When the long-sought-for opportunity to become a banker came to the
ambitious young man, now the financier, Henry Clews, he did not let
his chances pass him. He was born in Staffordshire, England, August
14, 1840, coming of a good old English family. His father, an able
business man, intended Henry for the ministry of the Established Church
of England. But at the age of fifteen the boy, visiting America with
his father, became so interested in the country and its people that
he gave up all idea of becoming a clergyman, and, with his parents’
consent, settled in the United States. His first position in this
country was as a clerk with an importing firm, in which he rose to a
position of responsibility. In 1859 he became a member of the firm
of Stout, Clews & Mason, which subsequently became Livermore, Clews
& Co. At the outbreak of the Civil War Secretary Chase invited him
to become agent for selling government bonds. His unfaltering faith
in their worth was shown by his subscribing to the National loan at
the rate of five million or ten million dollars per day, even going
into debt by borrowing on the bonds. This materially strengthened the
public confidence in the government’s course of action. When Mr. Chase
was congratulated upon his success in placing the war loans, he said:
“I deserve no credit; had it not been for the exertion of Jay Cooke
and Henry Clews I could never have succeeded.” Mr. Clews founded and
organized the famous “Committee of Seventy” that successfully disposed
of the “Tweed Ring.” After the Civil War, besides establishing a
distinctive banking business, he became one of the largest negotiators
of railroad loans in America or Europe. The present firm of Henry
Clews & Co. was established in 1877, its members pledging themselves
never to take any speculative risks. Mr. Clews has for many years been
treasurer of the “Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” and is
also connected with many city institutions and financial corporations.
He married Lucy Madison, of Worthington, Kentucky, a grandniece of
ex-President Madison. He is a frequent contributor to newspapers and
magazines and the author of Twenty-eight Years in Wall Street.