George Peabody

George Peabody

George Peabody (February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He accumulated great wealth by investing British capital in the United States, especially during the Panic of 1837 and the Panic of 1857. He was one of the first great philanthropists, providing subsidized housing in London and founding and supporting numerous scientific and educational institutions that supported the poor.

The Peabody Institute in Baltimore was the first academy of music to be established in the United States. Under the direction of well-known musicians, composers, conductors, and Peabody alumni, the Institute grew from a local academy to one of the leading music conservatories in the world and an internationally renowned cultural center. It also contains a substantial historical and musical library. Peabody also funded several museums, and established an education fund to promote education in the most destitute portion of the Southern States. As a permanent resident of London where his philanthropic work was as substantial as in the US, he was greatly honored both in his lifetime and with a funeral at Westminster Abbey. His remains were then returned to his hometown in Massachusetts, renamed Peabody in his honor. As his foundations continue to serve those in need, Peabody's work and name live on in service to others.

Biography

Early life

George Peabody was born on February 18, 1795 in what was then Danvers, Massachusetts (now Peabody, Massachusetts), to the lower-middle class family of Thomas and Judith (Dodge) Peabody. He had a minimal education and at the age of 11 became an apprentice to a grocer in Danvers. He worked as a merchant until 1812 when he went to serve in the war. There he met Elisha Riggs, who in 1814, provided financial backing for the wholesale dry goods firm of Peabody, Riggs, and Company. In next few years, the partners opened branches in Baltimore, New York City, and Philadelphia.

Banking business

In 1816, Peabody moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he lived for the next 20 years. In 1827 he traveled to London to negotiate the sale of American cotton in Lancashire. Next year, after Riggs’ retirement, he became the company’s senior partner.

Peabody realized the dire need for foreign capital in the United States and started a banking business. His firm, George Peabody and Company, specialized in foreign exchange and securities. In 1835, he played important role in arranging a loan for Maryland, which at the time was on the verge of bankruptcy.

In 1836, Peabody became the president of the Eastern Railroad, one of the first successful railroads in New England. In 1837 he settled permanently in London.

Peabody had a great sense for business. Following the Panic of 1837, while American securities reached a record low and American credit was under attack, his bank bought substantial amounts of depressed securities and provided credit to those in need. In return, once normal economic conditions were restored, he made a great fortune on bonds. He applied the same tactic again during the Panic of 1857.

His bank entered into a partnership with Junius Morgan, father of J. P. Morgan, in 1854.

Philanthropic work

Peabody Square Model Dwellings, in Blackfriars Road, Southwark, inner South London. These buildings, which still exist, are a typical example of an early Peabody Trust development, and of pre-World War I social housing in London in general.

In the mid-nineteenth century Britain was at the peak of industrialization, with thousands of poor and homeless increasing in numbers at an alarming rate. The situation was especially serious in the big cities. Having himself had the experience of being poor, Peabody started his philanthropic activities. In a letter to his nephew, David Peabody, he said:

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 possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those that come under by care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me (Peabody Historical Society).

Unlike other philanthropists of the time who used their philanthropic work to promote religious beliefs, Peabody clearly stated that his institutions were not to be used to propagate any particular theology or political stance.

Peabody Estates provide cheap housing in Central London even today. This sign is on the side of an estate in Westminster.

In London, Peabody established the Peabody Donation Fund, which continues to this day, as the Peabody Trust, to provide subsidized housing in London. The first dwellings opened by the Peabody Trust - for the artisans and laboring poor of London - were opened in Commercial Street, Whitechapel in February 1864.

In America, Peabody founded and supported numerous institutions in New England and elsewhere. At the close of the American Civil War, he established the Peabody Education Fund to “encourage the intellectual, moral, and industrial education of the destitute children of the Southern States." He founded in 1857 the Peabody Institute, which was the first academy of music established in the United States.

George Peabody is known to have provided benefactions of more than $8 million, most of them in his own lifetime. Among these are included:

1852 The Peabody Institute (now the Peabody Institute Library), Peabody, Massachusetts: $217,000

1856 The Peabody Institute, Danvers, Massachusetts: $100,000

1857 The Peabody Institute, Baltimore: $1,400,000

1862 The Peabody Donation Fund, London: $2,500,000

1866 The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University

1866 The Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University: $150,000

1867 The Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts: $140,000

1867 The Peabody Institute, Georgetown, District of Columbia: $15,000 (today the Peabody Room, Georgetown Branch, DC Public Library).

1867 Peabody Education Fund: $2,000,000

Peabody's funeral in Westminster Abbey.

Later life

Peabody was made a Freeman of the city of London, the motion being proposed by Charles Reed in recognition of his financial contribution to London's poor. In 1867 Oxford granted him the honorary degree of D.C.L. He refused to accept either a baronetcy or the Grand Cross of the Bath from Queen Victoria.

Peabody never married. He died in London on November 4 1869, aged 74. At the request of the Dean of Westminster and with the approval of the Queen, Peabody was given a temporary burial in Westminster Abbey.

His will provided that he be buried in the town of his birth, Danvers, Massachusetts, and Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone arranged for Peabody's remains to be returned to America on HMS Monarch, the newest and largest ship in Her Majesty's Navy. He is buried in his home town, renamed Peabody in his honor, at Harmony Grove Cemetery.

Legacy

Statue of George Peabody in London

Peabody is the acknowledged father of modern philanthropy, having established the practice that was later followed by Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Bill Gates.

The town of South Danvers, Massachusetts changed its name to The City of Peabody in honor of its favorite son. His birthplace at 205 Washington Street is now the George Peabody House Museum.

A statue of Peabody stands next to the Royal Exchange in the City of London, unveiled in 1869 shortly before his death. There is a similar statue next to the Peabody Institute, in Mount Vernon Park, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Peabody is a member of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans located at the Bronx Community College, at the former site of New York University (NYU).

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Chapple, William Dinsmore. 1948. George Peabody. Salem, Mass: Peabody Museum.
• Curry, J. L. M. 1969. A Brief Sketch of George Peabody and a History of the Peabody Education Fund through Thirty Years. New York: Negro Universities Press
• George Peabody Encyclopedia of World Biography on <http://www.bookrags.com/>. Retrieved on September 15, 2007.
• George Peabody Peabody Historical Society on <http://www.peabodyhistorical.org>. Retrieved on September 15, 2007.
• Parker, Franklin. 1971. George Peabody: A biography. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 0826511708
• Parker, Franklin, and Betty Parker. 2002. On the trail of George Peabody (1795-1869). Pleasant Hill, TN: Franklin and Betty Parker.
• Wallis, Teackle S. 1870. Discourse on the Life and Character of George Peabody. Peabody Institute

External links

• George Peabody – Biography on Ryohara.net Retrieved September 17, 2007.
• George Peabody Museum – Website of the George Peabody Museum Retrieved September 17, 2007.

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