Edgar Speyer
Sir Edgar Speyer
Sir Edgar Speyer by Sir William Orpen, 1914
Born
7 September 1862(1862-09-07)
New York, United States
Died
16 February 1932 (aged 69)
Berlin, Germany
Nationality
American/British
Ethnicity
Ashkenazi Jewish
Occupation Banker
Philanthropist
Title
Chairman of Underground Electric
Railways Company of London
Limited
Term
1906–1915
Predecessor Charles Yerkes
Successor
Thomas Farrer, 2nd Baron Farrer
Spouse(s)
Leonora Speyer
Children
3
Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet (7 Septem-
ber 1862 – 16 February 1932) was an
American-born financier and philanthrop-
ist.[1] He became a British subject in 1892
and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the
British branch of his family’s international
finance house, and a partner in the German
and American branches. He was chairman of
the Underground Electric Railways Company
of London Limited (UERL, forerunner of the
London Underground) from 1906 to 1915, a
period during which the company opened
three underground railway lines, electrified a
fourth and took over two more.
Speyer was a supporter of the musical arts
and a friend of several leading composers, in-
cluding Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and
Claude Debussy. He was chairman of the
Classical Music Society for ten years, and he
largely
funded the Promenade Concerts
between 1902 and 1914. His non-musical
charitable activities included being honorary
treasurer of the fund for Captain Scott’s
Antarctic expedition. For his philanthropy he
was made a baronet in 1906 and a Privy
Counsellor in 1909.
After the start of the World War I, he be-
came the subject of anti-German attacks in
the Press. In 1915, Speyer offered to resign
from the Privy Council and to relinquish his
baronetcy, but the Prime Minister turned
down the offer. He resigned as chairman of
the UERL and went to the United States. In
1921, the British government investigated ac-
cusations that Speyer had traded with the en-
emy during the war, and had participated in
other wartime conduct incompatible with his
status as a British subject. Speyer den