Joseph Hambro

Joseph Hambro was a Danish merchant and financier. He was the son of a silk and cloth merchant in Copenhagen, Calmer Joachim Hambro and Dorothea Levy. Joseph followed the footsteps of his father, he first traded in silk and then moved to finances, eventually becoming one of the richest men in Denmark.

Hambro started his career in the silk business but early in his career he switched from silk to food, provisioning the sailing ships with foodstuffs such as ham, salted meat, hard cheese and pickled food. Soon he began to export flour and bacon, bred pigs, built a salting house, a bakery, a flour mill, and was in fact the first in Denmark to run a steam mill. Big part of his trade was with the Danish West Indies.

Hambro prospered in business and by the age of 40 he was appointed court banker by the king of Denmark. He also negotiated financial and trade agreements on behalf of the Danish government with Britain and Norway.

At the age of 60 Hambro settled in London, where later he was buried as a Jew in the presence of the chief rabbi. He left considerable sums to the Jewish community in Copenhagen.