Sydney James Stern, 1st Baron Wandsworth, (1844 – 10 February 1912) was a British banker,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

philanthropist and member of the Stern banking family.

Background and education

Stern was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1844, the eldest son of Viscount

David de Stern David Jacob de Stern, Viscount de Stern (1807 – 19 January 1877) was a German-born British banker and senior partner of the firm of Stern Brothers. Life and career Stern was born in Frankfurt am Main to the prominent Stern banking family. In ...

, the German-born senior partner of the

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

of Stern Brothers, and Sophia, daughter of Aaron Asher Goldsmid, brother of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid. He was the elder brother of Sir Edward Stern and the first cousin of Lord Michelham. He was educated at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, and admitted to the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1874.

Career

Sydney James Stern - Suffolk Celebrities 1893

For some time Stern worked in his father's firm of Stern Brothers. He unsuccessfully contested the Middle Division of Surrey in 1880 and 1884, Tiverton in 1885 and

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

in 1886 but was finally elected as MP for

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

in a by-election in 1891. On 19 July 1895 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wandsworth, of Wandsworth in the County of London (he also held a Portuguese

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

cy by right of his father). His elevation to the peerage was a quid pro quo for donations he had made to Gladstone. The then Liberal Prime Minister Lord Rosebery was only willing to fulfill that promise (given his own commitment to Lords reform) after receiving a written request from Gladstone that he honour the deal. He was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and

and was awarded the rank of honorary colonel in the 4th volunteer battalion of the

East Surrey Regiment The East Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, the 70th ...

. He served as vice-president of the London and Counties Radical Union.

Personal life

Lord Wandsworth died at his London home, 10 Great Stanhope Street, Mayfair, on 10 February 1912, when the barony became extinct. He left an estate of nearly £1,555,985, most of which was bequeathed to charity, over a million being given to found the Lord Wandsworth Orphanage. In 1920 (after delays caused by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

) the orphanage's trustees opened a preparatory school for boys and girls between 5 and 12 years old at Gosden House in

Bramley, Surrey Bramley is a village and civil parish about three miles (5 km) south of Guildford in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, south east England. Most of the parish lies in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Within its bounda ...

. Under the terms of Lord Wandsworth's will, preference was given to the children of agricultural labourers from his former constituency in the north-western or

parliamentary division of Suffolk. Pupils would leave the school by the age of 13, the girls continuing their education in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

while the boys went on to the Lord Wandsworth Agricultural College in

Long Sutton, Hampshire Long Sutton is a small village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. The village lies about south of the town of Odiham. Neighbouring villages include Well, South Warnborough and Upton Grey. The village includes pictures ...

, which is now known as

Lord Wandsworth College Lord Wandsworth College (LWC) is a co-educational independent school in Long Sutton, Hampshire, England, for day and boarding pupils between the ages of 11–18, which occupies a 1,200 acre campus and is known for its charitable foundation. It ...

References

*''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 20 March 1912 pg.8 *

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

br>online
*

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

, 1905, pg. 1660

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Sydney 1845 births 1912 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Wandsworth, Sydney Stern, 1st Baron Viscounts of Portugal English Jews Philanthropists from London Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Inner Temple Jewish British politicians Bankers from London English justices of the peace English people of German-Jewish descent Stern family (banking) Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria 19th-century English businesspeople