Victor Sassoon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir (Ellice) Victor Sassoon, 3rd Baronet GBE (20 December 1881 – 13 August 1961) was a businessman and hotelier from the Sassoon banking family.

He succeeded to the Baronetcy on the death of his father Edward Elias Sassoon in 1924. He had no issue, and the Baronetcy became extinct on his death.

He lived in Shanghai up until the Japanese occupation. The Cathay Hotel, now the Peace Hotel, was confiscated by the PRC after 1949. He was also an avid photographer and held extravagant parties at his hotel. Late in his life, Sassoon converted to Buddhism. Sassoon was related by marriage to the Mocatta family and he himself was a Sephardic Jew. One of his former employees, Lord Kadoorie, later founded the Hong Kong based utility company China Light and Power. One of his right hand men in Shanghai was Gordon Currie who was put into a concentration camp by the Japanese and remained there for several years.

[edit] Woodditton Stud

A fan of thoroughbred horse racing, he owned a highly successful stable of horses that won numerous prestigious races in the United Kingdom. In 1925 he purchased Woodditton Stud in Cambridgeshire not far from the Newmarket Racecourse. He remamed it Eve Stud Ltd. for his daughter. Today, it is owned by Darley Stud Management.

Among his stables' significant performances were wins in the Epsom Derby, Epsom Oaks, One Thousand Guineas, Two Thousand Guineas, St. Leger Stakes, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes. He is quoted to have once said: "There is only one race greater than the Jews, and that is the Derby."^{[citation needed]}

The Sassoon Road in Hong Kong is named in his honour.

Preceded by Edward Elias Sassoon

Sassoon Baronet of Bombay (1909 creation) 1924–1961

Succeeded by Title extinct

[edit] References

• Legend of the Sassoons
• Woodditton Stud article