BARON HIRSCH.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 302, 7 May 1896, Page 7

BARON HIRSCH.

Baron Maurice de Hirsch first saw the light of day at Munich in the year 1831. After receiving a first-class education in Belgium, and graduating in the banking business, he gave himself up entirely to railway enterprise, undertaking the reconstruction of numerous lines in (Germany, Belgium, Holland, Russia, and other countries, finally becoming the projector of the railway in European Turkey. To this latter enterprise has been attributed the great wealth of Baron de Hirsch. At the conclusion of the Franco-German war, the baron took up his residence in Paris. A good linguist, Baron de Hirsch quickly mastered the English language, and became familiar with the customs of London society. A keen sportsman and a good shot, he was made a welcome guest at many country houses ; and when a few years ago the baron took to horse-racing, and gave the extraordinary price for the peerless La Fleche, with which grand mare he won the One Thousand Guineas, Oaks, and St. Leger, to say nothing of other races, he became an Englishman indeed. Baron de Hirsch was best known to Englishmen for what he had done for hospitals and other charitable institutions, by devoting his winnings on the turf to their support. But he has done something more than this. In the year 1891 the baron won £7,000, and in the following year £35,000, these sums being devoted by him to various metropolitan and provincial charities, without any deduction. In the racing season of 1893 his colours were not so successful, and the sum won by them in public stakes was £7,500. This seemed to Baron de Hirsch a falling away, by which he determined the charities should not suffer, so he doubled the £7,500 and handed to his almoner a cheque for £15,000. Baron Hirsch paid a visit to New Zealand some years ago, and was engaged in business on the Thames for a while.