Arthur Sassoon

Arthur Abraham David Sassoon (25 May 1840 – 13 March 1912) was an English banker and socialite.

Biography

Early life

Arthur Abraham David Sassoon was born on 25 May 1840. He was the fifth son of David Sassoon (1792–1864), a Jewish trader of cotton and opium in China who served as the Treasurer of Baghdad from 1817 to 1829. His mother was Farha (Hyeem) Sassoon (1814–1886), a philanthropist. One of his brothers was Reuben David Sassoon (1835–1905), a banker, For many years he was a director of David Sassoon & Company of Leadenhall Street, London, a trading company founded by his brother Reuben David Sassoon. The couple lived at Albert Gate, Knightsbridge. Louise became a leading socialite in London high society, It is displayed in Tate Britain.

For many years the couple resided in Hove, East Sussex. In 1881 they were recorded as living at 6 Queen's Gardens, part of a sea-facing terrace of seven late-19th-century mansions. (These were damaged by bombs in World War II and demolished in the 1960s; flats called Kingsway Court now occupy the site.) With a staff of 13 servants, cooks and butlers, they were "one of the largest employers of domestic staff in Hove". Sassoon's brother Reuben lived next door at number 7.

Sassoon was a personal friend and confidante of King Edward VII (1841–1910). The King would often stay with him on his visits to Brighton, sometimes to visit his mistress Alice Keppel (1868–1947). Known visits by the King to the Sassoons' house were in 1898, 1907, 1908 and 1910, but other visits are believed to have gone unrecorded. He felt his bronchitis and asthma improved when he visited the Sussex coast, so his visits were not merely social. Edward VII was also an occasional guest of Arthur Sassoon at Tulchan Lodge, Advie, Morayshire, during the shooting season on the Scottish moors. After the King's death in May 1910, Arthur Sassoon paid £100 towards a memorial sculpture. The Peace Statue, also known as the King Edward VII Memorial Statue,

He died on 13 March 1912 while staying at the Leighton Buzzard home of Leopold de Rothschild, his brother-in-law.