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Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, (3 March 1852 – 21 September 1921)GRO Register of Deaths: SEP 1921 1a 414 ST GEO HAN SQ – Ernest J. Cassel, aged 69 was a British merchant banker and businessman. Born and raised in Prussia, he moved to England at the age of 17.See Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War (1991) pp. 792-817.
His areas of interest were in mining, infrastructure and heavy industry. Turkey was an early area of business ventures, but he soon had large interests in Sweden, the United States, South America, South Africa, and Egypt. He was among the financiers of the Aswan Dam, built in Egypt between 1899 and 1902, and was present in Egypt at the opening of the dam in December 1902.Pat Thane, "Financiers and the British state: the case of Sir Ernest Cassel." Business History 28.1 (1986): 80-99.
At the behest of the French and British governments, he reluctantly provided assistance for the establishment of the State Bank of Morocco, provided for in the terms of the 1906 Treaty of Algeciras.
In 1912 his close German friend Albert Ballin feared that the naval rivalry between Britain and Germany was getting out of hand and even threatened war. They approached their respective governments, who agreed to negotiate a compromise that would end the race through the Haldane Mission of 1912. Unfortunately, it proved a failure.Massie, 790–819.
One of the wealthiest men of his day, Cassel was a good friend of King Edward VII (enough so that he was nicknamed "Windsor Cassel"), prime minister H. H. Asquith and Winston Churchill. As a foreign-born arriviste of Jewish background, he was less than popular with elements of the British upper classes.
During the First World War Cassel made large financial gifts to the British Red Cross and other war time charitable entities working to ameliorate privation being suffered by British military casualties. The Man I Knew, by The Countess Haig (Pub. Moray Press, 1936), pp. 136–137.
Cassel had a famous art collection and many beautiful houses. He bred racehorses and owned Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket.
After the early death of his wife Annette in 1881, he and his widowed sister Wilhelmina (known as Bobbie) helped each other bring up his daughter (Maud) and Wilhelmina's son (Felix) and daughter (Anna).
Maud died as a young woman, leaving him two granddaughters (Edwina and Mary) on whom he doted. He was particularly attached to Edwina, who looked after him in his old age. She later married Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Cassel's nephew was the barrister Felix Cassel, who later became Judge Advocate-General to the Forces.
Cassel became a Roman Catholic at the behest of his wife, but many still considered him a Jew. The establishment was surprised to find out that he had converted when he chose to be sworn into the Privy Council with the Douay–Rheims Bible.
He was sworn a member of the Privy Council on 11 August 1902, following an announcement of the King's intention to make this appointment in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published in June that year. In 1905, he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) and, in 1906, he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). In the 1909 Birthday Honours, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).
Awards received in thanks for services to foreign governments included Commander, first class, of the Royal Order of Vasa in 1900 from Sweden, the Grand Cordon of the Imperial Ottoman Order of Osmanieh in December 1902 while visiting Egypt for the opening of the Assuan dam, Commander of the Légion d'honneur in 1906 from France, the Order of the Crown, first class, in 1908 from Prussia, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star in 1909 from Sweden, the Order of the Rising Sun, first class, in 1911 from Japan and the Order of the Red Eagle, first class with brilliants in 1913 from Prussia.
Cassel's estate was valued at his death at GBP7,333,411 gross and £6,000,000 (equivalent to £ today) for probate. A 2001 study of probate records put the value at £7,333,000
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