Frédéric Alfred d'Erlanger

Baron Frédéric Alfred d’Erlanger (29 May 1868 – 23 April 1943 ) was an Anglo-French composer, banker, and patron of the arts. His father, Baron Frédéric Émile d’Erlanger, was a German His mother, Mathilde (née Slidell), was an American. d’Erlanger was born in Paris. (See: Erlanger family tree). He began his musical studies in Paris under Anselm Ehmant, d’Erlanger was described as a “genuine Renaissance man”; he was a noted patron of the arts in London, promoting and financing opera at Covent Garden and acting as a trustee of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He also invested in developing countries, financing department store chains in South America and railways in South Africa. “Baron Fred”, as he was known, was a frequent participant in the regular Thursday musical soirées of the club. The supplement to The London Gazette of 27 February 1918, in records of the partners in the firm Erlangers, records Baron Fred’s home at that time as Park House, Rutland Gate, London. In 1925, d’Erlanger married Catherine, “a French woman of good family”. In 1932, he put his name on the foundation stone of what was then the Musicians’ House, later renamed Merebank House, in what was then fairly op