Alfred Chester Beatty

Alfred Chester Beatty
Born	Alfred Chester Beatty Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Died	19 January 1968(1968-01-19) (aged 92) Monte Carlo, Monaco
Other names	A. Chester Beatty, "King of Copper"
Occupation(s)	Mining entrepreneur, benefactor, art collector
Years active	Early 1900s–1968
Known for	Founder of Selection Trust; Chester Beatty Library; extensive manuscript and art collections

Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (7 February 1875 – 19 January 1968) was a prominent American mining entrepreneur and benefactor, famously dubbed the "King of Copper" due to his enormous wealth. He acquired British citizenship in 1933, received a knighthood in 1954, and was honored with honorary Irish citizenship in 1957.

Beatty assembled an extensive collection comprising African, Asian, European, and Middle Eastern manuscripts, rare books, prints, and artistic objects. After settling in Dublin in 1950, he established the Chester Beatty Library on Shrewsbury Road to showcase his collection; it opened its doors to visitors in 1954. His holdings were bequeathed to the Irish people and placed under state care. Additionally, he gifted papyrus documents to the British Museum, contributed his second wife’s collection of Marie Antoinette’s furnishings to the Louvre, and donated several paintings from his London residence to the National Gallery of Ireland. Beatty also supported the growth and relocation of the Cancer Research Institute, which was renamed the Chester Beatty Institute in 1939 and is currently known as the Institute of Cancer Research.

Early life

Born on 7 February 1875 at the site now occupied by Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City, Alfred Chester Beatty came from a middle-class background. He was the youngest son of John Cuming Beatty, a banker and stockbroker, and Hetty Bull. Commonly referred to as A. Chester Beatty or "Chet," he had two brothers: William Gedney Beatty and Robert Chetwood Beatty.

Beatty earned a Master of Engineering and Doctor of Science from Columbia School of Mines in 1898. Following graduation, he relocated to Denver, Colorado, beginning his mining career as a "mucker" earning $2 per day before quickly advancing to supervise operations at the Kektonga Silver Mines.

Career

In 1903, Beatty joined the management team led by John Hays Hammond at the Guggenheim Exploration Company, receiving guidance from mining engineer T. A. Rickard. By 1908, he had established himself as one of America’s foremost mining engineers and launched an independent consulting business on Broadway in Manhattan.

Beatty founded Selection Trust, a London-based mining firm, in 1914. Although World War I hindered its growth initially, during the 1920s the company expanded its interests into the USSR, Gold Coast (now Ghana), and Sierra Leone. He accumulated substantial wealth through copper mining ventures in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), earning his reputation as the "King of Copper."

Collector

A family story from Beatty’s youth highlights his early enthusiasm for collecting, beginning with bidding on mining samples at auctions. At ten years old, he purchased a piece of pink calcite for ten cents. While living in Denver, he developed an award-winning stamp collection. Prior to moving to London, he began collecting Chinese snuff bottles along with Japanese netsuke, inro, and tsuba.

Due to silicosis caused by years working in American mines, Beatty and his family spent winters in Egypt until World War II and later relocated to southern France. His initial visit to Cairo in 1913/14 sparked a lifelong interest in papyrus documents and Islamic manuscripts.

By 1931, Beatty had gained recognition as a significant collector after acquiring the Chester Beatty Papyri—third-century Biblical manuscripts that transformed scholarly understanding of early Christian scripture acceptance and survived Diocletian’s persecutions.

During travels to Japan and China in 1917, Beatty obtained painted albums and scrolls. Throughout his life, he continued collecting manuscripts, textiles, and artifacts from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Beatty’s stature as a collector grew alongside his advisory network. While final acquisition decisions were made by him personally, Edith Beatty focused on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artworks along with French furniture. Alfred concentrated on Islamic items such as illuminated Qurans and manuscripts from Mughal, Turkish, and Persian origins while expanding Western collections with Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and Greek texts. His Asian acquisitions included Tibetan, Thai, Burmese, and Sumatran manuscripts. He prioritized richly illustrated works of superior quality for their cultural significance.

Initially competing within the early twentieth-century Orientalist art market, Beatty began collaborating with the British Museum from 1925 onward. For instance, he co-purchased the Minto Album with the museum and amicably divided its folios between them. The Beattys also donated nineteen ancient Egyptian papyri to the British Museum.

Between 1939 and 1949, over 140 nineteenth-century paintings were acquired by Beatty for display in his London residence’s picture gallery—converted from stables in 1934. In 1940 these artworks were shipped to New York for safekeeping during World War II. In gratitude for assistance relocating from London in 1949, he gifted part of his French nineteenth-century painting collection to Taoiseach John A. Costello; these pieces now belong to the National Gallery of Ireland. Among them was Jules Breton’s idealized rural scene The Gleaners.

Relocation to Dublin

Beatty contributed to the Allied victory during the war by providing essential raw materials, earning a knighthood from Elizabeth II in 1954 in recognition of his efforts. By the late 1940s, growing dissatisfaction with Britain's political changes and foreign exchange limitations impacting both his business and collecting activities led him to reconsider donating his collection to the British Museum. However, the museum's director declined to assure the preservation of the collection according to Beatty's stipulations, prompting him to explore other options.

At 75 years old in 1950, Beatty handed over leadership of Selection Trust to his son Chester Jr and moved to Dublin. He expressed frustration with post-war British policies and the Labour government's ascent, lamenting London's waning influence in mining due to heavy taxation and regulatory constraints. Personal reasons also influenced his decision, including his son's residence in County Kildare and his own Irish roots. He envisioned a specially designed library to house his collection, which opened on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin in 1953, initially serving scholars before welcoming the general public.

He acquired a townhouse on Ailesbury Road along with adjacent land for establishing the Chester Beatty Library, which officially opened on 8 August 1953. In 2000, the library relocated to its present site within Dublin Castle, coinciding with the 125th anniversary of Beatty’s birth; it was honored as European Museum of the Year two years afterward.

During his later years, Beatty divided his time between Dublin and Southern France. He was granted the Freedom of Dublin in 1954 and became Ireland’s first honorary citizen in 1957. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he continued to enrich his collection by acquiring notable Ethiopian manuscripts and Japanese prints.

The Chester Beatty Library and its holdings were entrusted to a foundation dedicated to serving the people of Ireland. Since 2000, it has operated from the historic Clock Tower building dating back to the 18th century within Dublin Castle’s grounds.

Personal life

Beatty’s first marriage was to Grace Madeleine "Ninette" Rickard—sister-in-law of his mentor T. A. Rickard—on 18 April 1900 in Denver, Colorado. The couple settled in East New York, Brooklyn, where they had two children: daughter Ninette "Little Ninette" Beatty (born 1 January 1901) and son Alfred Chester Beatty Jr. (born 17 October 1907).

Tragically, on 23 March 1911, his wife passed away suddenly from typhoid fever at age 31 in Manhattan. Her funeral took place on 31 March at All Angels' Church.

In 1912, Beatty purchased Baroda House on Kensington Palace Gardens and relocated with his children to London the following year. In April 1913, he married Edith Dunn (formerly Stone), an accomplished racehorse owner and distinguished art collector, at Kensington Register Office.

While recuperating from pneumonia and Spanish influenza in 1917, Beatty traveled with his wife and daughter through Japan and China.

His daughter wed Captain Edward Newling in 1929 at Westminster Cathedral; they had a daughter named Anne Quie. Anne later married Leslie Clive Annesley Quie in 1970. His son married Elizabeth Pamela Belas in East Ashford, Kent, in 1933; their daughter Sarah Anne Chester Beatty married David Greville, 8th Earl of Warwick—the heir to Warwick Castle—in 1956. Sarah and David had two children: Guy Greville, who became the 9th Earl of Warwick, and Lady Charlotte Anne Fraser.

From 1971 until 1973, Anne Quie was married to Kasimir Korybut, a Polish prince and architect; she subsequently wed racehorse trainer Harry Thomson Jones in 1975.

Beatty is depicted in eight portraits housed at the National Portrait Gallery (United States), while his son is featured in one portrait there.

In Westminster in 1937, his son married Enid Groome; they later divorced. Edith Beatty passed away at their Kensington Palace Gardens residence on 5 August 1952 at age 66. The following year, Chester Jr married Helen Gertrude Casalis De Pury (née Markowicz) in Brentford.

Beatty was awarded an honorary Legum Doctor degree by the National University of Ireland.

Death

Beatty passed away on 19 January 1968 at the Princess Grace Polyclinic located in Monte Carlo, Monaco, following a short illness. He was 92 years old. His funeral service took place on 29 January 1968 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, succeeded by a state funeral conferred by the Government of Ireland. He was interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in Glasnevin. The value of his Irish estate was assessed at GB£7 million.