12 Facts About Ernest Cassel

Ernest Cassel's father owned a small bank, but the son Ernest arrived penniless in Liverpool, England in 1869.

Ernest Cassel prospered, and was putting together his own financial deals.

Ernest Cassel 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.

Ernest Cassel built and endowed an Anglo-German Institute in 1911 in memory of King Edward VII.

Ernest Cassel had a famous art collection and many beautiful houses.

Ernest Cassel bred racehorses and owned Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket.

Ernest Cassel was married at Westminster, in 1878, to Annette Mary Maud Maxwell, the daughter of a Catholic landowner.

Ernest Cassel was particularly attached to Edwina, who looked after him in his old age.

Ernest Cassel's nephew was the barrister Sir Felix Ernest Cassel, who later became Judge Advocate-General to the Forces.

Ernest Cassel became a Roman Catholic at the behest of his wife, but many still considered him a Jew.

Ernest Cassel 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 1919, Ernest Cassel founded and endowed the Ernest Cassel Hospital, originally at Swaylands near Penshurst, and now at No 1 Ham Common, Ham, near Richmond, London.