the world of private banking

PRIVAtE BANKERS AND PHILANtHROpy 259
Anglo-German banking community, which further indicates the extent of banking
philanthropy and its transnational scope. Johann Heinrich Schroder (1784–1883)
of Hamburg founded banking houses in Hamburg, London and Liverpool, of which
the London firm became the most prominent. In 1849, approaching the age of sixtyfive,
he retired. Much of his time thereafter was absorbed by charitable works in
the region of Hamburg, most notably the erection of a home for elderly people,
the Schroder Stiftung, which in 1850 he endowed with 1.5 million Bancomarks,
£110,000 sterling equivalent at the time, the equivalent of around £4.5 million in
the 1990s. 31
Johann’s son, John Henry, inherited control of the London firm. In the mid
nineteenth century the partners and clerks of the firm lived in the leafy suburbs
of South London, with the exception of John Henry, who preferred fashionable
Bayswater. In general, the Anglo-German banking families remained distinct from
other groupings in the City. They were neither socially prominent nor politically
active. They did not become large landowners or associate closely with the English
aristocracy. Rather ‘they remained wedded to the values of their continental
bourgeois background’. 32 They were devout Lutherans. This helped to inspire their
charitable endeavours. A German Evangelical Church was founded in Denmark Hill,
South London, in 1854. Prince Albert headed the list of contributors to the building
fund, which included the names of partners of the Schroders, Kleinworts and Huths
banking houses, many of whom remained active in the affairs of the church.
John Henry Schroder was active in a range of charities. He subscribed in
1843 to the building of a hospital in Hackney, to serve the impoverished German
community of London’s East End. Partners in Schroders in both London and
Hamburg also subscribed, and John Henry served as its treasurer. When it got into
financial difficulties in the 1870s he paid off its debts. He left a bequest of £10,000
to the hospital on his death in 1910. 33 He and other family members and partners in
the firm were also long-time trustees of the German Lutheran Church in London.
John Henry’s philanthropic activities continued throughout his life and increased
as he went into semi-retirement from the 1880s. He was an active member of
the Royal Horticultural Society and an active plant-breeder. He ‘contributed
handsomely’ to the Royal Gardeners’ Benevolent Association. 34 He continued to
give generously to German philanthropic causes in Britain. In 1908 he endowed
a convalescent home for the German Hospital, in 1879 the German Orphanage in
Hackney, in 1900 the German Work Colony in Hertfordshire. The German Sailors
Home in the London docks was erected at his expense and opened after his death,
in 1912. An obituary commented that he ‘gave more in charity than all the rest
of the Germans in this country put together’. 35 He did not give only to German
31
Ibid., p. 41.
32
Ibid., p. 113.
33
Ibid., p. 112.
34
Ibid., p. 111.
35
Ibid., p. 112.