J.S. Morgan & Co.

J.S. Morgan & Co. was a merchant banking firm based in London and New York City founded by Junius S. Morgan, father of J. Pierpont Morgan. The business had originally been started by the American merchant George Peabody conducting business on his own account when he took up residence in London in 1838. The business was formally incorporated as George Peabody & Co. in 1851 and on Peabody's retirement in 1864 control was assumed by Morgan who had joined the firm as a partner in 1854. As a consequence the firm was was re-styled J. S. Morgan & Co..^[1] The firm's New York agency was later to become J.P. Morgan & Co. (under the leadership of Junius' son J. Pierpont Morgan) a predecessor firm of JPMorgan Chase.

J. S. Morgan & Co. came to real prominence in 1871 when they undertook the issue of a French war loan during the Franco-Prussian War.^[2] On the death of Junius in 1890 Pierpont became the senior partner of the London firm.^[3] By 1910 all the firm's Morgan family partners were resident in the US and to reflect this the London partnership was restructured with J. P. Morgan & Co. in the US assuming a 50% ownership of the London business which was reconstituted as Morgan Grenfell & Co. in recognition of the senior London-based partner, Edward Grenfell.^[4]

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Citations

References

• Burk, Kathleen (1989). Morgan Grenfell 1838-1988: The Biography of a Merchant Bank. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-828306-5.