Cable Co.
Asked in an interview, August 22, 1869, how and when he made most of his money, the London-based securities broker and international banker said, "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly."
Morgan Partnership
Often ill and urged by business friends to take a partner, Peabody on October 1, 1854, at age 59, took as partner Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose 19-year-old son John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) began his banking career as New York City agent for George Peabody & Co., London On retirement, October 1, 1864, unmarried, without a son, and knowing he would no longer control his firm, Peabody asked that his name be withdrawn.
George Peabody & Co. (1838-64) continued in London as J. S. Morgan & Co. (1864-1909), Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-89), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since 1989), a German-owned international banking firm.
Peabody was thus the root of the J. P. Morgan international banking firm. He spent the last five years of his life (1864-69) looking after his philanthropic institutions, begun in 1852 with the motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations."
Philanthropist
Peabody early told intimates and said publicly in 1850 that he would found a useful educational institution in every town and city where he had lived and worked. His 1827 will left $4,000 for charity. His 1832 will left $27,000 for educational philanthropy out of a $135,000 estate.
Founded Seven Libraries
Ultimately his philanthropic gifts of some $10 million included seven Peabody institute libraries, with lecture halls and lecture funds. These were, like the lyceums and the later chautauquas, the adult education centers of their time.
Later, Andrew Carnegie's (1835-1919) libraries and other funds, John D. Rockefeller's (1839-1937) funds and foundations, Henry Ford's (1863-1947) funds, and those of others far surpassed Peabody's philanthropy. But it was Peabody's gifts which first initiated, set policies, patterns, and inspired the later vast educational foundation movement.
The seven Peabody Institute Libraries are in: Peabody, Danvers, Newburyport, and Georgetown (all in Massachusetts); and in Baltimore, where the Peabody Institute of Baltimore (from 1857, total gift $1.4 million) consisted of a unique reference library whose books from European estates Peabody, through agents, bought and shipped to Baltimore. The Library of Congress early borrowed from its rare book collection.
The Peabody Institute of Baltimore also had an art gallery, lecture hall and lecture fund, a Conservatory of Music, and gave annual prizes to Baltimore's best public school students. In 1982 the Baltimore Reference Library and the Peabody Conservatory of Music became part of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Other Peabody libraries are in 6-Thetford, Vermont, where he visited his maternal grandparents at age 15, and in 7-Georgetown, D.C.
Three Museums of Science
He endowed the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (anthropology); the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University (paleontology), both 1866; and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (1867), containing maritime history and Essex County historical documents, including most of George Peabody's letters and papers.
Other Gifts
He gave the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts (Baltimore) $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school (1851); Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, $25,000 for a mathematics professorship (1866); Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, $25,000, for a mathematics and civil engineering professorship (November 1866); and former general, then President Robert E. Lee's Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee University, 1871), Lexington, Virginia, $60,000 for a mathematics professorship (September 1869).
He gave $20,000 publication funds each to the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore (November 5, 1866), and the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (January 1, 1867). He gave to the United States Sanitary Commission to aid Civil War orphans, widows, and disabled veterans $10,000 (1864). To the Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy, he gave $19,300 (April 5, 1867). He built a Memorial Congregational Church in his mother's memory in her hometown, Georgetown, Massachusetts, $70,000 (1866).
For patriotic causes he gave to the Lexington Monument in what is now Peabody, Massachusetts, $300 (1835); the Bunker Hill Memorial, Boston, Massachusetts, $500 (June 3, 1845); and the Washington Monument, Washington, D. C., $1,000 (July 4, 1854).
Peabody Education Fund
His most influential U. .S. gift was the $2 million Peabody Education Fund (PEF, 1867-1914) to promote public schools in the eleven former Confederate states plus West Virginia, added because of its poverty. For 47 years the PEF helped promote public schools in the devastated post-Civil War South, focusing on public elementary and secondary schools, then on teacher training institutes and normal colleges, and finally on rural public schools.
Without precedent, the PEF was the first multimillion dollar U.S. educational foundation. Historians have cited its example and policies as the model forerunner of all subsequent significant United States educational funds and foundations.
Famous in his time, largely forgotten since, even underrated by most historians, George Peabody was in fact the founder of modern American philanthropy.
Many of the over 50 distinguished PEF trustees (during 1867-1914) who held high offices in the U. S. were also trustees of other later, larger, and richer funds and foundations. They thus helped spread the PEF's influence far and wide.
The common goal of these late nineteenth century, early twentieth century funds and foundations was to use private foundation wealth as levers to help solve education, health, and economic welfare problems in the U. S. South, elsewhere in the U. S., and worldwide.
High Offices Held by PEF Trustees
Twelve of the over 50 PEF trustees were state legislators, two were U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justices, six were U.S. ambassadors, seven U.S. House of Representatives members, two U. S. generals, one U. S. Navy admiral, one U. S. Surgeon-General, three Confederate generals, seven U.S. Senators, three Confederate Congressmen, two church bishops, six U. S. cabinet officers, three U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland), or eight U.S. presidents if Peabody Normal College and its predecessor institutions are included, and three financiers.
The three financiers who were PEF trustees included J. P. Morgan, himself an art collector and philanthropist of note; Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93), inspired as PEF trustee to found Drexel University, Philadelphia; and Paul Tulane (1801-87), inspired as PEF trustee to found Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Permitted to disband when their mission was accomplished, the PEF trustees gave (1914): $474,000 to fourteen state university colleges of education in the South; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, South Carolina; and funds to the Southern Education Fund, Atlanta, still aiding African-American education. The bulk of the PEF, $1.5 million (required matching funds made it $3 million), went to George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79), Nashville, sited next to Vanderbilt University, which still thrives as Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (hereafter PCofVU, since 1979).
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Traced genealogically in Nashville for some 220 years, Davidson Academy (1785-1806) was chartered by North Carolina eleven years before Tennessee's statehood; rechartered as Cumberland College (1806-26); rechartered as the University of Nashville (1826-75); rechartered as Peabody Normal College (1875-1909, created and supported by the PEF); rechartered as George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79), which continues as PCofVU (from 1979).
Faced with greater class and race divisions and with greater financial difficulties than counterpart colleges in other U.S. sections, what is now Peabody College of Vanderbilt University rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world.
Peabody Homes of London
Wanting to do something for the working poor of London, Peabody followed social reformer Lord Shaftesbury's (1801-85) suggestion--that low-cost housing was the London poor's greatest need. Peabody gave a total of $2.5 million (from 1862) to subsidize low rent model housing in London.
Some 34,500 low income Londoners (March 31, 1999) lived in 14,000 Peabody apartments on 83 estates in 26 of London's boroughs. The Peabody Trust, which built and administers the Peabody Homes of London, valued at some $1.53 billion, is Peabody's most successful philanthropy (and least known by Americans).
Last U.S. Visit
Long ill, sensing his end was near, George Peabody made his last four-month U. S. visit, June 8 to September 29, 1869, to see family and friends and to add gifts to his U. S. institutes. Greatly weakened, he was met in New York City by intimates who also sensed this as his last U.S. visit.
The New York Times, June 9, 1869, reported his arrival "in advanced age and declining health...." "Wherever he goes," the article read, "he is worried by begging letters from individuals expecting him to get them out of some scrape... Now that he is in America he should be left to the quiet and repose he so greatly needs."
He went to Boston (June 10, 1869), then rested in Salem, Massachusetts, at nephew George Peabody Russell's (1835-1909) home.
On July 6, 1869, his nephew wrote to his uncle's intimate business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who was at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia: "...Mr. Peabody...is weaker than when he arrived.... He has...decided to go to the White Sulphur Springs...[and asks you to] arrange accommodations for himself, and servant, for Mrs. Russell and myself."
In mid-June 1869 Peabody quietly visited the Boston Peace Jubilee and Music Festival and listened to the chorus. At intermission, Boston Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (1810-74) announced Peabody's presence, which brought "a perfect storm of applause."
In a Sunday, June 20, sermon closing the Boston Peace Jubilee, the Reverend William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905) mentioned that George Peabody had done more to keep the peace between Britain and America than a hundred demagogues to destroy it.
On June 29, 1869, in more than doubling his fund for southern education, he wrote his trustees: "I now give you additional bonds [worth] $1,384,000..... I do this [hoping] that with God's blessing...it may...prove a permanent and lasting boon, not only to the Southern States, but to the whole of our dear country...." He added $50,000 to his first Peabody Institute Library (Peabody, Massachusetts, total gift $217,600). At the July 14, 1869, dedication of the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Massachusetts (to which he gave a total of $100,000), he said: "I can never expect to address you again collectively.... I hope that this institution will be...a source of pleasure and profit."
At a July 16, 1869, reception, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Massachusetts, his 30 guests who arrived by special train from Boston included former Massachusetts Governor Clifford Claflin (1818-1905), Boston Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, U.S. Senator Charles Sumner (1811-74), and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94). Poet Holmes read aloud a poem titled "George Peabody" written specially for the occasion.
Two days later (July 18, 1869) Holmes described Peabody in a letter to U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77) as "the Dives who is going to Abraham's bosom and I fear before a great while...." On July 22, 1869, longtime friend Ohio Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) wrote to Peabody's philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94): "The White Sulphur Springs will, I hope, be beneficial to our excellent friend; but it can be only a very superficial good. [His] cough is terrible, and I have no expectation of his living a year...."
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23-Aug. 30, 1869
This was the background when Peabody arrived by special train at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23, 1869. Present was Tennessee Superintendent of Public Instruction and later U.S. Commissioner of Education John Eaton, Jr. (1829-1906).
John Easton wrote in his annual report: "Mr. Peabody shares with ex-Governor Wise the uppermost cottage in Baltimore Row, and sits at the same table with General Lee, Mr. Corcoran, Mr. Taggart, and others.... Being quite infirm, he has been seldom able to come to parlor or dining room, though he has received many ladies and gentlemen at the cottage.... His manners are singularly affable and pleasing, and his countenance one of the most benevolent we have ever seen."
Peabody's confinement to his cottage prompted a meeting on July 27, 1869, at which former Virginia Governor Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) drew up resolutions of praise read in Peabody's presence the next day (July 28, 1869) in the "Old White" hotel parlor. The resolutions read in part: "On behalf of the southern people we tender thanks to Mr. Peabody for his aid to the cause of education...and hail him 'benefactor.'"
Peabody, seated, replied, "If I had strength, I would speak more on the heroism of the Southern people. Your kind remarks about the Education Fund sound sweet to my ears. My heart is interwoven with its success."
Peabody Ball
Merrymakers at the "Old White" held a Peabody Ball on August 11, 1869. Too ill to attend, Peabody heard the gaiety from his cottage.
Historian Perceval Reniers wrote of this Peabody Ball: "The affair that did most to revive [the Southerners'] esteem was the Peabody Ball...given to honor...Mr. George Peabody.... Everything was right for the Peabody Ball. Everybody was ready for just such a climax, the background was a perfect build-up. Mr. Peabody appeared at just the right time and lived just long enough. A few months later it would not have been possible, for Mr. Peabody would be dead."
The PEF's first administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80), present at White Sulphur Springs that July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, recorded why Peabody's presence there was important to the PEF's work in promoting public education in the South. Sears wrote: "...both on account of his unparalleled goodness and of his illness among a loving and hospitable people [he received] tokens of love and respect from all, such as I have never before seen shown to any one. This visit...will, in my judgment, do more for us than a long tour in a state of good health...."
Famous Photos of George Peabody and Robert E. Lee
Peabody, Lee, and others were central figures in several remarkable photos taken at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on August 12, 1869. In the main photograph the five individuals seated on cane-bottomed chairs were, left to right: Turkey's Minister to the U.S. Edouard Blacque Bey (1824-95); General Robert E. Lee, Peabody, William Wilson Corcoran, and Richmond, Virginia, judge and public education advocate James Lyons (1801-82).
Standing behind the five seated figures were seven former Civil War generals, their names in dispute until correctly identified in 1935 by Leonard T. Mackall of Savannah, Georgia (from left to right): James Conner (1829-83) of South Carolina, Martin W. Gary (1831-81) of South Carolina, Robert Doak Lilley (1836-86) of Virginia, P.G.T. Beauregard (1818-93) of Louisiana, Alexander Robert Lawton (1818-96) of Georgia, Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) of Virginia, and Joseph L. Brent (b.1826) of Maryland.
There is also a photo of Peabody sitting alone and a photo of Lee, Peabody, and William Wilson Corcoran sitting together.
Peabody's Gifts to Lee
That August 1869 Peabody gave Lee a small private gift of $100 for Lee's Episcopal church in Lexington, Virginia, in need of repairs (William Wilson Corcoran also gave $100). Peabody also gave to Lee's Washington College Virginia state bonds he owned worth $35,000 when they were lost on the ship Arctic, a Collins Line steamer, sunk with the loss of 322 passengers on September 27, 1854, 20 miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland.
Peabody 's petition to the Virginia legislature to reimburse him for the lost bonds had been unsuccessful when he gave Lee's college the value of the bonds for a mathematics professorship. Eventually the value of the lost bonds and the accrued interest, $60,000 total, were paid by the State of Virginia to Washington and Lee University With wry humor Lee's biographer C.B. Flood described George Peabody's gift: "It was generosity with a touch of Yankee shrewdness: you Southerners go fight it out among yourselves. If General Lee can't get [this lost bond money] out of the Virginia legislature, nobody can."
Peabody left White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, August 30, 1869, in a special railroad car provided by longtime friend, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad President John Work Garrett (1820-84). Lee rode a short distance in the same car with Peabody. They parted, never to meet again.
Peabody recorded his last will (September 9, 1869) in New York City, had his tomb built at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts (September 10, 1869), ordered a granite sarcophagus to mark his grave, and boarded the Scotia in New York City September 29, 1869. He landed at Queenstown, Ireland, October 8, 1869, and was rushed to rest at the London home of longtime business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), where he died November 4, 1869.
Lee Sent His Photograph
On Sept. 25, 1869, at the request of Peabody Institute Librarian Fitch Poole (1803-73, Peabody, Massachusetts), Lee sent Poole a photograph of himself, adding that he would "feel honoured in its being placed among the 'friends' of Mr. Peabody, who can be numbered by the millions, yet all can appreciate the man who has [illumined] his age by his munificent charities during his life, and by his wise provisions for promoting the happiness of his fellow creatures."
Lee on Peabody's Death
Reading of Peabody's death in London (November 4, 1869), Robert E. Lee wrote (November 10, 1869) to Peabody's nephew George Peabody Russell, who had been with his uncle in White Sulphur Springs and there had met Lee: "The announcement of the death of your uncle, Mr. George Peabody, has been received with the deepest regret wherever his name and benevolence are known; and nowhere have his generous deeds--restricted to no country, section or sect--elicited more heartfelt admiration than at the South. He stands alone in history for the benevolent and judicious distribution of his great wealth, and his memory has become entwined in the affections of millions of his fellow-citizens in both hemispheres."
"I beg, in my own behalf," Lee continued, "and in behalf of the Trustees and Faculty of Washington College, Virginia, which was not forgotten by him in his act of generosity, to tender the tribute of our unfeigned sorrow at his death. ¶With great respect, Your obedient servant R.E. Lee."
Concern Over Lee's Attending Peabody's Funeral
Lee had been invited to attend Peabody's final funeral service and eulogy, South Congregational Church, Peabody, Massachusetts, followed by burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, February 8, 1870.
But Peabody's intimates feared that Lee's attendance might evoke an ugly incident. After President Lincoln's assassination, Congressional radical Republicans, bent on revenge, crushed the defeated South with military rule. This anger was also strong among New England abolitionists.
Robert Charles Winthrop, Peabody's philanthropic advisor and president of the PEF trustees, who was to deliver Peabody's funeral eulogy February 8, 1870, feared that Lee's attendance might bring on a demonstration. On February 2, 1870, Winthrop wrote two private and confidential letters, the first to Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870): "There is apprehension here, that if Lee should come to the funeral, something unpleasant might occur, which would be as painful to us as to him. Would you contact friends to impart this to the General? Please do not mention that the suggestion came from me." Winthrop also wrote to Corcoran: "I write to you in absolute confidence. Some friends of ours, whose motives cannot be mistaken, are very anxious that Genl. Lee should not come to the funeral next week. They have also asked me to suggest that. Still there is always apprehension that from an irresponsible crowd there might come some remarks which would be offensive to him and painful to us all. I am sure he would be the last person to involve himself or us, needlessly, in a doubtful position on such an occasion."
Winthrop continued to Corcoran: "The newspapers at first said that he was not coming. Now, there is an intimation that he is. I know of no one who could [more] effectively give the right direction to his views than yourself. Your relation to Mr. Peabody & to Mr. Lee would enable you to ascertain his purposes & shape his course wisely.... I know of no one else to rely on."
One of the two Washington College trustees who planned to attend Peabody's funeral had earlier written to Corcoran (January 26, 1870): "I first thought that General Lee should not go, but have now changed my mind. Some of us believe that if you advise the General to attend he would do so. Use your own discretion in this matter."
Lee Too Ill to Attend
Lee explained in a January 26, 1870, letter to William Wilson Corcoran: "I am sorry I cannot attend the funeral obsequies of Mr. Peabody. It would be some relief to witness the respect paid to his remains, and to participate in commemorating his virtues; but I am unable to undertake the journey. I have been sick all the winter, and am still under medical treatment. I particularly regret that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you. Two trustees of Washington College will attend the funeral. I hope you can join them."
On the same day Winthrop wrote his letters (February 2, 1870), Lee wrote his daughter Mildred Childe Lee (1846-1904) that he was too ill to attend: "I am sorry that I could not attend Mr. Peabody's funeral, but I did not feel able to undertake the journey, especially at this season."
Corcoran too replied to Winthrop that Lee had no intention of coming. Corcoran could not imagine, he wrote, that so good and great a man as Lee would receive anything but a kind reception. Himself ill, Corcoran wrote to Lee his regret that he could not attend to pay his respects to "my valued old friend." Peabody's intimates were relieved at confirmation that Lee's illness would definitely keep him from the funeral.
Trans-Atlantic Funeral Overview
Lee, Corcoran, and much of the English-speaking reading public, awed by Peabody's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral, awaited its final scene: Robert Charles Winthrop's eulogy and Peabody's final burial (both February 8, 1870).
Peabody's funeral was unprecedented in length, pomp, and ceremony; was marked by cold stormy weather; involved the highest officials of England and the United States; was vastly publicized in the press of both countries; and was observed in person by many thousands of Britons and Americans. That funeral included:
1-a Westminster Abbey service (November 12, 1869) and temporary burial there for 30 days (November 12-December 11, 1869). When Peabody's will became known requiring burial in Salem, Massachusetts,
2-the British cabinet decided (November 10, 1869), at Queen Victoria's suggestion, to return his remains for burial in the U. S. on Her Majesty's Ship HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, repainted for this grim occasion slate gray above the water line, with a specially built mortuary chapel. Next came a
3-U. S. government decision (made between November 12-15, 1869) to send the United States corvette USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to accompany HMS Monarch to the United States. Then followed
4-transfer (December 11, 1869) of Peabody's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, on a special funeral train to Portsmouth, England, impressive ceremonies at the transfer of remains from Portsmouth dock to HMS Monarch, specially outfitted as a funeral vessel. Next came the
5-transatlantic crossing of HMS Monarch and the USS Plymouth (December 21, 1869 to January 25, 1870) from Spithead near Portsmouth, past Ushant, France, to Madeira Island off Portugal, to Bermuda, and north to Portland, Maine, chosen by the British Admiralty because of its deeper harbor. A covert rivalry had early erupted between
6-Bostonians and New Yorkers about which city could provide the more solemn ceremony as receiving port. Thinking themselves the center of northeast society and fashion, each was disappointed when the British Admiralty chose Portland, Maine, whose deeper harbor more safely accommodated HMS Monarch's large size.
A contemporary news account described the petty jealousy: "When the mighty men of Boston knew that England's..."Monarch" was bringing the body of the great philanthropist to his last resting place, they called a meeting and decided with what fitting honors and glories it would be received.... but, when the telegraph flashed the astounding news that little Portland was to be the port...all was changed....[Bostonians were sure] that the Portlanders...would blunder...." On January 14, 1870, on President U. S Grant's approval,
7-U. S. Navy Secretary George Maxwell Robeson (1829-97) ordered Admiral David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70), a PEF trustee, to command a U.S. naval flotilla to meet HMS Monarch and USS Plymouth in Portland harbor, Maine (January 25, 1870). HMS Monarch's captain then requested, on behalf of Queen Victoria,
8-that the coffin remain aboard the Monarch in Portland harbor for two days (January 27-28, 1870).as a final mark of respect. Thousands of visitors, drawn to the spectacle, viewed the coffin in the somberly decorated Monarch's mortuary chapel. Peabody's remains then
9-lay in state in Portland City Hall (January 29-February 1, 1870), viewed by thousands.
10-A special funeral train from Portland, Maine, bore the remains to Peabody, Massachusetts (February 1, 1870). 11-Lying in state of Peabody's remains took place at the Peabody Institute Library (February 1-8, 1870).
The final ceremony, the press announced to an awed public, was to be 12-Robert Charles Winthrop's funeral eulogy at the South Congregational Church, Peabody, Massachusetts, attended by New England governors, mayors, Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur, and other notables (February 8, 1870). Final burial would then follow at 13-Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts.
Why Such Unprecedented Funeral Honors?
Daily reports on Peabody's sinking condition in London had appeared in the British press. After his death the London Daily News recorded (November 8, 1869): "We have received a large number of letters, urging that the honours of a public funeral are due to the late Mr. Peabody's memory."
The Dean of Westminster Abbey, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-81), was in Naples, Italy, November 5, 1869, when he read of Peabody's death. Years later he recorded: "I was in Naples, and saw in the public papers that George Peabody had died. Being absent, considering that he was a foreigner, and at the same time, by reason of his benefactions to the City of London, entitled to a burial in Westminster Abbey, I telegraphed to express my wishes that his interment there should take place."
The Alabama Claims
Peabody died during tense, near warlike U. S.-British angers over two U. S. Civil War incidents, the Alabama Claims (1864-72) and the Trent Affair (September 8, 1861). CSS Alabama was a notorious British-built Confederate raider which sank 64 northern cargo ships during 1862-64.
Without a navy, with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents slipped secretly to England, bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others, which sank northern ships and cost northern lives and treasure.
Officially neutral in the U. S. Civil War, British officials were continually reminded of their breach of neutrality by U. S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86). Official U. S. demands for reparations for damages from British-built raiders (from1862) were resolved at a Geneva international tribunal (1871-72), requiring Britain to pay the United States $15.5 million indemnity.
At Peabody's death, November 4, 1869, this Alabama Claims controversy was unresolved and tense. Americans were angry; Britons were resentful. A desire to defuse angers over the Alabama Claims was one reason British officials first, and then United States officials to surpass them, outdid each other in unusual homage to Peabody's remains during his transatlantic funeral.
Trent Affair
There was also lingering resentment over the still rankling November 8, 1861 Trent Affair. On the stormy night of October 11, 1861, four Confederate emissaries, seeking aid and arms from Britain and France, evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, South Carolina, went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent, bound for Southampton, England.
The Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies (November 8, 1861) by USS San Jacinto's Captain Charles Wilkes (1798-1877). Confederates James Murray Mason (1798-1871, from Virginia), John Slidell (1793-1871, from Louisiana), and their male secretaries were forcibly removed and imprisoned in Boston harbor's Fort Warren Prison.
Anticipating war with the U. S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But United States jingoism subsided. President Abraham Lincoln reportedly told his cabinet, "one war at a time," gentlemen, got the cabinet on December 26, 1861, to disavow the illegal seizure, and released the Confederate prisoners on January 1, 1862. But resentments lingered.
Besides softening near war U .S.-British tensions, another reason behind the Peabody funeral honors was British leaders' sincere appreciation for Peabody's gift of homes for London's working poor. Many marveled that an American would give that kind of gift in that large amount to a city and country not his own. Britons also valued Peabody's two decades of efforts to improve United States-British relations.
Prime Minister Gladstone
On November 9, 1869, in a major speech at the Lord Mayor's Day banquet, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1808-98) referred to British-U.S. difficulties and then mentioned Peabody's death: "You will know that I refer to the death of Mr. Peabody, a man whose splendid benefactions...taught us in this commercial age...the most noble and needful of all lessons--...how a man can be the master of his wealth instead of its slave [cheers]."
"And, my Lord Mayor," Gladstone continued, "most touching it is to know, as I have learnt, that while, perhaps, some might think he had been unhappy in dying in a foreign land, yet so were his affections divided between the land of his birth and the home of his early ancestors, that...his [wish] has been realized--that he might be buried in America, [and] that it might please God to ordain that he should die in England [cheers]. My Lord Mayor, with the country of Mr. Peabody we are not likely to quarrel [loud cheers]."
Prime Minister Gladstone's cabinet met at 2:00 P.M., November 10, 1869, and confirmed Queen Victoria's suggestion of a Royal Navy ship to return Peabody's remains. Peabody funeral researcher Allen Howard Welch wrote: "The Queen, in fact, was personally grieved, and it was her own request that a man-of-war be employed to return Peabody to his homeland."
In the handing over ceremony of Peabody's remains from U .S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley to HMS Monarch's Captain John Edmund Commerell (1829-1901), December 11, 1869, Portsmouth, England, U. S. Minister Motley explained: "The President of the United States, when informed of the death of George Peabody, the great philanthropist, at once ordered an American ship to convey his remains to America. Simultaneously, the Queen appointed one of Her Majesty's ships to perform that office. This double honor from the heads of two great nations to a simple American citizen is, like his gift to the poor, unprecedented. The President yields cordially to the wish of the Queen."
Praise for the Peabody Homes of London, 1862
Peabody's housing gift for London's working poor was announced March 12, 1862, while the U. S. and Britain still raged over the September 1861 Trent Affair. Peabody's gift evoked surprise and admiration in the British press, a sampling of which follows.
London Times, March 26, 1862: "Mr. George Peabody has placed £150,000 in the hands of a committee to relieve the condition of the poor of London. It is seldom that good works are done on such a scale as this one by an American in a city where he is only a sojourner.... [He] gives while he lives to those who can make no return.... He does this in a country not his own, in a city he may leave any day for his native land. Such an act is rare...."
London Daily Telegraph, March 27, 1862: "The noble gift of Mr. Peabody actually takes away the public breath...and sends a thrill through the public heart.... A man gives his fortune during his lifetime for an object going back to a resolution he had held more than a quarter of a century...to elevate the poor. Party strife and national bickering have not changed this good American; wars and rumours of wars have not turned him...from his...purpose."
London Morning Herald, March 27, 1862: "One of the merchant princes of the world has just presented [London] with a gift for which thousands will bless his name.... Whilst his countrymen are warring...with each other, this generous American is working out...good-will among his adopted people." London Sun, March 27, 1862: " How can England ever go to war with a nation whose leading man among us thus sympathizes with and blesses her poor? Who of us will not set the deed of Mr. Peabody...against that of Captain Wilkes....?"
London Review, March 29, 1862: "From America of late has come war, desolation, and animosity. The close ties of...friendships that linked Englishmen and Americans...seemed dissolved.... In the midst of this comes Mr. Peabody's gift to discard prejudices on both sides of the Atlantic. We have had a desperate family quarrel, and almost come to blows; Mr. Peabody...by a well-timed act...awakens...better sentiments."
Leeds Mercury, March 27, 1862: "An American citizen has now come forward to excite the wonder and admiration of the world."
When friend and sometime agent Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), a Vermont-born London resident genealogist, sent Peabody these London newspaper clippings, Peabody replied: "I had not the least conception that it would cause so much excitement over the country."
British Honors
British honors evoked by Peabody's gift to London included membership in the ancient guild of the Clothworkers' Company of London (July 2, 1862). He was granted the Freedom of the City of London (July 10, 1862), the first of only five American so honored; others being President U. S. Grant, June 15, 1877; President Theodore Roosevelt, May 3, 1910; General John J. Pershing, July 18, 1919; and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 1, 1945.
Peabody had been denied membership in London's Reform Club (1844) when Americans were disdained because nine U. S. states had stopped interest payments on their bonds sold abroad.
When payment was resumed retroactively Peabody, who had publicly urged this course, was admitted to the Parthenon Club (1848), the City of London Club (1850), and the most prestigious Athenaeum Club (March 12, 1862).
The Fishmongers' Company of London made Peabody an honorary member (April 18, 1866). When Oxford University granted him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (June 26, 1867), undergraduates cheered, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal (June 29, 1867) recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond a doubt, Mr. Peabody."
Peabody's seated statue, sculptured and cast by Salem, Massachusetts-born William Wetmore Story (1819-95), paid for by public subscription, was unveiled July 23, 1869, on London's Threadneedle Street, near the Royal Exchange, by Queen Victoria's eldest son, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The only four statues of Americans in London include George Peabody (1869), Abraham Lincoln (1920), George Washington (1921), and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1948).
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria's advisors had informed Her Majesty that, when asked privately, Peabody had declined either a baronetcy or the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. To accept would be to lose his U. S. citizenship, which he felt he could not do. Her Majesty's Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell (1792-1878) suggested instead a letter from the Queen and the gift of a miniature portrait of the Queen, such as was given to foreign ambassadors who signed a treaty with Britain.
The Queen's letter to Peabody, March 28, 1866, expressed thanks for his "noble act of more than princely munificence...to relieve the wants of her poor subjects residing in London. It is an act...wholly without parallel.... "The Queen...understands Mr. Peabody to feel himself debarred from accepting [other] distinctions." [She asks him instead] "to accept a miniature portrait of herself, which she will have painted for him, and which...can...be sent to him in America."
Peabody thanked the Queen by letter on April 3, 1866. He received Her Majesty's miniature portrait from British Ambassador Sir Frederick Bruce (1814-67) in Washington, D.C., March 1867. It was 14" long by 10" wide, had been especially painted for him by British artist F. A. C. Tilt, baked on enamel, and set in a sold gold frame, said to have cost $70,000. It was deposited in a specially built vault, with Peabody's other honors, in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Massachusetts.
John Bright to the Queen on George Peabody
British statesman and Member of Parliament John Bright (1811-89), who had befriended Peabody from 1867 and had gone fishing with him on the Shannon River, Limerick, Ireland, dined with the Queen, December 30, 1868. Bright recorded in his diary the conversation: "Some remarks were made about Mr. Peabody: it arose from something about Ireland, and my having been there on a visit to him. [The Queen] remarked what a very rich man he must be, and how great his gifts."
[Bright recorded that Peabody] "told me how he valued the portrait [the Queen] had given him, that he made a sort of shrine for it, and that it was a thing of great interest in America. Peabody then "said to me, 'The Americans are as fond of your Queen as the English are.' To which she replied, 'Yes, the American people have also been kind to me.'"
Queen Victoria's Second Letter to Peabody
Leaving London suddenly on what he knew would be his last U. S. visit, Peabody was in Salem, Massachusetts, when he received Queen Victoria's second letter. She wrote (June 20, 1869): "The Queen is very sorry that Mr. Peabody's sudden departure has made it impossible for her to see him before he left England, and she is concerned to hear that he is gone in bad health."
The Queen continued: "She now writes him a line to express her hope that he may return to this country quite recovered, and that she may then have the opportunity, of which she has now been deprived, of seeing him and offering him her personal thanks for all he has done for the people."
Publishing the Queen's letter, the New York Times added: "Queen Victoria has paid our great countryman a delicate and graceful compliment. Mr. Peabody left England unexpectedly, his departure known only to a few friends. His feeble health became known to the Queen through London newspapers. With her goodness of heart which Americans never fail to appreciate she sent him a personal letter." On July 19, 1869, Peabody replied, assuring the Queen of his "heartfelt gratitude."
Queen Victoria's Last Contact
Learning of Peabody's hasty return to London (October 8, 1869), before she knew of his precarious condition, she asked her privy councilor Arthur Helps (1813-75) to invite Peabody to visit her at Windsor Castle. Helps wrote to Sir Curtis Lampson in whose London home Peabody rested (Oct. 30, 1869): "'Regarding Mr. Peabody, the Queen thinks the best way would be for her to ask him down to Windsor for one or two nights, where he could rest--and need not come to dinner, or any meals if he feels unequal to it; but where she could see him quietly at any time of the day most convenient to him." But it was too late. Largely unconscious his last days, Peabody died November 4, 1869.
U. S. Honors
Chief among Peabody's U. S. honors was the U. S. Congressional Resolution of Thanks and Gold Medal for his PEF, passed in the U.S. Senate (March 8, 1867), in the U. S. House (March 9, 1867), and signed by President Andrew Johnson (March 16, 1867), who welcomed Peabody at the White House (April 25, 1867). These, his Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University (July 17, 1867), and his other honors received in the U. S. and England, are displayed in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Massachusetts.
Winthrop's Eulogy, February 8, 1870
All was ready for the final act: Winthrop's eulogy of George Peabody, February 8, 1870, a bitterly cold day. Thousands poured into tiny Peabody, Massachusetts, by special morning trains which ran full from Boston. Large crowds were quiet and respectful. The 50 state troopers had little to do but give directions. South Congregational Church filled quickly. Queen Victoria's son, Prince Arthur (1850-1942), in the seventh pew from the pulpit, held all eyes. His retinue, including British Minister to the U. S. Sir Edward Thornton, sat nearby.
Behind Prince Arthur sat HMS Monarch Captain John E. Commerell, USS Plymouth's Captain William H. Macomb, Admiral Farragut's staff, Massachusetts Governor William Claflin, Maine Governor Joshua L. Chamberlain, the mayors of eight New England cities, Harvard University President Charles William Eliot (1834-1926), and others.
On the first six rows sat Peabody's relatives, elderly citizens who knew him in youth, and the trustees of his institutes and funds. Anthems were sung. Scripture was read. Robert Charles Winthrop rose to give the eulogy.
Robert Charles Winthrop was the descendant of an early governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Harvard University graduate, trained in Daniel Webster's law office, member and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Peabody's philanthropic advisor, and the PEF board of trustees president. Winthrop began: "What a career this has been whose final scene lies before us! Who can contemplate his rise from lowly beginnings to these final royal honors without admiration? His death, painless and peaceful, came after he completed his great dream and saw his old friends and loved ones."
Winthrop continued: "He had ambition and wanted to do grand things in a grand way. His public charity is too well known to bear repetition and I believe he also did much private good which remains unknown. The trusts he established, the institutes he founded, the buildings he raised stand before all eyes."
"I have authority for saying," Winthrop continued, "that he planned these for many years, for in private talks he told me all he planned and when I expressed my amazement at the magnitude of his purpose, he said to me with guileless simplicity: 'Why Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea to me. From the earliest of my manhood, I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my heavenly Father, day by day, that I might be enabled, before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which He has bestowed upon me by doing some great good to my fellow-men.'"
The words underlined above are engraved on Peabody's marker in Westminster Abbey, London, where his remains rested for 30 days, November 12-December 11, 1869. That marker and the above words on it were refurbished for the February 12, 1995, bicentennial ceremony of Peabody's birth held in London's Westminster Abbey.
Winthrop further said: "To measure his gifts in dollars and pounds or in the number of people served is inadequate. He did something more. The successful way he arranged the machinery of world-wide philanthropy compels attention. It is a lesson that cannot be lost to history. It has inspired and will continue to inspire others to do likewise. This was the greatness of his life."
"Now, all that is mortal of him," Winthrop said, "comes back, borne with honors that mark a conquering hero. The battle he fought was the greed within him. His conquest was the victory he achieved over the gaining, hoarding, saving instinct. Such is the conqueror we make ready to bury in the earth this day. Winthrop continued: "And so was fulfilled for him a prophecy he heard once as the subject of a sermon, on which by some force of reflection lingered in his mind and which he more than once mentioned to me: 'And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark; but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, or night: but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light.'"
Winthrop said that Peabody first heard this text, Zechariah 14: 6-7, in a sermon by the Reverend Dr. John Lothrop (1772-1820) of Brattle Street, Boston, date not known.
Winthrop concluded: "And so we bid thee farewell, noble friend. The village of thy birth weeps. The flower of Essex County stands at thy grave. Massachusetts mourns her son. Maine does honor to thee. New England and Old England join hands because of thee. The children of the South praise thy works. Chiefs of the Republic stand with royalty at thy bier. And so we bid thee farewell, friend of mankind."
Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass.
The New York Times described the final burial scene at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1870: "There were about two hundred sleigh coaches in the procession. The route was shortened somewhat in consequence of the prevalence of the storm. On arriving at the Peabody tomb, there was no special service, the coffin being placed reverently therein, after which the procession returned to the Institute, and the great pageantry attending the obsequies of the great philanthropist was ended."
Harmony Grove Cemetery's 65 acres of avenues and walks, first laid out in 1840, had been a thick walnut grove when Peabody was a boy. He could see it from the attic of the house where he was born. On a knoll where he had once played he had chosen the family burial plot on Anemone Ave., lot number 51. There, where he had brought together the remains of his mother, father, sisters, and brothers, he was laid to rest. Ninety-six days of unprecedented funeral honors had ended. His works remain. Public memory of him has since grown dim, except at his institutes and among those who care to search the records.
Memory has also dimmed of those few days that summer of 1869 at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, when two old men, one from Massachusetts, the other from Virginia, turned from Civil War strife to the healing power of education.
One, a lifelong soldier, had become president of a struggling college; the other, a volunteer for 14 days in the War of 1812, merchant, London-based banker, and creator of philanthropic institutions. The two old men walked arm in arm, enjoyed each other, spoke of educating new generations, of reconciliation, of healing, and of better days to ahead.
END.
Addendum:
For free access to most pages of Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1995, rev. updates, with photos), access:
14 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...Refe... Newspapers...
14 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below this concluding 14 of 14 blogs covers from References: Newspapers, New York Daily Times, Sept. 24, 1856 to End of Manuscript.
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
New York Daily Times, Sept. 24, 1856, p. 1, c. 5 (GP declined public dinner offered by NYC delegation greeting him on his arrival on the Atlantic, Sept. 15, 1856, after nearly 20 years' absence in London. He explained that he had promised to be greeted first publicly by his hometown friends in South Danvers, Mass.).
New York Times, Oct. 10, 1856, p. 1, c. 3 and Oct. 11, 1856, p. 2, c. 1-5 (Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, reception for GP on his first U.S. visit after 20 years' absence in London; also in Proceedings, 1856, pp. 115-119, under References: books, entry above).
New York Times, Oct. 14, 1856, p. 2, c. 4 (GP's $10,000 science equipment gift for 1853-55 Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin; similar to Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer, Feb. 1, 1853, p. 3, c. 4, entry above).
New York Daily Times, Oct. 23, 1856, p. 4, c. 3 (Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, reception for GP on his first U.S. visit after 20 years' absence in London; also in Proceedings, 1856, pp. 115-119, under References: books, entry above).
New York Daily Times, Feb. 4, 1857, p. 1, c. 2 (Public receptions and speeches which accompanied GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit after nearly 20 years in London, included two in Baltimore, Jan. 30, 1857, at the Md. Historical Society; and Feb. 2, 1857, at the Md. Institute; before his Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter).
New York Daily Times, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1, c. 6 (Elaborate farewell banquet, Aug. 10, 1857, at William Shepard Wetmore’s fashionable Newport, R.I., home, nine days before GP left NYC, Aug. 19, 1857, to return to England; similar to NYC Evening Post, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1; and R.I. Newport Mercury, Aug. 15, 1857).
New York Times, Feb. 9, 1858, p. 4, c. 6. (To correct late Dec. 1857 press report of his firm's Bank of England loan in the Panic of 1857, GP wrote the editor that he owed creditors ƒ2.3 million [not ƒ30 million as reported] when he applied for a ƒ800,000 loan, but took only ƒ300,000, and that at the time of the loan, he had paid ƒ1.5 million of the ƒ2.3 million he owed creditors. "Our losses," he wrote, "will be but trifling").
New York Times, Feb. 18, 1858, p. 4, c. 6 (GP wrote the New York Times editor again to correct late Dec. 1857 press report of his firm's Bank of England loan in the Panic of 1857. GP wrote that he had secured the loan not on securities, which the charter of the Bank of England forbade, but on English friends who guaranteed ƒ90,000 of his firm's ƒ300,000 loan).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1858, p. 2, c. 1-2 (GP's July 9, 1858, Crystal Palace dinner for 50 Americans, including U.S. Minister to Britain G.M. Dallas and family, Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy, and London Times editor Marmaduke Blake Sampson).
New York Times, Aug. 8, 1858, p. 2, c. 1-2 (GP's July 22, 1858, dinner, toasts, speeches, Star and Garter, Richmond near London, attended by 30 Britons and 60 Americans, with U.S. Minister to France John Young Mason as guest of honor, and guests including Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy and New York Times founder and first editor Henry Jarvis Raymond).
New York Times, Jan. 12, 1860, p. 1, c. 6 (Reprinted GP's Dec. 23, 1859, letter to the Baltimore American editor denying rumor of a rift between himself and his partner J.S. Morgan after the Panic of 1857, denying the charge made of GP using the London Times to attack rivals, and denying other allegations and inaccuracies, made in Editor James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald, Sept. 20, 1859, p. 2, c. 2; and Oct. 12, 1859, p. 2, c. 2).
New York Times, May 23, 1861, p. 1, c. 1 (Report that Confederate emissary Ambrose Dudley Mann tried to get GP to sell Confederate bonds to European investors but was "firmly repulsed").
New York Times, April 9, 1862, p. 8, c. 5; and p. 9, c. 2 (Editorial and British press favorable reaction to GP's March 12, 1862, $750,000 gift for housing London's working poor).`
New York Times, March 15, 1866, p. 4, c. 5 (GP's second gift of $500,000 to Peabody Donation Fund for London housing, April 19, 1866. GP's total gift, 1862-69, $2.5 million).
New York Times, April 16, 1866, p. 1, c. 4; and April 27, 1866, p. 1, c. 6 (Queen Victoria's March 28, 1866, letter to GP thanking him for his March 12, 1862, Peabody Donation Fund, London, to build apartments for London's working poor; and stating that she was having a miniature portrait of herself especially painted for him. Also, GP's April 3, 1866, reply to Queen Victoria).
New York Times, May 1, 1866 (GP present at the prize-giving ceremony of the Workingmen's Industrial Exhibition, London).
New York Times, May 3, 1866, p. 4, c. 6; and p. 11, c. 1 (GP arrived in NYC on his May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit).
New York Times, June 20, 1866, p. 2, c. 6 (GP's correspondence with Boston citizens).
New York Times, Oct. 21, 1866, p. 4, c. 5 (Peabody Museum of Harvard Univ. gift, $150,000).
New York Times, Oct. 23, 1866, p.1, c. 6 (GP's additional $500,000 gift to the PIB on Oct. 19, 1866).
New York Times, Oct. 24, 1866, p. 4, c. 7 (Peabody Museum of Yale Univ. gift, $150,000).
New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 4, c. 3-4 (Defense of GP by anonymous letter writer answering "S.P.Q.'s" letter printed in NYC Evening Post, Oct. 25, 1866, p. 2, c. 2, charging GP as Civil War profiteer at the Union's expense, of not contributing to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and of giving money to the London poor rather than money to raise and clothe a single Union recruit).
New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 4, c. 3; and p. 5, c. 1-2 (GP's philanthropies. Account of the PIB dedication and opening, Oct. 24-25, 1866, including speeches by GP and others).
New York Times, Oct. 31, 1866, p. 4, c. 7 (Letter writer identified as "A Twenty-Five Years' Acquaintance" [may have been Thurlow Weed] defended GP as Union supporter against 1-"S.P.Q.'s" charges printed in NYC Evening Post, Oct. 25, 1866, p. 2, c. 2, that GP was a Civil War profiteer at the Union's expense, that GP never contributed to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and that he gave money to the London poor rather than money to raise and clothe a single Union recruit; and against similar charges by 2-owner-editor Samuel Bowles, Springfield Daily Republican, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 4, c. 2).
New York Times, Nov. 8, 1866, p. 1, c. 7 (GP's $25,000 gift, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., for professorship of math and natural science).
New York Times, Nov. 18, 1866, p. 5, c. 5 (PIB trustees' letter of thanks to GP for his Oct. 19, 1866, additional $500,000 gift).
New York Times, Feb. 9, 1867, p. 1, c. 7; and Feb. 11, 1867 (First meeting of PEF trustees, Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 1867; and other facts about PEF $l million gift).
New York Times, March 9, 1867, p. 1, c. 5 (On Congressional gold medal to GP in thanks for the PEF, similar to New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
New York Times, March 26, 1867, p. 8, c. 1 (Meeting of PEF trustees).
New York Times, April 1, 1867, p.1, c. 6 (Description of Queen Victoria's gift to GP of her portrait by British artist F.A.C. Tilt, a photo of which in miniature was enameled on porcelain and set in a gold frame; seen by GP March 1867, deposited in specially built vault, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass., since April 28, 1868).
New York Times, April 9, 1867, p. 5, c. 3 (GP's reply to invitation from Charleston, S.C. board of trade).
New York Times, April 21, 1867, p. 1, c. 7 (PEF proposed plan to aid public education in the eleven former Confederate states plus W.Va., added because of its poverty).
New York Times, April 21, 1867, p. 6, c. 1-2 (GP's April 18, 1867, farewell speech in Georgetown, Mass.: "Here, since the earliest days of New England, my maternal ancestors lived and died. More of my family connections live here now than any other place. More than sixty years ago, I distinctly remember, a promised visit to Rowley was one of my brightest anticipations. Here my mother was born, she whom I loved so much, whose memory I revere. Here she passed her childhood and therefore these scenes are to me consecrated ground").
New York Times, May 8, 1867, p. 5, c. 2-3 (On GP's April 2, 1867, $15,000 gift for a Georgetown, D.C. library fund; similar to D.C., Georgetown Courier, March 2, 1867, p. 3, c. 1, entry above).
New York Times, Jan. 11, 1868, p. 5, c. 2 (John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that he would not have written "Memorial Hymn," a poem read Jan. 8, 1868, at the dedication of Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass., GP built in his mother's memory in her hometown, had he known of GP's condition, that the church "exclude political and other subjects not in keeping with its religious purpose." See Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, entry above).
New York Times, May 26, 1868, p. 2, c. 2-3 (On Congressional gold medal to GP for the PEF, similar to New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1868, p. 2, c. 2 (Recalled details of GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner, Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition, 1851, London. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
New York Times, Jan. 29, 1869, p. 5, c. 5 (On Congressional gold medal to GP for the PEF, similar to New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
New York Times, June 9, 1869, p. 5, c. 1-2 (On GP's arrival in NYC for his June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, last U.S. visit; described Peabody Homes of London; article was sympathetic to GP on many begging letters sent him and the abuse heaped on him when they were unanswered).
New York Times, June 19, 1869, p. 4, c. 2 (Obituary of Henry Jarvis Raymond, founder and first editor of the New York Times, who was at GP's July 22, 1858, dinner, Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, near London, attended by about 60 Americans and 30 Britons. U.S. Minister to France John Young Mason was guest of honor. H.J. Raymond toasted "the Press." Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy toasted "the City of London." See: New York Times, Aug. 8, 1858, p. 2, c.1-2, entry above).
New York Times, July 16, 1869, p. 1, c. 6 ; and July 20, 1869, p. 4, c. 7 (GP spoke at July 14-16, 1869, dedication of Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass.; and Oliver Wendell Holmes read his "George Peabody" poem, July 16, 1869; similar to Peabody Press, July 14, 1869, p. 2, c. 2, 4-5, entry above).
New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7; and p. 5, c. 1 (GP visited Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Former Va. Gov. H.A. Wise and others composed resolution of praise read to GP, July 28, 1869: "On behalf of the Southern people we tender thanks to Mr. Peabody for his aid to the cause of education...and hail him 'benefactor.'" GP's reply was also printed. GP spoke to and was photographed with Robert E. Lee, other former Civil War generals, and northern and southern educational and political leaders [Aug. 12]. A spontaneous Peabody Ball was held in his honor [Aug. 11]. Too ill to attend, he heard the merrymaking from his bungalow).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 2, c. 1 (GP won praise for his $15,000 loan to U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition, 1851, London, who were without U.S. congressional funds to display U.S. art and industrial products. GP was repaid by U.S. Congress three years later).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 5, c. 2-4 (U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley's remarks on July 23, 1869, unveiling of GP's seated statue in London).
New York Times, Nov. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1 (Cited as source by GP funeral researcher Howard Allen Welch for U.S. Rear Adm. William Radford being instructed to send U.S. ship as GP funeral vessel. Queen Victoria and the government decided to outfit HMS Monarch as the funeral ship; it was escorted by USS Plymouth).
New York Times, Nov. 14, 1869, p. 3, c. 7 (On GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London; his family and antecedents).
New York Times, Nov. 26, 1869, p. 2, c. 2-3 (New York Times London reporter wrote of GP's Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey funeral service: "My trans-Atlantic heart beat...quicker at the thought of clergy and nobility, Prime Minister and people, of this great realm gathered to lay [GP] among sleeping Kings and statesmen. The crowd outside was, if possible, more interesting than that within. The gaunt, famished London poor were gathered in thousands to testify their respect for the foreigner who has done more than any Englishman for their class, and whose last will contains an additional bequest to them of £150,000").
New York Times, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 1, c. 6-7 (Bishop of London's sermon on GP's life and influence, Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869).
New York Times, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 5, c. 1 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and placing the coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
New York Times, Dec. 22, 1869, p. 1, c. 4 (U.S. House Resolution No. 96 asked Pres. U.S. Grant to order a naval reception of GP's remains from England on U.S. territory "with the...dignity of a great people." This resolution was introduced in the House on Dec. 15, 1869, debated and passed on Dec. 21, 1869, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870).
New York Times, Dec. 23, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4 (Thurlow Weed, "The Late George Peabody; A Vindication of his Course During the Civil War," reprinted in Historical Collections of the Danvers Historical Society, Vol. 19 [1931], pp. 9-15; similar to Weed, Thurlow-a, entry under References: books, above).
New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4 (At GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death England's Solicitor General had to determine the legality of his property as a foreigner. It was determined that in 1866 GP bought through business friend and naturalized British subject Sir Curtis M. Lampson just over 13 acres of land at Stockwell near London, that he gave it in his will to the Peabody Donation Fund, that while it reverted to the Crown because he was not a British subject, the Crown in turn gave it to the Peabody Donation Fund of London).
New York Times, Jan. 27, 1870, p. 1, c. 5-7 (During his 1866-67 U.S. visit GP told friends in NYC about the only instance he made money in the Civil War involving Confederate bonds. In London early in the Civil War some investment capitalists asked his advice about buying Confederate bonds. He said that such bonds would depreciate within a year. Doubting him, a few asked that he write down this opinion, and that whosoever was right, he or they, would win a $60,000 wager. A year later when the bonds depreciated GP held them to the wager and said that was the only money he ever made from Confederate bonds. Md. legislature's resolutions on GP's death, which read in part: "...his name will stand preeminent in history...generations yet unborn will learn to venerate his memory." Robert Charles Winthrop and citizens' committee left Boston Jan. 26, 1870, for the Portland, Me., naval reception and for the Peabody, Mass., eulogy and burial. Arrival in Portland, Me., of U.S. naval squadron to receive HMS Monarch funeral ship and accompanying USS Plymouth. Has list and history of GP's philanthropies).
New York Times, Feb. 2, 1870, p. 5, c. 1-3 (Transfer on Jan. 29, 1870, of GP's coffin from HMS Monarch to Portland City Hall, Me.; the many visitors on Jan. 31 to the lying in state in the Portland City Hall auditorium, specially decorated by marine artist Harrison Bird Brown; and the transfer of the coffin from Portland City Hall on Feb. 1, 1870, to a specially decorated funeral train. The train's route went to Kennebunk, Me.; Portsmouth, N.H.; and in Mass. to Newburyport, Ipswich, Beverly, and Peabody, Mass.).
New York Times, Feb 9, 1870, p. 1, c. 4-7 (Described Boston's C.W. Barth and staff's solemn decoration of the Peabody Institute Library's main reading room for GP's last lying in state, Peabody, Mass., Feb. 1-8, 1870. Philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop's widely reprinted Feb. 8, 1870, GP funeral eulogy, South Congregational Church, Peabody, Mass.: 1-how GP first shared with Winthrop his gifts ideas, possibly May 9, 1866, or in Oct. 1866, at Winthrop's home, Brookline, Mass. When Winthrop expressed amazement, GP said: "Why Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea to me. From the earliest of my manhood, I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my heavenly Father, day by day, that I might be enabled, before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which he has bestowed upon me by doing some great good to my fellow-men." 2-Described GP's Nov 4, 1869, death at business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson's 80 Eaton Sq., London home; Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey funeral service; transatlantic journey of remains aboard HMS Monarch; landing at Portland, Maine, Jan. 25, 1870; funeral train to Peabody, Mass. Final burial, Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870).
New York Times, Feb. 27, 1870, p. 3 (Adm. David Glasgow Farragut was ill with pneumonia when placed in charge of U.S. naval reception of GP's remains at Portland, Me., Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870, and died seven months later, Aug. 14, 1870. He arrived in Portland Jan. 22 with his wife and secretary, was met by the Portland funeral committee, and was escorted to the Falmouth Hotel to rest, while Mrs. Farragut visited her son, Lt. Farragut, Third U.S. Artillery, at nearby Fort Preble).
New York Times, June 27, 916, p. 11, c. 4. (Obituary of Colonel William Beals, the Boston decorator who furbished Car No. 77, Eastern RR, carrying GP's remains from Portland, Me., to Peabody, Mass., Feb. 1, 1870. His obit. is listed in N.Y. Times Obituaries Index [1916], p. 59).
New York Times, May 13, 1926, p. 14, c. 1-2 (GP was one of 29 most famous Americans elected to the N.Y.U. Hall of Fame, 1900. In 1901 a tablet was unveiled and on May 12, 1926 a GP bust was unveiled, made by sculptor Hans Schuler, with an address by GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne; similar to Baltimore Sun, May 9, 1926, Part 2, Sect. 1, p. 10, c. 2-5, entry above).
New York Times, March 31, 1964, p. 25, c. 2-3; April 1, 1964, p. 1, c. 2, continued p. 27, c. 2-4; April 2, 1964, p. 18, c. 2; April 3, 1964, p. 23, c. 2 (Mass. Gov. Endicott "Chubb" Peabody's mother, Mary Elizabeth [née Parkman] Peabody, wife of Episcopal Bishop Rt. Rev. Malcolm Endicott Peabody and cousin of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, made headlines when at age 72 she was arrested overnight for protesting segregation in a St. Augustine, Fla. diner, March 31, 1964).
New York Times, Sunday, Feb. 28, 1988, John Gross, "A Banker with a Gift for Giving, A Golden Touch and a Taste for Dining Well," Section 2, p. 39, c.1 ("Creating a Legend: George Peabody and the House of Morgan," part of a larger Pierpont Morgan Library of N.Y. exhibit, shown from about Feb. 28 through May 8, 1988, described GP's career, his founding of George Peabody & Co., London, that firm's subsequent history, and other facts, and illustrated with a GP portrait and menus from GP's London U.S.-British friendship dinners).
New York Times, Nov. 28, 1989, Steven Prokesch, "Germans to Buy Morgan Grenfell," p. 29, article continued as "Deutsche Bank to Acquire Morgan Grenfell," p. 42 (George Peabody & Co., London, 1838-64, became J.S. Morgan & Co., 1864-1909, became Morgan Grenfell & Co., 1909-90, and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell since June 29, 1990, a German-owned bank).
New York Times, July 14, 1995, XIII, CN, p. 17, c. 1, Bess Liebenson. "The Country's First Modern Philanthropist" (Described plans for celebrating the bicentennial of GP's birth [1795-1995] in the U.S. and in London. Showed portrait of a seated GP, commissioned to honor his Oct. 22, 1866, $150,000 gift founding the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University).
New York Times, July 14, 1996, p. 29, Marialisa Calta, "Gimme Shelter" (Described the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., when, during the Eisenhower cold war years it had a secret deep bunker for government officials in case of nuclear attack. The bunker, never used, was on alert during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, a fact made public in 1992. GP on his last U.S. visit was at the Greenbrier, July 23-Aug. 30, 1869).
New York Tribune
New York Tribune, March 11, 1867, p. 2, c. 3 (GP reported to the press that about 4,000 letters begging for funds were burned in his presence).
New York Tribune, July 16, 1869, p. 2, c. 2-3 (GP spoke at July 14-16, 1869, dedication of Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass.; and Oliver Wendell Holmes read his "George Peabody" poem, July 16, 1869; similar to Peabody Press, July 14, 1869, p. 2, c. 2, 4-5, entry above).
New York Tribune, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 1, c. 4 (GP's last $400,000 PIB gift and last Baltimore departure, Sept. 22, 1869).
New York Tribune, Nov. 12, 1869, p. 1, c. 1 (Queen Victoria's invitation, Oct. 30, 1869, for GP to visit and rest at Windsor Castle. Too ill, he died Nov. 4, 1869).
New York Tribune, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 1, c. 1 (GP's last will was written and witnessed in NYC, Sept. 9, 1869, and recorded in Salem, Mass., Sept. 10, 1869; similar to Salem Observer [Mass.], Jan. 15, 1870, entry above. Described handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, Dec. 28, 1869 (On the GP-Esther Elizabeth Hoppin broken engagement. Similar to Biddle, Edward, and Mantle Field, above under References: books).
New York Tribune, Jan. 20, 1870, p. 4, c. 5 (GP's real estate property in England given at his death to his Peabody housing fund with approval of England's Solicitor General; similar to
New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4 , entry above).
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, Friday, Jan. 28, 1870, n.p. (Howard Glyndon's poem, "The Coming of the Silent Guest," republished in George Peabody House Museum, Vol. 2, Issue 3 (May 2001), p. 3).
New York World
New York World, Sept. 14, 1869, p. 12, c. 2 (Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder stated that the main photo of GP, Lee, Corcoran, Civil War generals, and others, Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., was taken after GP consented to be its central figure, Aug. 12, 1869. Photos are also in Conte, pp. 69-71; Dabney, Vol. 1, facing p. 83; Freeman-a, 1935, appendix [incorrect identification]; Freeman-b, 1947, Vol. 4, p. 438 [correct identification]; Kocher and Dearstyne, pp. 189-190; Lanier, ed., Vol. 5, p. 4; Meredith, pp. 84-85; Miller, ed., Vol. 10, p. 4; Murphy, p. 58).
New York World, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 3, c. 6 (GP's last $400,000 PIB gift and last Baltimore departure, Sept. 22, 1869, then to Philadelphia, and NYC where some PEF trustees saw him board the Scotia, Sept. 29, 1869, for London; similar to
New York Tribune, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
New York, NYC. Spirit of the Times
Spirit of the Times, July 26, 1851, p. 1, c. 2; and Aug. 2, 1851, p. 279 (U.S.-British press reported favorably on GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner, Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
N .Y., Oswego. Oswego Daily Times
Oswego Daily Times, April 25, 1857, p. 3, c. 1 (On April 25, 1857, GP and business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson were in Oswego, N.Y., to look into the affairs of the Syracuse and Binghamton Railroad, of which GP was a large stockholder. They met with several businessmen at Luther Wright's bank to discuss how to finance the completion of the railroad line from Syracuse to Oswego).
Asheville Citizen-Times
Asheville Citizen-Times, Nov. 28, 1992, Ulrike Huhs, "Peabody Conservatory Generates Sounds of the Future," p. C-4 (The Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins Univ. had the first computer music department which, with the Johns Hopkins Univ. engineering school, initiated an electronic music degree).
Ohio , Cincinnati. Daily Cincinnati Gazette
Daily Cincinnati Gazette, July 30, 1852, p. 2, c. 3 (GP's June 17 and July 4, 1852, London dinners and speeches, attended by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, Wm. Brown, Thomson Hankey, Thurlow Weed, and J.C. Frémont; similar to Washington, D.C., Republic, July 10, 1852, p. 2, c. 5, entry above).
Daily Cincinnati Gazette, April 1l, 1857, p. 2, c. 1 (GP's March-April 1857 tour in the U.S. South and West; similar to Mobile (Ala.) Daily Tribune, March 5, 1857, entry above).
Ohio , Zanesville. Zanesville Daily Courier
Zanesville Daily Courier, Aug. 7, 1869, p. 2, c. 4 (for Daily Courier reporter Mr. Reamy's account of July 23, 1869, unveiling of GP's seated statue in London; see also New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 5, c. 2-4, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5 (Plan for transferring GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 3, c. 5 (GP's last will was written and witnessed in NYC, Sept. 9, 1869, and recorded in Salem, Mass., Sept. 10, 1869; similar to Salem Observer [Mass.], Jan. 15, 1870, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Courier, Jan. 28, 1870, p. 2, c. 4 (GP's real estate property in England given at his death to his Peabody housing fund approved by England's Solicitor General; similar to New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4 , entry above).
Zanesville Daily Signal
Zanesville Daily Signal, Nov. 24, 1869 (Quoted unknown NYC Post correspondent who interviewed GP during the Civil War and found him a staunch Unionist).
Zanesville Daily Signal, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 3, c. 2 (GP's last will was written and witnessed in NYC, Sept. 9, 1869, and recorded in Salem, Mass., Sept. 10, 1869; similar to Salem Observer [Mass.], Jan. 15, 1870, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Signal, Dec. 11, 1869, p. 2, c. 3 (Plan for transferring GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, with the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to Ohio's Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Signal, Dec. 15, 1869, p. 2, c. 3 (GP's last will, Sept. 9, 1869; similar to Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
Penn ., Philadelphia (Phila.) Dollar Newspaper
Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7 (Obituary of Alexander Lardner, who married Esther Elizabeth Hoppin from Providence, R.I. GP was engaged to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin during 1838-39 in London when she attended Queen Victoria's coronation. She broke the engagement, married her earlier beau, Alexander Lardner. They lived in Philadelphia and had two children. Artist Thomas Sully's 1840 portrait of her is in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library. She died in 1905. See: her obituary in Philadelphia Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2, below).
Penn., Philadelphia Press
Philadelphia Press, Dec. 10, 1873, John W. Forney, "In Memorial: Death of Charles Macalester" (Obituary of Philadelphia financier Charles Macalester, who met GP in London, 1842, became GP's Philadelphia agent, and was one of the 16 original PEF trustees and member of the PEF Finance Committee).
Penn., PhiladelphiaPublic Ledger
Public Ledger, Jan. 15, 1848, p. 2, c. 4 (Alexander Lardner's obituary, husband of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, engaged to GP, 1838-39, London; similar to Phila.’sDollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7, entry above . Hoppin's obituary is in Phila’s Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2, below).
Public Ledger, Dec. 10, 1873, "Decease of Charles Macalester, Esq." (Obituary of Philadelphia financier Charles Macalester, once GP's Philadelphia agent, one of the 16 original PEF trustees, and member of the PEF Finance Committee; similar to Philadelphia Press, Dec. 10, 1873, by John W. Forney).
Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2 (Obituary of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin from Providence, R.I., engaged to GP during 1838-39 in London after she attended Queen Victoria's coronation. She broke the engagement, married her earlier beau, Alexander Lardner, who died in 1848. They lived in Philadelphia and had two children. She died in 1905. Artist Thomas Sully's 1840 portrait of her is in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library. See: Alexander Lardner's obituary, Phila.’s Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7 and Phila.’s Public Ledger, Jan. 15, 1848, p. 2, c. 4, above).
Phila.’s North American and United States Gazette
North American and United States Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7 (On GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin from Providence, R.I., 1838-39, in London; similar fuller account in Phila.’s Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2, entry above).
North American and United States Gazette, July 23, 1851, p. 1, c. 4 (Details of and praise for GP's July 4, 1851, London, U.S.-British friendship dinner during the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, successful because of the Duke of Wellington's attendance as guest of honor).
Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette
Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7 (Alexander Lardner's obituary, husband of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, engaged to GP, 1838-39, London; similar to Phila.’s Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7, entry above . Hoppin's obituary is in Phila.’s Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2).
Penn., Pittsburgh
Evening Chronicle, April 14, 1857, p. 1, c. 1-3 (GP's March-April 1857 tour in the U.S. South and West; similar to Mobile (Ala.) Daily Tribune, March 5, 1857, entry above. In Pittsburgh, Penn., GP stayed with Capt. and Mrs. Edward W.H. Schenley, April 14-16, 1857, as noted in entry immediately below).
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Shine, Bernice, "Schenley Park Donated by Girl Whose Romance Shocked a Queen," September 15, 1941 (GP stayed in Pittsburgh, Penn., with Capt. and Mrs. Edward W.H. Schenley during April 14-16, 1857, where a reception was held in his honor. She later donated land for Schenley Park in Pittsburgh).
Penn., Washington, Washington Weekly Reporter
Washington Weekly Reporter, Aug. 9, 1854, p. 2, c. 5 (GP gave $1,000 to the Washington National Monument, Washington, D.C., July 4, 1854, at the suggestion of Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran).
R.I., Newport, Newport Mercury
Newport Mercury, Aug. 15, 1857 (Elaborate farewell banquet, Aug. 10, 1857, at William Shepard Wetmore’s fashionable Newport, R.I., home, nine days before GP left NYC, Aug. 19, 1857, to return to England; similar to NYC Evening Post, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1, and New York Daily Times, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1, c. 6).
Newport Mercury, Nov. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1 (Account at GP's death recalled his winter 1810 visit to maternal grandparents near Thetford, Vt., stopover at Stickney's Tavern, Concord, N.H., and visit to maternal aunt, Barnstead, N.H.; similar to Boston Journal, Nov. 5, 1869, p. 4, c. 3-5, entry above).
R.I., Providence Journal
Providence Journal, Dec. 22, 1869, p. 2, c. 3 (Report of GP's death and funeral recalled his broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, her marriage to Alexander Lardner, and his death in 1848. She died in 1905. Artist Thomas Sully's 1840 portrait of her is in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library; similar to Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7, entry above).
Tenn., Nashville, Nashville Banner
Nashville Banner, Dec. 9, 1971, p. 39 (Review of Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography [Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971], with photo of a profile of GP as a young man, taken from the dust jacket, portrait made from an original silhouette by Gary Gore, then design and promotion manager, Vanderbilt Univ. Press. His design was awarded a Gold Medal by the Art Directors' Club, Nashville, 1971).
Nashville Banner, February 18, 1991, "VU's Peabody Holds Top Ranking Again," p. B-5 (PCofVU's counseling program for preparing high school counselors rated top choice for several years).
Tenn., Nashville Tennessean
Tennessean Magazine, (May 15, 1955), Franklin Parker, "Nashville's Yankee Friend," pp. 2, 6-7 (From GP's PEF came the predecessor educational institutions culminating in PCofVU).
Tennessean, Nov. 28, 1976, p. 3-F, Tom Rogers, "Londoners' Homes Peabody Legacy" (Three GP-related illustrations are described under GP Illustrations).
Tennessean, May 28, 1984, pp. l-A-2-A, " 'Mr. Peabody' Dr. Windrow Dies at 84" (As GPCFT student, faculty member, and administrator for 60 years, John Edwin Windrow was an indefatigable GPCFT publicist. His GPCFT dissertation and book were on the life of Univ. of Nashville Chancellor John Berrien Lindsley).
Tennessean, Dec. 26, 1991, "New Peabody Dean Eager to Help State Change Face of Education," p. B-3 (PCofVU under second Dean James Pellegrino).
Tennessean, May 7, 1995, p. 2D, Louis J. Salome, "George Peabody, More Than Just a College Name." (Photo of bust of GP by sculptor Hans Schuler, unveiled May 12, 1926, New York University Hall of Fame Colonnade).
Tennessean, Sept. 2, 1996, p. 6A, "The First Nashville, 1780's" (Described the origins and early history of Nashville, Tenn.).
Tennessean, June 24, 1997, p. 7B (Obituary of Felix Compton Robb, assistant to GPCFT Pres. Henry Harrington Hill from 1947, dean of instruction, and successor president of GPCFT during 1961-66. He was director, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 1966-82, was a trustee of several colleges, a consultant to various boards and foundations, and interim president, Tallulah Falls School, Ga.).
Tennessean, Sept. 25, 1999, p. lB, "Architect Helped Build City’s Colleges" (Architect Henry Clossen Hibbs, hired by first Pres. Bruce R. Payne to design GPCFT, Nashville [completed 1914] after Thomas Jefferson's Univ. of Va. architectural plan).
Tennessean, March 31, 2000, pp. B1, continued 6B, "VU Keeps its Hold on U.S. Rankings" (U.S. News & World Report ranked PCofVU as sixth best graduate education school for the second consecutive year).
Tennessean, April 30, 2000, p. 1B (The PCofVU's Social-Religious Building was renamed, April 20, 2000, the Faye and Joe Wyatt Center for Education, after the retiring VU chancellor and his wife, under whom that historic building was renovated, 1993-96).
Tennessean, Aug. 7, 2000, p. 5B, "Noted philanthropist Philip Belz dies" (Realtor company chairman emeritus Philip Belz [1904-2000], whose Belz Enterprises owned the Peabody Hotel Group, died Aug 4, 2000, in Memphis).
Tennessean, Aug. 22 and 23, 2000, both pp. 1A-2A. (Started in 1965, the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn., with Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation startup funds, is one of 14 federally funded mental retardation research centers. Its $11 million budget in 2000 enabled advanced work by some 90 Vanderbilt Univ. and PCofVU researchers).
Tennessean, Sept. 14, 2000. P. 2E, "House of Morgan Has Storied Past" (The J.P. Morgan, Sr., bank, NYC, was bought for about $39.2 billion in stock by the Chase Manhattan Corp., thus surviving GP by 131 years, 1869-2000; J.S. Morgan by 110 years, 1890-2000; J.P. Morgan, Sr., himself by 87 years, 1913-2000; and J.P. Morgan, Sr.'s son by 66 years, 1934-2000).
Tennessean, Sept. 21, 2000, p. 4B, "Little Rock's Peabody Hotel to Include Ducks" (Lease signed in Little Rock, Ark., converting the former Excelsior Hotel into the Peabody Hotel, which will continue the daily duck waddle tradition down the red carpet into the hotel lobby pool).
Tennessean, April 1, 2001, p. 3B, "VU's Peabody Cracks Top 5 Grad Schools of Education" (After ranking among top 10 graduate schools of education in U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking since 1995, PCofVU jumped to 5th place in 2001).
Tennessean, March 31, 2004, "Dr. Susan Gray's Legacy" (GPCFT Early Childhood Education Prof. Susan Gray's [1913-92] enrichment program for poverty-deprived Nashville area 4 and 5 year olds in 1965 inspired the U.S. national Project Headstart).
Tennessean, Jan. 6, 2005, pp. 1Ai-2A (Controversy, 2002-2005, over Vanderbilt Univ.’s intent to remove “Confederate” from PCofVU Confederate Memorial Hall dormitory building).
Tennessean, Jan. 9, 2005, pp. 18A-19A (Similar to immediately above).
Tennessean, Jan. 10, 2005, p. 6A (Similar to immediately above).
Tennessean, Jan. 21, 2005, p. 5A (Similar to immediately above).
Tennessean, May 17, 2005, p. 11A (Similar to immediately above).
Texas, Austin American
Austin American, March 18, 1964, Tom A. Cullen, "Peabody Pioneer: First Slum Push" (Engraving of "Peabody's Apartment Houses," London).
Va., Richmond Daily Whig
Richmond Daily Whig, July 28, 1869, p. 2, c. 5 (GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869; where resolution of praise were read to him, July 28, 1869; where he spoke to and was photographed with Robert E. Lee and other northern and southern educational, political leaders, military leaders [Aug. 12]; and where a Peabody Ball was held in his honor [Aug. 11]; similar to New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7; and p. 5, c. 1, entries above).
Richmond Daily Whig, Aug. 13, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4 (Continuation of Richmond Daily Whig, July 28, 1869, p. 2, c. 5, above, on GP's July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, visit to the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs health spa, W.Va., where a Peabody Ball was held in his honor on Aug. 11, 1869).
Richmond Daily Whig, Aug. 17, 1869, p. 2, c. 5 (GP gave his lost Va. bonds, 1869, to R.E. Lee's Washington College, later redeemed at $60,000; similar to Baltimore American, May 14, 1883, entry above).
Richmond Daily Whig, Aug. 20, 1869, p. 3, c. 2 (Stated that photos of GP, R.E. Lee, others, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., were taken by Anderson and Johnson of Anderson's Richmond photographic establishment on Aug. 12, 1869; similar to New York World, Sept. 14, 1869, p. 12, c. 2, entry above).
Va., Richmond Dispatch
Richmond Dispatch, March 3, 1857, p. 1, c. 5 (Freighter named George Peabody carried goods between Baltimore and Richmond, Va., from 1857; similar to Baltimore American, Feb. 19, 1857, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
Richmond Dispatch, March 13, 1857, p. 1, c. 4 (GP's March-April 1857 tour in the U.S. South and West; similar to Mobile (Ala.), Daily Tribune, March 5, 1857, entry above).
Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 2, 1896, p. 12, c. 1-2, "To Honor Peabody" (On Feb. 1, 1896, Va. state Sen. William Lovenstein introduced a resolution and supporting letter of Jan. 24, 1896, from PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry for a GP statue to be placed in Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol Bldg., Washington, D.C., where each state has statues of two notable citizens. But this effort was not successful).
W. Va., White Sulphur Springs, White Sulphur Echo
White Sulphur Echo, Vol. 22, No. 51 (Aug. 12, 1869), 3 pp. (GP joined longtime business friend William Wilson Corcoran at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Gathered there by chance were southern and northern social, political, educational, and military elites. Relevant articles, p. 1, "Great Peabody Ball [Aug. 11, 1869]"; p. 2, "Statue of Mr. Peabody [London, unveiled July 23, 1869]"; p. 3, "An Endowment of Washington College [Lexington, Va., R.E. Lee, president] by George Peabody. Mr. Peabody's Health"; "An Historic Group [photographer Anderson's historic photo of "General Lee, Mr. Peabody, Generals Wise, Beauregard, Gary Connor, Lilly, Lawton and Magruder, and Messrs. Brent, W.W. Corcoran, James Lyons, and Blacque Bey"]."
W. Va., White Sulphur Springs, Lee Week Herald
Lee Week Herald, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Aug. 25, 1932), one page. (Apparently a commemorative issue. Relevant articles: "How They Honored General Lee" [his arrival in early Aug. 1869; funds raised locally to repair his church in Lexington, Va., to which GP contributed; and the Peabody Ball, Aug. 11, 1869]; and "The '69 Season" ["the season of '69 was the nonpareil…nothing to equal"; this gathering centered on R.E. Lee and GP].
W. Va., White Sulphur Echo and Lee Week Herald
White Sulphur Echo and Lee Week Herald, Aug. 31, 1934) (Commemorative issue of Lee and GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Aug. 1869; similar to above).
f. British Newspapers (alphabetically by country and city)
England, Birmingham Weekly Post
Birmingham Weekly Post, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 3, c. 6 (GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869, in London; his Westminster Abbey funeral service on Nov. 12, 1869; funeral carriages and occupants from the Abbey to Waterloo train station; funeral train from London to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869; handing over ceremonies and speeches by U.S. Minister to Britain Motley to HMS Monarch's Capt. Commerell; and placing GP's coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
England, Boston Guardian
Boston Guardian, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 2, c. 5 (Plans for the handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the placing of the coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
England, Brechin AdvertiserAdvertiser
Brechin Advertiser, Nov. 30, 1869, p. 3, c. 3 (Similar to Boston Guardian, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 2, c. 5, immediately above).
England, Brighton Daily News
Brighton Daily News, Nov. 15, 1869, p. 5, c. 4 (Bishop of London's sermon on GP's life and influence, Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869. Similar to New York Times, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 1, c. 6-7).
Brighton Daily News, Dec. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1-2 (Sat., Dec. 11, 1869, 7:00 A.M., a cold, damp, dark morning, with Westminster Abbey's dean A.P. Stanley present, GP's coffin was taken from the Abbey to a waiting hearse, followed by other carriages, going to Waterloo Station, where a special train waited to take GP's remains to Portsmouth).
England, Brighton Gazette
Brighton Gazette, Aug. 23, 1866, "Photographic Art, "p. 5. (Reported John Mayall's life-size portrait of GP, overpainted by artist Aed Arnoult to resemble an oil painting, displayed in Mayall's Brighton studio, intended for the PIB, "a great success" and reported that it was "to be exhibited free to the working classes, on Saturday next, at the Town Hall").
England, Brighton Herald
Brighton Herald, Nov. 21, 1868, p. 3, c. 5 (GP and U.S Minister to Britain Reverdy Johnson were in Brighton, England, Nov. 1868. Reverdy Johnson spoke at a Nov. 21 public dinner in Brighton).
Brighton Herald, Nov. 28, 1868, p. 4, c. 2-3 (Similar to Brighton Herald, Nov. 21, 1868, p. 3, c. 5, immediately above. GP and Reverdy Johnson attended Christ Church, Brighton, Nov. 22, and were the subject of Rev. Robert Ainslie's sermon).
England, Brighton Guardian
Brighton Guardian, Nov. 18, 1868, p. 5, c. 6; and Nov. 25, 1868, p. 7 (Similar to Brighton Herald, Nov. 28, 1868, p. 4, c. 2-3, immediately above).
England, Brighton Observer
Brighton Observer, Nov. 12, 1869, p. 2, c. 2 (Publicity after GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869: GP was given the Freedom of the City of London, July 10, 1862, and that evening was guest of honor at the Lord Mayor of London's Mansion House banquet, in appreciation for his March 12, 1862, Peabody Donation Fund for model homes for London working poor, total gift $2.5 million. Some accounts reported that he walked home to his lodging from that banquet).
England, Liverpool. Daily Post
Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2 (Allen S. Hanckel incident and the Trent Affair).
England, London. Anglo-American Time
Anglo-American Times, Dec. 23, 1865, p. 8, c. 1-2 (During the Civil War GP gave a total of $10,000 to the U.S. Sanitary Commission for sick and wounded Union soldiers and their dependents).
Anglo-American Times, June 26, 1869, p. 11, c. 3; and p. 16, c. 1-2 (GP arrived in NYC for his June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, last U.S. visit).
Anglo-American Times, Aug. 14, 1869, p. 15, c. 1 (GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869; where resolution of praise were read to him, July 28, 1869; where he spoke to and was photographed with Robert E. Lee and other northern and southern educational, political leaders, military leaders [Aug. 12]; and where a Peabody Ball was held in his honor [Aug. 11]; similar to New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7; and p. 5, c. 1, entries above).
Anglo-American Times, Oct. 2, 1869, p. 9, c. 1 (Described coffin-shaped granite sarcophagus GP ordered for his grave at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., mid-Sept. 1869. Recorded also that in 1854 GP asked visiting Americans James Watson Webb and Reverdy Johnson to consult with John Pendleton Kennedy and other Baltimoreans about a possible GP educational gift to that city, leading to the PIB).
Anglo-American Times, Oct. 9, 1869, p. 11, c. 2 (GP's last $400,000 PIB gift, last departure from Baltimore, Sept. 22, 1869, then to Philadelphia, and NYC where some PEF trustees saw him board the Scotia, Sept. 29, 1869, for London where he died Nov. 4, 1869; similar to New York Tribune, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
Anglo-American Times, Oct. 23, 1869, p. 11, c. 3; and Oct. 30, 1869, p. 10, c. 3 (Report of GP's arrival in London Oct. 8, 1869, from his last U.S. visit and his intent "to pass the winter in the south of France." But gravely ill, he rested until his death, Nov. 4, 1869, at the home of business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson, 80 Eaton Sq., London).
Anglo-American Times, Dec. 11, 1869, p. 11, c. 1-2 (GP's death, Nov. 4, 1869, London; Westminster Abbey funeral service, Nov. 12, 1869; funeral carriages and occupants from the Abbey to Waterloo train station; funeral train from London to Portsmouth harbor, Dec. 11, 1869; Portsmouth handing over ceremonies and speeches; and placing GP's coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to Birmingham [England] Weekly Post, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
Anglo-American Times, Jan. 8, 1870, p. 8, c. 2 (U.S. House Resolution No. 96 for U.S. naval reception of GP's remains from England at U.S. landing port [Portland, Me.], introduced in the House, Dec. 15, 1869, debated and passed, Dec. 21, 1869, passed in Senate, Dec. 23, 1869, and signed into law by Pres. Grant, Jan. 10, 1870; similar to New York Times, Dec. 22, 1869, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
Anglo-American Times, Jan. 8, 1870, p. 10, c. 2 (Details of transatlantic voyage of HMS Monarch and USS Plymouth from Spithead near Portsmouth, England; to Madeira, Portugal; to Bermuda; and to New England receiving port).
England, London. Army and Navy Gazette
Army and Navy Gazette, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 802, c. 2 ("Private telegrams have been received in London from New York, stating that the honour done to the remains of the late Mr. Peabody, and to the fact that our Government having conveyed his body to America in a ship of war, has had a great effect on the States, and has gone far towards doing away with the ill-feeling caused by the Alabama difficulties. There is a story going about to the effect that the special correspondent in London of a well known American paper lately telegraphed to ask his employers what line he should take upon the Alabama question. The reply, through the cable, was, 'Let the matter drop; it's played out'").
Army and Navy Gazette, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 811, c. 1 (Transfer by train of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor, Dec. 11, 1869, and the handing over ceremony of the coffin to HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
England, London. British Army Dispatch
British Army Dispatch, July 9, 1852, p. 445, c. 1-3 (GP's June 17 and July 4, 1852, London dinners and speeches, attended by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, Wm. Brown, Thomson Hankey, Thurlow Weed, and J.C. Frémont; similar to Washington, D.C., Republic, July 10, 1852, p. 2, c. 5, entry above).
England, London. Catholic Opinion
Catholic Opinion, Nov. 20, 1869, p. 462, c. 1 (The erroneous report of a GP statue planned in Rome after GP's death, Nov. 4, 1869, London, may have been connected with R.C. Winthrop and GP's Feb. 24 or 25, 1868, interview with Pope Pius IX and GP's gift through Cardinal Antonelli to the Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital of $19,300).
England, London. City Press
City Press, May 14, 1867 (Two subscription lists showed £2,342.19s. received as of April 1866 to erect a statue of GP in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
City Press, May 18, 1867 (Third subscription list showed £2,572.13s.2d. received in April 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
City Press, May 31, 1867 (Fourth subscription list showed amount received in May 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
England, London. Court Journal
Court Journal, Feb. 22, 1862, p. 183, c. 3 (Quoted Thurlow Weed's Jan. 12, 1862, letter to the Albany Evening Journal stating that GP planned a large gift of model homes for London's working poor).
Court Journal, April 7, 1866, p. 381, c. 2 (GP's second Peabody Donation Fund, April 19, 1866, gift, $500,000; total $2.5 million).
England, London. Daily News
Daily News, July 7, 1854 (U.S. Legation in London Secty. D.E. Sickles walked out in anger from GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner because GP toasted the Queen before the U.S. president; the incident attracted pro and con letters in the press for months; similar to Boston Post, July 21, 1854, p. 2, c. l, entry above).
Daily News, Nov. 8, 1869, p. 5, c. 3 ("We have received a large number of letters, urging that the honours of a public funeral are due to the late Mr. Peabody's memory").
Daily News, Dec. 13, 1869 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the placing of the coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to plan mentioned in Ohio's Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
England, London. Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph, April 29 and 30, 1867 (Two subscription lists of £2,342.19s. received as of April 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor; similar to City Press, May 14, 1867, entry above).
Daily Telegraph, May 16, 1867 (Third subscription list of £2,572.13s.2d. received in April 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor; similar to City Press, May 18, 1867, entry above).
Daily Telegraph, May 30, 1867 (Fourth subscription list of amount received in May 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor; similar to City Press, May 31, 1867, entry above).
Daily Telegraph, Oct. 9, 1867 (Approval of Salem, Mass.-born sculptor W.W. Story to prepare statue of GP in London [unveiled July 23, 1869]).
England, London. European Mail
European Mail, Jan. 23, 1870 (England's Solicitor General ruled that GP's real estate property in England should go to the Peabody housing fund, as GP wished; similar to New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4, entry above).
England, London. Fun
Fun, Feb. 24, 1866, p. 235 (GP's second gift to the Peabody Donation Fund, April 19, 1866, $500,000; total $2.5 million).
England, London. Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News, April 5, 1862, p. 335 (GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund for homes for London's working poor, total gift $2.5 million, 1862-69).
Illustrated London News, Vol. 48, No. 1368 (April 28, 1866), pp. 409, 410 (GP at the prize-giving ceremony of the Workingmen's Industrial Exhibition. He was the first U.S. citizen and the 41st person to be made an honorary member of the Fishmongers' Co. of London, April 19, 1866, before leaving on his May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit).
Illustrated London News, May 26, 1867, p. 513 (Illustration of Queen Victoria's enameled miniature portrait done in 1867 by British artist F.A.C. Tilt, set in a frame of solid gold, given to GP in 1867 for his $2.5 million gift for Peabody model homes for London's working poor, since 1862; original in Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass.).
Illustrated London News, Nov. 20, 1869, p. 26 (Engraving of GP's funeral service in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869).
Illustrated London News, Vol. 55, No. 1573 (Dec. 25, 1869), pp. 648, 661 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, with the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to plans mentioned in Ohio's Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
London.Ladies Newspaper (and Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times)
Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times, July 26, 1851, p. 43 (U.S.-British press reported favorably on GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner at Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition, 1851. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
Ladies Newspaper, July 1, 1869, p. 64, c. 1 (U.S. sculptor W.W. Story's model of GP's seated London statue sent to Munich, Germany, for bronze casting. GP's statue later unveiled, July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, who eulogized GP and praised W.W. Story and U.S. Minister John Lothrop Motley, both of whom also spoke).
London. Leader
Leader, June 26, 1852, pp. 603, 708 (GP's June 17 and July 4, 1852, London dinners and speeches, attended by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, Wm. Brown, Thomson Hankey, Thurlow Weed, and J.C. Frémont; similar to Washington, D.C., Republic, July 10, 1852, p. 2, c. 5, entry above).
London. Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper
Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, June 22, 1856, p. 5, c. 3 (GP's June 13, 1856, U.S.-British friendship dinner, London, to introduce new U.S. Minister to Britain George M. Dallas, with C.M. Lampson, Joseph Paxton, J.P. Kennedy, and J.S. Morgan present; held during U.S.-British irritation over the Crimea War; similar to New York Daily Times, July 4, 1856, p. 2, c. 4-5, entry above).
London. Morning Advertiser
Morning Advertiser, July 7, 1854, p. 6, c. 3-4 (U.S. London Legation Secty. D.E. Sickles walked out in anger from GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner because GP toasted the Queen before the U.S. president; incident inflamed with pro and con letters in the press for months; similar to New York Times, Sept. 6, 1854, p. 3, c. 3-5, and ff. entries above).
Morning Advertiser, July 7, 1856, p. 4, c. 1-3 (GP's July 4, 1856, London dinner. U.S. Minister to Britain George M. Dallas and GP spoke. Samuel F.B. Morse replied to a toast to "The Telegraph." Similar to New York Times, July 24, 1856, p. 2, c. 2-3, entry above).
London. Morning Herald
Morning Herald, Nov. 5, 1869, p. 4. c. 5-6; and Nov. 8, 1869, p. 3, c. 4 (To correct an earlier error saying` that GP first went to London in 1837, M.J. Powell wrote that he had seen GP in Manchester in 1832 [GP's third buying trip to Europe, May 1, 1832-May 11, 1834]. GP's first buying trip abroad was Nov. 1, 1827 to Aug. 1828, nine months; second trip, 1831 to 1832 [15 months], covering 10,000 miles in England, France, Italy, and Switzerland; fourth trip, about Aug. 1835 to July 1836; fifth trip, early Feb. 1837 to sell Md.'s $8 million bonds abroad, remaining in London, 1837-69, 32 years, except for three U.S. visits).
Morning Herald, Dec. 9, 1869, p. 6, c. 2 (Erroneous reports of statues of GP to be erected in Rome, Italy, and NYC. NYC meetings on Nov. 20 and 23, 1869, failed to gain support for a GP statue; the reason later given was that mounting honors for GP offended belief in republican simplicity).
London. Morning Post
Morning Post, Oct. 26, 1855 (GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment for 1853-55 Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin; similar to Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer, Feb. 1, 1853, p. 3, c. 4, entry above).
Morning Post, Dec. 13, 1869 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, with the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to New York Times, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 5, c. 1, entry above).
London. News of the World
News of the World, Nov. 20, 1869, p. 6, c. 2-4 (Bishop of London's sermon on GP's life and influence, Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869. Similar to New York Times, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 1, c. 6-7).
London. Punch
Punch, July 27, 1867, p. 33 (Cartoon and long poem praising GP and Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts as the most prominent philanthropists of the time).
London. Spectator
Spectator, July 31, 1869, p. 891, c. 1-2 (Sculptor W.W. Story's remarks at July 23, 1869, unveiling of his GP seated statue in London; see also New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 5, c. 2-4, entry above).
London. Sportsman
Sportsman, Dec. 25, 1869, p. 4, c. 1 (As HMS Monarch, accompanied by USS Plymouth, left Spithead near Portsmouth harbor, England, Dec. 21, 1869, to deliver GP's remains for burial in Mass., some urged naming a newly opened London street leading from the Mansion House to Blackfriar's Bridge Peabody Street. The Sportsman's editor was mildly critical that the Metropolitan Board of Works chose instead to call it Queen Victoria Street).
London. Standard
Standard, May 25, 1866 (Appeal for funds to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
Standard, May 20, 1867 (Fourth subscription list showed £2,572.13s.2d. received in May 1866 to erect a statue of GP in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
London. Sun
Sun, July 11, 1851, p. 1, c. 5-6 (U.S.-British press reported favorably on GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner at Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition, 1851, London. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
Sun, Oct. 30, 1869, p. 2, c. 6 (Queen Victoria's invitation, Oct. 30, 1869, for GP to visit and rest at Windsor Castle. Too ill, he died Nov. 4, 1869; similar to New York Tribune, Nov. 12, 1869, p. 1, c. 1, entry above).
Sun, Nov. 1, 1869, p. 3, c. 5 (Report of GP's declining health at business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson's 80 Eaton Sq., London home; similar to London's Anglo-American Times, Oct. 23, 1869, p. 11, c. 3; and Oct. 30, 1869, p. 10, c. 3. entries above).
Sun, Dec. 13, 1869, p. 2, c. 2 (GP's death, Nov. 4, 1869, London; Westminster Abbey funeral service, Nov. 12, 1869; funeral carriages and occupants from the Abbey to Waterloo train station; funeral train from London to Portsmouth harbor, Dec. 11, 1869; Portsmouth handing over ceremonies and speeches; and placing GP's coffin aboard HMS
Following Background "Preface" below this concluding 14 of 14 blogs covers from References: Newspapers, New York Daily Times, Sept. 24, 1856 to End of Manuscript.
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
New York Daily Times, Sept. 24, 1856, p. 1, c. 5 (GP declined public dinner offered by NYC delegation greeting him on his arrival on the Atlantic, Sept. 15, 1856, after nearly 20 years' absence in London. He explained that he had promised to be greeted first publicly by his hometown friends in South Danvers, Mass.).
New York Times, Oct. 10, 1856, p. 1, c. 3 and Oct. 11, 1856, p. 2, c. 1-5 (Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, reception for GP on his first U.S. visit after 20 years' absence in London; also in Proceedings, 1856, pp. 115-119, under References: books, entry above).
New York Times, Oct. 14, 1856, p. 2, c. 4 (GP's $10,000 science equipment gift for 1853-55 Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin; similar to Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer, Feb. 1, 1853, p. 3, c. 4, entry above).
New York Daily Times, Oct. 23, 1856, p. 4, c. 3 (Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, reception for GP on his first U.S. visit after 20 years' absence in London; also in Proceedings, 1856, pp. 115-119, under References: books, entry above).
New York Daily Times, Feb. 4, 1857, p. 1, c. 2 (Public receptions and speeches which accompanied GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit after nearly 20 years in London, included two in Baltimore, Jan. 30, 1857, at the Md. Historical Society; and Feb. 2, 1857, at the Md. Institute; before his Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter).
New York Daily Times, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1, c. 6 (Elaborate farewell banquet, Aug. 10, 1857, at William Shepard Wetmore’s fashionable Newport, R.I., home, nine days before GP left NYC, Aug. 19, 1857, to return to England; similar to NYC Evening Post, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1; and R.I. Newport Mercury, Aug. 15, 1857).
New York Times, Feb. 9, 1858, p. 4, c. 6. (To correct late Dec. 1857 press report of his firm's Bank of England loan in the Panic of 1857, GP wrote the editor that he owed creditors ƒ2.3 million [not ƒ30 million as reported] when he applied for a ƒ800,000 loan, but took only ƒ300,000, and that at the time of the loan, he had paid ƒ1.5 million of the ƒ2.3 million he owed creditors. "Our losses," he wrote, "will be but trifling").
New York Times, Feb. 18, 1858, p. 4, c. 6 (GP wrote the New York Times editor again to correct late Dec. 1857 press report of his firm's Bank of England loan in the Panic of 1857. GP wrote that he had secured the loan not on securities, which the charter of the Bank of England forbade, but on English friends who guaranteed ƒ90,000 of his firm's ƒ300,000 loan).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1858, p. 2, c. 1-2 (GP's July 9, 1858, Crystal Palace dinner for 50 Americans, including U.S. Minister to Britain G.M. Dallas and family, Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy, and London Times editor Marmaduke Blake Sampson).
New York Times, Aug. 8, 1858, p. 2, c. 1-2 (GP's July 22, 1858, dinner, toasts, speeches, Star and Garter, Richmond near London, attended by 30 Britons and 60 Americans, with U.S. Minister to France John Young Mason as guest of honor, and guests including Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy and New York Times founder and first editor Henry Jarvis Raymond).
New York Times, Jan. 12, 1860, p. 1, c. 6 (Reprinted GP's Dec. 23, 1859, letter to the Baltimore American editor denying rumor of a rift between himself and his partner J.S. Morgan after the Panic of 1857, denying the charge made of GP using the London Times to attack rivals, and denying other allegations and inaccuracies, made in Editor James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald, Sept. 20, 1859, p. 2, c. 2; and Oct. 12, 1859, p. 2, c. 2).
New York Times, May 23, 1861, p. 1, c. 1 (Report that Confederate emissary Ambrose Dudley Mann tried to get GP to sell Confederate bonds to European investors but was "firmly repulsed").
New York Times, April 9, 1862, p. 8, c. 5; and p. 9, c. 2 (Editorial and British press favorable reaction to GP's March 12, 1862, $750,000 gift for housing London's working poor).`
New York Times, March 15, 1866, p. 4, c. 5 (GP's second gift of $500,000 to Peabody Donation Fund for London housing, April 19, 1866. GP's total gift, 1862-69, $2.5 million).
New York Times, April 16, 1866, p. 1, c. 4; and April 27, 1866, p. 1, c. 6 (Queen Victoria's March 28, 1866, letter to GP thanking him for his March 12, 1862, Peabody Donation Fund, London, to build apartments for London's working poor; and stating that she was having a miniature portrait of herself especially painted for him. Also, GP's April 3, 1866, reply to Queen Victoria).
New York Times, May 1, 1866 (GP present at the prize-giving ceremony of the Workingmen's Industrial Exhibition, London).
New York Times, May 3, 1866, p. 4, c. 6; and p. 11, c. 1 (GP arrived in NYC on his May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit).
New York Times, June 20, 1866, p. 2, c. 6 (GP's correspondence with Boston citizens).
New York Times, Oct. 21, 1866, p. 4, c. 5 (Peabody Museum of Harvard Univ. gift, $150,000).
New York Times, Oct. 23, 1866, p.1, c. 6 (GP's additional $500,000 gift to the PIB on Oct. 19, 1866).
New York Times, Oct. 24, 1866, p. 4, c. 7 (Peabody Museum of Yale Univ. gift, $150,000).
New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 4, c. 3-4 (Defense of GP by anonymous letter writer answering "S.P.Q.'s" letter printed in NYC Evening Post, Oct. 25, 1866, p. 2, c. 2, charging GP as Civil War profiteer at the Union's expense, of not contributing to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and of giving money to the London poor rather than money to raise and clothe a single Union recruit).
New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 4, c. 3; and p. 5, c. 1-2 (GP's philanthropies. Account of the PIB dedication and opening, Oct. 24-25, 1866, including speeches by GP and others).
New York Times, Oct. 31, 1866, p. 4, c. 7 (Letter writer identified as "A Twenty-Five Years' Acquaintance" [may have been Thurlow Weed] defended GP as Union supporter against 1-"S.P.Q.'s" charges printed in NYC Evening Post, Oct. 25, 1866, p. 2, c. 2, that GP was a Civil War profiteer at the Union's expense, that GP never contributed to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, and that he gave money to the London poor rather than money to raise and clothe a single Union recruit; and against similar charges by 2-owner-editor Samuel Bowles, Springfield Daily Republican, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 4, c. 2).
New York Times, Nov. 8, 1866, p. 1, c. 7 (GP's $25,000 gift, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., for professorship of math and natural science).
New York Times, Nov. 18, 1866, p. 5, c. 5 (PIB trustees' letter of thanks to GP for his Oct. 19, 1866, additional $500,000 gift).
New York Times, Feb. 9, 1867, p. 1, c. 7; and Feb. 11, 1867 (First meeting of PEF trustees, Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 1867; and other facts about PEF $l million gift).
New York Times, March 9, 1867, p. 1, c. 5 (On Congressional gold medal to GP in thanks for the PEF, similar to New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
New York Times, March 26, 1867, p. 8, c. 1 (Meeting of PEF trustees).
New York Times, April 1, 1867, p.1, c. 6 (Description of Queen Victoria's gift to GP of her portrait by British artist F.A.C. Tilt, a photo of which in miniature was enameled on porcelain and set in a gold frame; seen by GP March 1867, deposited in specially built vault, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass., since April 28, 1868).
New York Times, April 9, 1867, p. 5, c. 3 (GP's reply to invitation from Charleston, S.C. board of trade).
New York Times, April 21, 1867, p. 1, c. 7 (PEF proposed plan to aid public education in the eleven former Confederate states plus W.Va., added because of its poverty).
New York Times, April 21, 1867, p. 6, c. 1-2 (GP's April 18, 1867, farewell speech in Georgetown, Mass.: "Here, since the earliest days of New England, my maternal ancestors lived and died. More of my family connections live here now than any other place. More than sixty years ago, I distinctly remember, a promised visit to Rowley was one of my brightest anticipations. Here my mother was born, she whom I loved so much, whose memory I revere. Here she passed her childhood and therefore these scenes are to me consecrated ground").
New York Times, May 8, 1867, p. 5, c. 2-3 (On GP's April 2, 1867, $15,000 gift for a Georgetown, D.C. library fund; similar to D.C., Georgetown Courier, March 2, 1867, p. 3, c. 1, entry above).
New York Times, Jan. 11, 1868, p. 5, c. 2 (John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that he would not have written "Memorial Hymn," a poem read Jan. 8, 1868, at the dedication of Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass., GP built in his mother's memory in her hometown, had he known of GP's condition, that the church "exclude political and other subjects not in keeping with its religious purpose." See Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, entry above).
New York Times, May 26, 1868, p. 2, c. 2-3 (On Congressional gold medal to GP for the PEF, similar to New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1868, p. 2, c. 2 (Recalled details of GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner, Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition, 1851, London. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
New York Times, Jan. 29, 1869, p. 5, c. 5 (On Congressional gold medal to GP for the PEF, similar to New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
New York Times, June 9, 1869, p. 5, c. 1-2 (On GP's arrival in NYC for his June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, last U.S. visit; described Peabody Homes of London; article was sympathetic to GP on many begging letters sent him and the abuse heaped on him when they were unanswered).
New York Times, June 19, 1869, p. 4, c. 2 (Obituary of Henry Jarvis Raymond, founder and first editor of the New York Times, who was at GP's July 22, 1858, dinner, Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, near London, attended by about 60 Americans and 30 Britons. U.S. Minister to France John Young Mason was guest of honor. H.J. Raymond toasted "the Press." Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy toasted "the City of London." See: New York Times, Aug. 8, 1858, p. 2, c.1-2, entry above).
New York Times, July 16, 1869, p. 1, c. 6 ; and July 20, 1869, p. 4, c. 7 (GP spoke at July 14-16, 1869, dedication of Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass.; and Oliver Wendell Holmes read his "George Peabody" poem, July 16, 1869; similar to Peabody Press, July 14, 1869, p. 2, c. 2, 4-5, entry above).
New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7; and p. 5, c. 1 (GP visited Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Former Va. Gov. H.A. Wise and others composed resolution of praise read to GP, July 28, 1869: "On behalf of the Southern people we tender thanks to Mr. Peabody for his aid to the cause of education...and hail him 'benefactor.'" GP's reply was also printed. GP spoke to and was photographed with Robert E. Lee, other former Civil War generals, and northern and southern educational and political leaders [Aug. 12]. A spontaneous Peabody Ball was held in his honor [Aug. 11]. Too ill to attend, he heard the merrymaking from his bungalow).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 2, c. 1 (GP won praise for his $15,000 loan to U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition, 1851, London, who were without U.S. congressional funds to display U.S. art and industrial products. GP was repaid by U.S. Congress three years later).
New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 5, c. 2-4 (U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley's remarks on July 23, 1869, unveiling of GP's seated statue in London).
New York Times, Nov. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1 (Cited as source by GP funeral researcher Howard Allen Welch for U.S. Rear Adm. William Radford being instructed to send U.S. ship as GP funeral vessel. Queen Victoria and the government decided to outfit HMS Monarch as the funeral ship; it was escorted by USS Plymouth).
New York Times, Nov. 14, 1869, p. 3, c. 7 (On GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London; his family and antecedents).
New York Times, Nov. 26, 1869, p. 2, c. 2-3 (New York Times London reporter wrote of GP's Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey funeral service: "My trans-Atlantic heart beat...quicker at the thought of clergy and nobility, Prime Minister and people, of this great realm gathered to lay [GP] among sleeping Kings and statesmen. The crowd outside was, if possible, more interesting than that within. The gaunt, famished London poor were gathered in thousands to testify their respect for the foreigner who has done more than any Englishman for their class, and whose last will contains an additional bequest to them of £150,000").
New York Times, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 1, c. 6-7 (Bishop of London's sermon on GP's life and influence, Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869).
New York Times, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 5, c. 1 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and placing the coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
New York Times, Dec. 22, 1869, p. 1, c. 4 (U.S. House Resolution No. 96 asked Pres. U.S. Grant to order a naval reception of GP's remains from England on U.S. territory "with the...dignity of a great people." This resolution was introduced in the House on Dec. 15, 1869, debated and passed on Dec. 21, 1869, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870).
New York Times, Dec. 23, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4 (Thurlow Weed, "The Late George Peabody; A Vindication of his Course During the Civil War," reprinted in Historical Collections of the Danvers Historical Society, Vol. 19 [1931], pp. 9-15; similar to Weed, Thurlow-a, entry under References: books, above).
New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4 (At GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death England's Solicitor General had to determine the legality of his property as a foreigner. It was determined that in 1866 GP bought through business friend and naturalized British subject Sir Curtis M. Lampson just over 13 acres of land at Stockwell near London, that he gave it in his will to the Peabody Donation Fund, that while it reverted to the Crown because he was not a British subject, the Crown in turn gave it to the Peabody Donation Fund of London).
New York Times, Jan. 27, 1870, p. 1, c. 5-7 (During his 1866-67 U.S. visit GP told friends in NYC about the only instance he made money in the Civil War involving Confederate bonds. In London early in the Civil War some investment capitalists asked his advice about buying Confederate bonds. He said that such bonds would depreciate within a year. Doubting him, a few asked that he write down this opinion, and that whosoever was right, he or they, would win a $60,000 wager. A year later when the bonds depreciated GP held them to the wager and said that was the only money he ever made from Confederate bonds. Md. legislature's resolutions on GP's death, which read in part: "...his name will stand preeminent in history...generations yet unborn will learn to venerate his memory." Robert Charles Winthrop and citizens' committee left Boston Jan. 26, 1870, for the Portland, Me., naval reception and for the Peabody, Mass., eulogy and burial. Arrival in Portland, Me., of U.S. naval squadron to receive HMS Monarch funeral ship and accompanying USS Plymouth. Has list and history of GP's philanthropies).
New York Times, Feb. 2, 1870, p. 5, c. 1-3 (Transfer on Jan. 29, 1870, of GP's coffin from HMS Monarch to Portland City Hall, Me.; the many visitors on Jan. 31 to the lying in state in the Portland City Hall auditorium, specially decorated by marine artist Harrison Bird Brown; and the transfer of the coffin from Portland City Hall on Feb. 1, 1870, to a specially decorated funeral train. The train's route went to Kennebunk, Me.; Portsmouth, N.H.; and in Mass. to Newburyport, Ipswich, Beverly, and Peabody, Mass.).
New York Times, Feb 9, 1870, p. 1, c. 4-7 (Described Boston's C.W. Barth and staff's solemn decoration of the Peabody Institute Library's main reading room for GP's last lying in state, Peabody, Mass., Feb. 1-8, 1870. Philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop's widely reprinted Feb. 8, 1870, GP funeral eulogy, South Congregational Church, Peabody, Mass.: 1-how GP first shared with Winthrop his gifts ideas, possibly May 9, 1866, or in Oct. 1866, at Winthrop's home, Brookline, Mass. When Winthrop expressed amazement, GP said: "Why Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea to me. From the earliest of my manhood, I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my heavenly Father, day by day, that I might be enabled, before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which he has bestowed upon me by doing some great good to my fellow-men." 2-Described GP's Nov 4, 1869, death at business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson's 80 Eaton Sq., London home; Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey funeral service; transatlantic journey of remains aboard HMS Monarch; landing at Portland, Maine, Jan. 25, 1870; funeral train to Peabody, Mass. Final burial, Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870).
New York Times, Feb. 27, 1870, p. 3 (Adm. David Glasgow Farragut was ill with pneumonia when placed in charge of U.S. naval reception of GP's remains at Portland, Me., Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870, and died seven months later, Aug. 14, 1870. He arrived in Portland Jan. 22 with his wife and secretary, was met by the Portland funeral committee, and was escorted to the Falmouth Hotel to rest, while Mrs. Farragut visited her son, Lt. Farragut, Third U.S. Artillery, at nearby Fort Preble).
New York Times, June 27, 916, p. 11, c. 4. (Obituary of Colonel William Beals, the Boston decorator who furbished Car No. 77, Eastern RR, carrying GP's remains from Portland, Me., to Peabody, Mass., Feb. 1, 1870. His obit. is listed in N.Y. Times Obituaries Index [1916], p. 59).
New York Times, May 13, 1926, p. 14, c. 1-2 (GP was one of 29 most famous Americans elected to the N.Y.U. Hall of Fame, 1900. In 1901 a tablet was unveiled and on May 12, 1926 a GP bust was unveiled, made by sculptor Hans Schuler, with an address by GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne; similar to Baltimore Sun, May 9, 1926, Part 2, Sect. 1, p. 10, c. 2-5, entry above).
New York Times, March 31, 1964, p. 25, c. 2-3; April 1, 1964, p. 1, c. 2, continued p. 27, c. 2-4; April 2, 1964, p. 18, c. 2; April 3, 1964, p. 23, c. 2 (Mass. Gov. Endicott "Chubb" Peabody's mother, Mary Elizabeth [née Parkman] Peabody, wife of Episcopal Bishop Rt. Rev. Malcolm Endicott Peabody and cousin of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, made headlines when at age 72 she was arrested overnight for protesting segregation in a St. Augustine, Fla. diner, March 31, 1964).
New York Times, Sunday, Feb. 28, 1988, John Gross, "A Banker with a Gift for Giving, A Golden Touch and a Taste for Dining Well," Section 2, p. 39, c.1 ("Creating a Legend: George Peabody and the House of Morgan," part of a larger Pierpont Morgan Library of N.Y. exhibit, shown from about Feb. 28 through May 8, 1988, described GP's career, his founding of George Peabody & Co., London, that firm's subsequent history, and other facts, and illustrated with a GP portrait and menus from GP's London U.S.-British friendship dinners).
New York Times, Nov. 28, 1989, Steven Prokesch, "Germans to Buy Morgan Grenfell," p. 29, article continued as "Deutsche Bank to Acquire Morgan Grenfell," p. 42 (George Peabody & Co., London, 1838-64, became J.S. Morgan & Co., 1864-1909, became Morgan Grenfell & Co., 1909-90, and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell since June 29, 1990, a German-owned bank).
New York Times, July 14, 1995, XIII, CN, p. 17, c. 1, Bess Liebenson. "The Country's First Modern Philanthropist" (Described plans for celebrating the bicentennial of GP's birth [1795-1995] in the U.S. and in London. Showed portrait of a seated GP, commissioned to honor his Oct. 22, 1866, $150,000 gift founding the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University).
New York Times, July 14, 1996, p. 29, Marialisa Calta, "Gimme Shelter" (Described the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., when, during the Eisenhower cold war years it had a secret deep bunker for government officials in case of nuclear attack. The bunker, never used, was on alert during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, a fact made public in 1992. GP on his last U.S. visit was at the Greenbrier, July 23-Aug. 30, 1869).
New York Tribune
New York Tribune, March 11, 1867, p. 2, c. 3 (GP reported to the press that about 4,000 letters begging for funds were burned in his presence).
New York Tribune, July 16, 1869, p. 2, c. 2-3 (GP spoke at July 14-16, 1869, dedication of Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass.; and Oliver Wendell Holmes read his "George Peabody" poem, July 16, 1869; similar to Peabody Press, July 14, 1869, p. 2, c. 2, 4-5, entry above).
New York Tribune, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 1, c. 4 (GP's last $400,000 PIB gift and last Baltimore departure, Sept. 22, 1869).
New York Tribune, Nov. 12, 1869, p. 1, c. 1 (Queen Victoria's invitation, Oct. 30, 1869, for GP to visit and rest at Windsor Castle. Too ill, he died Nov. 4, 1869).
New York Tribune, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 1, c. 1 (GP's last will was written and witnessed in NYC, Sept. 9, 1869, and recorded in Salem, Mass., Sept. 10, 1869; similar to Salem Observer [Mass.], Jan. 15, 1870, entry above. Described handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, Dec. 28, 1869 (On the GP-Esther Elizabeth Hoppin broken engagement. Similar to Biddle, Edward, and Mantle Field, above under References: books).
New York Tribune, Jan. 20, 1870, p. 4, c. 5 (GP's real estate property in England given at his death to his Peabody housing fund with approval of England's Solicitor General; similar to
New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4 , entry above).
New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, Friday, Jan. 28, 1870, n.p. (Howard Glyndon's poem, "The Coming of the Silent Guest," republished in George Peabody House Museum, Vol. 2, Issue 3 (May 2001), p. 3).
New York World
New York World, Sept. 14, 1869, p. 12, c. 2 (Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder stated that the main photo of GP, Lee, Corcoran, Civil War generals, and others, Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., was taken after GP consented to be its central figure, Aug. 12, 1869. Photos are also in Conte, pp. 69-71; Dabney, Vol. 1, facing p. 83; Freeman-a, 1935, appendix [incorrect identification]; Freeman-b, 1947, Vol. 4, p. 438 [correct identification]; Kocher and Dearstyne, pp. 189-190; Lanier, ed., Vol. 5, p. 4; Meredith, pp. 84-85; Miller, ed., Vol. 10, p. 4; Murphy, p. 58).
New York World, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 3, c. 6 (GP's last $400,000 PIB gift and last Baltimore departure, Sept. 22, 1869, then to Philadelphia, and NYC where some PEF trustees saw him board the Scotia, Sept. 29, 1869, for London; similar to
New York Tribune, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
New York, NYC. Spirit of the Times
Spirit of the Times, July 26, 1851, p. 1, c. 2; and Aug. 2, 1851, p. 279 (U.S.-British press reported favorably on GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner, Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
N .Y., Oswego. Oswego Daily Times
Oswego Daily Times, April 25, 1857, p. 3, c. 1 (On April 25, 1857, GP and business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson were in Oswego, N.Y., to look into the affairs of the Syracuse and Binghamton Railroad, of which GP was a large stockholder. They met with several businessmen at Luther Wright's bank to discuss how to finance the completion of the railroad line from Syracuse to Oswego).
Asheville Citizen-Times
Asheville Citizen-Times, Nov. 28, 1992, Ulrike Huhs, "Peabody Conservatory Generates Sounds of the Future," p. C-4 (The Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins Univ. had the first computer music department which, with the Johns Hopkins Univ. engineering school, initiated an electronic music degree).
Ohio , Cincinnati. Daily Cincinnati Gazette
Daily Cincinnati Gazette, July 30, 1852, p. 2, c. 3 (GP's June 17 and July 4, 1852, London dinners and speeches, attended by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, Wm. Brown, Thomson Hankey, Thurlow Weed, and J.C. Frémont; similar to Washington, D.C., Republic, July 10, 1852, p. 2, c. 5, entry above).
Daily Cincinnati Gazette, April 1l, 1857, p. 2, c. 1 (GP's March-April 1857 tour in the U.S. South and West; similar to Mobile (Ala.) Daily Tribune, March 5, 1857, entry above).
Ohio , Zanesville. Zanesville Daily Courier
Zanesville Daily Courier, Aug. 7, 1869, p. 2, c. 4 (for Daily Courier reporter Mr. Reamy's account of July 23, 1869, unveiling of GP's seated statue in London; see also New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 5, c. 2-4, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5 (Plan for transferring GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 3, c. 5 (GP's last will was written and witnessed in NYC, Sept. 9, 1869, and recorded in Salem, Mass., Sept. 10, 1869; similar to Salem Observer [Mass.], Jan. 15, 1870, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Courier, Jan. 28, 1870, p. 2, c. 4 (GP's real estate property in England given at his death to his Peabody housing fund approved by England's Solicitor General; similar to New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4 , entry above).
Zanesville Daily Signal
Zanesville Daily Signal, Nov. 24, 1869 (Quoted unknown NYC Post correspondent who interviewed GP during the Civil War and found him a staunch Unionist).
Zanesville Daily Signal, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 3, c. 2 (GP's last will was written and witnessed in NYC, Sept. 9, 1869, and recorded in Salem, Mass., Sept. 10, 1869; similar to Salem Observer [Mass.], Jan. 15, 1870, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Signal, Dec. 11, 1869, p. 2, c. 3 (Plan for transferring GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, with the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to Ohio's Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
Zanesville Daily Signal, Dec. 15, 1869, p. 2, c. 3 (GP's last will, Sept. 9, 1869; similar to Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
Penn ., Philadelphia (Phila.) Dollar Newspaper
Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7 (Obituary of Alexander Lardner, who married Esther Elizabeth Hoppin from Providence, R.I. GP was engaged to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin during 1838-39 in London when she attended Queen Victoria's coronation. She broke the engagement, married her earlier beau, Alexander Lardner. They lived in Philadelphia and had two children. Artist Thomas Sully's 1840 portrait of her is in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library. She died in 1905. See: her obituary in Philadelphia Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2, below).
Penn., Philadelphia Press
Philadelphia Press, Dec. 10, 1873, John W. Forney, "In Memorial: Death of Charles Macalester" (Obituary of Philadelphia financier Charles Macalester, who met GP in London, 1842, became GP's Philadelphia agent, and was one of the 16 original PEF trustees and member of the PEF Finance Committee).
Penn., PhiladelphiaPublic Ledger
Public Ledger, Jan. 15, 1848, p. 2, c. 4 (Alexander Lardner's obituary, husband of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, engaged to GP, 1838-39, London; similar to Phila.’sDollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7, entry above . Hoppin's obituary is in Phila’s Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2, below).
Public Ledger, Dec. 10, 1873, "Decease of Charles Macalester, Esq." (Obituary of Philadelphia financier Charles Macalester, once GP's Philadelphia agent, one of the 16 original PEF trustees, and member of the PEF Finance Committee; similar to Philadelphia Press, Dec. 10, 1873, by John W. Forney).
Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2 (Obituary of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin from Providence, R.I., engaged to GP during 1838-39 in London after she attended Queen Victoria's coronation. She broke the engagement, married her earlier beau, Alexander Lardner, who died in 1848. They lived in Philadelphia and had two children. She died in 1905. Artist Thomas Sully's 1840 portrait of her is in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library. See: Alexander Lardner's obituary, Phila.’s Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7 and Phila.’s Public Ledger, Jan. 15, 1848, p. 2, c. 4, above).
Phila.’s North American and United States Gazette
North American and United States Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7 (On GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin from Providence, R.I., 1838-39, in London; similar fuller account in Phila.’s Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2, entry above).
North American and United States Gazette, July 23, 1851, p. 1, c. 4 (Details of and praise for GP's July 4, 1851, London, U.S.-British friendship dinner during the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, successful because of the Duke of Wellington's attendance as guest of honor).
Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette
Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7 (Alexander Lardner's obituary, husband of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, engaged to GP, 1838-39, London; similar to Phila.’s Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7, entry above . Hoppin's obituary is in Phila.’s Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2).
Penn., Pittsburgh
Evening Chronicle, April 14, 1857, p. 1, c. 1-3 (GP's March-April 1857 tour in the U.S. South and West; similar to Mobile (Ala.) Daily Tribune, March 5, 1857, entry above. In Pittsburgh, Penn., GP stayed with Capt. and Mrs. Edward W.H. Schenley, April 14-16, 1857, as noted in entry immediately below).
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. Shine, Bernice, "Schenley Park Donated by Girl Whose Romance Shocked a Queen," September 15, 1941 (GP stayed in Pittsburgh, Penn., with Capt. and Mrs. Edward W.H. Schenley during April 14-16, 1857, where a reception was held in his honor. She later donated land for Schenley Park in Pittsburgh).
Penn., Washington, Washington Weekly Reporter
Washington Weekly Reporter, Aug. 9, 1854, p. 2, c. 5 (GP gave $1,000 to the Washington National Monument, Washington, D.C., July 4, 1854, at the suggestion of Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran).
R.I., Newport, Newport Mercury
Newport Mercury, Aug. 15, 1857 (Elaborate farewell banquet, Aug. 10, 1857, at William Shepard Wetmore’s fashionable Newport, R.I., home, nine days before GP left NYC, Aug. 19, 1857, to return to England; similar to NYC Evening Post, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1, and New York Daily Times, Aug. 12, 1857, p. 1, c. 6).
Newport Mercury, Nov. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1 (Account at GP's death recalled his winter 1810 visit to maternal grandparents near Thetford, Vt., stopover at Stickney's Tavern, Concord, N.H., and visit to maternal aunt, Barnstead, N.H.; similar to Boston Journal, Nov. 5, 1869, p. 4, c. 3-5, entry above).
R.I., Providence Journal
Providence Journal, Dec. 22, 1869, p. 2, c. 3 (Report of GP's death and funeral recalled his broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, her marriage to Alexander Lardner, and his death in 1848. She died in 1905. Artist Thomas Sully's 1840 portrait of her is in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library; similar to Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7, entry above).
Tenn., Nashville, Nashville Banner
Nashville Banner, Dec. 9, 1971, p. 39 (Review of Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography [Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971], with photo of a profile of GP as a young man, taken from the dust jacket, portrait made from an original silhouette by Gary Gore, then design and promotion manager, Vanderbilt Univ. Press. His design was awarded a Gold Medal by the Art Directors' Club, Nashville, 1971).
Nashville Banner, February 18, 1991, "VU's Peabody Holds Top Ranking Again," p. B-5 (PCofVU's counseling program for preparing high school counselors rated top choice for several years).
Tenn., Nashville Tennessean
Tennessean Magazine, (May 15, 1955), Franklin Parker, "Nashville's Yankee Friend," pp. 2, 6-7 (From GP's PEF came the predecessor educational institutions culminating in PCofVU).
Tennessean, Nov. 28, 1976, p. 3-F, Tom Rogers, "Londoners' Homes Peabody Legacy" (Three GP-related illustrations are described under GP Illustrations).
Tennessean, May 28, 1984, pp. l-A-2-A, " 'Mr. Peabody' Dr. Windrow Dies at 84" (As GPCFT student, faculty member, and administrator for 60 years, John Edwin Windrow was an indefatigable GPCFT publicist. His GPCFT dissertation and book were on the life of Univ. of Nashville Chancellor John Berrien Lindsley).
Tennessean, Dec. 26, 1991, "New Peabody Dean Eager to Help State Change Face of Education," p. B-3 (PCofVU under second Dean James Pellegrino).
Tennessean, May 7, 1995, p. 2D, Louis J. Salome, "George Peabody, More Than Just a College Name." (Photo of bust of GP by sculptor Hans Schuler, unveiled May 12, 1926, New York University Hall of Fame Colonnade).
Tennessean, Sept. 2, 1996, p. 6A, "The First Nashville, 1780's" (Described the origins and early history of Nashville, Tenn.).
Tennessean, June 24, 1997, p. 7B (Obituary of Felix Compton Robb, assistant to GPCFT Pres. Henry Harrington Hill from 1947, dean of instruction, and successor president of GPCFT during 1961-66. He was director, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 1966-82, was a trustee of several colleges, a consultant to various boards and foundations, and interim president, Tallulah Falls School, Ga.).
Tennessean, Sept. 25, 1999, p. lB, "Architect Helped Build City’s Colleges" (Architect Henry Clossen Hibbs, hired by first Pres. Bruce R. Payne to design GPCFT, Nashville [completed 1914] after Thomas Jefferson's Univ. of Va. architectural plan).
Tennessean, March 31, 2000, pp. B1, continued 6B, "VU Keeps its Hold on U.S. Rankings" (U.S. News & World Report ranked PCofVU as sixth best graduate education school for the second consecutive year).
Tennessean, April 30, 2000, p. 1B (The PCofVU's Social-Religious Building was renamed, April 20, 2000, the Faye and Joe Wyatt Center for Education, after the retiring VU chancellor and his wife, under whom that historic building was renovated, 1993-96).
Tennessean, Aug. 7, 2000, p. 5B, "Noted philanthropist Philip Belz dies" (Realtor company chairman emeritus Philip Belz [1904-2000], whose Belz Enterprises owned the Peabody Hotel Group, died Aug 4, 2000, in Memphis).
Tennessean, Aug. 22 and 23, 2000, both pp. 1A-2A. (Started in 1965, the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn., with Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation startup funds, is one of 14 federally funded mental retardation research centers. Its $11 million budget in 2000 enabled advanced work by some 90 Vanderbilt Univ. and PCofVU researchers).
Tennessean, Sept. 14, 2000. P. 2E, "House of Morgan Has Storied Past" (The J.P. Morgan, Sr., bank, NYC, was bought for about $39.2 billion in stock by the Chase Manhattan Corp., thus surviving GP by 131 years, 1869-2000; J.S. Morgan by 110 years, 1890-2000; J.P. Morgan, Sr., himself by 87 years, 1913-2000; and J.P. Morgan, Sr.'s son by 66 years, 1934-2000).
Tennessean, Sept. 21, 2000, p. 4B, "Little Rock's Peabody Hotel to Include Ducks" (Lease signed in Little Rock, Ark., converting the former Excelsior Hotel into the Peabody Hotel, which will continue the daily duck waddle tradition down the red carpet into the hotel lobby pool).
Tennessean, April 1, 2001, p. 3B, "VU's Peabody Cracks Top 5 Grad Schools of Education" (After ranking among top 10 graduate schools of education in U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking since 1995, PCofVU jumped to 5th place in 2001).
Tennessean, March 31, 2004, "Dr. Susan Gray's Legacy" (GPCFT Early Childhood Education Prof. Susan Gray's [1913-92] enrichment program for poverty-deprived Nashville area 4 and 5 year olds in 1965 inspired the U.S. national Project Headstart).
Tennessean, Jan. 6, 2005, pp. 1Ai-2A (Controversy, 2002-2005, over Vanderbilt Univ.’s intent to remove “Confederate” from PCofVU Confederate Memorial Hall dormitory building).
Tennessean, Jan. 9, 2005, pp. 18A-19A (Similar to immediately above).
Tennessean, Jan. 10, 2005, p. 6A (Similar to immediately above).
Tennessean, Jan. 21, 2005, p. 5A (Similar to immediately above).
Tennessean, May 17, 2005, p. 11A (Similar to immediately above).
Texas, Austin American
Austin American, March 18, 1964, Tom A. Cullen, "Peabody Pioneer: First Slum Push" (Engraving of "Peabody's Apartment Houses," London).
Va., Richmond Daily Whig
Richmond Daily Whig, July 28, 1869, p. 2, c. 5 (GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869; where resolution of praise were read to him, July 28, 1869; where he spoke to and was photographed with Robert E. Lee and other northern and southern educational, political leaders, military leaders [Aug. 12]; and where a Peabody Ball was held in his honor [Aug. 11]; similar to New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7; and p. 5, c. 1, entries above).
Richmond Daily Whig, Aug. 13, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4 (Continuation of Richmond Daily Whig, July 28, 1869, p. 2, c. 5, above, on GP's July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, visit to the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs health spa, W.Va., where a Peabody Ball was held in his honor on Aug. 11, 1869).
Richmond Daily Whig, Aug. 17, 1869, p. 2, c. 5 (GP gave his lost Va. bonds, 1869, to R.E. Lee's Washington College, later redeemed at $60,000; similar to Baltimore American, May 14, 1883, entry above).
Richmond Daily Whig, Aug. 20, 1869, p. 3, c. 2 (Stated that photos of GP, R.E. Lee, others, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., were taken by Anderson and Johnson of Anderson's Richmond photographic establishment on Aug. 12, 1869; similar to New York World, Sept. 14, 1869, p. 12, c. 2, entry above).
Va., Richmond Dispatch
Richmond Dispatch, March 3, 1857, p. 1, c. 5 (Freighter named George Peabody carried goods between Baltimore and Richmond, Va., from 1857; similar to Baltimore American, Feb. 19, 1857, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
Richmond Dispatch, March 13, 1857, p. 1, c. 4 (GP's March-April 1857 tour in the U.S. South and West; similar to Mobile (Ala.), Daily Tribune, March 5, 1857, entry above).
Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 2, 1896, p. 12, c. 1-2, "To Honor Peabody" (On Feb. 1, 1896, Va. state Sen. William Lovenstein introduced a resolution and supporting letter of Jan. 24, 1896, from PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry for a GP statue to be placed in Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol Bldg., Washington, D.C., where each state has statues of two notable citizens. But this effort was not successful).
W. Va., White Sulphur Springs, White Sulphur Echo
White Sulphur Echo, Vol. 22, No. 51 (Aug. 12, 1869), 3 pp. (GP joined longtime business friend William Wilson Corcoran at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Gathered there by chance were southern and northern social, political, educational, and military elites. Relevant articles, p. 1, "Great Peabody Ball [Aug. 11, 1869]"; p. 2, "Statue of Mr. Peabody [London, unveiled July 23, 1869]"; p. 3, "An Endowment of Washington College [Lexington, Va., R.E. Lee, president] by George Peabody. Mr. Peabody's Health"; "An Historic Group [photographer Anderson's historic photo of "General Lee, Mr. Peabody, Generals Wise, Beauregard, Gary Connor, Lilly, Lawton and Magruder, and Messrs. Brent, W.W. Corcoran, James Lyons, and Blacque Bey"]."
W. Va., White Sulphur Springs, Lee Week Herald
Lee Week Herald, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Aug. 25, 1932), one page. (Apparently a commemorative issue. Relevant articles: "How They Honored General Lee" [his arrival in early Aug. 1869; funds raised locally to repair his church in Lexington, Va., to which GP contributed; and the Peabody Ball, Aug. 11, 1869]; and "The '69 Season" ["the season of '69 was the nonpareil…nothing to equal"; this gathering centered on R.E. Lee and GP].
W. Va., White Sulphur Echo and Lee Week Herald
White Sulphur Echo and Lee Week Herald, Aug. 31, 1934) (Commemorative issue of Lee and GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Aug. 1869; similar to above).
f. British Newspapers (alphabetically by country and city)
England, Birmingham Weekly Post
Birmingham Weekly Post, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 3, c. 6 (GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869, in London; his Westminster Abbey funeral service on Nov. 12, 1869; funeral carriages and occupants from the Abbey to Waterloo train station; funeral train from London to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869; handing over ceremonies and speeches by U.S. Minister to Britain Motley to HMS Monarch's Capt. Commerell; and placing GP's coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
England, Boston Guardian
Boston Guardian, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 2, c. 5 (Plans for the handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the placing of the coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
England, Brechin AdvertiserAdvertiser
Brechin Advertiser, Nov. 30, 1869, p. 3, c. 3 (Similar to Boston Guardian, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 2, c. 5, immediately above).
England, Brighton Daily News
Brighton Daily News, Nov. 15, 1869, p. 5, c. 4 (Bishop of London's sermon on GP's life and influence, Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869. Similar to New York Times, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 1, c. 6-7).
Brighton Daily News, Dec. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1-2 (Sat., Dec. 11, 1869, 7:00 A.M., a cold, damp, dark morning, with Westminster Abbey's dean A.P. Stanley present, GP's coffin was taken from the Abbey to a waiting hearse, followed by other carriages, going to Waterloo Station, where a special train waited to take GP's remains to Portsmouth).
England, Brighton Gazette
Brighton Gazette, Aug. 23, 1866, "Photographic Art, "p. 5. (Reported John Mayall's life-size portrait of GP, overpainted by artist Aed Arnoult to resemble an oil painting, displayed in Mayall's Brighton studio, intended for the PIB, "a great success" and reported that it was "to be exhibited free to the working classes, on Saturday next, at the Town Hall").
England, Brighton Herald
Brighton Herald, Nov. 21, 1868, p. 3, c. 5 (GP and U.S Minister to Britain Reverdy Johnson were in Brighton, England, Nov. 1868. Reverdy Johnson spoke at a Nov. 21 public dinner in Brighton).
Brighton Herald, Nov. 28, 1868, p. 4, c. 2-3 (Similar to Brighton Herald, Nov. 21, 1868, p. 3, c. 5, immediately above. GP and Reverdy Johnson attended Christ Church, Brighton, Nov. 22, and were the subject of Rev. Robert Ainslie's sermon).
England, Brighton Guardian
Brighton Guardian, Nov. 18, 1868, p. 5, c. 6; and Nov. 25, 1868, p. 7 (Similar to Brighton Herald, Nov. 28, 1868, p. 4, c. 2-3, immediately above).
England, Brighton Observer
Brighton Observer, Nov. 12, 1869, p. 2, c. 2 (Publicity after GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869: GP was given the Freedom of the City of London, July 10, 1862, and that evening was guest of honor at the Lord Mayor of London's Mansion House banquet, in appreciation for his March 12, 1862, Peabody Donation Fund for model homes for London working poor, total gift $2.5 million. Some accounts reported that he walked home to his lodging from that banquet).
England, Liverpool. Daily Post
Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2 (Allen S. Hanckel incident and the Trent Affair).
England, London. Anglo-American Time
Anglo-American Times, Dec. 23, 1865, p. 8, c. 1-2 (During the Civil War GP gave a total of $10,000 to the U.S. Sanitary Commission for sick and wounded Union soldiers and their dependents).
Anglo-American Times, June 26, 1869, p. 11, c. 3; and p. 16, c. 1-2 (GP arrived in NYC for his June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, last U.S. visit).
Anglo-American Times, Aug. 14, 1869, p. 15, c. 1 (GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869; where resolution of praise were read to him, July 28, 1869; where he spoke to and was photographed with Robert E. Lee and other northern and southern educational, political leaders, military leaders [Aug. 12]; and where a Peabody Ball was held in his honor [Aug. 11]; similar to New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7; and p. 5, c. 1, entries above).
Anglo-American Times, Oct. 2, 1869, p. 9, c. 1 (Described coffin-shaped granite sarcophagus GP ordered for his grave at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., mid-Sept. 1869. Recorded also that in 1854 GP asked visiting Americans James Watson Webb and Reverdy Johnson to consult with John Pendleton Kennedy and other Baltimoreans about a possible GP educational gift to that city, leading to the PIB).
Anglo-American Times, Oct. 9, 1869, p. 11, c. 2 (GP's last $400,000 PIB gift, last departure from Baltimore, Sept. 22, 1869, then to Philadelphia, and NYC where some PEF trustees saw him board the Scotia, Sept. 29, 1869, for London where he died Nov. 4, 1869; similar to New York Tribune, Sept. 23, 1869, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
Anglo-American Times, Oct. 23, 1869, p. 11, c. 3; and Oct. 30, 1869, p. 10, c. 3 (Report of GP's arrival in London Oct. 8, 1869, from his last U.S. visit and his intent "to pass the winter in the south of France." But gravely ill, he rested until his death, Nov. 4, 1869, at the home of business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson, 80 Eaton Sq., London).
Anglo-American Times, Dec. 11, 1869, p. 11, c. 1-2 (GP's death, Nov. 4, 1869, London; Westminster Abbey funeral service, Nov. 12, 1869; funeral carriages and occupants from the Abbey to Waterloo train station; funeral train from London to Portsmouth harbor, Dec. 11, 1869; Portsmouth handing over ceremonies and speeches; and placing GP's coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to Birmingham [England] Weekly Post, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 3, c. 6, entry above).
Anglo-American Times, Jan. 8, 1870, p. 8, c. 2 (U.S. House Resolution No. 96 for U.S. naval reception of GP's remains from England at U.S. landing port [Portland, Me.], introduced in the House, Dec. 15, 1869, debated and passed, Dec. 21, 1869, passed in Senate, Dec. 23, 1869, and signed into law by Pres. Grant, Jan. 10, 1870; similar to New York Times, Dec. 22, 1869, p. 1, c. 4, entry above).
Anglo-American Times, Jan. 8, 1870, p. 10, c. 2 (Details of transatlantic voyage of HMS Monarch and USS Plymouth from Spithead near Portsmouth, England; to Madeira, Portugal; to Bermuda; and to New England receiving port).
England, London. Army and Navy Gazette
Army and Navy Gazette, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 802, c. 2 ("Private telegrams have been received in London from New York, stating that the honour done to the remains of the late Mr. Peabody, and to the fact that our Government having conveyed his body to America in a ship of war, has had a great effect on the States, and has gone far towards doing away with the ill-feeling caused by the Alabama difficulties. There is a story going about to the effect that the special correspondent in London of a well known American paper lately telegraphed to ask his employers what line he should take upon the Alabama question. The reply, through the cable, was, 'Let the matter drop; it's played out'").
Army and Navy Gazette, Dec. 18, 1869, p. 811, c. 1 (Transfer by train of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor, Dec. 11, 1869, and the handing over ceremony of the coffin to HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England).
England, London. British Army Dispatch
British Army Dispatch, July 9, 1852, p. 445, c. 1-3 (GP's June 17 and July 4, 1852, London dinners and speeches, attended by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, Wm. Brown, Thomson Hankey, Thurlow Weed, and J.C. Frémont; similar to Washington, D.C., Republic, July 10, 1852, p. 2, c. 5, entry above).
England, London. Catholic Opinion
Catholic Opinion, Nov. 20, 1869, p. 462, c. 1 (The erroneous report of a GP statue planned in Rome after GP's death, Nov. 4, 1869, London, may have been connected with R.C. Winthrop and GP's Feb. 24 or 25, 1868, interview with Pope Pius IX and GP's gift through Cardinal Antonelli to the Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital of $19,300).
England, London. City Press
City Press, May 14, 1867 (Two subscription lists showed £2,342.19s. received as of April 1866 to erect a statue of GP in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
City Press, May 18, 1867 (Third subscription list showed £2,572.13s.2d. received in April 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
City Press, May 31, 1867 (Fourth subscription list showed amount received in May 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
England, London. Court Journal
Court Journal, Feb. 22, 1862, p. 183, c. 3 (Quoted Thurlow Weed's Jan. 12, 1862, letter to the Albany Evening Journal stating that GP planned a large gift of model homes for London's working poor).
Court Journal, April 7, 1866, p. 381, c. 2 (GP's second Peabody Donation Fund, April 19, 1866, gift, $500,000; total $2.5 million).
England, London. Daily News
Daily News, July 7, 1854 (U.S. Legation in London Secty. D.E. Sickles walked out in anger from GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner because GP toasted the Queen before the U.S. president; the incident attracted pro and con letters in the press for months; similar to Boston Post, July 21, 1854, p. 2, c. l, entry above).
Daily News, Nov. 8, 1869, p. 5, c. 3 ("We have received a large number of letters, urging that the honours of a public funeral are due to the late Mr. Peabody's memory").
Daily News, Dec. 13, 1869 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, and the placing of the coffin aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to plan mentioned in Ohio's Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
England, London. Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph, April 29 and 30, 1867 (Two subscription lists of £2,342.19s. received as of April 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor; similar to City Press, May 14, 1867, entry above).
Daily Telegraph, May 16, 1867 (Third subscription list of £2,572.13s.2d. received in April 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor; similar to City Press, May 18, 1867, entry above).
Daily Telegraph, May 30, 1867 (Fourth subscription list of amount received in May 1866 to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor; similar to City Press, May 31, 1867, entry above).
Daily Telegraph, Oct. 9, 1867 (Approval of Salem, Mass.-born sculptor W.W. Story to prepare statue of GP in London [unveiled July 23, 1869]).
England, London. European Mail
European Mail, Jan. 23, 1870 (England's Solicitor General ruled that GP's real estate property in England should go to the Peabody housing fund, as GP wished; similar to New York Times, Jan. 25, 1870, p. 5, c. 3-4, entry above).
England, London. Fun
Fun, Feb. 24, 1866, p. 235 (GP's second gift to the Peabody Donation Fund, April 19, 1866, $500,000; total $2.5 million).
England, London. Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News, April 5, 1862, p. 335 (GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund for homes for London's working poor, total gift $2.5 million, 1862-69).
Illustrated London News, Vol. 48, No. 1368 (April 28, 1866), pp. 409, 410 (GP at the prize-giving ceremony of the Workingmen's Industrial Exhibition. He was the first U.S. citizen and the 41st person to be made an honorary member of the Fishmongers' Co. of London, April 19, 1866, before leaving on his May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit).
Illustrated London News, May 26, 1867, p. 513 (Illustration of Queen Victoria's enameled miniature portrait done in 1867 by British artist F.A.C. Tilt, set in a frame of solid gold, given to GP in 1867 for his $2.5 million gift for Peabody model homes for London's working poor, since 1862; original in Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass.).
Illustrated London News, Nov. 20, 1869, p. 26 (Engraving of GP's funeral service in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869).
Illustrated London News, Vol. 55, No. 1573 (Dec. 25, 1869), pp. 648, 661 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, with the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to plans mentioned in Ohio's Zanesville Daily Courier, Dec. 10, 1869, p. 3, c. 5, entry above).
London.Ladies Newspaper (and Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times)
Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times, July 26, 1851, p. 43 (U.S.-British press reported favorably on GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner at Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition, 1851. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
Ladies Newspaper, July 1, 1869, p. 64, c. 1 (U.S. sculptor W.W. Story's model of GP's seated London statue sent to Munich, Germany, for bronze casting. GP's statue later unveiled, July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, who eulogized GP and praised W.W. Story and U.S. Minister John Lothrop Motley, both of whom also spoke).
London. Leader
Leader, June 26, 1852, pp. 603, 708 (GP's June 17 and July 4, 1852, London dinners and speeches, attended by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, Wm. Brown, Thomson Hankey, Thurlow Weed, and J.C. Frémont; similar to Washington, D.C., Republic, July 10, 1852, p. 2, c. 5, entry above).
London. Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper
Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, June 22, 1856, p. 5, c. 3 (GP's June 13, 1856, U.S.-British friendship dinner, London, to introduce new U.S. Minister to Britain George M. Dallas, with C.M. Lampson, Joseph Paxton, J.P. Kennedy, and J.S. Morgan present; held during U.S.-British irritation over the Crimea War; similar to New York Daily Times, July 4, 1856, p. 2, c. 4-5, entry above).
London. Morning Advertiser
Morning Advertiser, July 7, 1854, p. 6, c. 3-4 (U.S. London Legation Secty. D.E. Sickles walked out in anger from GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner because GP toasted the Queen before the U.S. president; incident inflamed with pro and con letters in the press for months; similar to New York Times, Sept. 6, 1854, p. 3, c. 3-5, and ff. entries above).
Morning Advertiser, July 7, 1856, p. 4, c. 1-3 (GP's July 4, 1856, London dinner. U.S. Minister to Britain George M. Dallas and GP spoke. Samuel F.B. Morse replied to a toast to "The Telegraph." Similar to New York Times, July 24, 1856, p. 2, c. 2-3, entry above).
London. Morning Herald
Morning Herald, Nov. 5, 1869, p. 4. c. 5-6; and Nov. 8, 1869, p. 3, c. 4 (To correct an earlier error saying` that GP first went to London in 1837, M.J. Powell wrote that he had seen GP in Manchester in 1832 [GP's third buying trip to Europe, May 1, 1832-May 11, 1834]. GP's first buying trip abroad was Nov. 1, 1827 to Aug. 1828, nine months; second trip, 1831 to 1832 [15 months], covering 10,000 miles in England, France, Italy, and Switzerland; fourth trip, about Aug. 1835 to July 1836; fifth trip, early Feb. 1837 to sell Md.'s $8 million bonds abroad, remaining in London, 1837-69, 32 years, except for three U.S. visits).
Morning Herald, Dec. 9, 1869, p. 6, c. 2 (Erroneous reports of statues of GP to be erected in Rome, Italy, and NYC. NYC meetings on Nov. 20 and 23, 1869, failed to gain support for a GP statue; the reason later given was that mounting honors for GP offended belief in republican simplicity).
London. Morning Post
Morning Post, Oct. 26, 1855 (GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment for 1853-55 Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin; similar to Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer, Feb. 1, 1853, p. 3, c. 4, entry above).
Morning Post, Dec. 13, 1869 (Handing over ceremony of GP's remains from Westminster Abbey, London, to Portsmouth harbor on Dec. 11, 1869, with the coffin placed aboard HMS Monarch for transatlantic crossing to New England; similar to New York Times, Dec. 14, 1869, p. 5, c. 1, entry above).
London. News of the World
News of the World, Nov. 20, 1869, p. 6, c. 2-4 (Bishop of London's sermon on GP's life and influence, Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869. Similar to New York Times, Nov. 27, 1869, p. 1, c. 6-7).
London. Punch
Punch, July 27, 1867, p. 33 (Cartoon and long poem praising GP and Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts as the most prominent philanthropists of the time).
London. Spectator
Spectator, July 31, 1869, p. 891, c. 1-2 (Sculptor W.W. Story's remarks at July 23, 1869, unveiling of his GP seated statue in London; see also New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 5, c. 2-4, entry above).
London. Sportsman
Sportsman, Dec. 25, 1869, p. 4, c. 1 (As HMS Monarch, accompanied by USS Plymouth, left Spithead near Portsmouth harbor, England, Dec. 21, 1869, to deliver GP's remains for burial in Mass., some urged naming a newly opened London street leading from the Mansion House to Blackfriar's Bridge Peabody Street. The Sportsman's editor was mildly critical that the Metropolitan Board of Works chose instead to call it Queen Victoria Street).
London. Standard
Standard, May 25, 1866 (Appeal for funds to erect a GP statue in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
Standard, May 20, 1867 (Fourth subscription list showed £2,572.13s.2d. received in May 1866 to erect a statue of GP in London to honor his Peabody Homes for London's working poor).
London. Sun
Sun, July 11, 1851, p. 1, c. 5-6 (U.S.-British press reported favorably on GP's first large-scale [over 800 guests] U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner at Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition, 1851, London. GP overcame British society's reluctance to attend by getting the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor).
Sun, Oct. 30, 1869, p. 2, c. 6 (Queen Victoria's invitation, Oct. 30, 1869, for GP to visit and rest at Windsor Castle. Too ill, he died Nov. 4, 1869; similar to New York Tribune, Nov. 12, 1869, p. 1, c. 1, entry above).
Sun, Nov. 1, 1869, p. 3, c. 5 (Report of GP's declining health at business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson's 80 Eaton Sq., London home; similar to London's Anglo-American Times, Oct. 23, 1869, p. 11, c. 3; and Oct. 30, 1869, p. 10, c. 3. entries above).
Sun, Dec. 13, 1869, p. 2, c. 2 (GP's death, Nov. 4, 1869, London; Westminster Abbey funeral service, Nov. 12, 1869; funeral carriages and occupants from the Abbey to Waterloo train station; funeral train from London to Portsmouth harbor, Dec. 11, 1869; Portsmouth handing over ceremonies and speeches; and placing GP's coffin aboard HMS
2 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J.
2 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below 2 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: Buchanan, James. 1 to Curry, J.L.M. 10.
Background: "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
Buchanan, James (1791-1868). 1-Was U.S. Minister to Britain. James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president during 1857-61. He was born near Mercersberg, Penn., was a lawyer, served in the Penn. legislature for two terms (from 1814), was U.S. Congressman (1821-31), Minister to Russia (1832-33), U.S. Sen. (1834-45), U.S. Secty. of State (1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1853-56), when his legation secretary Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) created an incident. See: Presidents, U.S., and GP. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Buchanan, James. 2-Sickles Affair. At a GP-sponsored July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner super patriot Sickles remained seated and then walked out while others stood when GP toasted Queen Victoria before toasting the U.S. President. Buchanan, who thought Sickles was slack in his work as secretary, was embarrassed because, like GP, he wanted to improve British-U.S. relations. The incident was aggravated when Sickles charged GP in the press as toadying to the Queen. When GP visited Washington, D.C., Jan. 1857, there was a coolness between then-Pres. Buchanan and GP. Ref.: Ibid.
Buchanan, John (1772-1844). 1-Md. Bond Agents Abroad. John Buchanan was one of three commissioners appointed by the Md. Assembly to sell abroad its bonds to raise $8 million for internal improvements. When commissioner Samuel Jones, Jr. (1800-74), resigned to become a state senator, he backed GP to replace him. Despite some opposition, GP was appointed commissioner. Amid the financial Panic of 1837 GP and the other two commissioners, John Buchanan and Thomas Emory, tried unsuccessfully to sell the bonds in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The other two agents returned to the U.S. by Oct. 8, 1837. On this, GP's fifth business trip to Europe, he remained in London for the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits: 1-Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, 2-May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, and 3-June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
Buchanan, John. 2-GP's Delayed Reward. The economic depression hindered GP's sale of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. portion of Md.'s $8 million bonds. Md. and eight other states felt they had to stop their bond interest payments. GP publicly urged Md. officials to resume interest payments and assured British investors that resumed payments would be retroactive. GP finally sold the bonds cheaply for exclusive resale by the Baring Brothers, Britain's largest and oldest banking firm. Not wanting to burden economically depressed Md., GP declined the $60,000 commission due him. Ref.: Ibid.
Buchanan, John. 3-Md. Legislature's Resolution of Praise. By the time Md. had recovered economically and resumed its bond interest payments (1847), GP had withdrawn his capital from Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48) and was in transition from merchant to London-based broker-banker in U.S. securities. The Md. governor's 1847 annual report to the legislative Assembly singled out GP as one, "who never claimed or received one dollar of the $60,000 commission due him...whilst the State was struggling with her pecuniary difficulties." On March 7, 1848, both houses of Md.'s Assembly passed a unanimous resolution of praise to GP. Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) sent these resolutions to GP in London, adding: "To you, Sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." It took ten years for GP's efforts in selling Md. bonds to be publicly appreciated. Ref.: Ibid.
Buck, Paul Herman (1899-1978), was a U.S. historian who wrote of the PEF: "As in his [GP's] gifts to England he had hoped to link two nations in friendly bonds, now after the Civil War it seemed to him most imperative to use his bounty in the restoration of good will between North and South.... The Peabody Education Fund...was an experiment in harmony and understanding between the sections.... Not only was the gift of Peabody one of the earliest manifestations of a spirit of reconciliation, but it was also a most effective means of stimulating that spirit in others." Ref.: Buck, pp. 164, 166. See: PEF.
Buddington, Samuel, Capt. 1-GP gave $10,000 for science equipment for the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition of 1853-55, led by U.S. Navy Capt. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57, a naval surgeon), searching for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). HMS Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in the decade-long search for Sir John Franklin. Capt. Samuel Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. See: Franklin, Sir John.
Buddington, Samuel. 2-White House Desk. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and gave it to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found the desk in a storeroom in 1961 and had it refurbished for Pres. John F. Kennedy's (1917-63) use. Famous photos show President Kennedy's young son John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1960-99), playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Buffalo, NY. For GP's visit to U.S. Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74) at Fillmore's home in Buffalo, NY, Nov. 4, 1856, and connections with Fillmore, with sources, see Fillmore, Millard. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
CSS Alabama
Bulloch, James Dunwody (1823-1901). 1-Purchased Confederate Ships from England. Confederate Navy Secty. Stephen Russell Mallory (1813-73) sent Commander James Dunwody Bulloch (Bullock, in some sources) to England in May 1861 to purchase ships for the nonexistent Confederate Navy. Bulloch purchased from Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England, the newly built "Hull No. 290," soon named the SS Enrica, which was subsequently outfitted for war and renamed the CSS Alabama at the end of July 1862. See: Adams, Charles Francis. Alabama Claims.
Bulloch, J.D. 2-U.S. Minister C.F. Adams Protested. On June 23, 1862, U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) warned the British Foreign Office that by building the Alabama as a Confederate warship, Britain was breaking its neutrality. Minister Adams attached affidavits from involved seamen as proof of his charge. But British Customs law officials ruled the evidence insufficient. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 3-Alabama Sunk Union Ships. CSS Alabama was put under the command of Capt. Raphael Harwood Semmes (1809-77), whose first ship, the Sumter, had already severely damaged Union commerce before it was bottled up in Gibraltar in Jan. 1862. In its rampaging two-year cruise (June 1862 to June 1864) covering 67,000 nautical miles, CSS Alabama hijacked or sank 64 Union ships. Her crew were largely pirate-adventurers from many nations, including Britain. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 4-C.S.S. Alabama Sunk by USS Kearsarge. Needing repairs, the Alabama entered Cherbourg, France, June 11, 1864, where it was intercepted by the USS Kearsarge, under Capt. John Ancrum Winslow (1811-73), June 14, 1864. The Alabama came out to do battle and was sunk, June 19, 1864, in one of the last romanticized gunnery duels in the era of wooden ships, seen by thousands of observers offshore. Capt. Semmes and some of his officers and crew were rescued by the British yacht Deerhound and taken to an English port. Remains of the Alabama were found Oct. 1984 and artifacts were raised from Cherbourg harbor. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 5-International Alabama Claims Commission. An international Alabama Claims Commission that met in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 187l to Sept. 1872, awarded the U.S. $15.5 million to be paid by Britain for British-built raiders (Alabama and others), which destroyed 257 Union ships. Confederate raider successes compelled Union ship owners to transfer ownership of over 700 vessels to foreign registries. U.S. merchant marine activity was set back for half a century. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 6-GP's Death. Two years before GP's death, his name was mentioned as a possible arbitrator on the Alabama Claims Commission but was dropped because of age and illness. GP died in London Nov. 4, 1869, at the height of U.S.-British angers over U.S. loss of lives and treasure caused by the CSS Alabama and other British-built ships. When it became known that GP's will stipulated burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., British officials, for political reasons, to ease U.S.-British near-war hysteria, decided to return GP's remains to the U.S. on a royal vessel. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 7-Remains Returned on HMS Monarch. In a Lord Mayor's Day banquet speech, British PM William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98) said (Nov. 9, 1869): "With Mr. Peabody's nation we will not quarrel." The next day (Nov. 10, 1869) his cabinet offered HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, as funeral vessel. A GP funeral service was held at Westminster Abbey and his remains lay in state in the Abbey for 30 days (Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, 1869). Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 8-Unprecedented Transatlantic Funeral. HMS Monarch, with GP's remains aboard, escorted by USS Plymouth, a U.S. warship from Marseilles, France, crossed the Atlantic, to be met in Portland harbor, Me., on Pres. U.S. Grant's orders by a flotilla of U.S. ships commanded by Adm. David G. Farragut (1801-70). GP's unusual 96-day British-U.S. transatlantic funeral ended with final burial on Feb. 8, 1870, in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. Besides the political motive to ease U.S.-British angers over the Alabama Claims, there was genuine appreciation for GP's philanthropy, largely in the U.S. but also by Britain for his $2.5 million Peabody model apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862). Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 9-Bulloch's Sister Married Theodore Roosevelt. An interesting sidelight is that Confederate Navy Commander James Dunwody Bulloch's sister, Martha Bulloch (d. Feb. 12, 1884), married NYC's Theodore Roosevelt (1831-77). Their same-named son, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th U.S. Pres. during 1901-09, was a trustee during 1901-14 of Peabody Normal College (1875-1911), Nashville, Tenn., which became GPCFT (1914-79) and continues as PCofVU (since July 1, 1979). Ref.: (Bulloch-Roosevelt connection): Hendrick, p. 370. Thayer, p. 4. See: persons named.
Bullock, James Dunwody (1823-1901). See: Bulloch, James Dunwody.
Bülow, Hans Guido Freiherr von (1830-94), was a German conductor and pianist, studied with Richard Wagner (1813-83) and Franz Liszt (1811-86), was court musician to Ludwig, King of Bavaria (1786-1868), and teacher of Asger Hamerik (1843-1923), PIB's Academy (Conservatory after 1874) of Music's first director. Director Hamerik enhanced the prestige of the PIB Academy of Music by attracting eminent world musicians, including Hans von Bülow, who performed during Dec.-Jan. 1875-1876. Other famous performers Director Hamerik brought to perform and lecture at the PIB were Russian-born composer Anton Rubinstein (1829-94); British popular composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) of Gilbert and Sullivan fame in late Dec. 1879; and Russian composer Peter Illytch Tschaikowsky (1840-93) in spring, 1891. Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow wrote in a London paper that "Baltimore was the only place in America where I had proper support." See: PIB.
Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Henry (1801-72). Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer) was an English author, MP (1830-36, 1868-71), and Minister to the U.S. (1849-52) when he attended GP's Oct. 27, 1851, London dinner honoring the departing U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London (first world's fair). He was praised at the dinner by the main speaker, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). See: William Wilson Corcoran. Dinners, GP's, London. Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). Lawrence, Abbott.
Bunker Hill, anniversary of battle of. GP gave a dinner in London attended by British and U.S. guests on June 17, 1852, the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Boston, July 17, 1775). See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Bunker Hill Memorial Monument (Boston). 1-GP's Donation. GP gave $500 as a patriotic gift in 1845 to help build the Bunker Hill Memorial Monument. Early in the American Revolution, with British ships in command of Boston Harbor, British troops determined to defeat the rebels by taking two high points, Bunker Hill (110 feet high) and Breed's Hill (75 feet high) in Boston's Charlestown district. Under night cover, the Americans seized the heights first, holding off the British until the Americans ran out of gunpowder. Despite having lost the battle (July 17, 1775), the Americans were heartened that their 1,600 ill-trained volunteers had held off 2,400 trained British troops and had caused the enemy 1,054 casualties to their own 100 dead, 267 wounded, and 30 taken prisoners. The Bunker Hill Memorial Monument cornerstone was laid by the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) July 17, 1825. GP, permanently in London since Feb. 1837, helped pay for the monument's completion. See: GP, Philanthropy. Peabody, Thomas (GP's father).
Bunker Hill Memorial Monument (Boston). 2-Post-Civil War attacks on GP's Loyalty. It is interesting to note, in view of post-Civil War attacks on GP's loyalty to the Union, that his father Thomas Peabody, some of whose forebears had fought in the French and Indian Wars, was one of 54 Peabodys who fought in the American Revolution, and that GP briefly served in the War of 1812. Ref.: Ibid. See: Civil War and GP.
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Angela Georgina (1814-1906). 1-Lady Philanthropist. Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts was a prominent 19th century British philanthropist. England's famous journal of satire, Punch, on July 27, 1867, had a cartoon and long poem praising GP and Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts as the most prominent 19th century philanthropists. British-born Baroness Burdett-Coutts (she was created a peeress in 1871) inherited much land from her banker-grandfather, Thomas Coutts (1735-1822?). She built and endowed churches and schools; endowed three colonial bishoprics in Capetown, South Africa; Adelaide, Australia; and British Columbia, Canada. She aided Australian aborigines and Turkish peasants, built several water fountains in London, and built low-rent model homes for some 300 families at Columbia Square, London. Ref.: Punch (London), July 27, 1867, p. 33.
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Angela Georgina. 2-Attended GP's July 4, 1851, Dinner. Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts attended GP's July 4, 1851, dinner and ball at Willis's Rooms, London, during the Great Exhibition in London of 1851 (first world's fair), with the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852) as guest of honor. For her attendance and details of the July 4, 1851, dinner, see Corcoran, William Wilson. Dinners in London, GP's. Great Exhibition in London of 1851 (first world's fair). Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Prince Albert).
Burk, Kathleen, author of Morgan Grenfell 1838-1988: The Biography of a Merchant Bank (London: Oxford University Press, 1989). See: Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).
Burton, Asa (1752-1836), was a well known minister at the church five miles from Post Mills village, near Thetford, Vt., which GP attended in the winter of 1810. GP, then age 15, was visiting his maternal grandmother Judith Spofford Dodge (1749-1828) and grandfather Jeremiah Dodge (1744-1824). Ref.: Baldwin, J. A. pp. 12-15. See: Concord, N.H. Internet site (seen) March 18, 2000): http://www.valley.net~conriver/V13-7.htm Persons named. Thetford, Vt.
Bushby, Asa (1834-89), a photographer. Peabody Institute Librarian, Peabody, Mass., Fitch Poole's (1803-73) diary listed under date of Feb. 6, 1870, after GP's funeral service: "Bushby & Hart [photographers] taking views in library room." See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Business career, GP's. See: Peabody, George. George Peabody & Co. Morgan, Junius Spencer. Peabody, Riggs & Co. Elisha Riggs, Sr. Riggs, Peabody & Co.
Butler, Benjamin Franklin (1818-93), was a U.S. Representative from Mass. (Republican) who spoke at the Dec. 21, 1869, debate on U.S. House Resolution No. 96, which asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a U.S. Navy reception to receive GP's remains at the U.S. receiving port. The resolution, with some objection, was passed in the House that day, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. B.F. Butler was born in Deerfield, N.H., graduated from what is now Colby College, Me. (1838), was a criminal lawyer and politician in Lowell and then Boston, Mass., served in the Mass. Legislature (1852 and 1858) and the Mass. Senate (1859-60), was a harsh and controversial Civil War Union general, a radical Republican in the U.S. House (1866-75) who led in the unsuccessful impeachment of Pres. Andrew Johnson; Mass. Gov. (1882), and nearly always in controversy. See: Death and funeral, GP's.
Butler, Charles (1802-97), is believed to be the NYC banker who gave Delia Salter Bacon (1811-59) a letter of introduction to GP in London. Charles Butler was born in Kinderhook Landing (now Stuyvesant), Columbia County, N.Y., was a lawyer (1824), helped establish Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y., was associated with a railroad link to Chicago, helped found and was active in the affairs of Union Theological Seminary, NYC (1836), and was a frequent visitor abroad. Delia S. Bacon, U.S. writer, was an early believer in the theory that William Shakespeare's plays were written by a group consisting of mainly Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618), and Edmund Spenser (1551-99). Ref.: Muzzey, Vol. 2, Part l, pp. 359-360. See Bacon, Delia Salter.
Buttre, John Chester (1821-93), engraver-artist who made an engraving of a GP photo, half-length facing right, taken by photographer Mathew B. Brady (1823-96), perhaps in Brady's NYC studio when the PEF trustees met in NYC on or about March 23, 1867. Copy of the engraving is in the Library of Congress BIOG FILE (b&w film copy neg.). Ref.: Library of Congress BIOG FILE. See: Brady, Mathew. Peabody, George, Illustrations.
C
Cairo, Ill. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Cairo, Ill. (March 24-April 2, 1857), where he owned city bonds. See: Augusta, Ga.
Caldwell, Sally. On Jan. 20, 1814, in Newburyport, Mass., GP's oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) married Sally Caldwell, who died soon after 1815, leaving a son named George Peabody (1815-32) after his uncle. See: Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody). Peabody, David.
Cambridge, Mass. See: Harvard Univ. honorary degree to GP. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Am. Association in London
Campbell, Robert Blair (d.1862). 1-Americans in London. Robert Blair Campbell was U.S. Consul, London, England (1854-61). He presided over a July 4, 1858, dinner for Americans in London organized by a then newly formed American Association in London, a fraternal club to aid needy U.S. visitors. The club was led by newer American residents in London like Robert Blair Campbell, U.S. Legation Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), and others. They feigned respect for but were privately jealous and critical of older American residents in London like GP. Moran, Blair, and a few others sponsored for a few years July 4th Independence Day dinners in London, which GP had initiated from 1850. See: Fell, Jesse Weldon. Persons named.
Campbell, R.B. 2-Career. Robert Blair Campbell was born in S.C., graduated from S.C. College (1809, later the Univ. of S.C.), was a farmer, a commander in the S.C. militia (from 1814), a general of S.C. troops (1833; in his journal Benjamin Moran referred to R.B. Campbell as "Gen. Campbell), a member of the S.C. Senate (1821-23, 1830), and a U.S. House of Rep. member from S.C. (1823-25, 1834-35, 1835-37). He moved to Ala. where he was in the Ala. House of Rep. (1840), was U.S. Consul in Havana, Cuba (1842-50); then moved to Texas where he was appointed a commissioner in determining the U.S.-Mexico border (1853); was U.S. Consul, London, England (1854-61); died in 1862 and was buried in London, July 12, 1862. Ref.: Campbell, p. 94. Wallace and Gillespie, I, p. 9, footnote 12 (many entries in index).
Canada. GP visited Toronto and Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, 1856 (he suffered gout attacks on this visit). He visited Montreal on July 7-22, 1866, when he traveled on the Saguenay River and fished for salmon on the Marguerite River. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. Montreal, Canada. Quebec, Canada. Toronto, Canada.
Cannes, France. GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, where he visited George Eustis (1828-72), who was Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran's (1798-1888) son-in-law. W.W. Corcoran's only daughter Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustis died Dec. 4, 1867, leaving three children. From Cannes on March 16 or 17, 1868, GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) went to Paris, France, where they were received by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1808-73) and Empress Eugénie (1826-1920). For details of GP's visits to Rome, Italy, and Paris, France, during Feb.-Mar. 1868, with sources, see: persons named. San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy.
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881), was a Scottish-born author who, with a few others, gave friendly aid but no encouragement to eccentric U.S. writer Delia Salter Bacon's (1811-59) theory that William Shakespeare's (1554-1616) plays were written by Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and others. For Bacon's inconsequential connection with GP, see: Bacon, Delia Salter. Butler, Charles.
HMS Monarch as Funeral Ship
Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919). 1-Industrialist-Philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie was the Scottish-born immigrant to Pittsburgh, Penn., who rose from cotton mill bobbin boy, to telegrapher, to Penn. Railroad superintendent, to iron manufacturer, to steel magnate of what became the U.S. Steel Corporation. His various funds and foundations totaled over $350 million, including his well known Carnegie library buildings. His 1889 essay, "The Gospel of Wealth," urged the rich to use their wealth for public good.
Carnegie, Andrew. 2-1869 Connection with GP. In his Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1933, he recalled reading of the launching of Britain's largest warship HMS Monarch, publicized in some jingoistic British newspapers as able to level a U.S. port city. Soon after, reading that GP had died in London (Nov. 4, 1869) and that GP's will required burial in Mass., he telegraphed British cabinet member John Bright (1811-99): "First and best service for Monarch, bringing home the body of Peabody." "Strange to say," he wrote, "this was done, and thus the Monarch became the messenger of peace, not of destruction." Ref.: Carnegie, p. 270. See: Bright, John. Death and Funeral, GP's.
Carnegie, Andrew. 3-1913 Connection with GPCFT. PCofVU historian Sherman Dorn described how former U.S. Pres. William Howard Taft (1857-1930, 27th U.S. Pres. during 1909-13) wrote to Andrew Carnegie for funds for GPCFT. Historian Dorn wrote: "In a letter of 15 May 1913, former president William Taft wrote to industrialist philanthropist [Andrew] Carnegie that he should support Peabody College to help supply competent teachers for Southern schools: 'I doubt if you could do anything that would so help the white people of the south in an educational way as to contribute this last $200,000' of the campaign." Carnegie did not respond but others contributed`. Ref.: Dorn, p. 17. See: persons named. PCofVU.
Oxford Honorary Degree
Carroll, Lewis (1832-98). 1-GP's Oxford Honorary Degree, 1867. Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1864. He was born in Daresbury near Warrington, England; graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford (1854); took Anglican Church orders (1861); and taught mathematics at Oxford (1861-81). He was on duty as an Oxford don on Founders' and Benefactors' Day, June 26, 1867, when Oxford Univ. granted GP an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Ref.: Dodgson, I, p. 261.
Carroll, Lewis. 2-Journal Entry. In his journal entry that day (June 26) Dodgson recorded: "I was introduced to the hero of the day, Mr. Peabody." Background: Dr. Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-71) of Oxford's Christ Church College wrote asking GP if he would accept an Oxford honorary degree. GP accepted by letter on June 5, 1867. The ceremony was held during Oxford's Encaenia, combining commencement with the celebration of spring, occasioned by readings, poetry, music, lectures, and a full-dress university parade, reflecting centuries of British tradition. Ref.: Ibid.
Carroll, Lewis. 3-Sheldonian Theatre. The honorary degree ceremony was held in the Sheldonian Theatre. Undergraduates, exerting their traditional right of banter, called aloud the names of dignitaries whom they either cheered or hissed. They cheered Lord Derby, groaned at MP John Bright (1811-99), both cheered and hissed PM William E. Gladstone (1809-98), and acclaimed PM Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81). Ref.: Ibid.
Carroll, Lewis. 4-"The lion of the day." GP was one of six individuals granted an honorary degree that day. When GP's name was called and he stood up, undergraduates applauded him, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond a doubt, Mr. Peabody." The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford's famous assembly hall, was designed in 1669 by Christopher Wren, who was then astronomy professor at Oxford Univ. It was Wren's first major architectural commission and was named after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon, who commissioned the theater while he was Oxford Univ.'s chancellor. Ref.: Ibid. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 4-6. See: persons named. Oxford Univ., England. Honors, GP's.
Baltimore Lady to Whom GP Twice Proposed Marriage
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox) (1799-1880). 1-Alleged Romance. PIB Librarian Frank N. Jones's (b. 1906) pamphlet, George Peabody and the Peabody Institute, 1965, reported that in 1958 Mrs. Charles Rieman (formerly Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899) gave the PIB Library an undated manuscript by Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist James Wilson Leakin (1857-1922) entitled "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections." In that manuscript an Oct. 17 1902, letter from James Wilson Leakin to Henrietta Cowman on their Knox ancestry told of a romance between GP and Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson, daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. The relevant part of that letter is given below. Ref.: Jones, p. 7. See: Md. Historical Society Reference Librarian Francis P. O'Neill's Aug. 30, 2001, letter to the authors in which he shared the content of J.W. Leakin's Oct. 17 1902, letter (Librarian O'Neill's letter in the authors' possession).
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 2-GP's First Proposal (c. 1815-17). Of GP's first meeting with Elizabeth Carson, his marriage proposal, and her father's disapproval J.W. Leakin wrote: "…Of the younger daughter [of Rev. Samuel Knox] there is a very romantic story told by the daughter of a lady who was very intimate with her: 'When she [Elizabeth Carson] was quite a young girl, a clerk in a banking-house addressed her on a walk across the Long Bridge; that clerk's name was George Peabody. On the return he spoke to her father and he [her father] declined to give his [GP's] suit any encouragement because he had no means to support her and she afterwards married Mr. Carson, who was a man in a comfortable business, but who failed, leaving her with four or five children.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 3-GP's Second Proposal (probably Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857). J.W. Leakin's letter then described GP's second unsuccessful proposal: "When Mr. Peabody heard that she was a widow, after the lapse of years and the attendant incumbrances which it had brought to her, he came back and again addressed her while she was obliged to work for a living, keeping a boarding house. At that time Mr. Peabody was one of the leading bankers of the world, having a house in New York, London and Washington. Mrs. Carson had the old world idea, of those who are strictly brought up, that there was a great deal of deceitfulness in riches, and the story goes that she spent all night in prayer to know whether or not she ought to accept Mr. Peabody and on the next morning she told him that she felt she could not accept him." Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 4-Last Meeting (probably Oct. 24-25, 1866). J.W. Leakin's letter described their third and last meeting: "I remember hearing when I was a very small boy, living with my grandmother who was then a very old lady, that this great-aunt, Mrs. Carson, came to Baltimore and went with my grandmother to a reception which was given Mr. Peabody on the occasion of the opening of the Peabody Institute, which was donated by him to this city, and when Mrs. Carson came onto the stage where he was receiving the people, he left everyone else and advanced to where she was, then an old woman of seventy, and took her in his arms in that public place and said 'Well, Eliza, is this you?'. Afterwards, he dined with Mr. John W. Garrett, and someone said to him, 'Mr. Peabody, I hear that you met your old sweetheart today.' And he said 'Yes', but that it was a subject on which he did not care to talk; that he had had a great many successes in his life, but that that was his greatest disappointment." Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 5-Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17. GP's father's death, May 13, 1811, followed by the Newburyport, Mass., fire, May 31, 1811, led GP at 16 (he clerked in his older brother's store, ruined by the Newburyport fire) to migrate with paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826) to Georgetown, D.C., where they opened a dry good store on May 15, 1812. As a War of 1812 volunteer, GP at 19 met older (age 35) fellow soldier and experienced Georgetown, D.C., merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Riggs in 1814 took GP as junior partner in Riggs & Peabody, which imported dry goods from abroad for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm moved to Baltimore in 1815. See: Great Fire of Newburyport, Mass.(May 31, 1811). Georgetown, D.C. Newburyport, Mass. Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 6- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17 (Cont'd). Early in GP's 22 years in Baltimore (1815-37), after which he moved permanently to London, he supported his mother and younger siblings, paid his deceased father's debts, paid the mortgage on the family home (Danvers, Mass.) to restore it to his mother and siblings, and paid for his younger siblings' schooling at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. See: Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. Riggs, Peabody & Co.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 7- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17 (Cont'd). GP most likely first met Elizabeth Knox during 1815-17. When he asked her father, Samuel Knox, for his daughter's hand in marriage, Samuel Knox thought GP unsuitable economically. In 1817, Elizabeth Knox at age 18 (GP was then age 22) married George Carson, a Baltimore bank teller. George Carson is believed to have died about 1841, after the birth of the couple's fourth child. Elizabeth Carson, in reduced circumstances, managed a boarding house, probably with distant relatives as boarders, at 206 West Lombard St., Baltimore Ref.: Jones. Md. Historical Society's Ref.: Libn. Francis P. O'Neill to authors, Aug. 30, 2001. See: Persons named.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 8-GP's Circumstances, 1857. GP in London from 1837 as head of George Peabody & Co., was a rising broker-banker dealing with American securities In 1838, when he was age 42, he met, fell in love with, and was engaged to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905). Strikingly beautiful and unusually mature at age 19, she was in London for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838). In 1839, having returned to the U.S., she rekindled an earlier love with Alexander Lardner (1808-48) and broke her engagement to GP. She married Alexander Lardner on Oct. 2, 1840. Her portrait by artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872) in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library shows her in all her beauty. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Sully, Thomas. Lardner, Alexander.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 9- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1857 (Cont'd). GP was intensely busy during his first U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19,1857) after nearly 20 years abroad. He added funds to his Peabody Institute Libraries in North and South Danvers, Mass., and was mainly concerned to establish the PIB. He was in Baltimore Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857, during which receptions were held for him by the Md. Historical Society (Jan. 30) and the Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts (Feb. 2).ccccccccc He met with key PIB trustees to plan his Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter. Sometime during Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857, GP, then age 62, made his alleged second marriage proposal to Elizabeth Carson, then 58, when she was a widow in poor circumstances managing a boarding house in Baltimore. The Jones account is that she declined, saying that people would believe she had married GP solely for his money. Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 10-GP's Sister on his Baltimore Receptions. GP's sister, Mrs. Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels (1799-1879), through whom he dispensed family funds, wrote him from Mass. (on Feb. 19, 1857) that the Md. Institute reception (Feb. 2) must have touched him deeply. Among the young ladies he had saluted so "heartily" in Baltimore that night, she teased, "may have been the daughter of...the beautiful [girl] whom as you remarked one day you would have married, if you had been 'silly enough!'" It was a teasing remark with more than a touch of pity. Ref.: Mrs. Judith (née Peabody) Russell, Georgetown, Mass., to GP, Feb. 19, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 11-GP's Sister on His Baltimore Receptions (Cont'd). Judith added, referring indirectly to his 1852 philanthropic motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations" (her underlining): "What...results of good, not only to your contemporaries but to 'future generations,' were pending on that one act of self-denial, practiced by you in the days of youthful romance. Even at this late day, I have given a tear of sympathy for what may be presumed to have been your feelings, when you made the 'wise' decision, and resolved to submit to what you certainly have a right to think a hard lot: and, did I believe that through life you had been less happy, I should most sincerely regret your 'wisdom' spite of generations, present and future--myself and posterity included...." "But my dear brother is not desolate although alone. One affection, at least, deeper, stronger, steadier than that of a wife, clinging to him with a firmer tenacity as age creeps on, and which no circumstances can change, follows him through all his wanderings. And for the children...all the children are his children." See: Daniels, Judith (née Peabody) Russell. Danvers, Mass., Centennial, June 16, 1852.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 12-Comment on Sister Judith's Letter. Judith's letter does not identify Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson or Esther Elizabeth Hoppin or another as "...the beautiful [girl] whom as you remarked one day you would have married, if you had been 'silly enough!" Two other ladies were publicly romantically linked to GP in London during 1852-53: Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (18921-75), niece of U.S. Minister to Britain Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), and Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). GP, then age 58, wrote to an intimate friend: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." See: Romance and GP. Persons named.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 13-GP's Circumstances, 1866. On GP's second busy U.S. visit during May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867, his main concern was to speak at the dedication of the PIB and to found the Peabody Education Fund. In Baltimore he spoke and greeted visitors at the Oct. 25, 1866, PIB dedication, the likely date he allegedly last saw Elizabeth Carson. In Leakin's words: "…he left everyone else…took her in his arms in that public place and said 'Well, Eliza, is this you?'" Leakin's letter stated that Elizabeth Carson, accompanied by his grandmother "came to Baltimore…" Md. Historical Society Ref.: Libn. O'Neill, who found Elizabeth Carson's death notice in York, Pa. (which was connected by rail with Baltimore), conjectured that she lived there with her daughter and son-in-law D.O. Prince from about the mid 1850s to her death. Ref.: O'Neill See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 11-Conclusion. It is doubtful that GP contemplated marriage after 1850. Publicity which accompanied his fame as a philanthropist in the 1860s mounted enormously at his last illness, Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, and unusual transatlantic funeral honors. Some obituary accounts attributed his philanthropic motive as compensation for a lost love. Such stories persisted long after his death. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Romance and GP.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 12-Conclusion (Cont'd.). Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry's (1825-1903) 1898 book, A Brief Sketch of George Peabody, printed an undated letter from the daughter of a business friend of GP. She wrote that when her father congratulated GP on his amazing philanthropy (probably on GP's arrival in NYC, May 1, 1866), GP reportedly replied: "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 13-Conclusion (Cont'd.). There is documentation in GP's papers about Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, Miss Willcocks, and Elise Tiffany but no direct mention of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson. That alleged romance, which rests on the evidence of J.W. Leakin's letter, is possible and even likely. A PIB Art Gallery catalog listing of an 1840 portrait of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson contains the legend: "Lady to whom G. Peabody twice offered his hand." Ref.: Jones, p. 7. See: persons named. Romance and GP. For location of her portrait, see Ref.: g. Internet, under Peabody Art Collection, Md. State Archives.
Carson, George (d.? 1841). See: Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox), (above).
Broken Engagement
Cass, Lewis (1782-1866). 1-GP's Engagement "thoroughly discussed." Lewis Cass was U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42. Amid the vast publicity on GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London and his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral, the story of GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (R.I., Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth." See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.
Cass, Lewis. 2-Career. Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, N.H.; was a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio; was U.S. marshal for Ohio (1807-12); fought in the War of 1812; was Mich. Territory governor (1813-31); U.S. Secty. of War (1831-36); U.S. Minister to France (1836-42); U.S. Sen. from Mich. (1845-48); and U.S. Secty. of State (1857-60). Ref.: Ibid.
Castle Connell, Limerick, lreland. In June 1867 and in July 1868 GP rented the Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, on the Shannon River, where he liked to fish. MP John Bright (1811-89) was his guest on both occasions. GP's little known unusual gift (amount and date of gift not known) of a stone-based metal railing in front of the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland, has carved on it: "THIS RAILING IS THE GIFT OF GEORGE PEABODY ESQ." See: Bright, John. Ireland.
GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995)
Catto, Rt. Hon. Lord (Sir Stephen Gordon, 1923-), is the former head of the Morgan Grenfell Group banking firm, lineal descendant of George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who participated in the "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869," in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 16, 1995. Lord Catto was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge Univ.; he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Catto (1936); served with the RAF in WW II; and headed Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. (from 1948) and its successor Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group (1980-87). Ref.: New York Times, July 16, 1995, section XIII-CN, p. 17, c. 1. (Career): Seen Dec. 9, 1999: Internet http://www.knowuk.co.uk See: GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Cazenove, Philip (1798-1880), who paid for British artist Henry William Pickersgill's (1782-1875) portrait of GP in the Corporation of London's Guildhall, is listed in Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edn. (1965j), Vol. 1, p. 128, as "of Clapham, Founder of the Girls School at Green Lane and of Bolingbrooke Hospital." Ref.: London Times, April 10, 1866, p. 5, c. 3; and April 11, 1866, p. 5, c. 5. [Cazenove, Philip]. See: Pickersgill, Henry William.
Centennial Celebration, GP's, 1895. For speeches, messages received, and Queen Victoria's cablegram, with sources, see: George Peabody Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1795-1895). Victoria, Queen.
Governor of Maine
Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence (1828-1914), governor of Maine, participated in the Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870, reception of GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch, accompanied by the USS Plymouth, in Portland harbor, Maine. Gov. Chamberlain was born in Brewer, Maine; graduated from Bowdoin College (1852) and attended Bangor Theological Seminary; taught at Bowdoin College (1855-62); was a Lt. Col. in the 20th Maine Infantry; won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863); was promoted to brig. gen. in the field by commanding Gen. U.S. Grant (1822-85) in June 1864; was Maine governor (1867-71); president of Bowdoin College (1871-83); and active in railroads and industry. Ref.: Boatner, p. 135. See: Death and funeral, GP's.
Chamier, Frederick (1796-1870). In his journal U.S. novelist Herman Melville (1819-91) recorded those present, including GP, when in Nov. 1849 he dined at the London home of Weymouth, Mass.-born head of the Baring Brothers banking firm Joshua Bates (1788-1864): "There was a Baron opposite me and a most lovely young girl, a daughter of Captain Chamier, the sea novelist...." See: Melville, Herman.
Chandler, Charles W. (d. Feb. 9, 1882). 1-Married GP's Niece Julia Adelaide Peabody. Charles W. Chandler was principal of the high school in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio (April 1855-June 1865) and interim school superintendent (Jan. 7, 1862-63). He married GP's niece Julia Adelaide (née Peabody, b. April 25, 1835) Chandler (see immediately below) on Oct. 16, `1861, recorded in the Court of Common Pleas Probate Division, 401 Main St., Zanesville, Oh. 43701-3567. She was the daughter of GP's oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841). Ref.: (High school principal): Everhart, pp. 221-222. (Marriage): Tunis.
Chandler, C.W. 2-Named Executor of GP's U.S. Estate. In his last will of Sept. 9, 1869, GP named two executors of his U.S. estates: nephew-in-law Charles W. Chandler and nephew Robert Singleton Peabody (1837-1904), son of GP's sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Daniels (1799-1879). GP left each U.S. executor $5,000 (ƒ1,000). Ref.: Death and Funeral, GP's, 4. See: Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) below. Wills, GP's.
Favorite Niece
Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) (b. April 25, 1835). 1-GP's Niece. During his first U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug 19, 1857) after nearly 20 years' absence as a merchant-banker in London, GP became acquainted with his niece, Julia Adelaide Peabody, then age 21. This daughter of oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) became GP's favorite niece. She lived in Zanesville, Ohio, with her mother, David Peabody's second wife, Mrs. Phebe (née Reynolds) Peabody, went to finishing school in Philadelphia at uncle GP's expense, and married Zanesville, Ohio, lawyer Charles W. Chandler (d. 1882), who was an executor of GP's U.S. estate at GP's death.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 2-Background. In April 1811 David Peabody, oldest in the family of 8, employed GP, then age 16, as clerk in a dry goods shop David and partner Samuel Swett managed on State St., Newburyport, Mass. GP's father's death, May 13, 1811, in debt in Danvers, Mass., plus a devastating fire in Newburyport, May 31, 1811, led GP and paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826), whose store was burned, to sail from Newburyport, May 4, 1812, to Georgetown, D.C., where they opened a dry goods store, May 15, 1812. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 3-Brothers Worked for Riggs, Peabody & Co. GP managed the store, his uncle having gone into other enterprises. GP also served briefly in the War of 1812. He met older fellow soldier and experienced merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), who took GP, then age 19, as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), importers of dry goods from abroad for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm prospered. When Elisha Riggs, Sr., left the firm in 1829 to become a NYC banker, his place was taken by his nephew, Samuel Riggs (d.1853), in the renamed Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48). See: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 4-Brothers Worked for Riggs, Peabody & Co. Cont'd. GP's three brothers occasionally worked for the firm: David Peabody, younger brothers Thomas Peabody (1801-35), and Jeremiah Dodge Peabody (1805-77, who early left the firm to become a farmer in Zanesville, Ohio). Correspondence from family and the firms detailed below indicated that Thomas and to a lesser extent David were improvident, gambled, drank, and were often in debt. Correspondence also indicated that oldest brother David may have been remiss in dealings with GP, but that GP aided financially David's son by his first wife (mentioned below) and daughter Julia Adelaide by his second wife. See: persons named.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 5-GP Paid for Relatives' Schooling. On Jan. 20, 1814, in Newburyport, Mass., David Peabody married Sally Caldwell. She died soon after 1815, leaving a son named after his uncle, George Peabody (1815-32). In Nov. 1816 David transferred to GP, now the main family supporter, title to their late father's mortgaged Danvers, Mass., home. Newburyport lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote to GP Dec. 16, 1816, "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent." By Jan. 1817 GP had paid off his late father's debts and restored his mother and younger siblings to their Danvers home (they had been forced to live separately with Spofford relatives in Salem, Mass.). Ref.: Ebon Mosley, Newburyport, Mass., to GP, Baltimore, Dec. 16, 1816, Peabody Papers, PEM.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 6-GP Paid for Relatives' Schooling Cont'd. GP paid for six of his relatives' schooling at Bradford Academy, Mass., during most of the 1820s, and bought a house for the family in West Bradford. Those who attended Bradford Academy were: 1-youngest born brother Jeremiah Peabody in 1819; 2-fourth born child Judith Dodge Peabody (1799-1879) during 1821-27; 3-seventh born and third of four sisters Mary Gaines Peabody (1807-34) in 1822-23; 4-eighth born and fourth sister Sophronia Phelps Peabody (b.1809) in 1827; 5-young cousin Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814, paternal uncle John Peabody's son) during 1827-29; and 6-nephew George Peabody (1815-32, oldest brother David's son who sadly died of scarlet fever at age 17) in 1827. Ref.: (David Peabody married Sally Caldwell): Vital Records...Newburyport, Mass. ...to...1849, Vol. II, p. 360. See: Bradford Academy. Persons named.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 7-Nephew Asked for Aid for College. David's son named after GP wrote to ask if his uncle would help him financially to attend Yale College. GP, back in London after a 15-month commercial buying trip in Europe, replied positively on May 18, 1831. Perhaps the cultural scenes he briefly glimpsed on his commercial travels induced the following poignant letter that helps explain GP's later philanthropy.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 8-"Deprived, as I was." GP wrote his nephew (his underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me." Sadly this nephew died Sept. 24, 1832, in Boston of scarlet fever, his potential unfulfilled. Ref.: GP, London, to nephew George Peabody, May 18, 1831, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 9-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers. In Jan. and Feb. 1827 Elisha Riggs, Sr., then GP's senior partner, wrote in confidence to GP, then working out of Baltimore for the firm, of serious difficulties with younger brother Thomas Peabody and some irritations from oldest brother David Peabody. "My whole time," Elisha Riggs, Sr., wrote to GP, "was employed late & early in attending to various business, While I was also much trouble[d] in Mind, as to what course to take with Thomas P[eabody] who I had nearly lost confidence in, and had to be attentive to every thing in the way of business myself, as but little appeared to be done as it should be without my personal attention." See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 10-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers Cont'd.: "I have caused Thomas to remove from his old boarding place to Mr. Devens where I board. [H]e has been here about three days. [H]e promises to be regular in his habits for the future and is generally in the house of nights in good time--As I often have writing for him to do in my room. I have paid all his debts of borrowed money, taylors, shoe bills, etc., with the exception of about 150$ which he borrowed he says of Brokers & Lotter [lottery, i.e. gambling] men, of which David Peabody was also bound. This I told him I would not pay at present. I keep a strick eye over him as well as my business will allow me to do--And have assured him, that if he ever acted again as he has done, that I would certainly get another Clerk--I have taken great pains and talked with him very carefully as to the consequences of his conduct--he appears penitent and I hope will keep his promise hereafter." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 11-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers Cont'd.: "I have acted the part of a good friend toward him in every respect, which he appears to feel and acknowledge. A short time will enable him to see and determine--I understand from Thomas that David is now employed in a lottery office. He is occasionally in the Store...." Riggs ended with: "This letter is written in haste for yourself only, as I have never mentioned to any person except yourself anything about T.P. [Thomas Peabody]. You will therefore destroy this letter...." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 12-GP's Mother Ill. Often in financial trouble, David in NYC wrote brother Thomas in Baltimore that he needed money. Thomas replied, Nov. 18, 1828, that he was without a job and could do nothing. Four days later GP sent Thomas $15 which Thomas sent to David. Thomas sought better prospects in South America. He wrote older brother David from Lima, Peru, April 30, 1830, that he was working there as bookkeeper for Alsop, Wetmore & Co.'s agent, that their brother GP was about to sail for England on his second European commercial buying trip (1831-32, 15 months), and that their mother, in poor health, was living with recently married daughter Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh in Lockport, N.Y. On April 30, 1830, Mary wrote David in NYC that their mother was still in poor health, that she had the ague followed by a high intermittent fever. Caleb Marsh (b.1800) also wrote David that mother Peabody was seriously ill and that he did not think she would recover. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 13-GP's Mother Died, June 22, 1830. On June 25, 1830, Mary wrote David that their mother had died on June 22, 1830, a month short of her sixtieth year. David forwarded Mary's letter about their mother's death to GP by the next ship bound for England. He added to GP, in a postscript to Mary's letter: "The above I just recd in time to forward by the Canada [ship]--which sails in an hour. I should have gone to Lockport a month since if it had been in my power to have paid the expense of the journey. Yrs. truly, D. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 14-Thomas Peabody Ill and Unemployed. Thomas Peabody was ill in Lima, Peru; gave up his job there; worked his way back to the U.S. as a ship's clerk, and lost that job when a new crew was hired. GP was out of the country on a European buying trip when Thomas landed in Baltimore without work. He wrote David in NYC: "George being out of the country my necessity for employment is very great & for the present I would be willing to take up with almost any situation." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 15-Thomas Peabody's Death, 1835. Peabody family letters hint at rather than detail Thomas Peabody's misdemeanors. He had evidently wronged brother David and begged to be forgiven. Thomas Peabody died April 16, 1835, the day before his thirty-fourth birthday. He had been operating a school and had gone to pay some debts in Buffalo, N.Y. Not having enough money to meet his obligations and overcome with remorse and shame, he died in circumstances not specified in family letters. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 16-Thomas Peabody's Death, 1835 Cont'd. GP, then in Europe, had the sad news in an April 20, 1835, letter, from his brother-in-law, Dr. Eldridge Gerry Little, a physician, married to GP's youngest sister Sophronia Phelps (née Peabody) Little (b.1809). Dr. Little wrote to GP: "It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of Thomas. He died in Buffalo on the 16th inst. a victim of his own vices." Four months later sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell in her Aug. 23, 1835, letter to GP, referred to Thomas as their "poor misguided brother." She also relayed news that oldest brother David had married again. He met his second wife when he boarded at her home in Brookline, near Boston, Mass. David and his new family moved to Zanesville, Ohio, where youngest brother Jeremiah had settled on a farm. Maybe, Judith added about David, having a wife again might teach him economy. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 17-GP and Niece Julia, 1856-57. During his 1856-57 U.S. visit GP was busy visiting friends, being honored, fêted, seeing after his institute library in what is now Peabody, Mass., founding a branch library in what is now Danvers, Mass., founding the PIB (Feb. 12, 1857), traveling to see vast changes in the U.S. since his 20-year absence abroad. He was in Zanesville, Ohio, Nov. 1856 with brother Jeremiah's family and became acquainted with niece Julia Adelaide, age 21. He overcame her mother's initial doubts about sending Julia to a finishing school in Philadelphia at his expense. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 18-With Julia in Philadelphia, 1857. GP was in Philadelphia Jan. 10-18, 1857, partly to sit for a portrait in artist James Read Lambdin's (1807-89) Philadelphia studio, partly to be with niece Julia Adelaide, then attending finishing school in Philadelphia. With GP in Philadelphia was Baltimorean and PIB trustee Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93). Eaton, an art collector, was keen to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Artist James Read Lambdin, its director, took the group to visit the art gallery. GP preferred to sit and wait while the others toured the gallery. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 19-"Julia will be a solace to your declining years." On May 20, 1857, sister Judith wrote GP from her home in Georgetown, Mass. She was glad he had taken Julia under his wing, sent her to school in Philadelphia, and had someone to lavish his affections on. She recalled how often Julia's father David, their deceased brother, had been jobless and in debt, how GP had time and again aided David and all the family. "I trust," she wrote, "that Julia will be a solace to your declining years, and by her affection, wipe away the remembrance of the wrongs you have received from her father." Ref.: Mrs. Judith (née Peabody) Russell, Georgetown, Mass., to GP, May 20, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 20-Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, April 1857, published an extensive, laudatory account of GP's life, rise in business, saving Md.'s credit abroad, and philanthropic gifts. The article, reprinted in pamphlet form, was widely circulated. Niece Julia Adelaide had a copy, wrote to tell GP that all her friends said he was quite handsome and that she was making a miniature painting of the GP frontispiece picture. She asked in her letter, "Will 'somebody' please send me a lock of his hair." Ref.: Julia Adelaide Peabody, Zanesville, Ohio, to GP, April 30, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 21-GP & Niece Julia Visit Yale College. In July 1857 GP took Julia with him to New Haven, Conn., to visit Yale College, where nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), son of GP's deceased younger sister Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh, was studying science. While there he had a visit from science Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Sr. (1779-1864). Neither man could foresee that nine years later GP would endow Peabody museums at Harvard and Yale Universities. Ref.: "George Peabody-a."
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 22-Panic of 1857. Having Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner in George Peabody & Co., London, from Oct. 1, 1854, freed GP for his 1856-57 U.S. visit. J.S. Morgan wrote GP frequently about business affairs. On Jan. 30, 1857, Morgan alerted GP to a brewing financial panic: "The drawing upon us for the last two or three mails have been very heavy and the look of our financial business is anything but encouraging for it." Morgan warned GP again on Feb. 27 and Apr. 9: "These are times when we must keep a sharp lookout. We are in a good position and must keep so." See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 23-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. On April 11 GP's cousin Joseph Peabody wrote from NYC of a Paris firm (Greene & Co.) "obliged to suspend...." Alarmed, J.S. Morgan wrote GP, April 17, that money was stringent, and the specie of the Bank of England were down to nine million, "the lowest point in ten years." GP hurriedly left NYC for London on Aug. 19, 1857. He found that hundreds of U.S. and British firms had collapsed, that Lawrence, Stone and Co. of Boston, which owed him a large sum, could not repay him, that Baring Brothers of London were pressing George Peabody & Co. for £150,000 ($750,000) owed them. George Peabody & Co. was in trouble. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 24-GP to Julia about the Panic. On Nov. 13, 1857, GP wrote of his distress to niece Julia Adelaide Peabody: "This letter I promised to write you has been postponed because of my constant engagements and the unparalleled gloom of the Panic. What will happen, Heaven only knows. Lack of confidence and distrust is universal here and in the United States. I hope my house will weather the storm. I think it will do so even though so many in debt to me cannot pay. If I fail I will bear it like a man. In my conscience I know I never deceived or injured any other human being." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 25-GP to Julia about the Panic Cont'd : "It is less than three months since I left you in the United States, prosperous and happy. Now all is gloom and affliction. Nearly all the American houses in Europe have suspended operations and nothing but great strength can save them. It is the loss of credit of my house I fear. In any circumstances, only a small part of my private fortune will be lost. I will have enough for all my required purposes." GP held this letter for some weeks, determined not to worry his niece and to secure a Bank of England loan. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 26-Bank of England Loan. Gathering his assets, GP anxiously applied for a $4 million loan from the Bank of England. While the Bank of England considered the loan request, some financiers, seeing an opportunity to force GP out of business, approached GP's partner J.S. Morgan and said that they would guarantee the loan if George Peabody & Co. ceased business in London. Second PEF administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903) later wrote that GP raged like a wounded lion "and told Mr. Morgan to reply that he dared them to cause his failure." The Bank of England made the loan, enabling GP to satisfy his creditors, and by March 30, 1858, GP was able to repay the Bank of England. On April 16, 1858, GP wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), "My business is again quite snug. ....Our credit...stands as high as ever before." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody).
Following Background "Preface" below 2 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: Buchanan, James. 1 to Curry, J.L.M. 10.
Background: "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
Buchanan, James (1791-1868). 1-Was U.S. Minister to Britain. James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president during 1857-61. He was born near Mercersberg, Penn., was a lawyer, served in the Penn. legislature for two terms (from 1814), was U.S. Congressman (1821-31), Minister to Russia (1832-33), U.S. Sen. (1834-45), U.S. Secty. of State (1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1853-56), when his legation secretary Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) created an incident. See: Presidents, U.S., and GP. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Buchanan, James. 2-Sickles Affair. At a GP-sponsored July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner super patriot Sickles remained seated and then walked out while others stood when GP toasted Queen Victoria before toasting the U.S. President. Buchanan, who thought Sickles was slack in his work as secretary, was embarrassed because, like GP, he wanted to improve British-U.S. relations. The incident was aggravated when Sickles charged GP in the press as toadying to the Queen. When GP visited Washington, D.C., Jan. 1857, there was a coolness between then-Pres. Buchanan and GP. Ref.: Ibid.
Buchanan, John (1772-1844). 1-Md. Bond Agents Abroad. John Buchanan was one of three commissioners appointed by the Md. Assembly to sell abroad its bonds to raise $8 million for internal improvements. When commissioner Samuel Jones, Jr. (1800-74), resigned to become a state senator, he backed GP to replace him. Despite some opposition, GP was appointed commissioner. Amid the financial Panic of 1837 GP and the other two commissioners, John Buchanan and Thomas Emory, tried unsuccessfully to sell the bonds in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The other two agents returned to the U.S. by Oct. 8, 1837. On this, GP's fifth business trip to Europe, he remained in London for the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits: 1-Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, 2-May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, and 3-June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
Buchanan, John. 2-GP's Delayed Reward. The economic depression hindered GP's sale of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. portion of Md.'s $8 million bonds. Md. and eight other states felt they had to stop their bond interest payments. GP publicly urged Md. officials to resume interest payments and assured British investors that resumed payments would be retroactive. GP finally sold the bonds cheaply for exclusive resale by the Baring Brothers, Britain's largest and oldest banking firm. Not wanting to burden economically depressed Md., GP declined the $60,000 commission due him. Ref.: Ibid.
Buchanan, John. 3-Md. Legislature's Resolution of Praise. By the time Md. had recovered economically and resumed its bond interest payments (1847), GP had withdrawn his capital from Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48) and was in transition from merchant to London-based broker-banker in U.S. securities. The Md. governor's 1847 annual report to the legislative Assembly singled out GP as one, "who never claimed or received one dollar of the $60,000 commission due him...whilst the State was struggling with her pecuniary difficulties." On March 7, 1848, both houses of Md.'s Assembly passed a unanimous resolution of praise to GP. Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) sent these resolutions to GP in London, adding: "To you, Sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." It took ten years for GP's efforts in selling Md. bonds to be publicly appreciated. Ref.: Ibid.
Buck, Paul Herman (1899-1978), was a U.S. historian who wrote of the PEF: "As in his [GP's] gifts to England he had hoped to link two nations in friendly bonds, now after the Civil War it seemed to him most imperative to use his bounty in the restoration of good will between North and South.... The Peabody Education Fund...was an experiment in harmony and understanding between the sections.... Not only was the gift of Peabody one of the earliest manifestations of a spirit of reconciliation, but it was also a most effective means of stimulating that spirit in others." Ref.: Buck, pp. 164, 166. See: PEF.
Buddington, Samuel, Capt. 1-GP gave $10,000 for science equipment for the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition of 1853-55, led by U.S. Navy Capt. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57, a naval surgeon), searching for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). HMS Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in the decade-long search for Sir John Franklin. Capt. Samuel Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. See: Franklin, Sir John.
Buddington, Samuel. 2-White House Desk. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and gave it to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found the desk in a storeroom in 1961 and had it refurbished for Pres. John F. Kennedy's (1917-63) use. Famous photos show President Kennedy's young son John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1960-99), playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Buffalo, NY. For GP's visit to U.S. Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74) at Fillmore's home in Buffalo, NY, Nov. 4, 1856, and connections with Fillmore, with sources, see Fillmore, Millard. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
CSS Alabama
Bulloch, James Dunwody (1823-1901). 1-Purchased Confederate Ships from England. Confederate Navy Secty. Stephen Russell Mallory (1813-73) sent Commander James Dunwody Bulloch (Bullock, in some sources) to England in May 1861 to purchase ships for the nonexistent Confederate Navy. Bulloch purchased from Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England, the newly built "Hull No. 290," soon named the SS Enrica, which was subsequently outfitted for war and renamed the CSS Alabama at the end of July 1862. See: Adams, Charles Francis. Alabama Claims.
Bulloch, J.D. 2-U.S. Minister C.F. Adams Protested. On June 23, 1862, U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) warned the British Foreign Office that by building the Alabama as a Confederate warship, Britain was breaking its neutrality. Minister Adams attached affidavits from involved seamen as proof of his charge. But British Customs law officials ruled the evidence insufficient. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 3-Alabama Sunk Union Ships. CSS Alabama was put under the command of Capt. Raphael Harwood Semmes (1809-77), whose first ship, the Sumter, had already severely damaged Union commerce before it was bottled up in Gibraltar in Jan. 1862. In its rampaging two-year cruise (June 1862 to June 1864) covering 67,000 nautical miles, CSS Alabama hijacked or sank 64 Union ships. Her crew were largely pirate-adventurers from many nations, including Britain. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 4-C.S.S. Alabama Sunk by USS Kearsarge. Needing repairs, the Alabama entered Cherbourg, France, June 11, 1864, where it was intercepted by the USS Kearsarge, under Capt. John Ancrum Winslow (1811-73), June 14, 1864. The Alabama came out to do battle and was sunk, June 19, 1864, in one of the last romanticized gunnery duels in the era of wooden ships, seen by thousands of observers offshore. Capt. Semmes and some of his officers and crew were rescued by the British yacht Deerhound and taken to an English port. Remains of the Alabama were found Oct. 1984 and artifacts were raised from Cherbourg harbor. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 5-International Alabama Claims Commission. An international Alabama Claims Commission that met in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 187l to Sept. 1872, awarded the U.S. $15.5 million to be paid by Britain for British-built raiders (Alabama and others), which destroyed 257 Union ships. Confederate raider successes compelled Union ship owners to transfer ownership of over 700 vessels to foreign registries. U.S. merchant marine activity was set back for half a century. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 6-GP's Death. Two years before GP's death, his name was mentioned as a possible arbitrator on the Alabama Claims Commission but was dropped because of age and illness. GP died in London Nov. 4, 1869, at the height of U.S.-British angers over U.S. loss of lives and treasure caused by the CSS Alabama and other British-built ships. When it became known that GP's will stipulated burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., British officials, for political reasons, to ease U.S.-British near-war hysteria, decided to return GP's remains to the U.S. on a royal vessel. Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 7-Remains Returned on HMS Monarch. In a Lord Mayor's Day banquet speech, British PM William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98) said (Nov. 9, 1869): "With Mr. Peabody's nation we will not quarrel." The next day (Nov. 10, 1869) his cabinet offered HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, as funeral vessel. A GP funeral service was held at Westminster Abbey and his remains lay in state in the Abbey for 30 days (Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, 1869). Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 8-Unprecedented Transatlantic Funeral. HMS Monarch, with GP's remains aboard, escorted by USS Plymouth, a U.S. warship from Marseilles, France, crossed the Atlantic, to be met in Portland harbor, Me., on Pres. U.S. Grant's orders by a flotilla of U.S. ships commanded by Adm. David G. Farragut (1801-70). GP's unusual 96-day British-U.S. transatlantic funeral ended with final burial on Feb. 8, 1870, in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. Besides the political motive to ease U.S.-British angers over the Alabama Claims, there was genuine appreciation for GP's philanthropy, largely in the U.S. but also by Britain for his $2.5 million Peabody model apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862). Ref.: Ibid.
Bulloch, J.D. 9-Bulloch's Sister Married Theodore Roosevelt. An interesting sidelight is that Confederate Navy Commander James Dunwody Bulloch's sister, Martha Bulloch (d. Feb. 12, 1884), married NYC's Theodore Roosevelt (1831-77). Their same-named son, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th U.S. Pres. during 1901-09, was a trustee during 1901-14 of Peabody Normal College (1875-1911), Nashville, Tenn., which became GPCFT (1914-79) and continues as PCofVU (since July 1, 1979). Ref.: (Bulloch-Roosevelt connection): Hendrick, p. 370. Thayer, p. 4. See: persons named.
Bullock, James Dunwody (1823-1901). See: Bulloch, James Dunwody.
Bülow, Hans Guido Freiherr von (1830-94), was a German conductor and pianist, studied with Richard Wagner (1813-83) and Franz Liszt (1811-86), was court musician to Ludwig, King of Bavaria (1786-1868), and teacher of Asger Hamerik (1843-1923), PIB's Academy (Conservatory after 1874) of Music's first director. Director Hamerik enhanced the prestige of the PIB Academy of Music by attracting eminent world musicians, including Hans von Bülow, who performed during Dec.-Jan. 1875-1876. Other famous performers Director Hamerik brought to perform and lecture at the PIB were Russian-born composer Anton Rubinstein (1829-94); British popular composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) of Gilbert and Sullivan fame in late Dec. 1879; and Russian composer Peter Illytch Tschaikowsky (1840-93) in spring, 1891. Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow wrote in a London paper that "Baltimore was the only place in America where I had proper support." See: PIB.
Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Henry (1801-72). Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer) was an English author, MP (1830-36, 1868-71), and Minister to the U.S. (1849-52) when he attended GP's Oct. 27, 1851, London dinner honoring the departing U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London (first world's fair). He was praised at the dinner by the main speaker, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). See: William Wilson Corcoran. Dinners, GP's, London. Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). Lawrence, Abbott.
Bunker Hill, anniversary of battle of. GP gave a dinner in London attended by British and U.S. guests on June 17, 1852, the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Boston, July 17, 1775). See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Bunker Hill Memorial Monument (Boston). 1-GP's Donation. GP gave $500 as a patriotic gift in 1845 to help build the Bunker Hill Memorial Monument. Early in the American Revolution, with British ships in command of Boston Harbor, British troops determined to defeat the rebels by taking two high points, Bunker Hill (110 feet high) and Breed's Hill (75 feet high) in Boston's Charlestown district. Under night cover, the Americans seized the heights first, holding off the British until the Americans ran out of gunpowder. Despite having lost the battle (July 17, 1775), the Americans were heartened that their 1,600 ill-trained volunteers had held off 2,400 trained British troops and had caused the enemy 1,054 casualties to their own 100 dead, 267 wounded, and 30 taken prisoners. The Bunker Hill Memorial Monument cornerstone was laid by the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) July 17, 1825. GP, permanently in London since Feb. 1837, helped pay for the monument's completion. See: GP, Philanthropy. Peabody, Thomas (GP's father).
Bunker Hill Memorial Monument (Boston). 2-Post-Civil War attacks on GP's Loyalty. It is interesting to note, in view of post-Civil War attacks on GP's loyalty to the Union, that his father Thomas Peabody, some of whose forebears had fought in the French and Indian Wars, was one of 54 Peabodys who fought in the American Revolution, and that GP briefly served in the War of 1812. Ref.: Ibid. See: Civil War and GP.
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Angela Georgina (1814-1906). 1-Lady Philanthropist. Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts was a prominent 19th century British philanthropist. England's famous journal of satire, Punch, on July 27, 1867, had a cartoon and long poem praising GP and Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts as the most prominent 19th century philanthropists. British-born Baroness Burdett-Coutts (she was created a peeress in 1871) inherited much land from her banker-grandfather, Thomas Coutts (1735-1822?). She built and endowed churches and schools; endowed three colonial bishoprics in Capetown, South Africa; Adelaide, Australia; and British Columbia, Canada. She aided Australian aborigines and Turkish peasants, built several water fountains in London, and built low-rent model homes for some 300 families at Columbia Square, London. Ref.: Punch (London), July 27, 1867, p. 33.
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Angela Georgina. 2-Attended GP's July 4, 1851, Dinner. Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts attended GP's July 4, 1851, dinner and ball at Willis's Rooms, London, during the Great Exhibition in London of 1851 (first world's fair), with the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852) as guest of honor. For her attendance and details of the July 4, 1851, dinner, see Corcoran, William Wilson. Dinners in London, GP's. Great Exhibition in London of 1851 (first world's fair). Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Prince Albert).
Burk, Kathleen, author of Morgan Grenfell 1838-1988: The Biography of a Merchant Bank (London: Oxford University Press, 1989). See: Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).
Burton, Asa (1752-1836), was a well known minister at the church five miles from Post Mills village, near Thetford, Vt., which GP attended in the winter of 1810. GP, then age 15, was visiting his maternal grandmother Judith Spofford Dodge (1749-1828) and grandfather Jeremiah Dodge (1744-1824). Ref.: Baldwin, J. A. pp. 12-15. See: Concord, N.H. Internet site (seen) March 18, 2000): http://www.valley.net~conriver/V13-7.htm Persons named. Thetford, Vt.
Bushby, Asa (1834-89), a photographer. Peabody Institute Librarian, Peabody, Mass., Fitch Poole's (1803-73) diary listed under date of Feb. 6, 1870, after GP's funeral service: "Bushby & Hart [photographers] taking views in library room." See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Business career, GP's. See: Peabody, George. George Peabody & Co. Morgan, Junius Spencer. Peabody, Riggs & Co. Elisha Riggs, Sr. Riggs, Peabody & Co.
Butler, Benjamin Franklin (1818-93), was a U.S. Representative from Mass. (Republican) who spoke at the Dec. 21, 1869, debate on U.S. House Resolution No. 96, which asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a U.S. Navy reception to receive GP's remains at the U.S. receiving port. The resolution, with some objection, was passed in the House that day, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. B.F. Butler was born in Deerfield, N.H., graduated from what is now Colby College, Me. (1838), was a criminal lawyer and politician in Lowell and then Boston, Mass., served in the Mass. Legislature (1852 and 1858) and the Mass. Senate (1859-60), was a harsh and controversial Civil War Union general, a radical Republican in the U.S. House (1866-75) who led in the unsuccessful impeachment of Pres. Andrew Johnson; Mass. Gov. (1882), and nearly always in controversy. See: Death and funeral, GP's.
Butler, Charles (1802-97), is believed to be the NYC banker who gave Delia Salter Bacon (1811-59) a letter of introduction to GP in London. Charles Butler was born in Kinderhook Landing (now Stuyvesant), Columbia County, N.Y., was a lawyer (1824), helped establish Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y., was associated with a railroad link to Chicago, helped found and was active in the affairs of Union Theological Seminary, NYC (1836), and was a frequent visitor abroad. Delia S. Bacon, U.S. writer, was an early believer in the theory that William Shakespeare's plays were written by a group consisting of mainly Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618), and Edmund Spenser (1551-99). Ref.: Muzzey, Vol. 2, Part l, pp. 359-360. See Bacon, Delia Salter.
Buttre, John Chester (1821-93), engraver-artist who made an engraving of a GP photo, half-length facing right, taken by photographer Mathew B. Brady (1823-96), perhaps in Brady's NYC studio when the PEF trustees met in NYC on or about March 23, 1867. Copy of the engraving is in the Library of Congress BIOG FILE (b&w film copy neg.). Ref.: Library of Congress BIOG FILE. See: Brady, Mathew. Peabody, George, Illustrations.
C
Cairo, Ill. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Cairo, Ill. (March 24-April 2, 1857), where he owned city bonds. See: Augusta, Ga.
Caldwell, Sally. On Jan. 20, 1814, in Newburyport, Mass., GP's oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) married Sally Caldwell, who died soon after 1815, leaving a son named George Peabody (1815-32) after his uncle. See: Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody). Peabody, David.
Cambridge, Mass. See: Harvard Univ. honorary degree to GP. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Am. Association in London
Campbell, Robert Blair (d.1862). 1-Americans in London. Robert Blair Campbell was U.S. Consul, London, England (1854-61). He presided over a July 4, 1858, dinner for Americans in London organized by a then newly formed American Association in London, a fraternal club to aid needy U.S. visitors. The club was led by newer American residents in London like Robert Blair Campbell, U.S. Legation Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), and others. They feigned respect for but were privately jealous and critical of older American residents in London like GP. Moran, Blair, and a few others sponsored for a few years July 4th Independence Day dinners in London, which GP had initiated from 1850. See: Fell, Jesse Weldon. Persons named.
Campbell, R.B. 2-Career. Robert Blair Campbell was born in S.C., graduated from S.C. College (1809, later the Univ. of S.C.), was a farmer, a commander in the S.C. militia (from 1814), a general of S.C. troops (1833; in his journal Benjamin Moran referred to R.B. Campbell as "Gen. Campbell), a member of the S.C. Senate (1821-23, 1830), and a U.S. House of Rep. member from S.C. (1823-25, 1834-35, 1835-37). He moved to Ala. where he was in the Ala. House of Rep. (1840), was U.S. Consul in Havana, Cuba (1842-50); then moved to Texas where he was appointed a commissioner in determining the U.S.-Mexico border (1853); was U.S. Consul, London, England (1854-61); died in 1862 and was buried in London, July 12, 1862. Ref.: Campbell, p. 94. Wallace and Gillespie, I, p. 9, footnote 12 (many entries in index).
Canada. GP visited Toronto and Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, 1856 (he suffered gout attacks on this visit). He visited Montreal on July 7-22, 1866, when he traveled on the Saguenay River and fished for salmon on the Marguerite River. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. Montreal, Canada. Quebec, Canada. Toronto, Canada.
Cannes, France. GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, where he visited George Eustis (1828-72), who was Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran's (1798-1888) son-in-law. W.W. Corcoran's only daughter Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustis died Dec. 4, 1867, leaving three children. From Cannes on March 16 or 17, 1868, GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) went to Paris, France, where they were received by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1808-73) and Empress Eugénie (1826-1920). For details of GP's visits to Rome, Italy, and Paris, France, during Feb.-Mar. 1868, with sources, see: persons named. San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy.
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881), was a Scottish-born author who, with a few others, gave friendly aid but no encouragement to eccentric U.S. writer Delia Salter Bacon's (1811-59) theory that William Shakespeare's (1554-1616) plays were written by Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and others. For Bacon's inconsequential connection with GP, see: Bacon, Delia Salter. Butler, Charles.
HMS Monarch as Funeral Ship
Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919). 1-Industrialist-Philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie was the Scottish-born immigrant to Pittsburgh, Penn., who rose from cotton mill bobbin boy, to telegrapher, to Penn. Railroad superintendent, to iron manufacturer, to steel magnate of what became the U.S. Steel Corporation. His various funds and foundations totaled over $350 million, including his well known Carnegie library buildings. His 1889 essay, "The Gospel of Wealth," urged the rich to use their wealth for public good.
Carnegie, Andrew. 2-1869 Connection with GP. In his Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1933, he recalled reading of the launching of Britain's largest warship HMS Monarch, publicized in some jingoistic British newspapers as able to level a U.S. port city. Soon after, reading that GP had died in London (Nov. 4, 1869) and that GP's will required burial in Mass., he telegraphed British cabinet member John Bright (1811-99): "First and best service for Monarch, bringing home the body of Peabody." "Strange to say," he wrote, "this was done, and thus the Monarch became the messenger of peace, not of destruction." Ref.: Carnegie, p. 270. See: Bright, John. Death and Funeral, GP's.
Carnegie, Andrew. 3-1913 Connection with GPCFT. PCofVU historian Sherman Dorn described how former U.S. Pres. William Howard Taft (1857-1930, 27th U.S. Pres. during 1909-13) wrote to Andrew Carnegie for funds for GPCFT. Historian Dorn wrote: "In a letter of 15 May 1913, former president William Taft wrote to industrialist philanthropist [Andrew] Carnegie that he should support Peabody College to help supply competent teachers for Southern schools: 'I doubt if you could do anything that would so help the white people of the south in an educational way as to contribute this last $200,000' of the campaign." Carnegie did not respond but others contributed`. Ref.: Dorn, p. 17. See: persons named. PCofVU.
Oxford Honorary Degree
Carroll, Lewis (1832-98). 1-GP's Oxford Honorary Degree, 1867. Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1864. He was born in Daresbury near Warrington, England; graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford (1854); took Anglican Church orders (1861); and taught mathematics at Oxford (1861-81). He was on duty as an Oxford don on Founders' and Benefactors' Day, June 26, 1867, when Oxford Univ. granted GP an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Ref.: Dodgson, I, p. 261.
Carroll, Lewis. 2-Journal Entry. In his journal entry that day (June 26) Dodgson recorded: "I was introduced to the hero of the day, Mr. Peabody." Background: Dr. Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-71) of Oxford's Christ Church College wrote asking GP if he would accept an Oxford honorary degree. GP accepted by letter on June 5, 1867. The ceremony was held during Oxford's Encaenia, combining commencement with the celebration of spring, occasioned by readings, poetry, music, lectures, and a full-dress university parade, reflecting centuries of British tradition. Ref.: Ibid.
Carroll, Lewis. 3-Sheldonian Theatre. The honorary degree ceremony was held in the Sheldonian Theatre. Undergraduates, exerting their traditional right of banter, called aloud the names of dignitaries whom they either cheered or hissed. They cheered Lord Derby, groaned at MP John Bright (1811-99), both cheered and hissed PM William E. Gladstone (1809-98), and acclaimed PM Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81). Ref.: Ibid.
Carroll, Lewis. 4-"The lion of the day." GP was one of six individuals granted an honorary degree that day. When GP's name was called and he stood up, undergraduates applauded him, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond a doubt, Mr. Peabody." The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford's famous assembly hall, was designed in 1669 by Christopher Wren, who was then astronomy professor at Oxford Univ. It was Wren's first major architectural commission and was named after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon, who commissioned the theater while he was Oxford Univ.'s chancellor. Ref.: Ibid. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 4-6. See: persons named. Oxford Univ., England. Honors, GP's.
Baltimore Lady to Whom GP Twice Proposed Marriage
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox) (1799-1880). 1-Alleged Romance. PIB Librarian Frank N. Jones's (b. 1906) pamphlet, George Peabody and the Peabody Institute, 1965, reported that in 1958 Mrs. Charles Rieman (formerly Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899) gave the PIB Library an undated manuscript by Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist James Wilson Leakin (1857-1922) entitled "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections." In that manuscript an Oct. 17 1902, letter from James Wilson Leakin to Henrietta Cowman on their Knox ancestry told of a romance between GP and Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson, daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. The relevant part of that letter is given below. Ref.: Jones, p. 7. See: Md. Historical Society Reference Librarian Francis P. O'Neill's Aug. 30, 2001, letter to the authors in which he shared the content of J.W. Leakin's Oct. 17 1902, letter (Librarian O'Neill's letter in the authors' possession).
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 2-GP's First Proposal (c. 1815-17). Of GP's first meeting with Elizabeth Carson, his marriage proposal, and her father's disapproval J.W. Leakin wrote: "…Of the younger daughter [of Rev. Samuel Knox] there is a very romantic story told by the daughter of a lady who was very intimate with her: 'When she [Elizabeth Carson] was quite a young girl, a clerk in a banking-house addressed her on a walk across the Long Bridge; that clerk's name was George Peabody. On the return he spoke to her father and he [her father] declined to give his [GP's] suit any encouragement because he had no means to support her and she afterwards married Mr. Carson, who was a man in a comfortable business, but who failed, leaving her with four or five children.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 3-GP's Second Proposal (probably Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857). J.W. Leakin's letter then described GP's second unsuccessful proposal: "When Mr. Peabody heard that she was a widow, after the lapse of years and the attendant incumbrances which it had brought to her, he came back and again addressed her while she was obliged to work for a living, keeping a boarding house. At that time Mr. Peabody was one of the leading bankers of the world, having a house in New York, London and Washington. Mrs. Carson had the old world idea, of those who are strictly brought up, that there was a great deal of deceitfulness in riches, and the story goes that she spent all night in prayer to know whether or not she ought to accept Mr. Peabody and on the next morning she told him that she felt she could not accept him." Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 4-Last Meeting (probably Oct. 24-25, 1866). J.W. Leakin's letter described their third and last meeting: "I remember hearing when I was a very small boy, living with my grandmother who was then a very old lady, that this great-aunt, Mrs. Carson, came to Baltimore and went with my grandmother to a reception which was given Mr. Peabody on the occasion of the opening of the Peabody Institute, which was donated by him to this city, and when Mrs. Carson came onto the stage where he was receiving the people, he left everyone else and advanced to where she was, then an old woman of seventy, and took her in his arms in that public place and said 'Well, Eliza, is this you?'. Afterwards, he dined with Mr. John W. Garrett, and someone said to him, 'Mr. Peabody, I hear that you met your old sweetheart today.' And he said 'Yes', but that it was a subject on which he did not care to talk; that he had had a great many successes in his life, but that that was his greatest disappointment." Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 5-Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17. GP's father's death, May 13, 1811, followed by the Newburyport, Mass., fire, May 31, 1811, led GP at 16 (he clerked in his older brother's store, ruined by the Newburyport fire) to migrate with paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826) to Georgetown, D.C., where they opened a dry good store on May 15, 1812. As a War of 1812 volunteer, GP at 19 met older (age 35) fellow soldier and experienced Georgetown, D.C., merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Riggs in 1814 took GP as junior partner in Riggs & Peabody, which imported dry goods from abroad for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm moved to Baltimore in 1815. See: Great Fire of Newburyport, Mass.(May 31, 1811). Georgetown, D.C. Newburyport, Mass. Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 6- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17 (Cont'd). Early in GP's 22 years in Baltimore (1815-37), after which he moved permanently to London, he supported his mother and younger siblings, paid his deceased father's debts, paid the mortgage on the family home (Danvers, Mass.) to restore it to his mother and siblings, and paid for his younger siblings' schooling at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. See: Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. Riggs, Peabody & Co.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 7- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17 (Cont'd). GP most likely first met Elizabeth Knox during 1815-17. When he asked her father, Samuel Knox, for his daughter's hand in marriage, Samuel Knox thought GP unsuitable economically. In 1817, Elizabeth Knox at age 18 (GP was then age 22) married George Carson, a Baltimore bank teller. George Carson is believed to have died about 1841, after the birth of the couple's fourth child. Elizabeth Carson, in reduced circumstances, managed a boarding house, probably with distant relatives as boarders, at 206 West Lombard St., Baltimore Ref.: Jones. Md. Historical Society's Ref.: Libn. Francis P. O'Neill to authors, Aug. 30, 2001. See: Persons named.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 8-GP's Circumstances, 1857. GP in London from 1837 as head of George Peabody & Co., was a rising broker-banker dealing with American securities In 1838, when he was age 42, he met, fell in love with, and was engaged to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905). Strikingly beautiful and unusually mature at age 19, she was in London for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838). In 1839, having returned to the U.S., she rekindled an earlier love with Alexander Lardner (1808-48) and broke her engagement to GP. She married Alexander Lardner on Oct. 2, 1840. Her portrait by artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872) in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library shows her in all her beauty. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Sully, Thomas. Lardner, Alexander.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 9- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1857 (Cont'd). GP was intensely busy during his first U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19,1857) after nearly 20 years abroad. He added funds to his Peabody Institute Libraries in North and South Danvers, Mass., and was mainly concerned to establish the PIB. He was in Baltimore Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857, during which receptions were held for him by the Md. Historical Society (Jan. 30) and the Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts (Feb. 2).ccccccccc He met with key PIB trustees to plan his Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter. Sometime during Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857, GP, then age 62, made his alleged second marriage proposal to Elizabeth Carson, then 58, when she was a widow in poor circumstances managing a boarding house in Baltimore. The Jones account is that she declined, saying that people would believe she had married GP solely for his money. Ref.: Ibid.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 10-GP's Sister on his Baltimore Receptions. GP's sister, Mrs. Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels (1799-1879), through whom he dispensed family funds, wrote him from Mass. (on Feb. 19, 1857) that the Md. Institute reception (Feb. 2) must have touched him deeply. Among the young ladies he had saluted so "heartily" in Baltimore that night, she teased, "may have been the daughter of...the beautiful [girl] whom as you remarked one day you would have married, if you had been 'silly enough!'" It was a teasing remark with more than a touch of pity. Ref.: Mrs. Judith (née Peabody) Russell, Georgetown, Mass., to GP, Feb. 19, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 11-GP's Sister on His Baltimore Receptions (Cont'd). Judith added, referring indirectly to his 1852 philanthropic motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations" (her underlining): "What...results of good, not only to your contemporaries but to 'future generations,' were pending on that one act of self-denial, practiced by you in the days of youthful romance. Even at this late day, I have given a tear of sympathy for what may be presumed to have been your feelings, when you made the 'wise' decision, and resolved to submit to what you certainly have a right to think a hard lot: and, did I believe that through life you had been less happy, I should most sincerely regret your 'wisdom' spite of generations, present and future--myself and posterity included...." "But my dear brother is not desolate although alone. One affection, at least, deeper, stronger, steadier than that of a wife, clinging to him with a firmer tenacity as age creeps on, and which no circumstances can change, follows him through all his wanderings. And for the children...all the children are his children." See: Daniels, Judith (née Peabody) Russell. Danvers, Mass., Centennial, June 16, 1852.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 12-Comment on Sister Judith's Letter. Judith's letter does not identify Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson or Esther Elizabeth Hoppin or another as "...the beautiful [girl] whom as you remarked one day you would have married, if you had been 'silly enough!" Two other ladies were publicly romantically linked to GP in London during 1852-53: Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (18921-75), niece of U.S. Minister to Britain Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), and Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). GP, then age 58, wrote to an intimate friend: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." See: Romance and GP. Persons named.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 13-GP's Circumstances, 1866. On GP's second busy U.S. visit during May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867, his main concern was to speak at the dedication of the PIB and to found the Peabody Education Fund. In Baltimore he spoke and greeted visitors at the Oct. 25, 1866, PIB dedication, the likely date he allegedly last saw Elizabeth Carson. In Leakin's words: "…he left everyone else…took her in his arms in that public place and said 'Well, Eliza, is this you?'" Leakin's letter stated that Elizabeth Carson, accompanied by his grandmother "came to Baltimore…" Md. Historical Society Ref.: Libn. O'Neill, who found Elizabeth Carson's death notice in York, Pa. (which was connected by rail with Baltimore), conjectured that she lived there with her daughter and son-in-law D.O. Prince from about the mid 1850s to her death. Ref.: O'Neill See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 11-Conclusion. It is doubtful that GP contemplated marriage after 1850. Publicity which accompanied his fame as a philanthropist in the 1860s mounted enormously at his last illness, Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, and unusual transatlantic funeral honors. Some obituary accounts attributed his philanthropic motive as compensation for a lost love. Such stories persisted long after his death. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Romance and GP.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 12-Conclusion (Cont'd.). Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry's (1825-1903) 1898 book, A Brief Sketch of George Peabody, printed an undated letter from the daughter of a business friend of GP. She wrote that when her father congratulated GP on his amazing philanthropy (probably on GP's arrival in NYC, May 1, 1866), GP reportedly replied: "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.
Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 13-Conclusion (Cont'd.). There is documentation in GP's papers about Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, Miss Willcocks, and Elise Tiffany but no direct mention of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson. That alleged romance, which rests on the evidence of J.W. Leakin's letter, is possible and even likely. A PIB Art Gallery catalog listing of an 1840 portrait of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson contains the legend: "Lady to whom G. Peabody twice offered his hand." Ref.: Jones, p. 7. See: persons named. Romance and GP. For location of her portrait, see Ref.: g. Internet, under Peabody Art Collection, Md. State Archives.
Carson, George (d.? 1841). See: Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox), (above).
Broken Engagement
Cass, Lewis (1782-1866). 1-GP's Engagement "thoroughly discussed." Lewis Cass was U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42. Amid the vast publicity on GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London and his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral, the story of GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (R.I., Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth." See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.
Cass, Lewis. 2-Career. Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, N.H.; was a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio; was U.S. marshal for Ohio (1807-12); fought in the War of 1812; was Mich. Territory governor (1813-31); U.S. Secty. of War (1831-36); U.S. Minister to France (1836-42); U.S. Sen. from Mich. (1845-48); and U.S. Secty. of State (1857-60). Ref.: Ibid.
Castle Connell, Limerick, lreland. In June 1867 and in July 1868 GP rented the Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, on the Shannon River, where he liked to fish. MP John Bright (1811-89) was his guest on both occasions. GP's little known unusual gift (amount and date of gift not known) of a stone-based metal railing in front of the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland, has carved on it: "THIS RAILING IS THE GIFT OF GEORGE PEABODY ESQ." See: Bright, John. Ireland.
GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995)
Catto, Rt. Hon. Lord (Sir Stephen Gordon, 1923-), is the former head of the Morgan Grenfell Group banking firm, lineal descendant of George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who participated in the "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869," in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 16, 1995. Lord Catto was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge Univ.; he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Catto (1936); served with the RAF in WW II; and headed Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. (from 1948) and its successor Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group (1980-87). Ref.: New York Times, July 16, 1995, section XIII-CN, p. 17, c. 1. (Career): Seen Dec. 9, 1999: Internet http://www.knowuk.co.uk See: GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Cazenove, Philip (1798-1880), who paid for British artist Henry William Pickersgill's (1782-1875) portrait of GP in the Corporation of London's Guildhall, is listed in Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edn. (1965j), Vol. 1, p. 128, as "of Clapham, Founder of the Girls School at Green Lane and of Bolingbrooke Hospital." Ref.: London Times, April 10, 1866, p. 5, c. 3; and April 11, 1866, p. 5, c. 5. [Cazenove, Philip]. See: Pickersgill, Henry William.
Centennial Celebration, GP's, 1895. For speeches, messages received, and Queen Victoria's cablegram, with sources, see: George Peabody Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1795-1895). Victoria, Queen.
Governor of Maine
Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence (1828-1914), governor of Maine, participated in the Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870, reception of GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch, accompanied by the USS Plymouth, in Portland harbor, Maine. Gov. Chamberlain was born in Brewer, Maine; graduated from Bowdoin College (1852) and attended Bangor Theological Seminary; taught at Bowdoin College (1855-62); was a Lt. Col. in the 20th Maine Infantry; won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863); was promoted to brig. gen. in the field by commanding Gen. U.S. Grant (1822-85) in June 1864; was Maine governor (1867-71); president of Bowdoin College (1871-83); and active in railroads and industry. Ref.: Boatner, p. 135. See: Death and funeral, GP's.
Chamier, Frederick (1796-1870). In his journal U.S. novelist Herman Melville (1819-91) recorded those present, including GP, when in Nov. 1849 he dined at the London home of Weymouth, Mass.-born head of the Baring Brothers banking firm Joshua Bates (1788-1864): "There was a Baron opposite me and a most lovely young girl, a daughter of Captain Chamier, the sea novelist...." See: Melville, Herman.
Chandler, Charles W. (d. Feb. 9, 1882). 1-Married GP's Niece Julia Adelaide Peabody. Charles W. Chandler was principal of the high school in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio (April 1855-June 1865) and interim school superintendent (Jan. 7, 1862-63). He married GP's niece Julia Adelaide (née Peabody, b. April 25, 1835) Chandler (see immediately below) on Oct. 16, `1861, recorded in the Court of Common Pleas Probate Division, 401 Main St., Zanesville, Oh. 43701-3567. She was the daughter of GP's oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841). Ref.: (High school principal): Everhart, pp. 221-222. (Marriage): Tunis.
Chandler, C.W. 2-Named Executor of GP's U.S. Estate. In his last will of Sept. 9, 1869, GP named two executors of his U.S. estates: nephew-in-law Charles W. Chandler and nephew Robert Singleton Peabody (1837-1904), son of GP's sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Daniels (1799-1879). GP left each U.S. executor $5,000 (ƒ1,000). Ref.: Death and Funeral, GP's, 4. See: Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) below. Wills, GP's.
Favorite Niece
Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) (b. April 25, 1835). 1-GP's Niece. During his first U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug 19, 1857) after nearly 20 years' absence as a merchant-banker in London, GP became acquainted with his niece, Julia Adelaide Peabody, then age 21. This daughter of oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) became GP's favorite niece. She lived in Zanesville, Ohio, with her mother, David Peabody's second wife, Mrs. Phebe (née Reynolds) Peabody, went to finishing school in Philadelphia at uncle GP's expense, and married Zanesville, Ohio, lawyer Charles W. Chandler (d. 1882), who was an executor of GP's U.S. estate at GP's death.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 2-Background. In April 1811 David Peabody, oldest in the family of 8, employed GP, then age 16, as clerk in a dry goods shop David and partner Samuel Swett managed on State St., Newburyport, Mass. GP's father's death, May 13, 1811, in debt in Danvers, Mass., plus a devastating fire in Newburyport, May 31, 1811, led GP and paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826), whose store was burned, to sail from Newburyport, May 4, 1812, to Georgetown, D.C., where they opened a dry goods store, May 15, 1812. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 3-Brothers Worked for Riggs, Peabody & Co. GP managed the store, his uncle having gone into other enterprises. GP also served briefly in the War of 1812. He met older fellow soldier and experienced merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), who took GP, then age 19, as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), importers of dry goods from abroad for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm prospered. When Elisha Riggs, Sr., left the firm in 1829 to become a NYC banker, his place was taken by his nephew, Samuel Riggs (d.1853), in the renamed Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48). See: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 4-Brothers Worked for Riggs, Peabody & Co. Cont'd. GP's three brothers occasionally worked for the firm: David Peabody, younger brothers Thomas Peabody (1801-35), and Jeremiah Dodge Peabody (1805-77, who early left the firm to become a farmer in Zanesville, Ohio). Correspondence from family and the firms detailed below indicated that Thomas and to a lesser extent David were improvident, gambled, drank, and were often in debt. Correspondence also indicated that oldest brother David may have been remiss in dealings with GP, but that GP aided financially David's son by his first wife (mentioned below) and daughter Julia Adelaide by his second wife. See: persons named.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 5-GP Paid for Relatives' Schooling. On Jan. 20, 1814, in Newburyport, Mass., David Peabody married Sally Caldwell. She died soon after 1815, leaving a son named after his uncle, George Peabody (1815-32). In Nov. 1816 David transferred to GP, now the main family supporter, title to their late father's mortgaged Danvers, Mass., home. Newburyport lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote to GP Dec. 16, 1816, "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent." By Jan. 1817 GP had paid off his late father's debts and restored his mother and younger siblings to their Danvers home (they had been forced to live separately with Spofford relatives in Salem, Mass.). Ref.: Ebon Mosley, Newburyport, Mass., to GP, Baltimore, Dec. 16, 1816, Peabody Papers, PEM.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 6-GP Paid for Relatives' Schooling Cont'd. GP paid for six of his relatives' schooling at Bradford Academy, Mass., during most of the 1820s, and bought a house for the family in West Bradford. Those who attended Bradford Academy were: 1-youngest born brother Jeremiah Peabody in 1819; 2-fourth born child Judith Dodge Peabody (1799-1879) during 1821-27; 3-seventh born and third of four sisters Mary Gaines Peabody (1807-34) in 1822-23; 4-eighth born and fourth sister Sophronia Phelps Peabody (b.1809) in 1827; 5-young cousin Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814, paternal uncle John Peabody's son) during 1827-29; and 6-nephew George Peabody (1815-32, oldest brother David's son who sadly died of scarlet fever at age 17) in 1827. Ref.: (David Peabody married Sally Caldwell): Vital Records...Newburyport, Mass. ...to...1849, Vol. II, p. 360. See: Bradford Academy. Persons named.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 7-Nephew Asked for Aid for College. David's son named after GP wrote to ask if his uncle would help him financially to attend Yale College. GP, back in London after a 15-month commercial buying trip in Europe, replied positively on May 18, 1831. Perhaps the cultural scenes he briefly glimpsed on his commercial travels induced the following poignant letter that helps explain GP's later philanthropy.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 8-"Deprived, as I was." GP wrote his nephew (his underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me." Sadly this nephew died Sept. 24, 1832, in Boston of scarlet fever, his potential unfulfilled. Ref.: GP, London, to nephew George Peabody, May 18, 1831, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 9-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers. In Jan. and Feb. 1827 Elisha Riggs, Sr., then GP's senior partner, wrote in confidence to GP, then working out of Baltimore for the firm, of serious difficulties with younger brother Thomas Peabody and some irritations from oldest brother David Peabody. "My whole time," Elisha Riggs, Sr., wrote to GP, "was employed late & early in attending to various business, While I was also much trouble[d] in Mind, as to what course to take with Thomas P[eabody] who I had nearly lost confidence in, and had to be attentive to every thing in the way of business myself, as but little appeared to be done as it should be without my personal attention." See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 10-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers Cont'd.: "I have caused Thomas to remove from his old boarding place to Mr. Devens where I board. [H]e has been here about three days. [H]e promises to be regular in his habits for the future and is generally in the house of nights in good time--As I often have writing for him to do in my room. I have paid all his debts of borrowed money, taylors, shoe bills, etc., with the exception of about 150$ which he borrowed he says of Brokers & Lotter [lottery, i.e. gambling] men, of which David Peabody was also bound. This I told him I would not pay at present. I keep a strick eye over him as well as my business will allow me to do--And have assured him, that if he ever acted again as he has done, that I would certainly get another Clerk--I have taken great pains and talked with him very carefully as to the consequences of his conduct--he appears penitent and I hope will keep his promise hereafter." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 11-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers Cont'd.: "I have acted the part of a good friend toward him in every respect, which he appears to feel and acknowledge. A short time will enable him to see and determine--I understand from Thomas that David is now employed in a lottery office. He is occasionally in the Store...." Riggs ended with: "This letter is written in haste for yourself only, as I have never mentioned to any person except yourself anything about T.P. [Thomas Peabody]. You will therefore destroy this letter...." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 12-GP's Mother Ill. Often in financial trouble, David in NYC wrote brother Thomas in Baltimore that he needed money. Thomas replied, Nov. 18, 1828, that he was without a job and could do nothing. Four days later GP sent Thomas $15 which Thomas sent to David. Thomas sought better prospects in South America. He wrote older brother David from Lima, Peru, April 30, 1830, that he was working there as bookkeeper for Alsop, Wetmore & Co.'s agent, that their brother GP was about to sail for England on his second European commercial buying trip (1831-32, 15 months), and that their mother, in poor health, was living with recently married daughter Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh in Lockport, N.Y. On April 30, 1830, Mary wrote David in NYC that their mother was still in poor health, that she had the ague followed by a high intermittent fever. Caleb Marsh (b.1800) also wrote David that mother Peabody was seriously ill and that he did not think she would recover. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 13-GP's Mother Died, June 22, 1830. On June 25, 1830, Mary wrote David that their mother had died on June 22, 1830, a month short of her sixtieth year. David forwarded Mary's letter about their mother's death to GP by the next ship bound for England. He added to GP, in a postscript to Mary's letter: "The above I just recd in time to forward by the Canada [ship]--which sails in an hour. I should have gone to Lockport a month since if it had been in my power to have paid the expense of the journey. Yrs. truly, D. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 14-Thomas Peabody Ill and Unemployed. Thomas Peabody was ill in Lima, Peru; gave up his job there; worked his way back to the U.S. as a ship's clerk, and lost that job when a new crew was hired. GP was out of the country on a European buying trip when Thomas landed in Baltimore without work. He wrote David in NYC: "George being out of the country my necessity for employment is very great & for the present I would be willing to take up with almost any situation." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 15-Thomas Peabody's Death, 1835. Peabody family letters hint at rather than detail Thomas Peabody's misdemeanors. He had evidently wronged brother David and begged to be forgiven. Thomas Peabody died April 16, 1835, the day before his thirty-fourth birthday. He had been operating a school and had gone to pay some debts in Buffalo, N.Y. Not having enough money to meet his obligations and overcome with remorse and shame, he died in circumstances not specified in family letters. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 16-Thomas Peabody's Death, 1835 Cont'd. GP, then in Europe, had the sad news in an April 20, 1835, letter, from his brother-in-law, Dr. Eldridge Gerry Little, a physician, married to GP's youngest sister Sophronia Phelps (née Peabody) Little (b.1809). Dr. Little wrote to GP: "It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of Thomas. He died in Buffalo on the 16th inst. a victim of his own vices." Four months later sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell in her Aug. 23, 1835, letter to GP, referred to Thomas as their "poor misguided brother." She also relayed news that oldest brother David had married again. He met his second wife when he boarded at her home in Brookline, near Boston, Mass. David and his new family moved to Zanesville, Ohio, where youngest brother Jeremiah had settled on a farm. Maybe, Judith added about David, having a wife again might teach him economy. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 17-GP and Niece Julia, 1856-57. During his 1856-57 U.S. visit GP was busy visiting friends, being honored, fêted, seeing after his institute library in what is now Peabody, Mass., founding a branch library in what is now Danvers, Mass., founding the PIB (Feb. 12, 1857), traveling to see vast changes in the U.S. since his 20-year absence abroad. He was in Zanesville, Ohio, Nov. 1856 with brother Jeremiah's family and became acquainted with niece Julia Adelaide, age 21. He overcame her mother's initial doubts about sending Julia to a finishing school in Philadelphia at his expense. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 18-With Julia in Philadelphia, 1857. GP was in Philadelphia Jan. 10-18, 1857, partly to sit for a portrait in artist James Read Lambdin's (1807-89) Philadelphia studio, partly to be with niece Julia Adelaide, then attending finishing school in Philadelphia. With GP in Philadelphia was Baltimorean and PIB trustee Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93). Eaton, an art collector, was keen to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Artist James Read Lambdin, its director, took the group to visit the art gallery. GP preferred to sit and wait while the others toured the gallery. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 19-"Julia will be a solace to your declining years." On May 20, 1857, sister Judith wrote GP from her home in Georgetown, Mass. She was glad he had taken Julia under his wing, sent her to school in Philadelphia, and had someone to lavish his affections on. She recalled how often Julia's father David, their deceased brother, had been jobless and in debt, how GP had time and again aided David and all the family. "I trust," she wrote, "that Julia will be a solace to your declining years, and by her affection, wipe away the remembrance of the wrongs you have received from her father." Ref.: Mrs. Judith (née Peabody) Russell, Georgetown, Mass., to GP, May 20, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 20-Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, April 1857, published an extensive, laudatory account of GP's life, rise in business, saving Md.'s credit abroad, and philanthropic gifts. The article, reprinted in pamphlet form, was widely circulated. Niece Julia Adelaide had a copy, wrote to tell GP that all her friends said he was quite handsome and that she was making a miniature painting of the GP frontispiece picture. She asked in her letter, "Will 'somebody' please send me a lock of his hair." Ref.: Julia Adelaide Peabody, Zanesville, Ohio, to GP, April 30, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 21-GP & Niece Julia Visit Yale College. In July 1857 GP took Julia with him to New Haven, Conn., to visit Yale College, where nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), son of GP's deceased younger sister Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh, was studying science. While there he had a visit from science Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Sr. (1779-1864). Neither man could foresee that nine years later GP would endow Peabody museums at Harvard and Yale Universities. Ref.: "George Peabody-a."
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 22-Panic of 1857. Having Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner in George Peabody & Co., London, from Oct. 1, 1854, freed GP for his 1856-57 U.S. visit. J.S. Morgan wrote GP frequently about business affairs. On Jan. 30, 1857, Morgan alerted GP to a brewing financial panic: "The drawing upon us for the last two or three mails have been very heavy and the look of our financial business is anything but encouraging for it." Morgan warned GP again on Feb. 27 and Apr. 9: "These are times when we must keep a sharp lookout. We are in a good position and must keep so." See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 23-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. On April 11 GP's cousin Joseph Peabody wrote from NYC of a Paris firm (Greene & Co.) "obliged to suspend...." Alarmed, J.S. Morgan wrote GP, April 17, that money was stringent, and the specie of the Bank of England were down to nine million, "the lowest point in ten years." GP hurriedly left NYC for London on Aug. 19, 1857. He found that hundreds of U.S. and British firms had collapsed, that Lawrence, Stone and Co. of Boston, which owed him a large sum, could not repay him, that Baring Brothers of London were pressing George Peabody & Co. for £150,000 ($750,000) owed them. George Peabody & Co. was in trouble. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 24-GP to Julia about the Panic. On Nov. 13, 1857, GP wrote of his distress to niece Julia Adelaide Peabody: "This letter I promised to write you has been postponed because of my constant engagements and the unparalleled gloom of the Panic. What will happen, Heaven only knows. Lack of confidence and distrust is universal here and in the United States. I hope my house will weather the storm. I think it will do so even though so many in debt to me cannot pay. If I fail I will bear it like a man. In my conscience I know I never deceived or injured any other human being." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 25-GP to Julia about the Panic Cont'd : "It is less than three months since I left you in the United States, prosperous and happy. Now all is gloom and affliction. Nearly all the American houses in Europe have suspended operations and nothing but great strength can save them. It is the loss of credit of my house I fear. In any circumstances, only a small part of my private fortune will be lost. I will have enough for all my required purposes." GP held this letter for some weeks, determined not to worry his niece and to secure a Bank of England loan. Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 26-Bank of England Loan. Gathering his assets, GP anxiously applied for a $4 million loan from the Bank of England. While the Bank of England considered the loan request, some financiers, seeing an opportunity to force GP out of business, approached GP's partner J.S. Morgan and said that they would guarantee the loan if George Peabody & Co. ceased business in London. Second PEF administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903) later wrote that GP raged like a wounded lion "and told Mr. Morgan to reply that he dared them to cause his failure." The Bank of England made the loan, enabling GP to satisfy his creditors, and by March 30, 1858, GP was able to repay the Bank of England. On April 16, 1858, GP wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), "My business is again quite snug. ....Our credit...stands as high as ever before." Ref.: Ibid.
Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody).
11 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook....
11 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below this 11 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: U.S. Ministers. 4 to Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-92). 1.
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
U.S. Ministers. 4-Goodwill in Md. and Abroad. GP's faith that Md. and other states would resume bond interest payments bore fruit in 1847-48. The depression eased. Md. and the other repudiating states resumed bond interest payments. On March 7, 1848, the Md. legislature recognized GP's service and passed unanimous resolutions of praise for his financial help. GP was sent these resolutions with Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas's (1810-90) cover letter to GP saying: "To you, sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 5-GP Praised. The London correspondent of the NYC Courier & Enquirer wrote: "...the energetic influence of the Anti-Repudiators would never have been heard in England had not Mr. George Peabody...made it a part of his duty to give to the holders of the Bonds every information in his power, and to point out...the certainty of Maryland resuming [payment].... He...had the moral courage to tell his countrymen the contempt [because of repudiation] with which all Americans were viewed.... [He is] a merchant of high standing...but also an uncompromising denouncer of chicanery in every shape." Ref.: Ibid. See: Speed, John Joseph.
U.S. Ministers. 6-Successful American Firm in London. Asked three months before his death (Aug. 22, 1869) when and how he made his money, GP said: "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly." During 1837-mid-1840s GP was in transition from merchant to securities broker and international banker. Ref.: Letter from Dr. John Jennings Moorman, M.D., resident physician, Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., quoted in Baltimore Sun, Dec. 2, [1869], copy in news clipping album, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Moorman-b, pp. 15-17.
U.S. Ministers. 7-Proud of His Firm. The success of his London banking firm, George Peabody & Co. (begun Dec. 1838), allowed GP to emerge socially and philanthropically. On a U.S. visit he told a hometown (South Danvers, Mass.) audience of 1,500 on Oct. 9, 1856: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish...a house in a great metropolis of England.... I have endeavored...to make it an American house; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting England." See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
U.S. Ministers. 8-Serving Visiting Americans. U.S. visitors passing through London increasingly sought letters of introduction to GP. Besides banking services, he got for them theater and opera tickets, gave corsages to their ladies, and helped them contact British leaders. His little noted first U.S.-British friendship dinner began simply in 1850. The next year his social and philanthropic emergence came about from his loan to U.S. exhibitors in financial difficulty at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, and his two U.S.-British friendship dinners that followed, both connected with this first world's fair. See: U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence, below, fourth of the ten GP-connected U.S. Ministers in London.
GP & Andrew Stevenson (1784-1857), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1836-41
U.S. Ministers. 9-U.S. Minister Andrew Stevenson. GP had no known direct contact with Va.-born Andrew Stevenson, a lawyer, Va. House of Delegates member and its Speaker, Va.'s Representative in the U.S. Congress (1821-34) and its Speaker during 1828-34, U.S. Minister to Great Britain (1836-41), and finally rector of the Univ. of Va. (1841-57).
U.S. Ministers. 10-Freedom of the City of London. GP and Andrew Stevenson had only one known indirect connection. Andrew Stevenson was the first U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London on Feb. 22, 1838. He declined the honor as being inconsistent with his official duties. GP was the second U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London and its first recipient on July 10, 1862.
U.S. Ministers. 11-Freedom of the City of London, Five U.S. Recipients. Besides 1-GP, the other four U.S. citizens who received the Freedom of London included 2-Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-85), second recipient, awarded June 15, 1877 (U.S. general and 18th U.S. president during 1869-77). 3-Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), third recipient, awarded May 31, 1910 (26th U.S. president during 1901-09). 4-U.S. Gen. John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948), fourth recipient, awarded July 18, 1919. 5-Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), fifth recipient, awarded June 12, 1945 (U.S. general and 34th U.S. president during 1953-61). See: London, Freedom of the City of London. Persons named.
GP & Edward Everett (1794-1865), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1841-45
U.S. Ministers. 12-Career. Edward Everett was a U.S. clergyman, educator, statesman, and an acclaimed orator of his time. He was born in Dorchester, Mass.; was a Harvard graduate (B.A., 1811, M.A., 1814); one of the first U.S. scholars to study at Göttingen Univ., Germany; was Harvard professor of Greek literature (1819-26); member, U.S. House of Representatives (1824-34); Mass. governor (1836-39); U.S. Minister to Britain (1841-45); Harvard Univ. president (1846-49); U.S. Secty. of State (1852-53); and U.S. Senator (1853-54). His two hour speech as principal speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863, is largely forgotten while Pres. Abraham Lincoln's short address became famous. Ref.: Boatner, p. 268.
U.S. Ministers. 13-Edward Everett-GP Indirect Contact, 1852. Edward Everett was one of several prominent Mass. statesmen who sent congratulatory letters to Danvers, Mass., citizens, June 16, 1852, on the celebration of its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass. Invited to Danvers' centennial celebration but unable to attend, GP wrote from London, May 26, 1852, a letter read to those assembled by GP's boyhood classmate John Waters Proctor (1791-1874). GP's letter contained a $20,000 check for his first Peabody Institute of South Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody April 13, 1868), first of a total of $217,600 to that institute library. With his letter and check was his sentiment: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." See: Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration, June 16, 1852. Persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 14-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech. Four years later Edward Everett spoke at the Oct. 9, 1856, celebration honoring GP in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass. The celebration came during GP's May 1, 1856 to May 1, 1857 U.S. visit, his first return in nearly 20 years since he left for London in Feb. 1837. After Mass. Gov. Henry J. Gardner's (1818-92) short speech, Edward Everett said (in part): "While in England I had the opportunity to witness Mr. Peabody's honorable position in commerce and social circles.... When American credit stood low and the individual states defaulted their trust, our friend stood firm and was the cause of firmness in others. When few would be listened to on the subject of American securities in the parlor of the Bank of England, his judgment commanded respect; his integrity won back trust in America. He performed the miracle by which the word of an honest man turns paper into gold." See: Everett, Edward.
U.S. Ministers. 15-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "He promoted the enjoyment of travelling Americans as so many here can attest. The United States Minister in England, with little funds, could not bring together Americans and Englishmen and women in convivial friendship. Our honored guest, with ample means, corrected this defect. At the first world's fair in London, 1851, the exhibitors of other nations went officially supplied with funds to display their nation's wares. The American exhibitors found a large place to fill naked and unadorned. At the critical moment when the English press ridiculed the sorry appearance we presented, our friend stepped forward and did what Congress should have done. Our products were shown at their best. Leading British journalists admitted that England derived more benefit from the contributions of the United States than from any other country." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 16-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "Time and again he brought together men of two nations to drink from loving cups of goodwill. These are some reasons we welcome to old Danvers one of her greatest sons. (Great cheering.) "When on the 16th of June, 1852, Danvers celebrated its one hundredth year of separate existence our friend sent a slip of paper containing a noble sentiment. Now a slip of paper can easily be blown away. So, as a paperweight, to keep the toast safe on the table to repay his debt, Mr. Peabody laid down $20,000 and has since doubled it." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 17-Edward Everett on GP's Harvard Gift. GP consulted Edward Everett among others about a philanthropic gift to Harvard Univ. GP's first gift idea for Harvard in 1861 was an astronomical observatory. He discussed this idea in letters to Francis Peabody (1801-68) of Salem, Mass., William Henry Appleton (1814-84) of Boston, and with Edward Everett (former Harvard president during 1846-49). Everett thought Harvard needed a "School of Design" [i.e., art], more than an astronomical observatory. GP's Harvard gift idea went through a third change, from astronomical observatory to Edward Everett's suggested School of Design or art, to a museum for archaeology and ethnology, largely through the influence of GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99). See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
U.S. Ministers. 18-Harvard Gift Influenced by Nephew O.C. Marsh. GP had paid for nephew O.C. Marsh's education through Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Yale College, and Yale's graduate Sheffield Scientific School. During 1862-65 GP paid for Marsh's doctoral study at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Breslau, Germany; paid for Marsh's library of paleontology books, and for shipment of two and a half tons of fossil bones sent to Yale where Marsh became the first U.S. paleontology professor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 19-Marsh on GP's Science Gifts to Harvard and Yale. Marsh spoke with uncle GP in London in Oct. 1862 about new scientific findings, about Charles Darwin, evolution, and European scientists Marsh had talked to. Marsh, turning uncle GP's thoughts toward science gifts for Harvard and Yale, described these talks in letters to his mentor, Yale Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr. (1816-85): "I had a long talk with Mr. P. in regard to his future plans and donations.... I will tell you confidentially that Harvard will have her usual good fortune. So many of our family have been educated at Harvard that he naturally felt a greater interest in that institution than in Yale, of which I am the only representative. I can assure you, however, that I did [not] allow the claims of my Alma Mater to be forgotten...and I have strong hopes that she may yet be favored although nothing is as yet definitely arranged. The donation to H. [Harvard] is a large one and for a School of Design...." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 20-Peabody Museums of Harvard and Yale Universities. GP visited the U.S. during May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, consulted further with knowledgeable friends and founded the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (Oct. 8, 1866), the Peabody Museum of Natural Science at Yale Univ. (Oct. 22, 1866), $150,000 each, and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 26, 1867, $140,000) for maritime history and Essex County historical depository. Ref.: Ibid.
GP & George Bancroft (1800-91), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1846-49
U.S. Ministers. 21-Career. George Bancroft was also a distinguished U.S. historian, author of the History of the United States, 10 volumes published during 1834-74. While GP had no known contact with George Bancroft as U.S. Minister, he had friendly relations with George Bancroft's nephew, John Chandler Bancroft Davis (1822-1907), Secty. of the U.S. legation in London during 1849-54. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 22-Contact with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis. GP sometimes dined with J.C.B. Davis, born in Worcester, Mass., and Davis's Harvard College classmate, Vt.-born Henry Stevens (1819-86), rare book dealer, resident in London, who later acted as GP's agent in book shipments to Peabody Institute libraries. Davis and Stevens lived for some years in the same Morley's Hotel, London. On Nov. 24, 1849, Davis, Stevens, and GP dined at the home in East Sheen, near London, of Joshua Bates (1788-1854), born in Weymouth, Mass., who went to London in the early 1800s. Bates, who became agent, partner (at age 38), and head of Baring Brothers, became a naturalized British subject, was the most prominent U.S.-born financier in London in the 1840s, and GP's friendly business rival. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 23-Dinner with Herman Melville. Joshua Bates's dinner guest of honor was U.S. author Herman Melville (1819-91), who later wrote Moby Dick (1851). Melville was in London, on his only trip abroad, to market his manuscript, White Jacket. They talked in part about Melville's older brother Gansvoort Melville (1815-46), former U.S. legation secretary who died two years before and whom those present had known. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 24-Dinner with Herman Melville Cont'd. Melville's journal mentions meeting GP: "On my right was Mr. Peabody, an American for many years resident in London, a merchant, & a very fine old fellow of fifty or thereabouts." Melville continued: "I had intended to remain over night...but Peabody invited me to accompany him to town in his carriage. I went with him, along with Davis, the Secty. of Legation.... Mr. Peabody was well acquainted with Gansevoort when he was here. He saw him not long before his end. He told me that Gansevoort rather shunned society when here. He spoke of him with such feeling." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1849-52
U.S. Ministers. 25-Career. Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) was born in Groton, Mass. With his brother Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), he started cotton textile mills in Lowell, Mass., and in Lawrence, Mass. (named after him). As a statesman he was a member of the U.S. Congress (1835-37, 1839-40) and served on the Northeast Boundary Commission (1842). He also gave $50,000 to found the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard Univ. (1840s). GP had extended contact with U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence during the Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 26-Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The idea for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London originated with Henry Cole (1808-82), member of the Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art), who had arranged several industrial and art expositions. The idea occurred to him in 1848 for a first world's fair, with each nation showing its best industrial and art products. Knowing that such a large enterprise needed royal sponsorship, Cole turned to Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria's husband and president of the Society of Art. German-born Prince Albert nurtured the idea to reality. A Royal Commission (Jan. 3, 1850) helped raise funds, issued contracts, and invited the world's nations to participate. Joseph Paxton (1801-65) designed the striking glass-covered Crystal Palace in Hyde Park to house the exhibits and the Exhibition. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 27-U.S. Exhibitors Without Funds to Adorn U.S. Pavilion. The U.S. Congress appointed nonpaid commissioners who selected U.S. industrial and art objects to exhibit. Congress also authorized the U.S. Navy's St. Lawrence to transport U.S. products and exhibitors to Southampton, England (Feb. 1851). But Congress did not appropriate funds to adorn the large (40,000 sq. ft.) U.S. pavilion. Crates strewn about the unadorned pavilion provoked the satirical Punch to poke fun at "the glaring contrast between large pretensions and little performance...by America." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 28-Dilemma. The London correspondent of the New York Evening Post called it "a national disgrace that American wares...are so barely displayed; so vulgarly spread out over so large a space." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) and his legation staff had no funds to decorate the U.S. exhibit and knew it might take months for Congress to appropriate funds, if at all. Hearing of the lack of funds to decorate the U.S. pavilion, GP, then comparatively little known, quietly offered, through a polite note to Minister Lawrence, a loan of $15,000. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 29-GP's Loan. U.S. exhibitors, U.S. residents in London, the legation staff, and especially Minister Lawrence were relieved of embarrassment and grateful to GP. Partly through GP's loan, which Congress repaid three years later, over six million visitors to the first world's fair saw displayed to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The U.S. items most talked about were Alfred C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 30-GP's Proposed July 4, 1851, Dinner. With so many visiting Americans in London and in the international spirit of the Great Exhibition, GP proposed to give a U.S.-British friendship dinner. He chose July 4, 1851, U.S. Independence Day, which would appeal to Americans, but not to some disdainful British. GP's motive for the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to improve U.S.-British relations. Criticism of the U.S. in London newspapers saddened him, as did anti-British reports in U.S. newspapers. He was painfully aware of past strained relations. It had been 10 years since the U.S.-British dispute over the Maine boundary, 37 years since the War of 1812, 75 years since the American Revolution. Wondering if British society would attend his July 4th dinner, GP sounded out Minister Abbott Lawrence, who discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 31-"the fashionables...do not wish to attend this Ball." On June 26, 1851, Minister Lawrence, finding a wary reaction to the idea, warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 32-Duke of Wellington. Prospects looked dim. But GP thought his dinner might succeed if a distinguished British hero was guest of honor. Through friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), then England's greatest living hero. The man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." When it was known that the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington would attend, British society followed. GP's Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner succeeded enormously. See: Lawrence, Abbott. Wellington, Duke of.
U.S. Ministers. 33-Eight Hundred at Dinner. The July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's. GP hired a professional master of ceremonies, a Mr. Mitchell of Bond St. On either end of the spacious ballroom were portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington. Flowers were tastefully arranged. English and U.S. flags were skillfully blended. More than a thousand guests came and went that evening. Eight hundred sat down to dinner. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 34-Distinguished Guests. Present were several MPs, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Thomson Hankey (1805-93), the Bank of England's junior governor; Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist; Joseph Paxton of Crystal Palace fame; and other English nobility. An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles in cut-glass chandeliers. At 11 p.m. as the Duke of Wellington entered, the band struck up "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, and escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 35-Good Press. The London Times reported that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour. The same article referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper had a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. Even the aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 36-"more than regal entertainment." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, gushing with pride and thanks, wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London." Lawrence went on: "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception...." Lawrence concluded: "I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 37-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, U.S. commissioner to the Great Exhibition Charles F. Stansbury and other exhibitors, about to return to the U.S., invited GP to be guest of honor at a farewell dinner. He gratefully declined on Oct. 11, said they had overestimated his services, added that his 15 years in London had erased sectional and political difference and that he did what he could to further the U.S. as a whole. This invitation may have prompted his own Oct. 27, 1851, dinner to the departing exhibitors. It was grander and better received than his July 4, 1851, dinner. He also had the proceedings and speeches recorded, printed, and beautifully bound copies selectively distributed to U.S. and British officials. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 38-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as American ambassador had met friends to discuss American colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 39-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851," was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and gave the first toast to, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood as the band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose while Hail Columbiawas played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. After U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted, the band played Yankee Doodle. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 40-Minister Lawrence's Speech. U.S. Minister Lawrence spoke of the many ties binding the U.S. and Britain. He praised Sir Joseph Paxton, "The man...who...[planned] a building such as the world never saw before." He praised Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson-Gower, 1815-91), who had "the skill and enterprise to execute the plan." He praised Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1801-72), British ambassador to the U.S. Minister Lawrence said to the departing exhibitors: "We came out of the Exhibition better than was first anticipated.... You will take leave of this country...impressed with the high values of the Exhibition...in the full belief that you have received every consideration." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 41-Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton's Response. Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, grasping the hand of Abbott Lawrence, said: "I clasp your hand as that of a friend and claim it as that of a brother. [Cheers] The idea of this Great Exhibition...was...to collect...the mind of the whole world, so that each nation might learn and appreciate the character and intelligence of the other." "You live under a Republic," he said to the Americans, "and we under a Monarchy, but what of that? The foundations of both societies are law and religion: the purpose of both governments is liberty and order." "Hand in hand," he concluded, "we can stand together...the champions of peace between nations, of conciliation between opinions." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 42-GP's Concluding Speech. Ending the festivities, GP stood and when the cheers subsided, said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 43-Press Reports. The New York Times gave two full columns to the dinner. Another NYC newspaper stated: "George Peabody's dinners were timed just right. For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London with a host of American and English friends, brings them together. The thing works and...elicits applause and appreciation from both the American and English press." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 44-Haddock's Report. Great Exhibition participant Charles B. Haddock's (1796-1861) letter in a New Hampshire newspaper read: "Mr. Peabody's dinner to the departing Americans had several good effects. (1) It highlighted American achievement at the Exhibition; (2) brought George Peabody into notice; (3) raised Abbott Lawrence's esteem as United States Minister to England. "It is something to have sent to the Exhibition the best plough, the best reaping machine, the best revolvers--something to have outdone the proudest naval people in the world, in fast sailing and fast steaming, in her own waters.... Moreover, it is a great pride for America to have George Peabody and Abbott Lawrence in England who represent the best of America and uphold its worth and integrity." Haddock referred to the U.S. yacht America, which won the 1851 international yacht race, defeating the English yacht Baltic in British waters. The first prize (a silver tankard) has since been known as America's Cup. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 45-Dinner Proceedings Book. GP commissioned Henry Stevens to compile, print, and distribute a handsome book with the dinner menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches. Born in Barnet, Vt., a graduate of Yale College (1841) and Harvard Law School, Henry Stevens went to London in July 1845 and remained there for the rest of his life as a rare book dealer and bibliographer. He bought U.S. books for the British Museum and sold British books to U.S. libraries. Stevens had 50 copies printed and bound in cloth by Nov. 25, 1851, and sent copies to departing U.S. exhibitors. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 46-Copy to U.S. Pres. Fillmore. Through U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, GP gave a copy printed on vellum to Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74). Pres. Fillmore acknowledged receipt and wrote to Abbott Lawrence: "From all I have heard of Mr. Peabody, he is one of those 'Merchant Princes' who does equal honor to the land of his birth and the country of his adoption. This dinner must have been a most grateful treat to our American citizens and will long be remembered by the...guests...he entertained as one of the happiest days of their lives.... The banquet shows that he still recollects his native land with fond affection, and it may well be proud of him." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 47-Copies Sent to Dignitaries. U.S. Minister Lawrence also sent copies on vellum to Prince Albert, The Duke of Wellington, and Lord Granville. Lawrence wrote to GP: "I have a note from Colonel Grey [Charles Grey, 1804-70], the Secretary of Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of your beautiful volume with expressions of thanks to you for it, from his Royal Highness." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence's son, after sending copies to Boston dignitaries, wrote to GP that the book was "much talked of in Boston and has been greatly praised." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 48-"quite a public character." GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) wrote his uncle from Harvard, where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact, you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 49-GP's Gift to the Md. Institute. Praise of GP's London dinners appeared in Baltimore newspapers. This publicity may have prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make him an honorary member. After GP read a newspaper report of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry, he wrote the Md. Institute's Pres. William H. Keighler, Oct. 31, 1851, enclosing a $1,000 gift for the chemistry school "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." This (still) little known gift began his educational philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 50-First Peabody Institute Library. The next year, June 1852, when his hometown of Danvers, Mass., celebrated its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass., GP, who could not attend, sent his first check to found his first Peabody Institute Library (now in Peabody, Mass.) accompanied by a motto, "Education--a debt due from present to future generations." To Washington, D.C., friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who had written to GP, GP answered: "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman. However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 51-GP's Emergence. GP early told a few intimates of his intent to found an educational institution in towns and cities where he lived, worked or visited relatives. Public praise for his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and praise for his two Exhibition-connected dinners furthered that determination. In 1851 GP emerged socially as sponsor of U.S.-British friendship dinners (mainly on July 4, U.S. Independence Day), and as a philanthropist in the U.S. and in Britain. In the 1860s he was the best known philanthropist of his time. Ref.: Ibid.
Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1852-53
U.S. Ministers. 52-Oct. 12, 1852, Introduced Minister Ingersoll. Joseph Reed Ingersoll was U.S. Minister to Britain one year, 1852-53 (commissioned, Aug. 21, 1852; arrived in London Sept. 30, 1852; presented his credentials, Oct. 16, 1852; and relieved Aug. 23, 1853). GP gave a dinner in London on Oct. 12, 1852, to introduce incoming Minister Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). The dinner also honored the departing U.S. Minister to Britain, Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). Guests included Joshua Bates, head of the Baring Brothers (mentioned in connection with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis above), and Russell Sturgis (1805-87), another U.S-born London resident merchant-banker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 53-Courtesies to Ingersoll. GP's dinner enabled the Ingersolls to meet U.S. residents in London and prominent Britishers. GP's gifts of apples and tea, use of his opera box, and U.S.-British friendship dinners earned Minister Ingersoll's thanks in a letter on June 16, 1853: "I do but echo the general sentiment, in expressing to you the feelings of regard and esteem which you have inspired." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 54-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll. GP's May 18, 1853, dinner provided more contact with London society for U.S. Minister J.R. Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Wilcocks. The dinner was held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames. The 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans) included Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62). He later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" in 1853 by GP with Martin Van Buren (1782-1862, eighth U.S. Pres., 1837-41) and "many very distinguished persons" present. A band and vocalists began and ended the dinner with the British and U.S. national anthems. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 55-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. After the sumptuous meal GP expressed his pleasure at bringing together U.S. and British friends. Minister Ingersoll then gave the toasts: "The Queen: the President of the United States: and the people of the United States and the United Kingdom: the two great nations, whose common origin, mutual interests and growing friendships, serve to cement a union created by resemblance in language, liberty, religion and law." Ingersoll's speech that followed his toasts contained complimentary references to former U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren and to GP. These references evoked cheers. Pres. Van Buren rose and paid respects to the occasion and to GP as host. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 56-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. GP's friend, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) rose to speak. A few years later he would help GP plan the Peabody apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862, $2.5 million total gift). McIlvaine said, referring to GP's British-U.S. dinners: "When history should come to be written, and due weight should be given to all the influences which tend to perpetuate international concord, if history should consent to notice incidents apparently so trifling as social festivities and the interchange of friendly greetings, it would assign...a very high place to their host as one who had done very much in this way to promote mutual knowledge and goodwill between the people of the two great nations who were there represented." The dinner and speeches received favorable transatlantic press coverage. What the dinner cost GP is not known, but one bill, only part of the total, was about $940. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 57-Partner-to-be Junius Spencer Morgan Present. Also present at this GP dinner honoring Minister J.R. Ingersoll were Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) and Mrs. Morgan. Because GP was often ill, business friends had long urged him to take an American partner to give continuity to George Peabody & Co. Friends recommended J.S. Morgan as a likely partner of great probity, experienced in dry-goods importing and knowledgeable about securities and banking. GP and Morgan had been in correspondence about a possible partnership. The J.S. Morgans and their 16-year-old son, John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), had come to London expressly to look into the possible partnership. The May 18, 1853, dinner allowed GP and Morgan to take each other's measure in a social setting. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 58-Young J.P. Morgan. Young J.P. Morgan, who was not at the dinner, wrote to his cousin that night, "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." GP and J.S. Morgan were both favorably impressed. The Morgans returned to Boston. J.S. Morgan visited U.S. firms with which George Peabody & Co. did business. Morgan decided to accept. He made another trip to London to examine the company books. The partnership took effect the next year, Oct. 1, 1854 (through Oct. 1, 1864). Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 59-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany. Contact with Minister J.R. Ingersoll also brought speculation of a possible romance with Ingersoll's niece, Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks, a Philadelphia belle who lived with her uncle after the early death of her parents. Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Miss Wilcocks and another lady, Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 60-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. The Tiffanys had been invited to the May 18, 1853, dinner for the Ingersolls but Elise would not go. Her brother George Tiffany explained in a letter to GP: "Elise knows the entertainment is to the American Minister and Miss Wilcocks. The thing is impossible. Her trunks will not pack, nor her Bills pay.... As to the Scotch trip of a couple of weeks, Elise counts upon your making that sacrifice as a balm to her wounded feelings, caused by the various reports all through the winter." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 61-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper wrote about a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show...." GP, then age 58, denied any matrimonial intentions in a letter to Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran. GP wrote: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & James Buchanan, (1791-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1853-56
U.S. Ministers. 62-Career. James Buchanan was born in Mercersberg, Pennsylvania, was a lawyer, U.S. Congressman (1821-31); U. S. Minister to Russia (1832-33), U. S. Senator (1834-45); U. S. Secty. of State (1845-49); U. S. Minister to Britain (1853-56); and the 15th U. S. president during 1857-61. New Minister Buchanan appointed as U.S. Legation Secty. the controversial Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), who provoked an unfortunate incident, the Sickles Affair. A super patriot at a time of U.S. jingoism, Sickles, objecting to GP's toast to the Queen before a toast to the U.S. President, refused to stand, walked out at GP's July 4, 1854, dinner, and accused GP in the press of "toadying" to the British. See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
U.S. Ministers. 63-Incoming Legation Secty. Sickles. In 1853 before he arrived in London, Sickles wrote GP to reserve rooms for himself, wife, and baby, a courtesy service George Peabody & Co. did for visiting Americans. GP consulted Sickles and others about his planned July 4, 1854, Independence Day banquet. Sickles suggested that it be a subscription dinner and that he, Sickles, arrange it. GP insisted on paying for the dinner as usual but let Sickles help select guests, send invitations, and help plan the entertainment. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 64-Walk-Out, July 4, 1854, Dinner. As was the custom, GP first toasted Queen Victoria as British head of state and secondly the U.S. President. Sickles, an ultra-patriot, was enraged that the Queen should be toasted before the U.S. President. Considering this a national insult, Sickles sat while the other 149 guests stood for the two toasts. Stiff and red-gorged, wrote his biographer, Sickles stormed out of the banquet. Buchanan, who had employed Sickles as legation secretary, remained. He was the guest speaker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 65-Attack in the Press. Sickles fanned U.S.-British press reports of the incident by attacking GP's lack of patriotism in the Boston Post, July 21, 1854, p. 2, c. l, and chiding GP for "toadying" to the English. One reader swayed by this charge wrote GP: "If you had a grain of national feeling you wouldn't have done it.... You are no longer fit to be called an American citizen." Such reaction led GP and others to send the facts to the Boston Post. Pro and con letters were published for months, with most faulting Sickles and exonerating GP. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 66-"most contemptible of all Americans." A friend wrote GP: "We are astounded that you lower yourself by a correspondence with the most contemptible of all Americans, Sickles, who was indicted by a New York Grand Jury for fraud, which indictment stands to this day." Another friend wrote GP that proof of Sickles' guilt in committing fraud was contained in letters stolen from the NYC post office by Sickles' direction. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 67-Statement by Dinner Guests. Statements about the July 4, 1854, dinner by participants were published. Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), Newburyport, Mass.-born genealogist, London resident, and GP's friend and sometime agent who helped arrange the dinner wrote: "At Mr. Peabody's request I drew up a series of toasts and submitted them to Mr. Buchanan.....[These] were returned to me as approved.... Mr. Sickles did indeed object to Englishmen being present. The Minister approved and Mr. Peabody's course was independent of Mr. Sickles' opinion." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 68-Statement by Dinner Guests Cont'd. A letter from 26 Americans present at the dinner, including Henry Barnard (1811-1900), Conn. Superintendent of Common Schools (later first U.S. Commissioner of Education), read: "The undersigned have read Mr. Peabody's letter to the Boston Post of Aug. 16, 1854, and without hesitation affirm as true the events described by Mr. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 69-Lawrence on Sickles. Abbott Lawrence (he had left the diplomatic service in 1852) wrote to GP about the Sickles Affair: "The attack made upon you I deem unworthy of any man who professes to be a gentleman. Your misfortune was in having persons about you who were not worthy to be at your table. I had hard work to get rid of some men in England who hung about me, but cost what it would I would not permit a certain class of adventurer to approach me." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 70-Corcoran on Buchanan. Longtime Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran, with whom GP had helped sell U.S. bonds abroad that financed the Mexican War, wrote GP that [U.S. Minister to Britain James] "Buchanan had not the slightest respect" for Sickles but for political reasons could not reprove him. Buchanan, with a less controversial new legation secretary, wrote to Sickles: "Your refusal to rise when the Queen's health was proposed is still mentioned in society, but I have always explained and defended you." Two years later, while GP was in Washington, D.C., during his 1856-57 U.S. visit, and when James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president, there was a coldness between the two men, who did not meet again. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 71-Sickles' Later Career. Always controversial, Sickles, on Feb. 27, 1859, while serving in the U.S. Senate (1857-61), shot to death Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key, 1779-1843) for Key's alleged attentions to Sickles' wife. Sickles was acquitted of the murder charge as of unsound mind. In the Civil War Sickles, a Union general, lost a leg at Gettysburg. As Reconstruction commander of the Carolinas during 1865-67, Sickles' punitive actions against former Confederates were said to have been so severe that Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) transferred him to another command. Sickles was U.S. Minister to Spain (1869-73), served again in the U.S. Congress, helped establish Gettysburg as a national park, and helped secure the land for NYC's Central Park. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 72-Last Tribute to Abbott Lawrence. Abbott Lawrence died in Boston Aug. 18, 1855. GP gave a last tribute to Lawrence a year after Lawrence's death. The occasion was a celebration in Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, to honor GP on his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). In his speech, turning to Edward Everett on the platform with him, GP said: "The cornerstone of the Peabody Institute [of South Danvers, renamed Peabody in 1868] was laid by Abbott Lawrence, now gone, who followed worthily in Mr. Everett's footsteps. I admired his talents, respected his virtues, loved him as a friend. He too worked for conciliation and goodwill between the two countries. I pay tribute to his memory." See: Danvers, Mass., GP celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1856-61
U.S. Ministers. 73-Career. George Mifflin Dallas was born in Philadelphia, graduated from Princeton College (1810), was a lawyer (from 1813), U.S. Sen. from Penn. (1831-33), Penn. Atty. Gen. (1833-35), U.S. Minister to Russia (1837-39), U.S. Vice President (1845-49) under Pres. James K. Polk (1795-1849, 11th U.S. president during 1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain during 1856-61.
U.S. Ministers. 74-June 13, 1856, Dinner. GP introduced incoming Minister G.M. Dallas at a U.S.-British friendship dinner and entertainment, June 13, 1856. The 130 guests included the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayoress; Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) and Mrs. Lampson (C.M. Lampson was a Vt.-born naturalized British subject and GP's longtime business friend); GP's partner; Mrs. J.S. Morgan; Crystal Palace architect Sir Joseph Paxton (1801-65); and Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870). J.P. Kennedy wrote in his journal about the June 13, 1856, dinner: "A great banquet given by Mr. P., with tickets to the Concert there at 3...we got to dinner about 7. We number nearly 130." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 75-Crimean War Difficulty. This dinner to introduce Minister Dallas was held soon after the Crimean War (1855-56, Russia vs. England, France, others). In the U.S. this European conflict created some anti-British feeling,. British Minister to the U.S. John Crampton indiscreetly tried to recruit U.S. volunteers for the British army. U.S. Secty. of State William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) objected and had Crampton recalled. See: Crimean War. Dallas, George Mifflin.
U.S. Ministers. 76-Crimean War Difficulty Cont'd. Former British Minister to the U.S. Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-72) was to have proposed the health of U.S. Minister Dallas at GP's June 13, 1856, dinner. But Bulwer-Lytton, being Crampton's colleague, explained to GP that to appear at this dinner and propose the health of U.S. Minister Dallas would be unfair to his dismissed colleague John Crampton and might evoke British public resentment. It was a tribute to GP that he could still successfully sponsor this U.S.-British friendship dinner at that tense time of misunderstanding and mistrust. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 77-July 4, 1856, Dinner. More than 100 Americans and a few Englishmen attended another of GP's U.S.-British friendship dinners, July 4, 1856, at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, eight miles from London on the Thames. Minister G.M. Dallas gave a short speech. GP then prefaced his toast with some remarks. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 78-GP's Remarks: "I have before me two loving cups, one British the second of American oak, presented to me some years ago by Francis Peabody [1810-68, GP's distant cousin from Salem, Mass.] now present. Let me say a few words before passing these cups. The first dinner I gave in connection with American Independence Day was a dinner in 1850 at which the American Minister, American and English friends were present. In 1851, the Great Exhibition year, I substituted a ball and banquet. Some of my friends were apprehensive that the affair would not be accepted that year of Anglo-American rivalry but the acceptance of the Duke of Wellington made the affair successful. For twenty years I have been in this kingdom of England and in my humble way mean to spread peace and good-will. I know no party North or South but my whole country. With these loving cups let us know only friendship between East and West." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 79-Wm. Brown's Remarks. GP proposed "The Day We Celebrate," followed by "Her Majesty, the Queen," and "the President of the United States." MP from Liverpool William Brown (1784-1864) said: "The day we celebrate will ever be remembered in the history of the world. For we English derive as much satisfaction from it as you do. None of us are answerable for the sins of statesmanship or the errors of our forefathers. George Washington, remembered with respect by England and the world, would rejoice to see the enterprising spirit of the country he brought into existence, a country which seeks to bridge the Atlantic and Pacific via canal and now explores the Arctic seas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 80-Wm. Brown's Remarks Cont'd.: "I deny that England is jealous of the United States. We rejoice in your prosperity and know that when you prosper we share in it. It is not true that the fortunes of one country arise from the misfortune of another. While we have differences they can be amicably adjusted (cheers). I toast the American Minister, Mr. George M. Dallas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 81-Minister Dallas' Reply. Minister G.M. Dallas replied: "I rejoice to find so many patriots present to celebrate American Independence Day. We are, as a country, but eighty years old, yet how proud we are of her (cheers). Small and feeble at birth, she now contains twenty-seven million people. Once on the margin of the Atlantic she is now an immense continent. It is a matter of sincere regret that the free nations are not always the sincerest friends (hear, hear)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 82-Others Present. A complimentary toast was proposed to GP as host. His few remarks in response concluded by saying that the land of his birth was always uppermost in his mind. When he sat down the band played "Home, Sweet Home." Present at this dinner was Irish-born sculptor John Edward Jones (1806-62), who made a bust of GP in 1856. Also present was U.S. inventor Samuel Finlay Breese Morse (1791-1872). A toast to "The Telegraph" was suddenly proposed. Not anticipating the toast and not having a reply at hand, Morse rose and modestly quoted from Psalm 19: "Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world." See: Dallas, George Mifflin.
GP & Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1861-68
U.S. Ministers. 83-Career. Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) was born in Boston, grandson of the second U.S. Pres. John Adams (1735-1826) and son of the sixth U.S. Pres. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). He was a Harvard College graduate, a law student under Daniel Webster (1782-1852), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1861-68) during GP's residence in London. See: Adams, Charles Francis.
U.S. Ministers. 84-U.S. Minister During Civil War. C.F. Adams and GP had friendly contact during strained U.S.-British relations over the Civil War, with British aristocrats favoring the South for socio-cultural and economic reasons (Lancashire mills needed southern cotton, purchases of which were cut off by U.S. naval blockade of Confederate ports, resulting in loss of jobs of British cotton mill workers). As U.S. Minister to Britain during 1861-68, C.F. Adams helped prevent British recognition of the Confederacy. He also helped ease British-U.S. tensions over two major Civil War incidents, the Trent Affair and the Alabama Claims. See: topics mentioned.
U.S. Ministers. 85-Trent Affair. The Trent Affair began on the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, when four Confederate emissaries evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, S.C., went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent en route to England. The Confederates sought aid and arms in England and France. On Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies, by Capt. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the USS San Jacinto. Confederates James Murray Mason (from Va.), John Slidell (from La.), and their male secretaries, were forcibly removed, taken to Boston harbor, and jailed. Anticipating war with the U.S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But U.S. jingoism subsided after Pres. Lincoln allegedly told his cabinet, "one war at a time," got the cabinet on Dec. 26, 1861, to release the Confederate prisoners on Jan. 1, 1862, and apologized to the British for the illegal seizure. See: persons and ships mentioned. Trent Affair.
U.S. Ministers. 86-Slidell's Secretary Married to Louise Morris Corcoran. GP's minor connection with the Trent Affair was with Confederate emissary John Slidell's secretary, George Eustice (1828-72), husband of Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-67), only child of GP's longtime Washington, D.C., business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888). She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 87-GP Mentioned. When Capt. Richard Williams, Trent officer in charge of the mail, was asked at a dinner to give his version of what happened, it was published in the Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2. His reported account was that when the USS San Jacinto's Lt. Donald McNeill Fairfax (1821-94) demanded to take Mason and Slidell into custody, they appeared before him with Slidell's daughter clinging to her father. When Lt. Fairfax tried to separate father and daughter, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from an MP who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 88-Allen S. Hanckel. The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name, misspelled, was Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He informed the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote to GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 89-Trent Stirred Passions. Mr. Hanckel's threatened visit to GP never materialized. The Trent affair stirred passions and worried GP, partly because it threatened his long-term U.S.-British friendship concern; partly because the Trent Affair threatened public announcement of his housing gift for London's working poor ($2.5 million total, 1862-69). Press announcement of this gift, delayed until March 12, 1862, was warmly received despite the Trent Affair. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 90-Alabama Claims. Without a navy and with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents evaded the blockade, went to England, secretly bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others, which sank northern ships and wrecked northern ports. The U.S. demanded reparations caused by these British-built raiders. This demand was not resolved until 1871-72 when a Geneva international tribunal determined that Britain should pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity. See: Alabama Claims.
U.S. Ministers. 91-Alabama Claims Settlement. In 1868, a year before his death, GP had been suggested but not chosen as a U.S. arbiter in the Alabama Claims controversy. In the final settlement, Charles Francis Adams represented the U.S., British jurist Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-80) represented Britain, and three members were from neutral countries. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 92-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors. As will be shown below, the Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair and the lingering Alabama Claims were two of several Civil War related incidents that evoked near-war U.S.-British tensions. GP died Nov. 4, 1869, in London, at the height of these tensions. Letters from the public poured into the press requesting public honors for him. High British officials seized upon his death and the fact that his will asked for burial near his hometown. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
U.S. Ministers. 93-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors Cont'd. Partly in appreciation for a foreigner who gave London, a city in a country not his own, $2.5 million for housing their working poor, partly because he publicly supported U.S.-British friendship, and politically to soften near-war U.S. angers--British officials heaped unprecedented transatlantic funeral honors on him. What British officials started, U.S. officials felt they had to emulate. But all this lay ahead and is told through U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley, who followed U.S. Minister to Britain Reverdy Johnson below. Ref.: Ibid.
Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1868-69
U.S. Ministers. 94-Career. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) was born in Annapolis, Md., attended St. John's College in that city, was a Baltimore lawyer (from 1817, when he first knew and legally represented GP), became Md. State Sen. (1821-29), U.S. Sen. (1845-49), U.S. Atty. Gen. (1849), and was again U.S. Sen. (1863-68). Reverdy Johnson-GP relations follow. See: Johnson, Reverdy.
U.S. Ministers. 95-Helped Plan the PIB. In 1854 when Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson was in London, GP, searching for an educational gift idea for Baltimore, asked Johnson's advice, and asked him to consult and plan with other Baltimoreans. Back in Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson told John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) of GP's wish for the three Baltimore leaders (Reverdy Johnson, John Pendleton Kennedy, and William Edwards Mayhew), to help him plan what came to be the PIB. The PIB was largely Kennedy's plan, based partly on London's British Museum and made possible by GP's total gift of $1.4 million (1857-69). See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 96-Kennedy's Plan. Kennedy conceived of the PIB as a five-part institute: 1-specialized reference library; 2-lecture hall, lecture series, and lecture fund; 3-academy (later called conservatory) of music; 4-gallery of art; and 5-annual prizes for best scholars in Baltimore public schools. Kennedy helped draft GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. The PIB building, delayed by the Civil War, was dedicated on Oct. 23-24, 1866, and was opened on Oct. 26, 1866, with GP present. See: PIB.
U.S. Ministers. 97-U.S. Senate, 1867. GP founded the PEF (Feb. 7, 1867, $1 million, doubled on June 29, 1869) to promote public education in the former Confederate states. A few days later Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) called on GP in Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., to thank him for the PEF as a national gift. A month later, March 5, 1867, U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced in the U.S. Senate resolutions of Congressional thanks and a gold medal to GP for the PEF. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 98-Sen. Reverdy Johnson Defended GP. Radical Republican Senators Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R Neb.) and James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa), believing GP to have been pro-Confederate, wanted to bury the resolutions in an investigating committee. Sen. Reverdy Johnson (Md.) rose to say that he had been GP's lawyer in Baltimore in 1817, had several later contacts with him in London, and defended GP as a staunch Unionist. The Senate voted 36 yeas for the resolutions, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton voting nay), with 15 Senators absent. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 99-Congressional Praise Passed in the U.S. House. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "...to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and
Following Background "Preface" below this 11 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: U.S. Ministers. 4 to Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-92). 1.
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
U.S. Ministers. 4-Goodwill in Md. and Abroad. GP's faith that Md. and other states would resume bond interest payments bore fruit in 1847-48. The depression eased. Md. and the other repudiating states resumed bond interest payments. On March 7, 1848, the Md. legislature recognized GP's service and passed unanimous resolutions of praise for his financial help. GP was sent these resolutions with Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas's (1810-90) cover letter to GP saying: "To you, sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 5-GP Praised. The London correspondent of the NYC Courier & Enquirer wrote: "...the energetic influence of the Anti-Repudiators would never have been heard in England had not Mr. George Peabody...made it a part of his duty to give to the holders of the Bonds every information in his power, and to point out...the certainty of Maryland resuming [payment].... He...had the moral courage to tell his countrymen the contempt [because of repudiation] with which all Americans were viewed.... [He is] a merchant of high standing...but also an uncompromising denouncer of chicanery in every shape." Ref.: Ibid. See: Speed, John Joseph.
U.S. Ministers. 6-Successful American Firm in London. Asked three months before his death (Aug. 22, 1869) when and how he made his money, GP said: "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly." During 1837-mid-1840s GP was in transition from merchant to securities broker and international banker. Ref.: Letter from Dr. John Jennings Moorman, M.D., resident physician, Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., quoted in Baltimore Sun, Dec. 2, [1869], copy in news clipping album, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Moorman-b, pp. 15-17.
U.S. Ministers. 7-Proud of His Firm. The success of his London banking firm, George Peabody & Co. (begun Dec. 1838), allowed GP to emerge socially and philanthropically. On a U.S. visit he told a hometown (South Danvers, Mass.) audience of 1,500 on Oct. 9, 1856: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish...a house in a great metropolis of England.... I have endeavored...to make it an American house; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting England." See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
U.S. Ministers. 8-Serving Visiting Americans. U.S. visitors passing through London increasingly sought letters of introduction to GP. Besides banking services, he got for them theater and opera tickets, gave corsages to their ladies, and helped them contact British leaders. His little noted first U.S.-British friendship dinner began simply in 1850. The next year his social and philanthropic emergence came about from his loan to U.S. exhibitors in financial difficulty at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, and his two U.S.-British friendship dinners that followed, both connected with this first world's fair. See: U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence, below, fourth of the ten GP-connected U.S. Ministers in London.
GP & Andrew Stevenson (1784-1857), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1836-41
U.S. Ministers. 9-U.S. Minister Andrew Stevenson. GP had no known direct contact with Va.-born Andrew Stevenson, a lawyer, Va. House of Delegates member and its Speaker, Va.'s Representative in the U.S. Congress (1821-34) and its Speaker during 1828-34, U.S. Minister to Great Britain (1836-41), and finally rector of the Univ. of Va. (1841-57).
U.S. Ministers. 10-Freedom of the City of London. GP and Andrew Stevenson had only one known indirect connection. Andrew Stevenson was the first U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London on Feb. 22, 1838. He declined the honor as being inconsistent with his official duties. GP was the second U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London and its first recipient on July 10, 1862.
U.S. Ministers. 11-Freedom of the City of London, Five U.S. Recipients. Besides 1-GP, the other four U.S. citizens who received the Freedom of London included 2-Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-85), second recipient, awarded June 15, 1877 (U.S. general and 18th U.S. president during 1869-77). 3-Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), third recipient, awarded May 31, 1910 (26th U.S. president during 1901-09). 4-U.S. Gen. John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948), fourth recipient, awarded July 18, 1919. 5-Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), fifth recipient, awarded June 12, 1945 (U.S. general and 34th U.S. president during 1953-61). See: London, Freedom of the City of London. Persons named.
GP & Edward Everett (1794-1865), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1841-45
U.S. Ministers. 12-Career. Edward Everett was a U.S. clergyman, educator, statesman, and an acclaimed orator of his time. He was born in Dorchester, Mass.; was a Harvard graduate (B.A., 1811, M.A., 1814); one of the first U.S. scholars to study at Göttingen Univ., Germany; was Harvard professor of Greek literature (1819-26); member, U.S. House of Representatives (1824-34); Mass. governor (1836-39); U.S. Minister to Britain (1841-45); Harvard Univ. president (1846-49); U.S. Secty. of State (1852-53); and U.S. Senator (1853-54). His two hour speech as principal speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863, is largely forgotten while Pres. Abraham Lincoln's short address became famous. Ref.: Boatner, p. 268.
U.S. Ministers. 13-Edward Everett-GP Indirect Contact, 1852. Edward Everett was one of several prominent Mass. statesmen who sent congratulatory letters to Danvers, Mass., citizens, June 16, 1852, on the celebration of its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass. Invited to Danvers' centennial celebration but unable to attend, GP wrote from London, May 26, 1852, a letter read to those assembled by GP's boyhood classmate John Waters Proctor (1791-1874). GP's letter contained a $20,000 check for his first Peabody Institute of South Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody April 13, 1868), first of a total of $217,600 to that institute library. With his letter and check was his sentiment: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." See: Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration, June 16, 1852. Persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 14-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech. Four years later Edward Everett spoke at the Oct. 9, 1856, celebration honoring GP in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass. The celebration came during GP's May 1, 1856 to May 1, 1857 U.S. visit, his first return in nearly 20 years since he left for London in Feb. 1837. After Mass. Gov. Henry J. Gardner's (1818-92) short speech, Edward Everett said (in part): "While in England I had the opportunity to witness Mr. Peabody's honorable position in commerce and social circles.... When American credit stood low and the individual states defaulted their trust, our friend stood firm and was the cause of firmness in others. When few would be listened to on the subject of American securities in the parlor of the Bank of England, his judgment commanded respect; his integrity won back trust in America. He performed the miracle by which the word of an honest man turns paper into gold." See: Everett, Edward.
U.S. Ministers. 15-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "He promoted the enjoyment of travelling Americans as so many here can attest. The United States Minister in England, with little funds, could not bring together Americans and Englishmen and women in convivial friendship. Our honored guest, with ample means, corrected this defect. At the first world's fair in London, 1851, the exhibitors of other nations went officially supplied with funds to display their nation's wares. The American exhibitors found a large place to fill naked and unadorned. At the critical moment when the English press ridiculed the sorry appearance we presented, our friend stepped forward and did what Congress should have done. Our products were shown at their best. Leading British journalists admitted that England derived more benefit from the contributions of the United States than from any other country." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 16-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "Time and again he brought together men of two nations to drink from loving cups of goodwill. These are some reasons we welcome to old Danvers one of her greatest sons. (Great cheering.) "When on the 16th of June, 1852, Danvers celebrated its one hundredth year of separate existence our friend sent a slip of paper containing a noble sentiment. Now a slip of paper can easily be blown away. So, as a paperweight, to keep the toast safe on the table to repay his debt, Mr. Peabody laid down $20,000 and has since doubled it." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 17-Edward Everett on GP's Harvard Gift. GP consulted Edward Everett among others about a philanthropic gift to Harvard Univ. GP's first gift idea for Harvard in 1861 was an astronomical observatory. He discussed this idea in letters to Francis Peabody (1801-68) of Salem, Mass., William Henry Appleton (1814-84) of Boston, and with Edward Everett (former Harvard president during 1846-49). Everett thought Harvard needed a "School of Design" [i.e., art], more than an astronomical observatory. GP's Harvard gift idea went through a third change, from astronomical observatory to Edward Everett's suggested School of Design or art, to a museum for archaeology and ethnology, largely through the influence of GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99). See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
U.S. Ministers. 18-Harvard Gift Influenced by Nephew O.C. Marsh. GP had paid for nephew O.C. Marsh's education through Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Yale College, and Yale's graduate Sheffield Scientific School. During 1862-65 GP paid for Marsh's doctoral study at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Breslau, Germany; paid for Marsh's library of paleontology books, and for shipment of two and a half tons of fossil bones sent to Yale where Marsh became the first U.S. paleontology professor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 19-Marsh on GP's Science Gifts to Harvard and Yale. Marsh spoke with uncle GP in London in Oct. 1862 about new scientific findings, about Charles Darwin, evolution, and European scientists Marsh had talked to. Marsh, turning uncle GP's thoughts toward science gifts for Harvard and Yale, described these talks in letters to his mentor, Yale Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr. (1816-85): "I had a long talk with Mr. P. in regard to his future plans and donations.... I will tell you confidentially that Harvard will have her usual good fortune. So many of our family have been educated at Harvard that he naturally felt a greater interest in that institution than in Yale, of which I am the only representative. I can assure you, however, that I did [not] allow the claims of my Alma Mater to be forgotten...and I have strong hopes that she may yet be favored although nothing is as yet definitely arranged. The donation to H. [Harvard] is a large one and for a School of Design...." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 20-Peabody Museums of Harvard and Yale Universities. GP visited the U.S. during May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, consulted further with knowledgeable friends and founded the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (Oct. 8, 1866), the Peabody Museum of Natural Science at Yale Univ. (Oct. 22, 1866), $150,000 each, and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 26, 1867, $140,000) for maritime history and Essex County historical depository. Ref.: Ibid.
GP & George Bancroft (1800-91), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1846-49
U.S. Ministers. 21-Career. George Bancroft was also a distinguished U.S. historian, author of the History of the United States, 10 volumes published during 1834-74. While GP had no known contact with George Bancroft as U.S. Minister, he had friendly relations with George Bancroft's nephew, John Chandler Bancroft Davis (1822-1907), Secty. of the U.S. legation in London during 1849-54. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 22-Contact with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis. GP sometimes dined with J.C.B. Davis, born in Worcester, Mass., and Davis's Harvard College classmate, Vt.-born Henry Stevens (1819-86), rare book dealer, resident in London, who later acted as GP's agent in book shipments to Peabody Institute libraries. Davis and Stevens lived for some years in the same Morley's Hotel, London. On Nov. 24, 1849, Davis, Stevens, and GP dined at the home in East Sheen, near London, of Joshua Bates (1788-1854), born in Weymouth, Mass., who went to London in the early 1800s. Bates, who became agent, partner (at age 38), and head of Baring Brothers, became a naturalized British subject, was the most prominent U.S.-born financier in London in the 1840s, and GP's friendly business rival. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 23-Dinner with Herman Melville. Joshua Bates's dinner guest of honor was U.S. author Herman Melville (1819-91), who later wrote Moby Dick (1851). Melville was in London, on his only trip abroad, to market his manuscript, White Jacket. They talked in part about Melville's older brother Gansvoort Melville (1815-46), former U.S. legation secretary who died two years before and whom those present had known. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 24-Dinner with Herman Melville Cont'd. Melville's journal mentions meeting GP: "On my right was Mr. Peabody, an American for many years resident in London, a merchant, & a very fine old fellow of fifty or thereabouts." Melville continued: "I had intended to remain over night...but Peabody invited me to accompany him to town in his carriage. I went with him, along with Davis, the Secty. of Legation.... Mr. Peabody was well acquainted with Gansevoort when he was here. He saw him not long before his end. He told me that Gansevoort rather shunned society when here. He spoke of him with such feeling." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1849-52
U.S. Ministers. 25-Career. Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) was born in Groton, Mass. With his brother Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), he started cotton textile mills in Lowell, Mass., and in Lawrence, Mass. (named after him). As a statesman he was a member of the U.S. Congress (1835-37, 1839-40) and served on the Northeast Boundary Commission (1842). He also gave $50,000 to found the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard Univ. (1840s). GP had extended contact with U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence during the Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 26-Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The idea for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London originated with Henry Cole (1808-82), member of the Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art), who had arranged several industrial and art expositions. The idea occurred to him in 1848 for a first world's fair, with each nation showing its best industrial and art products. Knowing that such a large enterprise needed royal sponsorship, Cole turned to Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria's husband and president of the Society of Art. German-born Prince Albert nurtured the idea to reality. A Royal Commission (Jan. 3, 1850) helped raise funds, issued contracts, and invited the world's nations to participate. Joseph Paxton (1801-65) designed the striking glass-covered Crystal Palace in Hyde Park to house the exhibits and the Exhibition. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 27-U.S. Exhibitors Without Funds to Adorn U.S. Pavilion. The U.S. Congress appointed nonpaid commissioners who selected U.S. industrial and art objects to exhibit. Congress also authorized the U.S. Navy's St. Lawrence to transport U.S. products and exhibitors to Southampton, England (Feb. 1851). But Congress did not appropriate funds to adorn the large (40,000 sq. ft.) U.S. pavilion. Crates strewn about the unadorned pavilion provoked the satirical Punch to poke fun at "the glaring contrast between large pretensions and little performance...by America." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 28-Dilemma. The London correspondent of the New York Evening Post called it "a national disgrace that American wares...are so barely displayed; so vulgarly spread out over so large a space." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) and his legation staff had no funds to decorate the U.S. exhibit and knew it might take months for Congress to appropriate funds, if at all. Hearing of the lack of funds to decorate the U.S. pavilion, GP, then comparatively little known, quietly offered, through a polite note to Minister Lawrence, a loan of $15,000. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 29-GP's Loan. U.S. exhibitors, U.S. residents in London, the legation staff, and especially Minister Lawrence were relieved of embarrassment and grateful to GP. Partly through GP's loan, which Congress repaid three years later, over six million visitors to the first world's fair saw displayed to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The U.S. items most talked about were Alfred C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 30-GP's Proposed July 4, 1851, Dinner. With so many visiting Americans in London and in the international spirit of the Great Exhibition, GP proposed to give a U.S.-British friendship dinner. He chose July 4, 1851, U.S. Independence Day, which would appeal to Americans, but not to some disdainful British. GP's motive for the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to improve U.S.-British relations. Criticism of the U.S. in London newspapers saddened him, as did anti-British reports in U.S. newspapers. He was painfully aware of past strained relations. It had been 10 years since the U.S.-British dispute over the Maine boundary, 37 years since the War of 1812, 75 years since the American Revolution. Wondering if British society would attend his July 4th dinner, GP sounded out Minister Abbott Lawrence, who discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 31-"the fashionables...do not wish to attend this Ball." On June 26, 1851, Minister Lawrence, finding a wary reaction to the idea, warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 32-Duke of Wellington. Prospects looked dim. But GP thought his dinner might succeed if a distinguished British hero was guest of honor. Through friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), then England's greatest living hero. The man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." When it was known that the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington would attend, British society followed. GP's Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner succeeded enormously. See: Lawrence, Abbott. Wellington, Duke of.
U.S. Ministers. 33-Eight Hundred at Dinner. The July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's. GP hired a professional master of ceremonies, a Mr. Mitchell of Bond St. On either end of the spacious ballroom were portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington. Flowers were tastefully arranged. English and U.S. flags were skillfully blended. More than a thousand guests came and went that evening. Eight hundred sat down to dinner. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 34-Distinguished Guests. Present were several MPs, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Thomson Hankey (1805-93), the Bank of England's junior governor; Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist; Joseph Paxton of Crystal Palace fame; and other English nobility. An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles in cut-glass chandeliers. At 11 p.m. as the Duke of Wellington entered, the band struck up "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, and escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 35-Good Press. The London Times reported that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour. The same article referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper had a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. Even the aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 36-"more than regal entertainment." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, gushing with pride and thanks, wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London." Lawrence went on: "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception...." Lawrence concluded: "I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 37-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, U.S. commissioner to the Great Exhibition Charles F. Stansbury and other exhibitors, about to return to the U.S., invited GP to be guest of honor at a farewell dinner. He gratefully declined on Oct. 11, said they had overestimated his services, added that his 15 years in London had erased sectional and political difference and that he did what he could to further the U.S. as a whole. This invitation may have prompted his own Oct. 27, 1851, dinner to the departing exhibitors. It was grander and better received than his July 4, 1851, dinner. He also had the proceedings and speeches recorded, printed, and beautifully bound copies selectively distributed to U.S. and British officials. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 38-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as American ambassador had met friends to discuss American colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 39-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851," was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and gave the first toast to, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood as the band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose while Hail Columbiawas played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. After U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted, the band played Yankee Doodle. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 40-Minister Lawrence's Speech. U.S. Minister Lawrence spoke of the many ties binding the U.S. and Britain. He praised Sir Joseph Paxton, "The man...who...[planned] a building such as the world never saw before." He praised Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson-Gower, 1815-91), who had "the skill and enterprise to execute the plan." He praised Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1801-72), British ambassador to the U.S. Minister Lawrence said to the departing exhibitors: "We came out of the Exhibition better than was first anticipated.... You will take leave of this country...impressed with the high values of the Exhibition...in the full belief that you have received every consideration." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 41-Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton's Response. Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, grasping the hand of Abbott Lawrence, said: "I clasp your hand as that of a friend and claim it as that of a brother. [Cheers] The idea of this Great Exhibition...was...to collect...the mind of the whole world, so that each nation might learn and appreciate the character and intelligence of the other." "You live under a Republic," he said to the Americans, "and we under a Monarchy, but what of that? The foundations of both societies are law and religion: the purpose of both governments is liberty and order." "Hand in hand," he concluded, "we can stand together...the champions of peace between nations, of conciliation between opinions." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 42-GP's Concluding Speech. Ending the festivities, GP stood and when the cheers subsided, said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 43-Press Reports. The New York Times gave two full columns to the dinner. Another NYC newspaper stated: "George Peabody's dinners were timed just right. For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London with a host of American and English friends, brings them together. The thing works and...elicits applause and appreciation from both the American and English press." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 44-Haddock's Report. Great Exhibition participant Charles B. Haddock's (1796-1861) letter in a New Hampshire newspaper read: "Mr. Peabody's dinner to the departing Americans had several good effects. (1) It highlighted American achievement at the Exhibition; (2) brought George Peabody into notice; (3) raised Abbott Lawrence's esteem as United States Minister to England. "It is something to have sent to the Exhibition the best plough, the best reaping machine, the best revolvers--something to have outdone the proudest naval people in the world, in fast sailing and fast steaming, in her own waters.... Moreover, it is a great pride for America to have George Peabody and Abbott Lawrence in England who represent the best of America and uphold its worth and integrity." Haddock referred to the U.S. yacht America, which won the 1851 international yacht race, defeating the English yacht Baltic in British waters. The first prize (a silver tankard) has since been known as America's Cup. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 45-Dinner Proceedings Book. GP commissioned Henry Stevens to compile, print, and distribute a handsome book with the dinner menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches. Born in Barnet, Vt., a graduate of Yale College (1841) and Harvard Law School, Henry Stevens went to London in July 1845 and remained there for the rest of his life as a rare book dealer and bibliographer. He bought U.S. books for the British Museum and sold British books to U.S. libraries. Stevens had 50 copies printed and bound in cloth by Nov. 25, 1851, and sent copies to departing U.S. exhibitors. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 46-Copy to U.S. Pres. Fillmore. Through U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, GP gave a copy printed on vellum to Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74). Pres. Fillmore acknowledged receipt and wrote to Abbott Lawrence: "From all I have heard of Mr. Peabody, he is one of those 'Merchant Princes' who does equal honor to the land of his birth and the country of his adoption. This dinner must have been a most grateful treat to our American citizens and will long be remembered by the...guests...he entertained as one of the happiest days of their lives.... The banquet shows that he still recollects his native land with fond affection, and it may well be proud of him." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 47-Copies Sent to Dignitaries. U.S. Minister Lawrence also sent copies on vellum to Prince Albert, The Duke of Wellington, and Lord Granville. Lawrence wrote to GP: "I have a note from Colonel Grey [Charles Grey, 1804-70], the Secretary of Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of your beautiful volume with expressions of thanks to you for it, from his Royal Highness." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence's son, after sending copies to Boston dignitaries, wrote to GP that the book was "much talked of in Boston and has been greatly praised." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 48-"quite a public character." GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) wrote his uncle from Harvard, where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact, you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 49-GP's Gift to the Md. Institute. Praise of GP's London dinners appeared in Baltimore newspapers. This publicity may have prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make him an honorary member. After GP read a newspaper report of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry, he wrote the Md. Institute's Pres. William H. Keighler, Oct. 31, 1851, enclosing a $1,000 gift for the chemistry school "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." This (still) little known gift began his educational philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 50-First Peabody Institute Library. The next year, June 1852, when his hometown of Danvers, Mass., celebrated its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass., GP, who could not attend, sent his first check to found his first Peabody Institute Library (now in Peabody, Mass.) accompanied by a motto, "Education--a debt due from present to future generations." To Washington, D.C., friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who had written to GP, GP answered: "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman. However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 51-GP's Emergence. GP early told a few intimates of his intent to found an educational institution in towns and cities where he lived, worked or visited relatives. Public praise for his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and praise for his two Exhibition-connected dinners furthered that determination. In 1851 GP emerged socially as sponsor of U.S.-British friendship dinners (mainly on July 4, U.S. Independence Day), and as a philanthropist in the U.S. and in Britain. In the 1860s he was the best known philanthropist of his time. Ref.: Ibid.
Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1852-53
U.S. Ministers. 52-Oct. 12, 1852, Introduced Minister Ingersoll. Joseph Reed Ingersoll was U.S. Minister to Britain one year, 1852-53 (commissioned, Aug. 21, 1852; arrived in London Sept. 30, 1852; presented his credentials, Oct. 16, 1852; and relieved Aug. 23, 1853). GP gave a dinner in London on Oct. 12, 1852, to introduce incoming Minister Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). The dinner also honored the departing U.S. Minister to Britain, Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). Guests included Joshua Bates, head of the Baring Brothers (mentioned in connection with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis above), and Russell Sturgis (1805-87), another U.S-born London resident merchant-banker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 53-Courtesies to Ingersoll. GP's dinner enabled the Ingersolls to meet U.S. residents in London and prominent Britishers. GP's gifts of apples and tea, use of his opera box, and U.S.-British friendship dinners earned Minister Ingersoll's thanks in a letter on June 16, 1853: "I do but echo the general sentiment, in expressing to you the feelings of regard and esteem which you have inspired." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 54-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll. GP's May 18, 1853, dinner provided more contact with London society for U.S. Minister J.R. Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Wilcocks. The dinner was held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames. The 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans) included Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62). He later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" in 1853 by GP with Martin Van Buren (1782-1862, eighth U.S. Pres., 1837-41) and "many very distinguished persons" present. A band and vocalists began and ended the dinner with the British and U.S. national anthems. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 55-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. After the sumptuous meal GP expressed his pleasure at bringing together U.S. and British friends. Minister Ingersoll then gave the toasts: "The Queen: the President of the United States: and the people of the United States and the United Kingdom: the two great nations, whose common origin, mutual interests and growing friendships, serve to cement a union created by resemblance in language, liberty, religion and law." Ingersoll's speech that followed his toasts contained complimentary references to former U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren and to GP. These references evoked cheers. Pres. Van Buren rose and paid respects to the occasion and to GP as host. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 56-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. GP's friend, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) rose to speak. A few years later he would help GP plan the Peabody apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862, $2.5 million total gift). McIlvaine said, referring to GP's British-U.S. dinners: "When history should come to be written, and due weight should be given to all the influences which tend to perpetuate international concord, if history should consent to notice incidents apparently so trifling as social festivities and the interchange of friendly greetings, it would assign...a very high place to their host as one who had done very much in this way to promote mutual knowledge and goodwill between the people of the two great nations who were there represented." The dinner and speeches received favorable transatlantic press coverage. What the dinner cost GP is not known, but one bill, only part of the total, was about $940. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 57-Partner-to-be Junius Spencer Morgan Present. Also present at this GP dinner honoring Minister J.R. Ingersoll were Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) and Mrs. Morgan. Because GP was often ill, business friends had long urged him to take an American partner to give continuity to George Peabody & Co. Friends recommended J.S. Morgan as a likely partner of great probity, experienced in dry-goods importing and knowledgeable about securities and banking. GP and Morgan had been in correspondence about a possible partnership. The J.S. Morgans and their 16-year-old son, John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), had come to London expressly to look into the possible partnership. The May 18, 1853, dinner allowed GP and Morgan to take each other's measure in a social setting. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 58-Young J.P. Morgan. Young J.P. Morgan, who was not at the dinner, wrote to his cousin that night, "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." GP and J.S. Morgan were both favorably impressed. The Morgans returned to Boston. J.S. Morgan visited U.S. firms with which George Peabody & Co. did business. Morgan decided to accept. He made another trip to London to examine the company books. The partnership took effect the next year, Oct. 1, 1854 (through Oct. 1, 1864). Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 59-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany. Contact with Minister J.R. Ingersoll also brought speculation of a possible romance with Ingersoll's niece, Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks, a Philadelphia belle who lived with her uncle after the early death of her parents. Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Miss Wilcocks and another lady, Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 60-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. The Tiffanys had been invited to the May 18, 1853, dinner for the Ingersolls but Elise would not go. Her brother George Tiffany explained in a letter to GP: "Elise knows the entertainment is to the American Minister and Miss Wilcocks. The thing is impossible. Her trunks will not pack, nor her Bills pay.... As to the Scotch trip of a couple of weeks, Elise counts upon your making that sacrifice as a balm to her wounded feelings, caused by the various reports all through the winter." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 61-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper wrote about a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show...." GP, then age 58, denied any matrimonial intentions in a letter to Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran. GP wrote: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & James Buchanan, (1791-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1853-56
U.S. Ministers. 62-Career. James Buchanan was born in Mercersberg, Pennsylvania, was a lawyer, U.S. Congressman (1821-31); U. S. Minister to Russia (1832-33), U. S. Senator (1834-45); U. S. Secty. of State (1845-49); U. S. Minister to Britain (1853-56); and the 15th U. S. president during 1857-61. New Minister Buchanan appointed as U.S. Legation Secty. the controversial Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), who provoked an unfortunate incident, the Sickles Affair. A super patriot at a time of U.S. jingoism, Sickles, objecting to GP's toast to the Queen before a toast to the U.S. President, refused to stand, walked out at GP's July 4, 1854, dinner, and accused GP in the press of "toadying" to the British. See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
U.S. Ministers. 63-Incoming Legation Secty. Sickles. In 1853 before he arrived in London, Sickles wrote GP to reserve rooms for himself, wife, and baby, a courtesy service George Peabody & Co. did for visiting Americans. GP consulted Sickles and others about his planned July 4, 1854, Independence Day banquet. Sickles suggested that it be a subscription dinner and that he, Sickles, arrange it. GP insisted on paying for the dinner as usual but let Sickles help select guests, send invitations, and help plan the entertainment. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 64-Walk-Out, July 4, 1854, Dinner. As was the custom, GP first toasted Queen Victoria as British head of state and secondly the U.S. President. Sickles, an ultra-patriot, was enraged that the Queen should be toasted before the U.S. President. Considering this a national insult, Sickles sat while the other 149 guests stood for the two toasts. Stiff and red-gorged, wrote his biographer, Sickles stormed out of the banquet. Buchanan, who had employed Sickles as legation secretary, remained. He was the guest speaker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 65-Attack in the Press. Sickles fanned U.S.-British press reports of the incident by attacking GP's lack of patriotism in the Boston Post, July 21, 1854, p. 2, c. l, and chiding GP for "toadying" to the English. One reader swayed by this charge wrote GP: "If you had a grain of national feeling you wouldn't have done it.... You are no longer fit to be called an American citizen." Such reaction led GP and others to send the facts to the Boston Post. Pro and con letters were published for months, with most faulting Sickles and exonerating GP. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 66-"most contemptible of all Americans." A friend wrote GP: "We are astounded that you lower yourself by a correspondence with the most contemptible of all Americans, Sickles, who was indicted by a New York Grand Jury for fraud, which indictment stands to this day." Another friend wrote GP that proof of Sickles' guilt in committing fraud was contained in letters stolen from the NYC post office by Sickles' direction. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 67-Statement by Dinner Guests. Statements about the July 4, 1854, dinner by participants were published. Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), Newburyport, Mass.-born genealogist, London resident, and GP's friend and sometime agent who helped arrange the dinner wrote: "At Mr. Peabody's request I drew up a series of toasts and submitted them to Mr. Buchanan.....[These] were returned to me as approved.... Mr. Sickles did indeed object to Englishmen being present. The Minister approved and Mr. Peabody's course was independent of Mr. Sickles' opinion." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 68-Statement by Dinner Guests Cont'd. A letter from 26 Americans present at the dinner, including Henry Barnard (1811-1900), Conn. Superintendent of Common Schools (later first U.S. Commissioner of Education), read: "The undersigned have read Mr. Peabody's letter to the Boston Post of Aug. 16, 1854, and without hesitation affirm as true the events described by Mr. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 69-Lawrence on Sickles. Abbott Lawrence (he had left the diplomatic service in 1852) wrote to GP about the Sickles Affair: "The attack made upon you I deem unworthy of any man who professes to be a gentleman. Your misfortune was in having persons about you who were not worthy to be at your table. I had hard work to get rid of some men in England who hung about me, but cost what it would I would not permit a certain class of adventurer to approach me." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 70-Corcoran on Buchanan. Longtime Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran, with whom GP had helped sell U.S. bonds abroad that financed the Mexican War, wrote GP that [U.S. Minister to Britain James] "Buchanan had not the slightest respect" for Sickles but for political reasons could not reprove him. Buchanan, with a less controversial new legation secretary, wrote to Sickles: "Your refusal to rise when the Queen's health was proposed is still mentioned in society, but I have always explained and defended you." Two years later, while GP was in Washington, D.C., during his 1856-57 U.S. visit, and when James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president, there was a coldness between the two men, who did not meet again. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 71-Sickles' Later Career. Always controversial, Sickles, on Feb. 27, 1859, while serving in the U.S. Senate (1857-61), shot to death Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key, 1779-1843) for Key's alleged attentions to Sickles' wife. Sickles was acquitted of the murder charge as of unsound mind. In the Civil War Sickles, a Union general, lost a leg at Gettysburg. As Reconstruction commander of the Carolinas during 1865-67, Sickles' punitive actions against former Confederates were said to have been so severe that Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) transferred him to another command. Sickles was U.S. Minister to Spain (1869-73), served again in the U.S. Congress, helped establish Gettysburg as a national park, and helped secure the land for NYC's Central Park. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 72-Last Tribute to Abbott Lawrence. Abbott Lawrence died in Boston Aug. 18, 1855. GP gave a last tribute to Lawrence a year after Lawrence's death. The occasion was a celebration in Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, to honor GP on his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). In his speech, turning to Edward Everett on the platform with him, GP said: "The cornerstone of the Peabody Institute [of South Danvers, renamed Peabody in 1868] was laid by Abbott Lawrence, now gone, who followed worthily in Mr. Everett's footsteps. I admired his talents, respected his virtues, loved him as a friend. He too worked for conciliation and goodwill between the two countries. I pay tribute to his memory." See: Danvers, Mass., GP celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1856-61
U.S. Ministers. 73-Career. George Mifflin Dallas was born in Philadelphia, graduated from Princeton College (1810), was a lawyer (from 1813), U.S. Sen. from Penn. (1831-33), Penn. Atty. Gen. (1833-35), U.S. Minister to Russia (1837-39), U.S. Vice President (1845-49) under Pres. James K. Polk (1795-1849, 11th U.S. president during 1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain during 1856-61.
U.S. Ministers. 74-June 13, 1856, Dinner. GP introduced incoming Minister G.M. Dallas at a U.S.-British friendship dinner and entertainment, June 13, 1856. The 130 guests included the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayoress; Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) and Mrs. Lampson (C.M. Lampson was a Vt.-born naturalized British subject and GP's longtime business friend); GP's partner; Mrs. J.S. Morgan; Crystal Palace architect Sir Joseph Paxton (1801-65); and Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870). J.P. Kennedy wrote in his journal about the June 13, 1856, dinner: "A great banquet given by Mr. P., with tickets to the Concert there at 3...we got to dinner about 7. We number nearly 130." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 75-Crimean War Difficulty. This dinner to introduce Minister Dallas was held soon after the Crimean War (1855-56, Russia vs. England, France, others). In the U.S. this European conflict created some anti-British feeling,. British Minister to the U.S. John Crampton indiscreetly tried to recruit U.S. volunteers for the British army. U.S. Secty. of State William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) objected and had Crampton recalled. See: Crimean War. Dallas, George Mifflin.
U.S. Ministers. 76-Crimean War Difficulty Cont'd. Former British Minister to the U.S. Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-72) was to have proposed the health of U.S. Minister Dallas at GP's June 13, 1856, dinner. But Bulwer-Lytton, being Crampton's colleague, explained to GP that to appear at this dinner and propose the health of U.S. Minister Dallas would be unfair to his dismissed colleague John Crampton and might evoke British public resentment. It was a tribute to GP that he could still successfully sponsor this U.S.-British friendship dinner at that tense time of misunderstanding and mistrust. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 77-July 4, 1856, Dinner. More than 100 Americans and a few Englishmen attended another of GP's U.S.-British friendship dinners, July 4, 1856, at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, eight miles from London on the Thames. Minister G.M. Dallas gave a short speech. GP then prefaced his toast with some remarks. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 78-GP's Remarks: "I have before me two loving cups, one British the second of American oak, presented to me some years ago by Francis Peabody [1810-68, GP's distant cousin from Salem, Mass.] now present. Let me say a few words before passing these cups. The first dinner I gave in connection with American Independence Day was a dinner in 1850 at which the American Minister, American and English friends were present. In 1851, the Great Exhibition year, I substituted a ball and banquet. Some of my friends were apprehensive that the affair would not be accepted that year of Anglo-American rivalry but the acceptance of the Duke of Wellington made the affair successful. For twenty years I have been in this kingdom of England and in my humble way mean to spread peace and good-will. I know no party North or South but my whole country. With these loving cups let us know only friendship between East and West." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 79-Wm. Brown's Remarks. GP proposed "The Day We Celebrate," followed by "Her Majesty, the Queen," and "the President of the United States." MP from Liverpool William Brown (1784-1864) said: "The day we celebrate will ever be remembered in the history of the world. For we English derive as much satisfaction from it as you do. None of us are answerable for the sins of statesmanship or the errors of our forefathers. George Washington, remembered with respect by England and the world, would rejoice to see the enterprising spirit of the country he brought into existence, a country which seeks to bridge the Atlantic and Pacific via canal and now explores the Arctic seas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 80-Wm. Brown's Remarks Cont'd.: "I deny that England is jealous of the United States. We rejoice in your prosperity and know that when you prosper we share in it. It is not true that the fortunes of one country arise from the misfortune of another. While we have differences they can be amicably adjusted (cheers). I toast the American Minister, Mr. George M. Dallas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 81-Minister Dallas' Reply. Minister G.M. Dallas replied: "I rejoice to find so many patriots present to celebrate American Independence Day. We are, as a country, but eighty years old, yet how proud we are of her (cheers). Small and feeble at birth, she now contains twenty-seven million people. Once on the margin of the Atlantic she is now an immense continent. It is a matter of sincere regret that the free nations are not always the sincerest friends (hear, hear)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 82-Others Present. A complimentary toast was proposed to GP as host. His few remarks in response concluded by saying that the land of his birth was always uppermost in his mind. When he sat down the band played "Home, Sweet Home." Present at this dinner was Irish-born sculptor John Edward Jones (1806-62), who made a bust of GP in 1856. Also present was U.S. inventor Samuel Finlay Breese Morse (1791-1872). A toast to "The Telegraph" was suddenly proposed. Not anticipating the toast and not having a reply at hand, Morse rose and modestly quoted from Psalm 19: "Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world." See: Dallas, George Mifflin.
GP & Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1861-68
U.S. Ministers. 83-Career. Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) was born in Boston, grandson of the second U.S. Pres. John Adams (1735-1826) and son of the sixth U.S. Pres. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). He was a Harvard College graduate, a law student under Daniel Webster (1782-1852), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1861-68) during GP's residence in London. See: Adams, Charles Francis.
U.S. Ministers. 84-U.S. Minister During Civil War. C.F. Adams and GP had friendly contact during strained U.S.-British relations over the Civil War, with British aristocrats favoring the South for socio-cultural and economic reasons (Lancashire mills needed southern cotton, purchases of which were cut off by U.S. naval blockade of Confederate ports, resulting in loss of jobs of British cotton mill workers). As U.S. Minister to Britain during 1861-68, C.F. Adams helped prevent British recognition of the Confederacy. He also helped ease British-U.S. tensions over two major Civil War incidents, the Trent Affair and the Alabama Claims. See: topics mentioned.
U.S. Ministers. 85-Trent Affair. The Trent Affair began on the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, when four Confederate emissaries evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, S.C., went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent en route to England. The Confederates sought aid and arms in England and France. On Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies, by Capt. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the USS San Jacinto. Confederates James Murray Mason (from Va.), John Slidell (from La.), and their male secretaries, were forcibly removed, taken to Boston harbor, and jailed. Anticipating war with the U.S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But U.S. jingoism subsided after Pres. Lincoln allegedly told his cabinet, "one war at a time," got the cabinet on Dec. 26, 1861, to release the Confederate prisoners on Jan. 1, 1862, and apologized to the British for the illegal seizure. See: persons and ships mentioned. Trent Affair.
U.S. Ministers. 86-Slidell's Secretary Married to Louise Morris Corcoran. GP's minor connection with the Trent Affair was with Confederate emissary John Slidell's secretary, George Eustice (1828-72), husband of Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-67), only child of GP's longtime Washington, D.C., business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888). She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 87-GP Mentioned. When Capt. Richard Williams, Trent officer in charge of the mail, was asked at a dinner to give his version of what happened, it was published in the Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2. His reported account was that when the USS San Jacinto's Lt. Donald McNeill Fairfax (1821-94) demanded to take Mason and Slidell into custody, they appeared before him with Slidell's daughter clinging to her father. When Lt. Fairfax tried to separate father and daughter, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from an MP who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 88-Allen S. Hanckel. The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name, misspelled, was Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He informed the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote to GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 89-Trent Stirred Passions. Mr. Hanckel's threatened visit to GP never materialized. The Trent affair stirred passions and worried GP, partly because it threatened his long-term U.S.-British friendship concern; partly because the Trent Affair threatened public announcement of his housing gift for London's working poor ($2.5 million total, 1862-69). Press announcement of this gift, delayed until March 12, 1862, was warmly received despite the Trent Affair. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 90-Alabama Claims. Without a navy and with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents evaded the blockade, went to England, secretly bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others, which sank northern ships and wrecked northern ports. The U.S. demanded reparations caused by these British-built raiders. This demand was not resolved until 1871-72 when a Geneva international tribunal determined that Britain should pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity. See: Alabama Claims.
U.S. Ministers. 91-Alabama Claims Settlement. In 1868, a year before his death, GP had been suggested but not chosen as a U.S. arbiter in the Alabama Claims controversy. In the final settlement, Charles Francis Adams represented the U.S., British jurist Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-80) represented Britain, and three members were from neutral countries. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 92-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors. As will be shown below, the Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair and the lingering Alabama Claims were two of several Civil War related incidents that evoked near-war U.S.-British tensions. GP died Nov. 4, 1869, in London, at the height of these tensions. Letters from the public poured into the press requesting public honors for him. High British officials seized upon his death and the fact that his will asked for burial near his hometown. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
U.S. Ministers. 93-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors Cont'd. Partly in appreciation for a foreigner who gave London, a city in a country not his own, $2.5 million for housing their working poor, partly because he publicly supported U.S.-British friendship, and politically to soften near-war U.S. angers--British officials heaped unprecedented transatlantic funeral honors on him. What British officials started, U.S. officials felt they had to emulate. But all this lay ahead and is told through U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley, who followed U.S. Minister to Britain Reverdy Johnson below. Ref.: Ibid.
Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1868-69
U.S. Ministers. 94-Career. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) was born in Annapolis, Md., attended St. John's College in that city, was a Baltimore lawyer (from 1817, when he first knew and legally represented GP), became Md. State Sen. (1821-29), U.S. Sen. (1845-49), U.S. Atty. Gen. (1849), and was again U.S. Sen. (1863-68). Reverdy Johnson-GP relations follow. See: Johnson, Reverdy.
U.S. Ministers. 95-Helped Plan the PIB. In 1854 when Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson was in London, GP, searching for an educational gift idea for Baltimore, asked Johnson's advice, and asked him to consult and plan with other Baltimoreans. Back in Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson told John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) of GP's wish for the three Baltimore leaders (Reverdy Johnson, John Pendleton Kennedy, and William Edwards Mayhew), to help him plan what came to be the PIB. The PIB was largely Kennedy's plan, based partly on London's British Museum and made possible by GP's total gift of $1.4 million (1857-69). See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 96-Kennedy's Plan. Kennedy conceived of the PIB as a five-part institute: 1-specialized reference library; 2-lecture hall, lecture series, and lecture fund; 3-academy (later called conservatory) of music; 4-gallery of art; and 5-annual prizes for best scholars in Baltimore public schools. Kennedy helped draft GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. The PIB building, delayed by the Civil War, was dedicated on Oct. 23-24, 1866, and was opened on Oct. 26, 1866, with GP present. See: PIB.
U.S. Ministers. 97-U.S. Senate, 1867. GP founded the PEF (Feb. 7, 1867, $1 million, doubled on June 29, 1869) to promote public education in the former Confederate states. A few days later Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) called on GP in Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., to thank him for the PEF as a national gift. A month later, March 5, 1867, U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced in the U.S. Senate resolutions of Congressional thanks and a gold medal to GP for the PEF. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 98-Sen. Reverdy Johnson Defended GP. Radical Republican Senators Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R Neb.) and James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa), believing GP to have been pro-Confederate, wanted to bury the resolutions in an investigating committee. Sen. Reverdy Johnson (Md.) rose to say that he had been GP's lawyer in Baltimore in 1817, had several later contacts with him in London, and defended GP as a staunch Unionist. The Senate voted 36 yeas for the resolutions, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton voting nay), with 15 Senators absent. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 99-Congressional Praise Passed in the U.S. House. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "...to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and
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