Sydney James Stern, 1st Baron Wandsworth, (1844 – 10 February 1912) was a British banker, Liberal Member of Parliament, philanthropist and member of the Stern banking family.

Background and education

Stern was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1844, the eldest son of Viscount David de Stern, 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 comm ...

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 association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

in 1886 but was finally elected as MP for

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

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. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

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 for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

, and served as vice-president of the London and Counties Radical Union. He was appointed the Honorary Colonel of the

4th Volunteer Battalion, East Surrey Regiment The 23rd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment was an auxiliary unit of the British Army. Formed in 1908 from Volunteer Force, Volunteer units in the Surrey suburbs of London that dated back to 1859, it was part of the London Regiment ( ...

, on 16 February 1889 He provided the land for the battalion's new drill hall at 27 St John's Hill, Clapham Junction, opened in 1902.

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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

) 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 parishes in England, civil parish about three miles (5 km) south of Guildford in the Borough of Waverley, Surrey, Waverley in Surrey, south east England. Most of the parish is in the Surrey Hills National Lan ...

. 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, England, around south-west 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 nam ...

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 Upton Grey is a village an ...

, which is now known as

Lord Wandsworth College Lord Wandsworth College (LWC) is a co-educational private 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 is a ...

References

* ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 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 the ...

br>online
*

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

, 1905, pg. 1660

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Sydney 1844 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