Victor Sassoon
Sir Victor Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, GBE (Ellice Victor Sassoon), was a British Jewish businessman, hotel operator, and member of the wealthy Sassoon family of Baghdadi Jewish origin. He was a Sephardic Jew and part of a family known for its involvement in trade and banking.
Biography
Victor Sassoon was born on December 20, 1881, in Naples, Italy, while his family was en route to India. The Sassoons were a Baghdadi Jewish family that made their fortune in the opium trade and invested heavily in India’s cotton textile industry. He grew up in England and was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge.
During World War I, Victor served in the Royal Flying Corps. In 1916, he survived a plane crash in combat, which left him with a permanent injury to his left leg. He required two walking sticks for mobility and was nicknamed “Limping Sassoon.”
That same year, his uncle Jacob Elias Sassoon passed away without heirs, and Victor inherited the family trading firm E.D. Sassoon & Co., established in 1867. The firm had operated out of Bombay and Shanghai, doing business across the Persian Gulf ports, Baghdad, and Japan. It owned cotton mills in India and invested in real estate across the Far East. In 1928, Victor founded E.D. Sassoon Banking Company Limited, a subsidiary of the trading company to manage the family's financial interests.[1]
Victor moved to India, where he managed the family’s textile mills and served in the Indian Legislative Assembly.
In 1924, following the death of his father Edward Elias Sassoon, Victor inherited the title of 3rd Baronet of Bombay. As he had no heirs, the baronetcy became extinct upon his death.
In the 1920s, he shifted the focus of his business from India to Shanghai, China. He lived between Pune, India and Shanghai, and traveled frequently for business and leisure.
Victor Sassoon invested millions of dollars in Shanghai’s real estate market and owned over 1,800 properties, significantly contributing to the city’s development. He acquired Cathay Land Company and at least 50 other companies.
In 1929, he built the 10-story Sassoon House (Cathay Hotel, now Peace Hotel) at 20 The Bund. In March 1930, the new headquarters of E.D. Sassoon & Co. opened there. Prior to the Japanese occupation, he built numerous hotels, offices, and residential buildings—many of them high-rises at the time.
Notable properties in the Shanghai International Settlement's riverfront Bund area included:
- Metropole Hotel (at the corner of Jiangxi Road and Fuzhou Road, northeast side)
- Hamilton House (same corner, southeast side)
- Embankment Building (400 North Suzhou Road)
In the French Concession:
- Cathay Apartments (189 Changle Road)
- Avondale House (east side of Mailsai Road and Pushi Road junction)
Victor also built a private residence known as Eves Villa at 2409 Hongqiao Road, in Shanghai’s western suburbs.
He established the Paramount Ballroom on Jing’an Temple Road.
Sassoon was a protector of Western interests in the East and helped European Jews survive in the Shanghai Ghetto during World War II.[2]
In 1941, under pressure from the Japanese, Victor left Shanghai.[3]
He sold off much of his Shanghai holdings before and after the Second Sino-Japanese War, but many properties remained unsold and were eventually confiscated by the People's Republic of China in 1958 for alleged tax defaults.
In the 1950s, Victor retired to Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas. He married his American nurse, Barnsie, and lived there until his death in 1961. His widow continued his philanthropic legacy by hosting an annual Valentine's weekend ball to support children’s charities in the Bahamas.
Marriage
Victor Sassoon was connected to the Mocatta family through marriage.
Personal Interests
Victor was a passionate photographer.
He was also a thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast, owning a successful racing team that won numerous prestigious races in Britain. In 1925, he purchased Woodditton Stud in Cambridgeshire near the Newmarket Racecourse. He named it Eve Stud Ltd after his wife. Today, it is owned by Darley Stud Management.
Later in life, Sassoon converted to Buddhism.
Employees
One of his former employees, Lawrence Kadoorie, went on to establish China Light and Power in Hong Kong. His trusted assistant in Shanghai, Gordon Currie, was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp for several years.
See Also
- Sassoon family
- Sassoon Road in Hong Kong was named after Victor Sassoon.
References
- ↑ https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BB%B4%E5%85%8B%E5%A4%9A%C2%B7%E6%B2%99%E9%80%8A#cite_ref-1
- ↑ https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BB%B4%E5%85%8B%E5%A4%9A%C2%B7%E6%B2%99%E9%80%8A#cite_ref-lib.utexas.edu_2-0
- ↑ https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BB%B4%E5%85%8B%E5%A4%9A%C2%B7%E6%B2%99%E9%80%8A#cite_ref-historynet_3-0