Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim
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Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim (; 22 June 1800 – 14 November 1873) was a German international banker and a member of the prominent Bischoffsheim family.


Early life

Louis-Raphaël was born on 22 June 1800 and was the eldest son of Nathan-Raphaël Bischoffsheim (1773–1814), who was considered the founder of the banking dynasty. The father settled in Mainz in 1790, quickly becoming the French army supplier and an important member of the Jewish community there. When he died in 1814, his four children were orphans. Louis-Raphaël, the oldest, was forced to abandon his studies at age 14 and began working for Hayum Salomon Goldschmidt (1772–1843), who owned a bank in
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. He became friends with his son, Benedict-Hayum Goldschmidt, who was his own age.


Career

In 1820, Louis-Raphaël left Frankfurt and moved to
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, at the time a major financial center, to create a bank in his name. The following year, he got his brother Jonathan-Raphaël Bischoffsheim to form a financial management company. In 1827, Louis-Raphaël opened a new branch in
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under the management of his brother Jonathan-Raphaël, who left the family bank in 1832, after he married Henriette Goldschmidt, sister of Amélie, to move permanently to
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. After his marriage to Goldschmidt's daughter in 1822, the lives of the two families were even more closely linked, and in 1846, Louis-Raphaël Goldschmidt opened a bank in
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, a company that quickly went into the hands of the second son of Louis-Raphaël, Henry-Louis (1823–1908). By that time, his father was already planning to open a new company in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
(August 30, 1848), the '' 'Bischoffsheim, Goldschmidt et Cie' '', with a capital of 750,000 francs. Members were Louis-Raphaël, Hayum-Salomon (1821–1888), his nephew and son of Benedikt Goldschmidt, and Raphaël-Louis, his firstborn. In 1850, the "Bank Bischoffsheim, Goldschmidt et Cie" officially opened its offices at 26 Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin in Paris. In those years, he met Alphonse Pinard et Eduard Henstch, responsible for the "Comptoir d'escompte de Paris", with whom he worked in the following years. In 1863, Louis-Raphaël and the members of the Dutch Banque de Crédit et de Dépôt des Pays-Bas absorbed the branches in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Brussels of the bank he created in 1820. In those years, Louis-Raphaël assisted Pinard, Hentsch and
Paulin Talabot François "Paulin" Talabot (; 18 August 1799 – 21 March 1885), also known as Paulin-François Talabot, was a French railway and canal engineer and politician. Educated at École polytechnique, Talabot started his career building canals. Inspire ...
in the creation of a new bank in Paris, thus becoming one of the founders of the
Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
. In 1872, he and his nephew Henri Bamberger (1826–1908), as well as Alphonse Pinard and Eduard Henstch, were the architects of the merger of the "Banque de Crédit et Dépôt des Pays-Bas" and the "Banque de Paris", which gave rise to a new Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas.


Personal life

In 1822, Louis-Raphaël married Amélie Goldschmidt (1804–1887), daughter of Hayum-Salomon Goldschmidt, whom he knew from an early age. They had two sons: * Raphaël-Louis Bischoffsheim (1823-1906) * Henri Louis Bischoffsheim (1829–1908), banker, who married to Clarissa Biedermann (1837–1922), daughter of Josef Biedermann (1809–1867) Bischoffsheim died on 14 November 1873, in Paris.


Awards

He was made a Knight of the Order of Leopold on April 19, 1851, and a Knight of the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
on May 30, 1868.


See also

* Bischoffsheim family *
Goldschmidt family The Goldschmidt family is a family of German Jewish descent, originally from Frankfurt am Main, known for their success in banking and finance. With origins tracing back to the 15th century, most members were forced to leave Frankfurt after the ...


References


External links

* ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
"Bischoffsheim, Louis Raphael"
by Isidore Singer and Alexander Chessin (1906).
"From high finance to commercial banking: Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim (1800-1873)"
BNP PARIBAS, 11 December 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bischoffsheim, Louis Raphael 1800 births 1873 deaths German bankers Jewish German bankers 19th-century German Jews Businesspeople from Mainz