| Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 20, 1877 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | May 7, 1915 (aged 37) Atlantic Ocean |
| Children | Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II |
| Parents | Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899) Alice Claypoole Gwynne |
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I (October 20, 1877 – May 7, 1915) was an extremely wealthy sportsman and a member of the famous Vanderbilt family of philanthropists. He died on the RMS Lusitania.
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Born in New York City, the third son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899) and Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845–1934), Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt was educated at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and at Yale University (Class of 1899),[1] where he was a member of Skull and Bones.
Soon after graduation Vanderbilt, with a party of friends, started on a tour of the world which was to have lasted two years. When they reached Japan on 12 September 1899, he received news of the sudden death of his father, and hastened home as speedily as possible to find himself, by his father's will, the head of his branch of the family.[1] His siblings included Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt (1869-1874), William Henry Vanderbilt II (1870–1892), Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873–1942), Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (1880–1925) and Gladys Vanderbilt, Countess Széchenyi (1886–1965). His eldest brother, William, had died in 1892 at the age of 22 and their father had disinherited Cornelius III. Alfred thus received the largest share of his father's estate, though it was also divided among their sisters and youngest son.
Soon after his return to New York, Vanderbilt began working as a clerk in the offices of the New York Central Railroad, as preparation for entering into the councils of the company as one of its principal owners. Subsequently, he was chosen a director in other companies as well, among them the Fulton Chain Railway Company, Fulton Navigation Company, Raquette Lake Railway Company, Raquette Lake Transportation Company, and the Plaza Bank of New York. Vanderbilt was a good judge of real estate values and projected several important enterprises. On the site of the former residence of the Vanderbilt family, and including, also, several adjacent plots, he built the Vanderbilt Hotel at Park Avenue and 34th Street, New York, which he made his city home.[1]
Among Alfred Vanderbilt's many holdings, were positions in the New York Central Railroad, Beech Creek Railroad, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, Michigan Central Railroad and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad as well as the Pullman Company.[2]
On January 11, 1901 Alfred Vanderbilt married Ellen French, known as Elsie, in Newport, Rhode Island. She was the daughter of Francis Ormond French (1839–1893), president of the Manhattan Trust Company, and his wife Ellen Tuck. Elsie was niece to famous banker Edward Tuck and a sister of Amos Tuck French. Later that same year, on November 24, Elsie gave birth to their only child, William Henry Vanderbilt III (1901–1981), later governor of Rhode Island.
A scandal erupted in April 1908 after Elsie filed for divorce, alleging adultery with Agnes O'Brien Ruíz, the wife of the Cuban attaché in Washington, D. C.. The publicity ultimately led Agnes Ruíz to commit suicide in 1909.
Elsie French Vanderbilt remarried to Lieutenant Paul Fitzsimons, U.S.N., on April 3, 1919 in Newport, Rhode Island. He was a marine officer ten years her junior and he served on the same destroyer as Elsie's son William H. Vanderbilt. She died in Newport on February 27, 1948.
Vanderbilt spent considerable time in London after the divorce and remarried there on December 17, 1911 to the wealthy American divorcée Margaret Emerson (1884–1960). She was the daughter of wealthy instructor in chemistry and drug manufacturer Captain Isaac Edward Emerson (1859–1937) and his first wife Emily Askew. She was heiress to the Bromo-Seltzer fortune. Margaret had been married from 1902-1910 to Dr. Smith Hollins McKim, a wealthy physician of Baltimore, Maryland.
Alfred and Margaret had two children: Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II (1912–1999), businessman and racehorse breeder, and George Washington Vanderbilt III (1914–1961), yachtsman and a scientific explorer.
After Alfred's death, Margaret remarried twice: On June 12, 1918 in Lenox, Massachusetts to politician Raymond T. Baker (1875–1935), with whom she had a daughter, Gloria Baker (1920–1975) (Mrs. Henry J. Topping, Jr.). Emerson and Baker were divorced in October, 1928. On November 5, 1928, Margaret was wed in Manhattan to Charles Minot Amory of Boston, Massachusetts. He had been formerly married to Gladys Munn. There were no further children from this marriage. In newspaper articles and reports concerning America's "Old Money" Margaret was considered to have been "the most married woman of her time". Margaret died on January 2, 1960 at the age of 75.
Vanderbilt was a sportsman, and he particularly enjoyed fox hunting and coaching. In the late 19th century, he and a number of other millionaires, such as James Hazen Hyde practiced the old English coaching techniques of the early 19th century. Meeting near Holland House in New York City, the coaching group would take their vehicle for a one, two, or more day trip along chosen routes through several states, going to prearranged inns and hotels along the routes. Vanderbilt would frequently drive the coach, in perfectly apparelled suit as a coachman or groom. He also enjoyed fox hunting, and in the spring of 1915 was headed for England to purchase hunting dogs and horses.
On May 1, 1915, Alfred Vanderbilt boarded the RMS Lusitania bound for Liverpool as a first class passenger. It was a business trip, and he traveled with only his valet, leaving his family at home in New York. On May 7 off the coast of County Cork, Ireland, the German submarine, U-20 torpedoed the ship, triggering a secondary explosion that sank the giant ocean liner within 18 minutes. Vanderbilt and his valet, Ronald Denyer, helped others into lifeboats, and then Vanderbilt gave his lifejacket to save a female passenger. Vanderbilt had promised the young mother of a small baby that he would locate an extra lifevest for her.[3] Failing to do so, he offered her his own life vest, which he proceeded to even tie on to her himself since she was holding her infant child in her arms at the time. Many consider his actions to be very brave and gallant since he could not swim, he knew that there were no other lifevests or lifeboats available, and yet he still gave away his only chance to survive to the young mother and child.
Because of his fame, several people on the Lusitania who survived the tragedy were observing him while events unfolded at the time and so they took note of his brave actions. He and Denyer were among the 1198 passengers who did not survive the incident. His body was never recovered.
A memorial was erected on the A24 London to Worthing Road in Holmwood, just south of Dorking. The inscription reads, "In Memory of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt a gallant gentleman and a fine sportsman who perished in the Lusitania May 7th 1915. This stone is erected on his favourite road by a few of his British coaching friends and admirers".
Another memorial to Vanderbilt is in a small park on Broadway in Newport, Rhode Island where members of the Vanderbilt family spent their summers.
According to A. A. Hoehling and Mary Hoehling (in their study, The Last Voyage of the Lusitania) Vanderbilt's fate was ironic as three years earlier he had made a last minute decision not to return to the U.S. on RMS Titanic.