John Spencer Morgan (1837-90) was an American financier who married Juliet Pierpoint who bore John Pierpoint Morgan (1837-1913). John Spencer settled in London in 1854 and relinquished his interest in his US business. In London he became a partner of another American financier George Peabody (1795-1869) who was a major philanthropist as was John Spencer.

In 1854 John Spencer leased Dover House (which was then hereabouts on the west side of Putney Park Lane) which he bought in 1875. The house had an estate of 70 acres and bordered Putney Heath to the south.. His involvement locally included a donation of £1000 for the Roehampton Village boys' school (which was still in use in 1977) and payment of half the cost of an infants' wing added later.

John Pierpoint built up the US side of the family business more than somewhat. His banking house financed the Federal Reserve system in the depression of 1895. On his death his art collection became a substantial portion of that housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He housed part of it in Dover House during his lifetime. He also extended the estate by the purchase of Putney Park House which added 59 acres and took the northern boundary to the Upper Richmond Road.

John Pierpoint Morgan Jr inherited the estate and sold it for development. Before that he provided a large meadow off Putney Park Lane for the celebrations of the end of World War II. That was possibly the biggest party ever in Putney. There were 4,000 children at it, marching in from the schools in the area.

O/S Co-ords:2235.7485
Source(s):

Chambers Biographical Dictionary

The Wandsworth Historian