Belmont, August:

By: Richard Gottheil , Martha Washington Levy

American financier; born in Alzey, Germany, in 1816; died in New York city, Nov. 24, 1890. He was educated at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and, after serving several years in the Rothschild banking offices in that city and at Naples, settled in New York (1837) as the American representative of his former employers.He was consul-general for Austria in New York city from 1844 to 1850, and resigned on account of his disapproval of the treatment of Hungary by Austria. In 1853, he was appointed United States chargé d'affaires at The Hague, where he was minister resident from 1855 to 1858. While holding this appointment, he negotiated an important consular convention and rendered other diplomatic services for which he received special thanks from the United States State Department. In 1860 he was chosen chairman of the Democratic national committee, serving until 1872, when he resigned. He was a delegate from New York to every Democratic national convention from 1860 to 1884. Belmont was widely known as a patron of art, and he possessed one of the finest collections of paintings in New York. He was president of the American Jockey Club, and did much for thoroughbred racing.