Henry Mactier Warfield (1825-1885)

Henry M. Warfield, of Baltimore, Maryland; Grain Merchant & Railroad Executive

He was a grain merchant and reputedly the first American to establish a branch office in Australia. He became a director of the Baltimore & Oriel Railroad and was instrumental in building the grain elevators in Baltimore's Canton neighborhood. He co-founded the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, the Baltimore & Havana Steamship Company, and the Equitable Assurance Company. In the late 1850s, he was Secretary of the anti-Know Nothing Reform Organization which sought to organize Baltimore's political governance, particularly the police force. In 1861, he was imprisoned for more than 14-months in Fort McHenry, Fort Lafayette, and Fort Warren for not citing a Union Oath before a succession vote. He remained in Baltimore after the Civil War and was, "one of the best known and personally one of the most popular citizens of Baltimore" who ran (unsuccessfully) for Mayor as a Reformer in 1875. He was the father of five sons and is perhaps best remembered today as the grandfather of the Duchess of Windsor

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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 26/10/2020 and last updated on 27/10/2020.
Men of Mark in Maryland, (1911), by David H. Carroll p. 28