Frédéric Émile, Baron d'Erlanger was born to banker
Baron Raphael von Erlanger and his young wife, Margarete Helene Albert (1800–1834). Raphael was the son of a Frankfurt currency broker, Löb Moses, later named
Ludwig Moritz Erlanger (1780–1857). Raphael Erlanger had begun as a
disponent in the Frankfurt business of the
Rothschild family. In 1848, he founded his own bank, named
Erlanger & Söhne (
Erlanger & Sons) in 1865, and became a major competitor to the Rothschild banks in Frankfurt, Vienna and Paris. In 1859, Raphael Erlanger was made a Portuguese Baron by
Pedro V of Portugal, he also was ennobled as
von Erlanger by the Duke of
Saxe-Meiningen in 1860, and elevated to the rank of a
baron, together with his whole family, by Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria in 1871.Just prior the birth of his oldest child Susanne Adolphine (1829–1873), Raphael Erlanger converted from Judaism to Christianity for his wife's sake. Susanne eventually married the Frankfurt merchant Franz Josef Carl Langenberger (1821–1878) who became a partner in the bank. As the eldest son, Friedrich Emil Erlanger became involved in extensive banking and bill transactions early in life. By age 19, he was so successful with his father in the brokerage business that he was appointed Consul General and fiscal agent at Paris by the Greek Government under
Otto I. He visited the royal court in Stockholm and was involved in successful Swedish and Portuguese state financial negotiations.
Ferdinand II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, as a ruler for his son King Pedro of Portugal, ennobled his father Raphael as a hereditary Portuguese
Baron in order to thank Friedrich Emil, who would eventually inherit the title, for his services. Raphael was subsequently granted titles by the Duke of
Saxe-Meiningen and the
Austrian Empire, who named him a hereditary baron and awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph. In 1853, Frederick Emil fell ill and withdrew from business activities. In order to restore his health, he began to conduct travelers to
Greece and
Egypt. Here he met the Suez Canal planner
Lesseps and became fascinated by the idea of the Canal. After his recovery, he became a partner of his father's Frankfurt bank, Erlanger & Sons.
First marriage On 30 June 1858, Friedrich Emil Erlanger married a young Parisian socialite, Florence Louise Odette Lafitte (1840–1931). Her grandfather,
Jacques Laffitte, was a banker, governor of the Bank of France, Finance Minister, and Prime Minister of France temporarily. In 1859, d'Erlanger officially took over the business of the banking house in Paris. He changed his name and was afterwards called
Frédéric Émile Baron '''d'Erlanger'''. His marriage failed, however. The couple had no children and they divorced in December 1862.
Second marriage On 3 October 1864, Baron d'Erlanger married the American Marguerite Mathilde Slidell (1842–1927), the daughter of the influential American lawyer, businessman and politician
John Slidell (1793–1871). Slidell was the Ambassador of the
Confederate States of America at the court of Emperor
Napoleon III. His wife, Maria Mathilde Deslonde, was from an influential Creole family whose ancestors emigrated from
Brest, France, in the seventeenth century. D'Erlanger met his second wife in
New Orleans during a trip to America. She grew up on the prosperous plantation
Belle Pointe in
Laplace, Louisiana, 25 miles (40 km) west of New Orleans. Later, she moved with her family to Paris, where she and her sister received great attention because of their extraordinary beauty. Baron
Frédéric Alfred d'Erlanger (1868–1943) became a banker, but later acquired acclaim as a composer. François
Rodolphe d'Erlanger (1872–1932) was a musicologist and painter whose palace,
Ennejma Ezzahra in
Sidi Bou Said,
Tunisia, now houses the
Centre des Musiques Arabes et Méditerranéennes. The latter's son
Leo Frédéric Alfred Baron d'Erlanger (1898–1978) eventually became the head of the family-owned bank.
Career Baron d'Erlanger was one of the leading bankers of
Paris, the dominant financial center of continental Europe in the second half of the 19th Century. He invented high-risk bonds, especially for developing countries. Towards the end of the 1850s, Erlanger was able to terminate a banking crisis in Sweden with his bonds; since he became banker of Scandinavian governments. In 1862
Erlanger & Sons issued the first Egyptian government bond, together with the Frankfurt bank
Sulzbach brothers, namely Siegmund Sulzbach
de (1813–1876) and Rudolf Sulzbach
de (1827–1904), with whom he also worked together on railroad bonds. He invested in railroads and mines in
Africa, North America, South America, and Europe, as well as Russian and Tunisian government bonds and Southern cotton during the American Civil War. Other than most German and European banks he bet on the
southern states during the
American Civil War. In the late 1870s Erlanger invested in the British enterprise
Alabama Great Southern Railway Company Limited which funded the takeover of
Alabama Great Southern Railway and
Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway (CNO&TP). This railroad net, also known as the "Erlanger System", consisted of over 1,100 miles. He also financed the Swiss
Simplon Tunnels between the
Valais and
Aosta Valley, then the largest railway tunnel in
Europe. In 1884 Erlanger accompanied the
IPO of the
Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways. In 1870 he saved the House of
Thurn und Taxis after the crash of Belgian speculator
André Langrand-Dumonceau. in
Chattanooga, Tennessee] Along with
Paul Julius Reuter (1816–1899), the founder of
Reuters news agency, his bank, Erlanger Ltd., funded the construction of a French transatlantic telegraph cable in 1869. His wife, Mathilde, Baroness d'Erlanger, sent the historic first message. In 1889, during an inspection tour of their American railroad investments, the couple created the d'Erlanger Grant for start-up capital to build a hospital in
Chattanooga,
Tennessee. It is known today as the
Erlanger Health System.
Erlanger, Kentucky was named to honor the d'Erlangers' financial contributions. In 1904 however, the Erlangers sold their Frankfurt branch to
Dresdner Bank and concentrated on their French and British branches. The main reason may have been the earlier deaths of Ludwig Gottlieb Friedrich von Erlanger (1836–1898), Viktor Alexander von Erlanger (1840–1896) and Carlo von Erlanger (1872–1904). Yet competition by big trading banks may have contributed, just as relocation of banks to Berlin and stricter stock exchange legislation.
Culture As music lovers and influential members of the haute bourgeoisie who had personal relationships with the leaders of many countries, they promoted
Richard Wagner and his music, including the first performance of
Tannhäuser at the
Paris Opera after the Franco-Prussian War. D'Erlanger also donated several art works, including the seventeenth-century allegorical tapestries depicting the
Duke of Alba to the
Hampton Court Palace of the British crown. The d'Erlangers also funded the rescue of Goya's Black Paintings - murals from the
Quinta del Sordo in 1873. This house, which they bought, was temporarily residence of
Francisco de Goya. Goya's
Pinturas Negras were costly to save from destruction. These "
black paintings" that Goya painted directly on plaster, were gently
transferred to canvas. After their lack of public acceptance at the
Paris Exposition of 1878, these works were given to the
Prado in
Madrid two years later. In 1866, Baron d'Erlanger and M.
Armand Lalande purchased
Château Léoville-Poyferré in Bordeaux for one million Francs and ran it successfully until the 1890s. In Italy, the d'Erlangers leased
Villa Foscari, the famous mansion built in the seventeenth century by
Andrea Palladio, and commissioned restoration work. Frédéric Emile, Baron d'Erlanger died in
Versailles on 22 May 1911. His second son,
Baron Emile Beaumont d'Erlanger, had previously succeeded him in the management of the bank. == Erlanger family tree ==