Egerton Leigh Winthrop

Egerton Leigh Winthrop (October 7, 1838April 6, 1916) was an American lawyer and clubman who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age. Early life Winthrop was born on October 7, 1838, in New York City. He was the son of Benjamin Robert Winthrop (1804–1879) and Elizabeth Ann Neilson "Eliza" (née Coles) Winthrop. His siblings included Benjamin Robert Winthrop, Jr.; Anna Neilson Winthrop, who married Horatio Greenough Curtis; and William Neilson Winthrop, who married Louise Van Zandt. His father inherited significant properties and was a noted philanthropist before his death in London in 1879. His maternal grandfather was William Neilson Coles. His paternal grandparents were Benjamin Winthrop, a descendant of Wait Winthrop and Joseph Dudley, and Judith (née Stuyvesant) Winthrop, a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the Director-General of New Netherland, and Robert Livingston the Elder, the 1st Lord of Livingston Manor. His paternal aunt, Elizabeth Sheriffe Winthrop, was married to the Rev. Dr. John White Chanler and they were the parents of U.S. Representative John Winthrop Chanler, Egerton's first cousin who was married to Margaret Astor Ward, the daughter of Samuel Cutler Ward and granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. Another aunt, Margaret Cornelia Winthrop, was married to George Folsom, the U.S. Chargé d'affaires to the Netherlands. Career Winthrop was admitted to the bar in 1860 after graduating from Columbia College that same year, where he was a member of Delta Phi fraternity. He practiced law and served as a vice president of the Union Square Savings Bank and a trustee of the United States Trust Company and the Institute for Savings of Merchants' Clerks, until his retirement.