Henry P. Davison

  Henry Pomeroy Davison (June 12, 1867 in Troy, Pennsylvania - May 6, 1922 in Locust Valley, New York) was an American banker and philanthropist.

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The oldest of the four children of George B. and Henrietta Davison, Henry's mother died when he was just eight years old. After completing his education he became a bookkeeper in a bank managed by one of his relatives, and at age 21 he gained employment at a bank in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the hometown of his wife Kate Trubee. Three years later he moved to New York City where he was employed by the Astor Place Bank, and sometime later became president of the Liberty National Bank. Several years later he was involved in the founding and formation of the Bankers Trust Company. In 1909 he became a senior partner at JP Morgan & Company, and in 1910 he was a participant in the secretive meeting on Jekyll Island, Georgia that may have led to the creation of the Federal Reserve and has generated much speculation over the years.

With the entry of the United States in World War I in 1917, Davision was named Chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross. In this capacity, he led a campaign to win financial support for the Red Cross, quickly earning four million dollars used to fund Red Cross ambulances. After the end of the war, he pressed for the creation of an international organization to coordinate the work of the different national Red Cross societies. Based on his recommenations, the League of Red Cross Societies was founded on May 15, 1919 by the societies of Great Britain, France, Japan, Italy, and the United States. In 1919, he also published a book, The American Red Cross in the Great War, describing the wartime activities of the Red Cross. Davison was chairman of the league until his death in 1922. He died at the age of 55 after two failed operations on a brain tumor and left behind his wife, two sons, and two daughters. His son F. Trubee Davison was a director of personnel for the Central Intelligence Agency. His other son Henry P. Davison Jr. was a director at Time magazine and a Yale University graduate and member of the Skull and Bones Society.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the name of the league since 1991, grants the Henry Davison Award in his memory.

Literature

• Henry P. Davison: The American Red Cross in the Great War. The Macmilllan Company, New York 1919
• Thomas W. Lamont: Henry P. Davison: The record of a useful life. Arno Press, New York 1975, ISBN 0-405-06969-3; Original edition: Harper & Bros., New York 1933