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George Peabody

Maryland Historical Society

George Peabody, son of Thomas and Judith Dodge Peabody, was a nineteenth-century merchant who built himself a financial empire, which he then turned into educational legacies around the United States.

Born on February 18, 1795, in South Danvers (now Peabody) Massachusetts, Peabody was the third of eight children. He devoted himself to his business and his family, overseeing the well-being of his siblings and their children until he died. His father passed away in 1811, leaving so many debts that the family house had to be mortgaged and the family separated. In 1817, Peabody had been so successful in business that he was able to pay off the mortgages and reclaim the house for his mother. In his subsequent businesses, Peabody provided employment for his brothers and financial assistance to his brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews.

Peabody had gained a reputation as a good man of business by age twenty. By that time, he and his uncle, Colonel John Peabody, were partners in a dry goods store in the Georgetown district of Washington, DC. In 1815, Peabody went into business with another DC-area merchant, Elisha Riggs. In 1816, Riggs and Peabody moved its offices to Baltimore, to the corner of Sharpe and Baltimore Streets.

By 1829, there were branches in Philadelphia and New York City, and Peabody had begun making transatlantic business trips paired with European tours. In 1837, Peabody moved to London to establish a merchant banking house. He lived there for the rest of his life, returning infrequently to America. While in London, Peabody served as a banker and general financial backer-for example, he helped both Maryland and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stabilize their finances. By the time he died in 1869, he had amassed a fortune in the millions. His firm had been purchased in 1864 by Junius Morgan, the father of J.P. Morgan (1837-1913). The younger man had been a Peabody partner from 1854 to 1861.

Peabody left his money to provide lasting legacies in two chief areas: housing for the working poor, and education—including libraries, schools, and museums—for the public. In 1862 he established a trust fund of $2.5 million to provide housing for London's working poor. Then he turned his attention to education. With the help of friends John Pendleton Kennedy, Enoch Pratt, and John Work Garrett, Peabody established the Baltimore Institute, the public music school, library, art gallery (now housed in the Walters Art Gallery and Baltimore Museum of Art), and the lecture series that is the core of the current Peabody Institute.

Peabody's philanthropy was not limited to Baltimore and London. He founded a museum of archaeology at Yale and of anthropology at Harvard Universities. In 1867, he established the Peabody Educational Fund, dedicated to improve education for children of all races throughout the southern states. He also supported the East India Marine Society and the Essex County Natural History Society in Salem Mass., which then formed the Peabody Academy of Science. Following additional mergers, this academy is now known as the Peabody and Essex Museum.

George Peabody died on November 4, 1869, in London, England. His body was returned to America on a British warship and buried in his native town.

—Clare Callaghan