Frederick Henry Prince (November 30, 1860 – February 2, 1953) was an American

stockbroker A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and ...

investment banker Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by unde ...

and

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

Early life

Prince was born in

Winchester, Massachusetts Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the List of Massachusetts locations by per capit ...

, on November 30, 1860, the son of Frederick O. Prince, former mayor of the city of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and Helen Susan ( Henry) Prince. Among his siblings were Gordon Prince, Charles Albert Prince, and Dr.

Morton Prince Morton Henry Prince (December 22, 1854 – August 31, 1929) was an American physician who specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology, and was a leading force in establishing psychology as a clinical and academic discipline. He was part ...

. He studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, but left in his sophomore year to get an early start in the business world. He acquired a seat on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

, on December 10, 1885, and retained his individual membership throughout his life.

Career

Prince made a fortune through his investments in a number of business ventures. Seeing the potential for the stockyard business, during the first decade of the 20th century, he began buying up small companies, merging them into the giant Union Stockyards and Transit Company, of which he was chairman. To ensure control over delivery service to his stockyards, a significant and integral part of the food and tobacco sector, Prince's company acquired outright or held a controlling interest in the

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes (North America), Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadi ...

and the Chicago Junction Railway. Combined, these gave his stockyard operations hundreds of miles of rail lines and close to of land. In the early 1920s, Prince acquired

Armour and Company Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1863, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's mos ...

, one of the country's major

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

s and

meatpacking The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally n ...

operations. A friend of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Prince helped finance Kennedy's 1925 acquisition of the Robertson-Cole/Film Book Offices, which would evolve into

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the major film studios, "Big Five" film studios of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's Clas ...

. A Republican Party member and delegate to the 1928 convention, Prince aided President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

efforts to pull America out of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s. In 1933, he formulated a widely debated program for consolidation for the nation's railroads. Known as the "Prince Plan", it was projected to create savings for the nation's railroads of $740 million annually. The plan was rejected, because it would have thrown thousands of workers out of their jobs. This experience led him to also propose sweeping changes in the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

to make the president more independent.

Sportsman

Prince was a member of the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

, he owned the ''Weetamoe'', a J-class yacht. The ''Weetamoe'' competed for a berth in the

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

, losing in the 1934 trials to the ultimate winner Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and his yacht, ''

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

''. He owned a large number of horses and established numerous riding trails and carriage roads on his Princemere estate in Wenham. Prince was one of the nine founding members of the National Steeplechase Association, created in 1895 to organize competitive steeplechase racing. In Pau, where he had a villa, he served as the master of foxhounds for the Pau Hunt from 1910 to 1939 and was a generous member of the English Club.

Personal life

In 1884, Prince was married to Abigail Kinsley Norman (1860–1949), a daughter of George H. Norman and Abby Durfee ( Kinsley) Norman of Newport. Together, they had two sons: * Frederick Henry Prince Jr. (1885–1962), who married Elizabeth Harding, a daughter of William P. G. Harding, in 1917. They divorced and she married Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer and he married Virginia Lucy ( Mitchell) Higginson, a daughter of Clarence Blair Mitchell and widow of James J. Higginson Jr. * Norman Prince (1887–1916), who died while flying with the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille () was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the History of the Armée de l'Air (1909–1942)#World War I (1914–1918), ''Aéronautique Mil ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He died in Biarritz on February 2, 1953.

Residences

The Princes had a number of significant residences. They had a home in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

, and a villa in

Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pau (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune overlooking the Pyrenees, the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region of Southwestern France. The city is locat ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, known as Villa Sainte-Hélène (today the residence of the Préfet des Pyrénées-Atlantiques). He had a home in Boston, including Princemere, a estate at

Wenham, Massachusetts Wenham () is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,979 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town of Wenham was settled in 1635 and incorporated in 164 ...

he purchased in the 1890s. On the estate, he built a stone mansion in 1911. He also had a home in

Aiken, South Carolina Aiken is the most populous city in, and the county seat of, Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. According to 2020 census, the population was 32,025, making it the 15th-most populous city in South Carolina, and one of the two largest ci ...

. In 1932, Prince bought Marble House at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

from Mrs. Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (formerly Alva Vanderbilt). They had previously rented Crossways, the former Stuyvesant Fish estate that was then owned by Mrs. Morris de Peyster.

Legacy

In 1947, Frederick H. Prince and his wife established the Prince Charitable Trusts, that was a benefactor to various philanthropic endeavors in the city of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the state of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. Following his death, Gordon College relocated to the Princemere estate in 1955. Today, his former home is known as Frost Hall and houses many of the college's faculty and administrative offices, as well as the Admissions Department.

References

External links

The International Tennis Club of Washington

Prince Charitable Trusts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Frederick H. 1860 births 1953 deaths America's Cup sailors American investors American people in rail transportation American male sailors (sport) American philanthropists Harvard University alumni Masters of foxhounds in the United States Members of the New York Yacht Club People from Wenham, Massachusetts People from Winchester, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Newport, Rhode Island Stock and commodity market managers American money managers American stockbrokers