Frederick Gordon (hotelier)

Frederick Gordon
Born (1835-07-22)July 22, 1835
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
Died March 22, 1904(1904-03-22) (aged 68)
Hotel Metropole, Cannes
Burial place Churchyard of St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore
Nationality British
Occupation Hotelier
Years active c.1880-1904
Organization Gordon Hotels
Hotel Metropole, Monte Carlo
Bentley Priory, Stanmore

Frederick Gordon (22 July 1835 – 22 March 1904) was a British entrepreneur and businessman, known primarily as a hotelier.[1]

Biography

Early life

He was born on 22 July 1835 in Ross-on-Wye. His father, Charles John Gordon, was a decorator of fine restaurants.

Hotels

Frederick Gordon was known as "The Napoleon of the Hotel World", and founded the Gordon Hotels chain in 1890, which owned the Grand Hotel in Trafalgar Square and the Metropole Hotel in London; the Burlington Hotel, Eastbourne; the Brighton Metropole; the Hotel Metropole, Cannes; and the Hotel Metropole, Monte Carlo. He was also chairman of The Frederick Hotels Company Limited, and held directorships at a wide variety of companies including Ashanti Goldfields, Pears soap, and Bovril.[1][2]

He bought the Apollinaris mineral water business in 1897 from its founder Edward Steinkopff and his co-partners for nearly £2,000,000, (very approximately £2-4 billion in 2016).[3][4]

Stanmore

Gordon is credited with developing Stanmore from a rural village to a London suburb. In 1890 opened his own railway line, the Harrow and Stanmore Railway, to serve his luxury country hotel there, Bentley Priory. He also built a residential avenue of suburban houses in Stanmore, which he named Gordon Avenue, to attract wealthy Londoners to come to live in the country and commute into the city on his new railway. He also laid out Stanmore Golf Course. Neither the Bentley Priory Hotel nor the railway were commercially successful, and in 1899 he wound up the Harrow and Stanmore Railway and sold it outright to the LNWR for £35,000. Gordon took up residence with his family at Bentley Priory.[2]

Death and legacy

Frederick Gordon died on 22 March 1904 whist staying at his Hotel Metropole in Cannes. His body was brought back to Britain and buried in the family grave at the church of St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore.[1]

The Gordon Hotels chain continued after Frederick's death. In 1963 it became part of Grand Metropolitan Hotels. In 1997 the company merged with Guinness and is now part of Diageo.

Family life

Frederick Gordon's sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) married his business partner Horatio Davies in 1867, who bought Pimms from its original owner/founder.[5] She died on 14 November 1907.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Frederick Gordon, The Napoleon of the Hotel World and chairman of Gordon Hotels Company limited and The Frederick Hotels Company Limited, creator of the Harrow to Stanmore railway". www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  2. 1 2 "The Harrow and Stanmore railway". www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk. The Stanmore Tourist Board. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Deaths: Edward Steinkopff". The Chemist and Druggist. LXVIII (10): 399. 10 March 1906.
  4. ↑ "Summary of World's Happenings". Poverty Bay Herald. XXXIII (10637). Gisborne, NZ. 12 April 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (1909). London: Chatto and Windus.p. 291.
  6. ↑ Whitaker's Peerage (1908): Obituaries for 1907 "Davies, Lady, wife of Sir Horatio Davies, KCMG — Nov. 14."
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