David Sassoon's sons split his firm in two, his daughter-in-law Flora was pushed out, and his great-grandson Victor lost Shanghai

David Sassoon was born in Baghdad in 1792. He fled in 1828, settled in Bombay in 1832 and built a trading house with a branch in Shanghai from 1845. In August 1864 he helped found the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. He died late that year and left an estate of about £4 million. His eldest son Abdullah, later Sir Albert, took over. His second son Elias left and set up a rival firm, E.D. Sassoon & Co. (1867 in one account, 1872 in another). Another son, Solomon, ran the old firm from 1877 until he died in 1894. His widow Flora then ran the Bombay business. A review of a history by the family's descendant Joseph Sassoon says she ran it better than her male relatives, and they organised a coup against her. She settled in England in 1901. Elias's grandson Victor (1881 to 1961) took over E.D. Sassoon in 1924 with a baronetcy. He moved its money from India to Shanghai, built the Cathay Hotel in 1929 and at one time owned over 1,800 properties there. War with Japan forced him out in 1941. After the 1949 revolution he sold his China interests and moved to Nassau. He married Evelyn Barnes in 1959 and died in Nassau in 1961. The Cathay Hotel is now Shanghai's Peace Hotel. His papers are at the DeGolyer Library in Dallas.