RANDOLPH JACOBS LTD
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THE JACOBS FAMILY
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In 1786, Quaker Cousins George and Gordon Jacobs joined with William Rathbone to form Rathbone & Jacobs, a Liverpool business trading mainly with America. Over the course of the 19th century, the Jacobs family grew its wealth through railway finance in Britain, Europe and America, becoming part of a syndicate that marketed shares in the Western Railroad of Massachusetts and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads in the 1850s.
By the 1880s the firm was primarily engaged in the business of investment in American securities for private clients as well as traditional import/export, and built up a profitable business financing railroads in the American mid-west as well as amassing a substantial personal fortune by identifying Chicago as a growth area, selling out profitably as the economy recovered. They also dabbled in mining developments in Southern Africa and the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, the London Electric Supply Corporation and the St. James’s and Pall Mall Electric Light Company.
When normal merchant banking activities resumed after the Great War, Thomas brought his three sons into the business and in 1924 sold his extensive collection of art by auction at Christie’s in order to raise funds and some much needed liquidity. Thomas’ second son, Major Sir Reginald Jacobs, DSO known as Rex, has proved to be both an excellent merchant banker and successful army officer.
In 1923 the family’s banking company, Gordon Jacobs & Co, was reorganised to allow Rex to take control; the firm were heavily exposed to US securities at the time of the Wall Street Crash but under Rex’s excellent management – and following a crucial merger with Harry Randolph and the Randolph Investment Trust in 1924 to form Randolph Jacobs and Company Ltd – the company’s value nearly doubled between 1928 and 1935.
THE RANDOLPH FAMILY
A distant but acknowledged branch of the founding father dynasty, the Randolphs were East Coast political heavyweights and American aristocracy with serious political influence but rather limited finances until Frank Randolph made his fortune in the gold fields of California. Since then his descendants have bought up every company they could get their hands on and built a media empire that stretches from New York to Los Angeles.
Rex Jacobs and Harry Randolph were close friends as well as business partners and seem to have the magic touch, together steering Randolph Jacobs Co Ltd through the pre-war period with a combined flair for spotting investment opportunities and avoiding hidden perils that have sunk many of their competitors.
Since Harry’s death last year in California from a heart attack, his interests have been handled by his widow Nella: the daughter of Illinois investment banker, Albert Voichek – who has children of her own from a previous marriage.