Commodore Frederick Gilbert Bourne (December 20, 1851 – March 9, 1919)
was an American businessman. He served as the 5th President of the
Singer Manufacturing Company
Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Ma ...
between 1889 and 1905. He made the business "perhaps the first modern multinational industrial enterprise of any nationality".
Early life
Bourne was born on December 20, 1851 in
Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of the Rev. George Washington Bourne (1815–1872) and Harriet J. (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Gilbert) Bourne (1817–1907), who was from
Portland, Maine.
His older sister was Clara Bourne, who married John Loring Whitman.
His paternal grandparents were Benjamin Bourne and Mary (née Hatch) Bourne, herself the daughter of Joshua Hatch, a soldier during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
who was killed near
Crown Point after the evacuation of
Fort Ticonderoga in 1777.
Bourne was educated at public schools in New York before joining the work force at age fourteen.
Career
![SingerBuilding crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/SingerBuilding_crop.jpg)
In order to support of his widowed mother and younger sisters, Bourne started his career in New York with the Atlantic Submarine Wrecking Company, later becoming a cashier and bookkeeper and the clerk of the
Mercantile Library.
Bourne, who was interested in music, was a member of the
Mendelssohn Glee Club
The Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York City, founded in 1866, is the oldest surviving independent musical group in the United States after the New York Philharmonic. Their concerts, given in very high-society settings, featured the new (to America ...
, which is likely where he met
Alfred Corning Clark
Alfred Corning Clark I (November 14, 1844 – April 8, 1896) was an American philanthropist and patron of the arts.
Early life
He was the son of Edward Cabot Clark (1811–1882) and Caroline ( née Jordan) Clark (1815–1874). His fath ...
, the son of
Edward Cabot Clark, who along with
Isaac Merritt Singer, was a co-founder of the Singer Company.
Bourne and Clark developed a "close personal relationship" and in 1880, Clark recommended to his father that Bourne be invited to join his family's real estate company, which owned several parcels of valuable Manhattan real estate, and be brought on as construction manager of
The Dakota
The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a Housing cooperative, cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street (Manhattan), 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was construc ...
, then being built on West 72nd Street along
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
.
Clark frequently traveled abroad, often to Norway to visit the singer
Lorentz Severin Skougaard
Lorentz Severin Skougaard (11 May 1837 - 14 February 1885) was a Norwegian tenor.
Early life
Lorentz Severin Skougaard was born on 11 May 1837 in Farsund, Norway, the son of Jonas Eilertsen Lund Schougaard (1807-1877) and Sara Helene Jonasdatte ...
(with whom he had a relationship despite his marriage to Elizabeth Scriven), and in his place, Clark sent Bourne to Singer board meetings.
In 1882, following the elder Clark's death, Bourne became the manager of the late Clark's estate. In 1885, Bourne became Secretary of the company and in 1889, at the age of 38, Bourne became the fifth president of Singer.
While president, Bourne also oversaw the construction of the company's headquarters, known as the
Singer Building
The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, it was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadw ...
.
Bourne greatly expanded global production as well as international sales of the Singer sewing machine. Bourne was revolutionary to the sewing machine industry. He used the "installment plan" to make sewing machines a household item. Bourne is also remembered "among the most important innovators in building vertically integrated firms". In 1905, and after sixteen years as president, Bourne retired and was succeeded by
Douglas Alexander, who served as president for the next forty-four years. Alexander was created a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in the
1921 Birthday Honours
The 1921 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of the King, and were ...
for his services to the welfare of industrial workers.
Residences
Bourne owned several homes and estates. He maintained an apartment at
The Dakota
The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a Housing cooperative, cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street (Manhattan), 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was construc ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, which occupied the entire first floor; he owned a 2,000-acre (4 km²) country estate named
Indian Neck Hall
Indian Neck Hall was a country residence of Frederick Gilbert Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Located on the Great South Bay in Oakdale, New York, it was reputed to have been the largest estate on Long Island when it was bu ...
in
Oakdale on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
next to
Idle Hour
Idle Hour is a former Vanderbilt estate that is located in Oakdale on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. It was completed in 1901 for William Kissam Vanderbilt. Once part of Dowling College, the mansion is one of the largest houses in the U ...
, the estate of
William Kissam Vanderbilt; he owned a 375 acre farm near
Montauk, New York
Montauk ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, on the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2020 United States census, the CDP's population was 4,318.
The ...
, which he used as an undeveloped hunting preserve; an apartment on
Jekyll Island, Georgia; and the 7-acre
Dark Island in the
Thousand Islands in the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
.
In 1902, Bourne hired architect
Ernest Flagg
Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947) was an American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.
Early life and education
Flagg was born in Brooklyn, New ...
to build him a small hunting lodge on the Dark Island property. The building was based on a book written by
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
in 1826 called ''Woodstock''. This book describes an elegant castle with secret passageways, tunnels, and a dungeon. Today, the castle is known as
Singer Castle
Dark Island, a prominent feature of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, is located in the lower (eastern) Thousand Islands region, near Chippewa Bay. It is a part of the Town of Hammond, in St. Lawrence County, New York.
A historic landmark on the is ...
.
Personal life
On February 9, 1875, he was married to Emma Sparks Keeler (1855–1916),
the daughter of James Rufus Keeler and Mary Louise (née Davidson) Keeler.
Emma was a granddaughter of Commodore Davidson, one of the founders of the New York Yacht Club.
Together, they were the parents of twelve children:
* Frederick Gilbert Bourne Jr (1876–1884).
* Arthur Keeler Bourne (1877–1967), who married Edith Hollins; their son: Arthur Keeler Bourne (1899-1974); divorced. Married Alberta M. Bourne, with whom he had three children.
* Louisa D. Bourne (1879–), who died in infancy.
* May Miller Bourne (1881–1975), who married
Ralph B. Strassburger
Ralph Beaver Strassburger (March 26, 1883 – March 5, 1959) was an American businessma(See Biography Website)born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, who was also a prominent Thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder.
Educated at Phillips Exeter Acade ...
, a
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
businessman and prominent
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...
racehorse owner and breeder who owned Haras des Monceaux Thoroughbred horse farm at
Lisieux
Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland.
Name
The name of the town derives from the l ...
in
Lower Normandy,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Normandy Farm, Pennsylvania
/ref>
* Marion Bourne (1882–1969), who married Robert George Elbert.
* Alfred Severin Bourne (1883–1956), who married Hattie Louise Barnes.
* Helen Bourne (1884–1887), who died in infancy.
* Florence Bourne (1886–1969), who married Anson Wales Hard (1884-1935). They divorced in 1932 after having seven children.
* George Gault Bourne (1888–1964), who married Nancy Atterbury Potter, a granddaughter of Bishop Alonzo Potter.
* Marjorie Bourne (1890–1962), who married Alexander Dallas Thayer (1888-1968).
* Kenneth Bourne (1891–1898), who died in childhood.
* Howard Davidson Bourne (1893–1918), who died aged 25.
A sailing enthusiast, Bourne served as a Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. He was also a member of the famous Jekyll Island Club (aka The Millionaires Club) on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Bourne owned many boats that he frequently used in New York City and at his summer home in the Thousand Islands.
After several months of ill-health, Bourne died at Indian Neck Hall, his residence in Oakdale on Long Island, on March 9, 1919. He died one of the wealthiest men in America, leaving an estate valued at $25,000,000.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne
1851 births
1919 deaths
American manufacturing businesspeople
Members of the New York Yacht Club
People from Oakdale, New York
People from St. Lawrence County, New York
19th-century American businesspeople