S. Davies Warfield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (July 2007)

S. (Solomon) Davies Warfield (1863 – October 24, 1927) was a US railroad organizer and banker. He was president of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and of the Continental Trust Company of Baltimore. He is primarily remembered for his role in the project to drain the Florida Everglades and the extension of existing rail lines in order to encourage commercial development of the state of Florida. He was also president of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company and a director of the Maryland Casualty Company and the New York Life Insurance Company.

Warfield was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, son of Henry Mactier Warfield and Anna W. Emory Warfield. His father was a prominent grain merchant and director of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He was the uncle of Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson (Spencer), who became the bride of the King of the United Kingdom, Edward VIII (after he abdicated in order to marry her); they became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Also, a ship named for him, the President Warfield, was built in 1928 by Pussey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware, for the Baltimore Steam Packet Co. This is the ship that changed name in open water in 1947 to the Exodus, and gained fame as the vessel that tried to transport 4,500 Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine, ultimately failing in the endeavor.