Edward Michael Behrens (15 September 1911 - January 1989) was a British

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

, and

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

and

gallery owner An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

, who became co-owner of the Ionian Bank. Through his ownership of the

Hanover Gallery The Hanover Gallery was an art gallery in London. It was opened in June 1948 by the German art expert Erica Brausen and financier and art collector Arthur Jeffress at 32A St. George's Street, W1, and closed on 31 March 1973. It was named afte ...

, he was an early

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of the

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

Early life

Edward Michael Behrens was born on 15 September 1911,https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ4-4CXL in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London. His father was Noel Edward Behrens (1879–1967), a civil servant until his retirement in 1921 and then a banker, and his wife, Catherine Vivien Coward (1880–1961), the daughter of Sir Cecil Coward (1845–1938). His elder sister was the historian and academic

Betty Behrens Catherine Betty Abigail Behrens (24 April 1904 – 3 January 1989), known as Betty Behrens and published as C. B. A. Behrens, was a British historian and academic. Her early interests included Henry VIII, Charles II, and the early modern period ...

Career

In 1953, he already owned La Resèrve restaurant, when he bought the "influential"

from

Arthur Jeffress Arthur Tilden Jeffress (21 November 1905 – 21 September 1961) was an influential gallery owner, collector, and patron of the arts in post-World War II Britain. In the 1920s and 1930s he was conspicuous mostly as a rich playboy and socialite. ...

. Hanover Gallery represented

who had his first solo show there in 1949, and did so until 1958 when he left for the

Marlborough Gallery Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated in ...

. Behrens was visiting the empty gallery for the first time one evening when

Erica Brausen Erica Brausen (31 January 1908 – 16 December 1992), was an art dealer and gallerist who established the Hanover Gallery in London in 1948. She was an early champion of several influential contemporary artists, most notably Francis Bacon. Biogr ...

, who ran the gallery, mentioned in passing that she would be closing up the next day. Behrens was "immediately fascinated" by Bacon's work, and offered to help. Jeffress "detested" Bacon and that was his main reason for backing out of the Hanover Gallery. Jeffress apparently thought that Behrens also "loathed" Bacon. In 1958, Behrens and John Trusted, both stockbrokers at the time and directors of the British Bank for Foreign Trade, acquired the long-established Ionian Bank. Ionian Bank became "a leader in North Sea oil".

Personal life

Hanover Terrace - Regent's Park, NW1 - geograph

In 1936, he married Helen Constance Felicity Arnold (1913-2001), and they had three sons, including the artist

Timothy Behrens Timothy John Behrens (2 June 1937 – 2017) was a British painter who spent most of his professional life as a painter and a writer abroad, in Greece, Italy, and Spain. Early life Timothy John Behrens was born in London on 2 June 1937, the so ...

. Even though he had bought the "influential"

from

, he was not happy with his son's wish to pursue an artistic career. They lived at 8

Hanover Terrace Hanover Terrace overlooks Regent's Park in City of Westminster, London, England. The terrace is a Grade I listed building. History It was designed by John Nash in 1822. It has a centre and two wing buildings, of the Doric order, the acroterion, ...

, overlooking Regent's Park, and in 1949 bought Culham Court, a large house in Berkshire on the river Thames. After his death, Felicity lived there until 1996. Behrens had an affair with the novelist

Elizabeth Jane Howard Elizabeth Jane Howard, Lady Amis (26 March 1923 – 2 January 2014), was an English novelist, author of 12 novels including the best-selling series ''The'' ''Cazalet Chronicles''. Early life Howard's parents were timber-merchant Major David L ...

in the late 1940s, and she modelled the protagonist in her 1956 novel ''The Long View'' on him. He was patron to the silver and goldsmith Gerald Benney, and owned the

and the restaurant La Reserve.

Death

Behrens died in the January–March quarter 1989, in London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behrens, Michael 1911 births 1989 deaths Bankers from London People from Kensington 20th-century English businesspeople