Sir John Blundell Maple(1845—1903)

English business magnate, was born on March 1, 1845. His father, John Maple (d 1900), had a small furniture shop in Tottenham Court Road, London, and his business began to develop about the time that his son entered it. The practical management soon devolved on the younger Maple, under whom it attained colossal dimensions. The firm became a limited liability company with capital of £2 million in 1890, with Maple as chairman. He entered parliament as Conservative member for Dulwich in 1887, was knighted in 1892, and was made a baronet in 1897. He was the owner of a large stud of racehorses, and from 1885 onwards won many important races, appearing at first under the name of "Mr Childwick".

His public benefactions included a hospital and a recreation ground to the city of St Albans, near which his residence Childwickbury was situated, and the rebuilding, at a cost of more than £150 000, of University College Hospital, London (the present home of WIBR). He died on November 24, 1903. His only surviving daughter married Baron von Eckhardstein, of the German Embassy, in 1896.

Used with kind permission from "Wilfrid M. de Freitas -Bookseller"
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