Henry Strakosch

Who was Henry Strakosch?

Sir Henry Strakosch GBE was an Austrian-born British banker and businessman. His parents were the merchant Edward Strakosch and his wife Mathilde,. He was born at Hohenau, Austria, and educated at the Wasa Gymnasium in Vienna and privately in England.

He entered banking in the City of London in 1891, then began working for the Anglo-Austrian Bank of South Africa in the 1895. Strakosch became a naturalized British citizen in 1907.

He served as a financial adviser to the South African government, and was the author of the 1920 South African Currency and Banking Act. He was chairman of the South African goldminers, Union Corporation from 1924. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance during 1925 and 1926. He later served on the Council of India between 1930 and 1937, served as a delegate for India at the Imperial Economic Conference in 1932, and acted as adviser to the Secretary of State for India between 1937 and 1942.

Strakosch was knighted in 1921, then created a KBE in 1924, and promoted GBE in 1927. He was awarded an honorary degree of LLD at Manchester University in 1938.

He was chairman of The Economist between 1929 and 1943.