Francis Benedict Hyam Goldsmith (1878 – 14 February 1967)[1] was a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1910 to 1918. He then became a luxury hotel tycoon in France and the United Kingdom.
Born Franck Adolphe Benedict Goldschmidt in 1878 in Frankfurt, Germany, into a German Jewish family, the son of multi-millionaire Adolphe Benedict Hayum Goldschmidt, who permanently moved to London in 1895,[2], and Alice Emma Moses Merton (1835–98), daughter of Joseph Benjamin Moses aka Moses Merton. His grandfather was Benedict Hayum Salomon Goldschmidt, banker and consul to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, founder of the B.H. Goldschmidt Bank.
He grew up on his family's 2,500-acre (10 km2) country estate in Suffolk. Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, he gained an honours degree in law and was called to Bar by the Inner Temple in 1902. In 1903 he was elected to Westminster City Council, remaining a member for four years. In 1904 he was elected a member of London County Council representing St Pancras South with W.H.H. Gastrell as municipal reformers, having defeated both George Bernard Shaw and Sir William Geary, who were standing as Progressives. From 1904 to 1910 Goldsmith was active on many committees showing great interest in education and special schooling, becoming whip of the Municipal Reform Party. He was also involved in many Jewish charities, assisting in the organizations involved in the emigration of Jews from the Russian Empire and became a member of the emigration committee of the Jewish Board of Guardians.
At the January 1910 general election Goldsmith was elected as Conservative MP for the Stowmarket division of Suffolk,[3] close to his family home of Cavenham Park. Although remaining an MP until 1918, his political career was ended by anti-German hysteria during World War I.[4] During the war he served in Gallipoli and Palestine with the Suffolk Yeomanry.
After the war Goldsmith moved to France where he set up a hotel business. He married Marcelle Moullier in June 1929. Goldsmith eventually built up a portfolio of 48 hotels including the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the Carlton in Cannes and the Lotti in Paris. He was director of the Savoy Hotel company for many years and one of the founders of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. He was Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.
He died in Paris on 14 February 1967, leaving a widow and two sons, Edward Goldsmith, an environmentalist and eco-philosopher, and James Goldsmith, businessman and founder of the Euro-sceptic Referendum Party.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Alexander Hardy |
Member of Parliament for Stowmarket Jan. 1910–1918 |
Constituency abolished |