Belmont family

Belmont family, family prominent in American banking and finance, politics, and patronage of the arts.

The family’s founder in the United States was August Belmont (b. Dec. 8, 1816, Alzey, Rhenish Prussia [Germany]—d. Nov. 24, 1890, New York, N.Y., U.S.), a German-born banker and diplomat. The son of a wealthy Jewish landowner, August Belmont entered the banking house of the Rothschilds at Frankfurt am Main at age 14. His remarkable abilities won him a transfer to a more important post in the Rothschilds’ Naples office three years later. In 1837 he moved to New York City and opened a small office on Wall Street, where he served as American agent for the Rothschilds and laid the foundation for his own banking house, August Belmont & Company. Though he started with practically no capital, within a few years Belmont had built his firm into one of the largest banking houses in the country. He also began taking an active interest in politics as a Democrat. From 1853 to 1855 he was chargé d’affaires for the United States at The Hague, and from 1855 to 1857 he served as resident minister there. Belmont was strongly opposed to slavery; although he initially supported Stephen A. Douglas, after the American Civil War began he became a loyal supporter of President Abraham Lincoln. He exerted a strong influence upon merchants and financiers in England and France in favour of the Union during the war. He also served as chairman of the national committee of the Democratic Party from 1860 to 1872. In his later years Belmont was a noted art collector and sportsman. He introduced Thoroughbred horse racing into the United States and was a long-time president of the American Jockey Club.

August Belmont married Caroline Slidell Perry, the daughter of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1849. They had three sons and one daughter. Perry Belmont (b. Dec. 20, 1850, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 25, 1947, Newport, R.I.) was their eldest son. He attended Harvard University (A.B., 1872) and Columbia Law School, where he earned a law degree in 1876. He practiced law from then until 1881, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from New York. He served four consecutive terms and chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1885 to 1888, after which he was U.S. minister to Spain until 1889. Perry Belmont was the author of several books on American history and politics.

August Belmont, Jr. (b. Feb. 18, 1853, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 10, 1924, New York), another son of August Belmont, graduated from Harvard in 1874 and then entered his father’s firm, August Belmont & Company. He took full control of the banking house upon his father’s death in 1890, and under his guidance it remained one of the largest and most powerful banking firms in the country. The younger August became deeply involved in financing public transportation, and in 1900 he organized the Rapid Transit Construction Company to finance and build the New York City subway. He too was active in Democratic Party national affairs.

Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (b. Nov. 12, 1858, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 10, 1908), another son of August Belmont, joined the Belmont banking house and in 1896 married the prominent socialite Alva Vanderbilt (née Smith).

Eleanor Belmont, née Robson (b. Dec. 13, 1879, Wigan, Lancashire, Eng.—d. Oct. 24, 1979, New York, N.Y., U.S.), was the second wife of August Belmont, Jr. She began her career as a successful actress in San Francisco and then achieved a series of triumphs on the Broadway stage beginning in 1903 with her leading role in Merely Mary Ann. She retired from the theatre when she married August Belmont in 1910 and plunged into social and philanthropic work for the next five decades. She took a special interest in opera, and in 1935 she organized the Metropolitan Opera Guild to oversee the troubled financing of New York City’s Metropolitan Opera. The couple’s son, August Belmont III, and his son, August Belmont IV, also became prominent bankers.