Albert Abdullah David Sassoon

Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, 1st Baronet, (25 July 181824 October 1896) was a Baghdad-born businessman and philanthropist.

Biography

Life and career Sassoon was born on 25 July 1818 in Baghdad, Ottoman Empire, into the Sassoon family of Baghdadi Jews. His father was David Sassoon (1792–1864). He was educated in British India. After his father's death, he served as head of his family's merchant company 'David Sassoon & Sons' (later 'David Sassoon & Co.'). In 1875 the company built the Sassoon Docks, the first wet docks in Bombay. The company was also instrumental in the founding of the Imperial Bank of Persia in 1889.

After a visit to England in 1873, Albert Sassoon settled there permanently in 1875 to direct 'David Sassoon & Sons' from London. The management of the company's affairs in Bombay was left to his younger brother Solomon David Sassoon (1841–1894).

Albert Sassoon died in Brighton in 1896, aged 78, and was buried there in the Sassoon Mausoleum, which he had built. In 1933 his body was removed and reburied in the Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden in London. A mausoleum was also built for him in the Jewish Cemetery, Chinchpokli.

Philanthropy and honours He was a major benefactor to the city of Bombay. Among his gifts was a significant contribution towards the reconstruction of the Elphinstone High School During his visit to England in 1873 he received the freedom of the City of London.

Family Albert Sassoon married Hannah Meyer Moise (1823–1895) in 1838. They had six children. The eldest son was Edward Sassoon (1856–1912), the father of Philip Sassoon (1888–1939) and Sybil Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (1894–1989). His daughter Aziza Sassoon (1839–1897) married Ezekiel Abraham Gubbay (1824–1896) and was the mother of Flora Sassoon.

Albert Sassoon's father, David Sassoon (1792–1864), was a leading Baghdad merchant and a treasurer under Ahmet Pasha, the Governor of Baghdad. However, he fled after he was implicated in a corruption scandal, moving from Baghdad to Bushire in Persia, and settled in Bombay in 1832, where he founded a large mercantile business, called "David Sassoon & Sons".

Albert Sassoon's great-great-great-grandson is the actor Jack Huston.