Caesar Czarnikow

Caesar Czarnikow
Born	1838
Died	1909
Residence	Elm Court, Mitcham, Surrey; and 29 Mincing Lane, EC Effingham Hill, Dorking, Surrey; and 29 Mincing Lane, EC [1888] 103 Eaton Square, SW [1905]
Occupation	business
Society Membership membership Ordinary Fellow left 1909 deceased elected_AI 1875.03.09 clubs Royal Societies Club societies Royal Geographical Society Zoological Society

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proposed 1875.02.23
death noted in report of the council for 1909

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Julius Caesar Czarnikow came to Britain from Germany in the 1850s and built up one of the world's greatest sugar brokerage companies, based in London but with branches and estates in many other countries. He resided with his family in both Belgravia and Effingham, owning Effingham Hill House (today's St. Teresa's School) and holding the lordship of Effingham East Court Manor. He contributed significantly to the parish and died in 1909. He and his wife are interred at St. Lawrence.
The family fortune was built on the sugar brokerage firm founded around 1861 by Julius Caesar Czarnikow. The latter, who preferred to be called simply Caesar, was a son of Moritz Czarnikow and Johanne (née Boer) and was born on October 2nd 1838 in Prussian Germany. One source states that he was of Polish-Jewish extraction and lived in the German province known as Thuringia.
Caesar emigrated from Germany to England in 1854 and in 1860 became a naturalised British Subject. The 1861 Census finds him living near Clapham Common and occupied as a colonial broker:
He evidently returned to Germany in late 1862 as he was baptised there, at age 25, in Berlin Stadt, Brandenburg on November 24th [IGI: Batch C999113].
His future wife was Louisa Ellen Ashlin, born in 1840 [GRO Ref: Lambeth 4 183, 1840 (Q4)] to parents Spencer Ashlin and his wife Louisa (née Harvey) who had married at Battersea on July 12th 1837 [IGI: Batch I022163]. She was baptised at St. Matthew, Brixton on November 22nd or 23rd (the register is unclear) [IGI: Batch P015611].
Caesar and Louisa married in 1863 [GRO Ref: Wandsworth 1d 544, 1863 (Q1)]. Their wedding took place at Holy Trinity Church in Clapham on January 31st 1863 [IGI: Batch M058452].
By now he had already founded his sugar broking firm 'Czarnikow & Co.', in 1861, trading for a year or so at 18, Philpot Lane and then, from 1862 until his death, at 29, Mincing Lane. The firm later became 'C. Czarnikow Limited'. Around 1865 he bought the house in which he was to live for two decades, 'Elm Court' in Lower Green, Mitcham. It had been built in the mid-1820s by John Parrott, in yellow brick with an Ionic porch, and was located near the cricket green. Caesar extended it by building wings on either side
Also in 1865 their first child Horace Czarnikow was born [GRO Ref: Wandsworth 1d 464, 1865 (Q1)]. Their second, and last, child Ada Louisa Czarnikow was born two years later [GRO Ref: Wandsworth 1d 457, 1867 (Q2)].
The 1871 and 1881 Censuses both find the family at 'Elm Court'
In 1884 Caesar's son Horace matriculated, at age 19, at Brasenose College, Oxford University [Alumni Oxoniensis (1715-1886), Vol. 1].
During his years in Mitcham, Caesar presented the village with a new horse-drawn fire engine. Around 1886 he moved from 'Elm Court' and took up residence in London's Belgravia. Specifically he moved to Grosvenor Place, about the most expensive address to live anywhere in the world. Also at about this time, or a little later, he bought from Admiral Frederick Augustus Maxse the Effingham property Effingham Hill House with half its associated land and the Manor of Effingham East Court [from The History of Effingham, O'Connor]. We do not know how he apportioned his time between these, and possibly other, residences. However, the 1891 Census finds him at his Belgravia address
It was in 1891 that Caesar formed a partnership, based in New York, with George Rodgers MacDougall, creating the firm 'Czarnikow, MacDougall' as the North American branch of Caesar's London brokerage 'C. Czarnikow Ltd.'. George was the son of Samuel MacDougall and Mary Allan (née Rodger(s)) who had married at West parish in Greenock, Renfrewshire on November 14th 1839 [IGI: Batch M119577]. He was born on July 22nd 1843 and baptised at Greenock on August 20th [IGI: Batch 7329014]. These early records spell the surname as 'McDougall' but in adult life George always spelled it 'MacDougall'. By 1891 he had become an accomplished and respected figure in Greenock and was effectively headhunted by Caesar to lead the new operation in New York. He was immensely successful there, turning the firm into one of the largest sugar trading businesses in the world. In New York he enjoyed high esteem in both the sugar trade and in society at large.
In 1897 another significant player entered the scene, namely Manuel Rionda y Polledo, usually referred to simply as 'Manuel Rionda'. Two older brothers of his – born, like him, in Spain – had built up a major business dealing in Cuban sugar. Meanwhile, Manuel had established a strong reputation as a Wall Street sugar trader, having spent ten years up to 1896 working for 'J. M. Ceballos & Co.'. He now left that company and was taken on by 'Czarnikow, MacDougall' as a commission agent. By 1898 his brothers Joaquin and Francisco were both dead. The former had drowned in 1889 and the latter had died in New York in November 1898 – he had fled with his family from Cuba, whose civil war had led to insurgents destroying the sugar-cane plantations there and bringing Cuba's sugar industry to ruin. Manuel now began to pick up the pieces in Cuba, putting in significant investment to rebuild its sugar trade and enabling 'Czarnikow, MacDougall' to become the dominant company by 1903
In 1899 Caesar's daughter Ada Louisa married George Seymour Charles Jenkinson D.S.O. [GRO Ref: St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 1020, 1899 (Q3)]. About the end of 1900 they produced a son Robert Charles Horace Jenkinson [GRO Ref: St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 433, 1901 (Q1)].
By 1901 Caesar had moved to a new Belgravia address, No. 103, Eaton Square. Nearby, at No. 93, was the family of Charles Edward (I) Lambert who, like Caesar, had interests in Effingham. The 1901 Census finds Caesar in Eaton Square and looking after his new grandson, while the boy's parents were living at 'Lamport Grange' near Hanging Houghton in Northamptonshire
During this period it is highly probable that Caesar, like his above-mentioned contemporary Charles Edward (I) Lambert, resided in Effingham at those times when business did not demand his presence in London. O'Connor [ibid.] wrote the following of him:
"When Mr. Czarnikow bought Effingham Hill House and the Manor of Effingham East Court, he maintained it in all the tradition of a squire, holding a harvest feast on August Bank Holiday when all workers and tenants on his estate received presents of tea and tobacco. He gave the pulpit in Effingham [St. Lawrence] Church and was a generous contributor to church funds."
The latter observation is reinforced by a comment in Buildings of England, Surrey [Pevsner, 1971, p.207] that Caesar had donated to the church "mosaic and terracotta panels flanking the reredos [to] depict Gabriel and Oriel". (However, Pevsner gives the date of this as 1911, two years after Caesar had died.)
In 1907 Ada Louisa's husband George Jenkinson died in Northamptonshire aged "49" [GRO Ref: Brixworth 3b 58, 1907 (Q3)].
In 1908 Horace married Charlotte Mackinlay May [GRO Ref: St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 613, 1908 (Q1)]. The following year their daughter – and seemingly only child – Margaret was born [GRO Ref: Kettering 3b 148, 1909 (Q2)].
Caesar suffered heart failure during the night of April 16-17th 1909 and was found dead in bed the next morning
His worth on death was reported as £696,000 for his British estate plus the value of his other large estates in the West Indies and Africa; another report gave his total worth as £774,009. O'Connor [ibid.] records that The Times described him as
"... one of the most remarkable merchant princes of modern times whose name will continue to live in the great commercial concerns, the basis of which he built entirely with his own hands."

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