1. Frederick Gebhard was a wealthy New Yorker who at the age of 22 became infatuated with Lillie Langtry, a renowned beauty, who had been elevated to celebrity status following her affair with Edward, Prince of Wales.
26 Facts About Frederick Gebhard
1. 2.
Frederick Gebhard was one of three children born to Frederick Charles Gebhard and Catherine "Kate" Gebhard, who had married in 1850.
3.
Frederick Gebhard's father joined the family firm in 1845, by which time they had expanded their mercantile business and developed interests in banking and rail-road stocks.
4.
Frederick Gebhard's grandfather had come from Holland to New York in 1800.
5.
Frederick Gebhard worked as an agent for a Dutch company, eventually starting a business importing gin.
6.
In 1893, Frederick Gebhard took legal action on behalf of himself and his sister to enforce this clause.
7.
Frederick Gebhard's interests included breeding race horses, dog breeding, and yachting.
8.
Frederick Gebhard was a collector of books, ephemera, prints, engravings and autographs.
9.
Frederick Gebhard's collection included signed letters of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and musical scores signed by Verdi and Mendelssohn.
10.
Frederick Gebhard was well connected in New York society, being related to many of the old and wealthy American families including Vanderbilt, Stuyvesant, Livingston, Remsen, Neilson, Hunter, Delafleld, Lawrence, Wells and Leverich.
11.
Frederick Gebhard's granduncle was Father John Power, Vicar General of New York; he was related to several European aristocrats, a British admiral and an Irish Member of the British Parliament.
12.
In 1882, at the age of 22, Frederick Gebhard met Langtry during one of her early stage appearances in New York.
13.
Frederick Gebhard was born on the island of Jersey in 1853, daughter of Dean William le Breton, leader of the island's Church of England.
14.
Frederick Gebhard owned one of the great distance race horses of the time called Eole, that he shipped to England for the 1885 season.
15.
Frederick Gebhard dismissed Aby and took court action against him.
16.
Frederick Gebhard ran him again in 1886 and entered him for the Grand National steeplechase but the horse fell at Valentine's.
17.
Frederick Gebhard was later involved with the National Steeplechase Association in America.
18.
Tom Cannon trained Frederick Gebhard's English based horses at his Danebury stables.
19.
Several of Frederick Gebhard's horses were killed in 1887 when they were being transported by rail in America.
20.
Frederick Gebhard eventually obtained one in 1897, but by then it was too late for her and Gebhard.
21.
In 1892, Frederick Gebhard took treatment at the Keeley Institutes, White Plains, for alcoholism.
22.
In 1894, Frederick Gebhard married Louise Hollingsworth Morris of Baltimore; the ceremony was held in the home of her parents and officiated by Maltbie Davenport Babcock a Presbyterian minister.
23.
Frederick Gebhard was the founder of the National Save a Life League, formed to prevent suicides.
24.
Frederick Gebhard went into an unsuccessful venture selling fine wines, he found it necessary to borrow money from his sister.
25.
Frederick Gebhard eventually took court action against him to recover the money.
26.
Frederick Gebhard was from a devout Roman Catholic family; his funeral was held at the Catholic Church, Westbury, Long Island, and he was buried in the family vault in St Mark's Church, Manhattan.