Max Waechter

Sir Max Leonard Waechter (3 October 1837 – 3 October 1924[1]) was a businessman, art collector, philanthropist and advocate of a federal Europe.[2]

Early life

Waechter was born in Stettin, then in Germany and now Szczecin in Poland.[3] His father was Julius Leonard Waechter, a Lutheran pastor.[4] He went to England in 1859 and was naturalised as a British citizen in 1865.[4]

Career

Waechter became a partner in Bessler, Waechter, and Co., a merchant firm.[3] He advocated improved relations between Britain and Germany and in 1913 founded the European Federation League.[5]

Glover's Island from Richmond Hill

Waechter lived in Terrace House on Richmond Hill.[4] He held the post of High Sheriff of Surrey in 1902[1] and was knighted in the 1902 Birthday Honours.

Marriages

Waechter married twice. His first wife, whom he married at St John the Divine, Richmond in 1873,[4] was Harriett Shallcross, whose father, the Liberal MP Thomas Cave, owned Queensberry House.[4] His second wife was Armatrude Hobart.[4]

Philanthropy, death and legacy

Waechter contributed, anonymously, to a fund established to erect a memorial in Richmond to Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck; a memorial fountain was erected outside the Richmond Gate to Richmond Park.[6] Waechter owned Glover's Island which he donated to the Borough of Richmond in 1900. He helped preserve the view from Richmond across the river by preventing destructive development.

Waechter died in 1924 and was buried in Richmond Cemetery.[7]

Publications

Waechter, Max: European Federation: A Lecture Delivered at the London Institution on the 25th February 1909, Jordan & Sons, Limited, 1909, 15pp.
Waechter, Max: The United States of Europe: How to Make War Impossible, Twentieth Century Press, 1922, 11pp.
Waechter, Max: How to Abolish War: The United States of Europe, 1924, 12pp.
Waechter, Max: The Principal Lesson of the Balkan Wars OCLC 82740175

References

"Death of Sir Max Waechter". Western Daily Press. 4 October 1924. Retrieved 31 January 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
"For United Europe, not to oppose us" (PDF). New York Times. 20 September 1908. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
"Death of Sir Max Waechter". Surrey Mirror. 10 October 1924. Retrieved 1 February 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Berryman, Ron (May 2012). "Sir Max Waechter's European Unity League". Richmond History: The Journal of Richmond Local History Society. 33: 26–36.
Firchow, Peter Edgerly (1986). The Death of the German Cousin: Variations on a Literary Stereotype, 1890–1920. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. p. 210. ISBN 0-8387-5095-8.
Berryman, Ron (May 2014). "HRH Princess Mary Adelaide Duchess of Teck: The Story of Her Memorial". Richmond History: The Journal of Richmond Local History Society. 35: 31–37.
Meller, Hugh; Parsons, Brian (2011). London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer (fifth ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 290–294. ISBN 978-0-7524-6183-0.