At the age of nine, his parents took him to England where he was educated at Farnborough and
Eton College, which he attended for three and a half years. His father was a close friend of both
King Edward VII and
KaiserWilhelm II.[15] At age 16, he began a world tour that lasted a year and a half.[16]
Career
After his world tour, Drexel returned to worked Philadelphia and began working as a clerk for
Drexel & Co., the family firm founded by his great-grandfather
Francis in 1838. His grandfather expanded the family fortunes by partnering with
J. Pierpont Morgan to form
Drexel, Morgan & Co. of New York in 1871 and
Drexel, Harjes & Co. of Paris.[17]
In 1910, he was operating a flying school at
Beaulieu, a quaint little village on the verge of the
New Forest in England.[18] After his marriage, he returned again to the U.S. and became a "widely publicized messenger boy for a New York brokerage firm, E. and C. Randolph." He later became a clerk of the firm before becoming a partner in the firm J. R. Williston & Co. for two years. He bought a seat on the
New York Stock Exchange and founded his own brokerage firm,
Liggett, Drexel & Co. with fellow New York clubman
John E. Liggett (of the
Liggett tobacco family), at
61 Broadway in Manhattan. In 1917, his brother-in-law
George Jay Gould Jr. joined the firm.[19] In 1918, he sold his seat to his partner for $55,000.[20] In 1919, the Intermountain Railway, Light & Power Co. sued Liggett & Drexell's successor, Liggett, Hichborn & Co., for $286,000 seeking damages related to a failed bond issue.[21] In 1921, the Merchants Trust Company of
Waterbury, Connecticut sued Liggett for endorsing bankrupt notes.[22] Liggett's wife later sued him as well, claiming she helped keep the Liggett & Drexel firm afloat by contributing her own cash, securities and jewelry.[23][24][25]
During
World War I, a member of
Squadron A, Drexel served as a
Lieutenant of the
U.S. Army. After the War, he served as vice president of the Standard Film Industries Corporation in New York.[26] In 1935, he was present at a
New York State Legislative committee's hearing as an advocate of lotteries for charity.[16]
In 1938, he sold his 238-ton steel yacht, Queen of Scots, to the British registry to be used as a hospital ship for the
British Red Cross.[28][29]
When
World War II broke out, Drexel and his wife were at their home in suburban Paris, and were forced to flee to their villa in
Biarritz, and then to
Portugal, where the boarded a ship to America. Upon his return to the United States, he "devoted much of his time to sports, particularly yachting."[16]
Edith Kingdon Drexel (1911–1934), who married Henry Sergeant Cram (1907–1997), son of
John Sergeant Cram and
Edith Claire Bryce, in 1931.[33] After her early death, Cram married Ruth Vaux, a granddaughter of
Richard Vaux.[34]
Marjorie Gould Drexel (1916–1947), who married John Murton Gundry Jr. (1896–1961) in 1935.[37][38][39] They divorced in 1945 and she married Axel Julius Danielson (1897–1961) in 1946.
Drexel died of a heart attack at his home in Boca Grande on February 25, 1946.[16] His widow died on November 29, 1955, in Manhattan.[41]
Descendants
Through his daughter Edith, he was a grandfather of John Sergeant Cram III (1932–2007), who married Lady
Jeanne Campbell, the only daughter of
Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll.[42] She had previously been married to American writer
Norman Mailer. Lady Jeanne and John had a daughter,
Cusi Cram (b. 1967), an actress, a Herrick-prize-winning playwright, and an Emmy-nominated writer for the children's animated television program, Arthur.[43][44]