22/9/2006
Henry P. Davison: US banker and philanthropist who laid the foundations for the International Red Cross

Henry Pomeroy Davison (1867 -1922 ) was born in Troy,  Pennsylvania, the eldest of four children.  His mother, Henrietta Davison, died when he was still a child.  He went into banking, the family profession, in which he was to be remarkably successful.  His career took him to the foundation and formation of the Bankers Trust Company and into partnership with one J P Morgan.  Aporcyphal, East Coast banking legend has it that these two eminent men, J P Morgan and Henry P Davsion, were present at the meeting in Georgia out of which was to emerge the Federal Reserve.

Davison’s activity in international affairs began when America joined the First Word War.  True to his philanthropic instincts, and testament no doubt to a reputation for getting things done, he was appointed Chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross.  Davison duly turned his business acumen to fundraising for the organisation and secured $4 million for the funding of Red Cross ambulances.

These experiences led Henry Davison to put his energies into lobbying for the creation of an international organisation to co-ordinate and facilitate the work of Red Cross socities across the world.  As a result of his work, the combined Red Cross Societies of UK, France, Japan, Italy and the United States set up the League of Red Cross Societies, which Davison chaired until his early death in 1922.  Davison published a book about the role of the Red Cross during the First World War.

As well as his philanthropic and banking activities Davison found time to build a magnificent family home at Peacock Point, Long Island and to generally live the life of an East Coast patrician banker of the old school.  He died young, aged 55, of a brain tumour, leaving his wife and four children. 

The League became the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 1991 which grants an award is granted in memory of Henry P Davison.  A fitting memorial to a remarkable man of his era, a patrician banker who developed an international conscience.

(Source: http://www.redcross.int/)