Leopold Schuster (1791 – 27 February 1871) was a German-born British cotton-trader and

merchant banker A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commod ...

, who was the Chairman of the

London and Brighton Railway The London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in England which was incorporated in 1837 and survived until 1846. Its railway ran from a junction with the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) at Norwood – which gives it access fr ...

and of the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR (known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton)) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at ...

, and a buyer of

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around ...

Early career

The son of a

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

merchant, he moved to England in 1808, and in 1820 formed the trading company Leo Schuster, Brothers & Co., cotton merchants based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Like many

German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

Northwest England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

at the time, he converted to

Unitarianism Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...

Merchant banker

In 1855 he moved to London, and formed the

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...

''Schuster Sons & Co.'' in

Cannon Street Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the north of the City. It is the site of the ancient London S ...

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Through this he became involved in financing various railway ventures, and was Chairman of the

. As chairman he negotiated the tripartite merger to form the new

, which he became deputy chairman of to his friend Samuel Laing.

Chairman, LB&SCR

After Laing retired at the end of 1855 to pursue a political career, Schuster replaced him as chairman of the LB&SCR, instituting a policy of rapidly expanding new routes throughout

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, and

East Surrey East Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Claire Coutinho, a Conservative who formerly served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The seat covers an affluent area in t ...

. Some of these routes were financed and built by the company itself, while others were built by independent local companies, set up with the intention of connecting their town to the growing railway network, and with the intention of sale or lease to the LB&SCR. Schuster accelerated the speed of mileage increase after appointing

Frederick Banister Frederick Dale Banister MICE (15 March 1823 – 22 December 1897), was an English civil engineer, best known for his 35 years as the Chief Engineer of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR). Early life Born in London on 15 Marc ...

as the new Chief Engineer in 1860. Resultantly, between 1857 and 1865 a further were constructed or authorised. The growth of the LB&SCR came to a halt in 1866 with the collapse of London bankers

Overend, Gurney and Company Overend, Gurney and Company was a London wholesale banking, wholesale discount bank, known as "the bankers' bank", which collapsed in 1866 owing about £11 million, equivalent to £ million in . The collapse of the institution triggered a bankin ...

. The subsequent UK financial crisis the following year brought the railway to the brink of

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. A special meeting of shareholders was adjourned, and the powers of the Board of Directors were suspended pending receipt of a report into the financial affairs of the company and its prospects. The report made clear that the railway had over-extended itself with large capital projects sustained by profits from its passenger traffic, which suddenly declined as a result of the crisis. Several of the country lines were losing money, and resultantly in restructuring the company Schuster was forced to resign in favour of new chairman Peter Northall Lawrie.

Crystal Palace

In the 1850s, Schuster and Laing were both members of a consortium of eight men who bought

and relocated the building to south London at

Sydenham Hill Sydenham Hill forms part of Norwood Ridge, a longer ridge and is an affluent Human settlement, locality in southeast London. It is also the name of a road which runs along the northeastern part of the ridge, demarcating the London Boroughs of ...

. The consortium persuaded the board of the LB&SCR to build a new railway station to service the new location and it opened in 1854.

Personal life

His elder son, by his first wife Emilie, who was the daughter of M. L. Getz of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, was Samuel Leo Schuster (11 May 1830 – 23 December 1884)ALFRED PARSONS, Deceased.--Pursuant to. ''The Times'', Wednesday, 25 Feb 1885; pg. 3; Issue 31379 who married the eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Orkney. His daughter Mariana Emily Schuster married the baronet Sir William Dickason Clay and, after Clay's death, subsequently

Arthur Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton Arthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton (26 December 1832 – 21 April 1907) was a Nova Scotia-born British civil servant. He was the first native Canadian to be raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom Early life Arthur Haliburt ...

. By his second marriage to Mary Howard, which occurred in 1845, Leo had two more daughters and a second son who was the arts-patron Leo Francis Howard Schuster (1852 - 1927). He was the uncle of the financier Sir Felix Schuster and Sir Francis Schuster. His estate on his death was valued at over £500,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Leo 19th-century German Jews German emigrants to the United Kingdom English bankers London, Brighton and South Coast Railway people Converts to Unitarianism from Judaism English Unitarians 1791 births 1871 deaths 19th-century English businesspeople