Bethel Henry Strousberg (20 November 1823 – May 31, 1884) was a Jewish

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 industrialist and railway entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 during its rapid industrial expansion in the 19th century. He cemented his social standing with the construction of the Palais Strousberg

Palais Strousberg

The Palais Strousberg was a large city mansion built in Berlin, Germany for the railway magnate Bethel Henry Strousberg. It was designed by the architect August Orth and built between 1867–68 at No.70 Wilhelmstraße...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

's Wilhelmstrasse designed by August Orth

August Orth

August Friedrich Wilhelm Orth was a German architect. He was employed by the Strousberg family to provide architectural service for their private accommodation and business ventures...

.
Orth was Strousberg's favoured architect and was also responsible for the Görlitzer Bahnhof

Görlitzer Bahnhof

Görlitzer Bahnhof was the name of the Berlin railway terminus for the mainline link between the capital, Cottbus in Brandenburg and Görlitz in Lower Silesia...

 and renovation work at Schloss Zbirow (now Zbiroh

Zbiroh

Zbiroh is a town in the Pilsen Region of the Czech Republic. It lies some to the east-northeast from the region capital of Pilsen.Zbiroh is also a Municipality with Commissioned Local Authority within the Rokycany Municipality with Extended Competence....

), the centre of the Fiefdom of Zbirow in Bohemia which Strousberg had bought in 1868. The castle is now an hotel and conference venue with guided tours of the restored building.

Strousberg was born in Neidenburg

Nidzica

Nidzica is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, between Olsztyn and Mława. It has a population of 14,798 . It is the capital of Nidzica County.-History:...

, East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

, as Baruch Hirsch Strousberg which he changed to Bartel Heinrich whilst at Gymnasium (Grammar School) in Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

. After the death of his father he moved to London in September 1839 where he initially lived with his mother's brother Peter Gottheimer who jointly owned a fancy goods business with his brother Lesser. A third brother, Berton Gottheimer, was also in London in the same business.
Strousberg anglicized his name to Bethel Henry and converted to Christianity. On March 13, 1845 he married Mary Ann Swan at St. Bride's parish church in Fleet Street.
In July 1847 Strousberg was working as an agent for several building societies and entrusted to handle member's payments. For some reason, he took an amount of money and booked a passage to America, but was found out when the steamer had to return to Southampton having loaded the wrong grade of coal. Strousberg was tried, found guilty, and served six months imprisonment with hard labour. A year after his release the Strousberg's first son, Bethel Henry Jun., was born; and in January 1849 the three of them travelled to the USA returning in April 1850. Their second son Arthur was born in the autumn of that year.By 1854 Strousberg had become a successful publisher and journalist and was also a manager of an insurance company. Socially he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

.

By the early 1860s he had gone back to Germany and embarked on a second career as a railway entrepreneur and industrialist.

His business empire began a terminal decline during the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 (1870–71). In 1872, he was forced into liquidation after a ruinous settlement with the Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n government on account of unfulfilled railway contracts. Strousberg was declared bankrupt in 1875, with Adolph von Hansemann

Adolph von Hansemann

Adolph von Hansemann was an Imperial German businessman and banker.- Life :Born in Aachen in 1826 to German banker and railroad entrepreneur David Hansemann, Adolph Hansemann developed an early interest in business administration. He left home for Hamburg in 1841...

 and Gerson von Bleichröder

Gerson von Bleichröder

Gerson von Bleichröder was a Jewish German banker.Bleichröder was born in Berlin. He was the eldest son of Samuel Bleichröder, who founded the banking firm of S. Bleichröder in 1803 in Berlin...

 snapping up the majority of his railways for fractions of their worth. After standing trial in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 for alleged fraudulent transactions with a bank in 1876, he was deported and returned to Berlin, dividing his time between London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and the castle in Bromberg whilst attempting his social rehabilitation with various projects and writing his memoirs. He died in Berlin.

----