Sir Alfred David Sassoon, C.S.I.
“engraved from a photograph by Messrs. Bourne and Shepherd, of Calcutta”
Internet Archive version of the Illustrated London News (1 June 1872): 520
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Accompanying article in the Illustrated London News
Sir Albert David Sassoon, C.S.I., of Bombay, on whom her Majesty has been pleased to confer the honour of knighthood, is eldest son of the late Mr. David Sassoon, founder of the mercantile firm of Messrs. Sassoon and Co., of Bombay and London. He was born about the year 1818. He has received a European education, and has travelled in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and on the Continent of Europe. This family of Jewish merchant-princes has made itself illustrious by its munificent gifts to the public both in England and in India. The foundation of an hospital in the town of Poonah, and that of a High School and a Mechanics' Institute at Bombay are proofs of the practical way in which the liberalty of the Sassoons has been dispensed.
The foundation-stone of the Elphinstone High School, one of the most important means of education in the west of India, was laid by the Governor of Bombay a month ago. The building will be a very handsome one when completed, and will oocupy one of the most beautiful sites on the Esplanade. The cost will be about £60,000, of which Sir Albert Sassoon has contributed, in two donations, £16,000 — one of £10,000 in commemoration of the visit to Bombay of the Duke of Edinburgh, and another of £6000 as a thank-offering for the recovery of the Prince of Wales. The Victoria and Albert Musenm at Bombay was opened by the Governor of that Presidency a day or two before the ceremony at the Elphinstone High School. His Excellency at the same time unveiled the marble statue of Prince Albert, presented to the city of Bombay by the late Mr. David Sassoon. This statue, which was exhibited for some mouths in the South Kensington Museum, is the work of Mr. Matthew Noble. It stands, with the pedestal, 18 ft. high, of which 8 ft. belong to the statue of the Prinoe. He is represented standing with one hand hanging by his side, and the other laid upon his breast, which bears the collar of the Garter. On the sides of the pedestal two figures, Science and Art, seem to mourn the death of him who was their patron. The oost of the statue was £3600. The cost of the Victoria Museum, at one end of which the statue is placed, is about £50,000.
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Bibliography
Sassoon, Joseph. Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty. London: Allen Lane, 2021.
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Last modified 21 March 2022