John Arthur Chandor

John Arthur Chandor
BornJanuary 18, 1850
New York City, US
DiedJune 1, 1909
London, England
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusinessman
Spouses
  • Adeline Augusta Dickinson
  • Elizabeth (Red) Fry Ralston
  • Lucy May Newton
  • Mary Clarke Albert
Children11, including Valentine Chandor, Leslie Fry and Douglas Chandor

John Arthur Chandor (January 18, 1850 – June 1, 1909) was an American businessman, journalist, inventor, minor U. S. diplomat, and bigamist. According to historian Michael Hagemeister, sources contemporary with John described him as "an adventurer of the most dangerous character", an "inveterate liar", and a "scoundrel in money matters".[1][2]

John was born in New York City. His parents were the Hungarian inventor and entrepreneur Lasslo (Laslo) Philip Chandor[3] (1815/1817 – October 7, 1894) and Laura Mannabourg (Mannaberg) (September 28, 1827 - April 14, 1878).

John attended Harvard Law School, but left the school without obtaining a law degree. The records indicate that he entered the Junior Class (the lowest class) of Harvard Law School on October 1, 1868, and left the law school, without graduating, sometime in 1869.[4]

In the 1870s and 1880s, John lived in Paris, with his wife Adeline and his mistress Elizabeth Fry Ralston, partly on the proceeds of investments from his father's career.[1]

  1. ^ a b Hagemeister, Michael (2022). The perennial conspiracy theory : reflections on the history of the Protocols of the elders of Zion. Abingdon, Oxon. pp. 64–65. ISBN 9781032060156. Retrieved September 3, 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ In the early 1890s a British group called the Private Vigilance Society published a booklet about John Arthur Chandor titled Concerning the Man John Arthur Chandor, Alias Count Chandor, Alias Captain Chandor, Alias Montagu Chandor, Alias Captain Carlton, & c (London?: Private Vigilance Society, [189-]) (44 pages). The HathiTrust Digital Library (Ann Arbor, Michigan) has made this booklet available as an ebook, which can be read online for free at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0008989626&view=1up&seq=5. This booklet is an exposé of Chandor's sordid affairs with numerous women, and it also details some of his shady business dealings. The booklet is based on investigations instigated and partly conducted by Clara Jessup Moore (aka Clara Sophia Jessup Bloomfield-Moore) (1824-1899), a wealthy philanthropist, philosopher, and socialite who was one of Chandor's primary victims, and whose victimization (as well as that of numerous others) by Chandor is chronicled in detail in the booklet. Copies of the original edition of this booklet are now extremely rare (however, printed copies of this booklet are now available from Gyan Books Limited, a facsimile publisher located in India). The only known copy of the original edition of the booklet is held in the Southern Regional Library Facility of the UCLA Library (the library system of the University of California, Los Angeles). The booklet became part of the university library's collections when, in December 1957, the university purchased a large part (about 74,000 volumes) of the huge private library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), an eccentric British linguist, semiotician, and philosopher.
  3. ^ Lasslo (Laslo) Philip Chandor (born László Fülöp Sándor) (1815/1817 - October 7, 1894) - Lasslo was born in either Austria or Hungary, and he emigrated to the United States sometime in the 1840s. Several of Lasslo's direct descendants and relatives by marriage claimed he was a member of the Sándor de Szlávnicza (Slávnicza) family (aka the Sándor de Szlávnicza et de Bajna family), a Hungarian noble family whose members had held the title and rank of "count" since 1787. People who made this claim about Lasslo include his son John Arthur Chandor, his grandson Douglas Granville Chandor, his great-grandson Elbert Haring Chandor (April 12, 1921 - December 22, 2003), and Kyrill Feodorovich de Shishmareff (April 11, 1907 - May 12, 1975), who was a son of Lasslo's granddaughter Paquita de Shishmareff. Elbert Haring Chandor conducted genealogical research and constructed descendancy charts of various branches of his family. These charts became part of the E. Haring Chandor Manuscript Collection in the archives of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in Manhattan, New York City. All the persons mentioned appear to have believed that Lasslo was a brother of Count Móric (Móricz, Moritz, Maurice) Sándor de Szlávnicza (May 23, 1805 - February 23, 1878), a famous Hungarian horseman and duelist, who was a friend of Napoleon III, King of France. Authentic genealogical and historical sources do not support or substantiate this belief that Móric and Lasslo were brothers. For example, Magyarország családai czimerekkel és nemzékrendi táblákkaldo (The Families of Hungary, with Coats of Arms and Genealogical Tables) (13 Vols., 1857-1868) (Pest, Hungary: Kiadja Ráth Mór), edited by Iván Nagy, in Tizedik Kötet (Vol. 10) (1863), p. 35, does not show Móric Sándor de Szlávnicza as having a brother named László Fülöp. Móric's parents were Count Vincze (Vincenz) Ferdinand Benedikt Sándor de Szlávnicza (March 20, 1765 - August 17, 1823) and Anna Mária Szápáry de Szapár de Muraszombath et Széchysziget (June 7, 1766 - May 31, 1819), who were married in Graz, Austria on March 25, 1788. Móric is known to have had 3 sisters, and an older brother named Sándor (who died young). Móric's sisters (who were all countesses, due to being daughters of a count) were: Erzsébet (1793-1829), Matild (Matilda) Mária Isabella (March 21, 1798 - November 11, 1843), and Wilhelmina ("Wilma" or "Vilma") (September 5, 1801 - January 20/21, 1864). Lasslo was also not a son of Tamás Sándor de Szlávnicza (September 7, 1781 - August 14, 1855), whose wife was Eszter Ivánka de Draskócz et Jordánföld. In the Hungarian genealogical source referenced above, the family of Tamás appears on p. 33, where 4 sons of Tamás are listed as follows: István (István Emericus Sándor de Szlávnicza) (December 16, 1806 - April 24, 1888), Zsigmond (Zsigmond Sándor de Szlávnicza) (November 15, 1810 - February 17, 1876), László, and Kálmán. The MyHeritage genealogy database reveals that this László (the third-listed son of Tamás) was László János Sándor de Szlávnicza (1814-1884), whose wife was Ludmila Ordody (1837-1905). Clearly, this is not the same person as Lászlo Fülöp Sándor. Furthermore, according to the Wikipedia articles titled Famille Sándor and Sándor Móric, Móric (born 1805) was the last male member of the branch of the Sándor family into which he was born. At least 34 different branches of the Sándor family have been identified in Hungary and nearby countries - see: Sándor család (egyértelműsítő lap) (Sándor Family Clarification Sheet). Of all these branches of the Sándor family, the Sándor de Szlávnicza branch was the only branch of the family whose members ever held the title and rank of count. Móric's paternal grandfather Baron Antal Sándor de Szlávnicza (February 17, 1734 - 1788) had been raised from the rank of baron to the rank of count on August 27, 1787 by Joseph II (1741-1790), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary. Taking all this evidence into consideration, Lasslo (who was born in 1815/1817) could not have been a member of the Sándor de Szlávnicza branch of the Sándor family, unless he was born out of wedlock and the facts of his birth were covered up so that his connection with the Sándor de Szlávnicza family went unrecorded. The claim that Lasslo was a "count" of the Sándor de Szlávnicza family quite possibly was simply a fabrication invented by his son John Arthur Chandor. John's invention and spread of this fabrication presumably would have been primarily for the purpose of attempting to enhance his own social status (and to possibly obtain financial credit) in the various countries where he resided, which included the United States, England, France, and Russia. After arriving in the United States sometime in the 1840s, Lasslo first established himself as a silverplater in Manhattan, New York City. Later he became a stock and bond broker, a prolific inventor, the founder, owner and director of the Mineral Lighting Company in New York City, and finally an international entrepreneur and businessman. The Mineral Lighting Company specialized in formulating and marketing new and improved types of fuels for different lighting purposes, and in the production of new and improved types of lighting fixtures. These lighting fixtures were designed to burn the new and/or improved lighting fuels marketed by the company. Most of the lighting fuels and lighting fixtures developed and marketed by the Mineral Lighting Company were actually Lasslo's discoveries/inventions. In the late 1850s and early 1860s Lasslo began to cultivate relationships with various American and Russian politicians, diplomats, and businessmen who were involved in US-Russian trade relations. As a result of his involvement and cooperation with these various politicians, diplomats, and businessmen, by the mid-1860s Lasslo had become a successful municipal lighting contractor in St Petersburg and a few other Russian cities. It was reported that Lasslo amassed a fortune of over $8,000,000 (8 million dollars) from his business activities in the US and Russia in the 1860s and early 1870s. Due to inflation and the devaluation of the U.S. Dollar, $8,000,000 in 1870 is the equivalent of approx. $190,000,000 in 2024. At the time of his death Lasslo was living in a house located at 4 Montague Place, Bedford Square, Bloomsbury, St. Giles District, Middlesex. London. This house is literally almost directly across the street from the northern end of the British Museum. This wing of the museum houses the King Edward VII Galleries, and it features an entrance to the museum on Montague Place. Lasslo's date of death, and details of the probate of his estate, are officially recorded in the Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England (London, England - Crown copyright), in the volume for year 1895, surnames Cable-Dyton, p. 42. The complete statement on p. 42 reads as follows: "Chandor, Lasslo - Of 4 Montagu Place, Bedford Square, Middlesex, died 7 October 1894. Probate - London, 20 April [1895] to Francis Hastings Medhurst, engineer. Effects: 252 (pounds sterling)." The probate of Lasslo's estate was handled by his son-in-law Francis William Hastings Medhurst (March 7, 1844 - September 12, 1914), a mining engineer and inventor who had married Lasslo's daughter Arabella Chandor (1848 - October 21, 1906) in 1869.
  4. ^ See: (1) A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Harvard University for the Academical Year 1868-69, First Term (Cambridge: Sever and Francis, 1868), p. 56 and (2) Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University, 1817-1914 (Cambridge: Published by the Law School, 1915) (Chronological List, p.107, and Alphabetical List, p. 39).