George Wilkinson Drabble

George Wilkinson Drabble^[a] (24 April 1824 – 2 October 1899) was a British businessman, known for investing in railways and banks in Argentina and Uruguay, and founding the River Plate Fresh Meat Company.

George Wilkinson Drabble
Born	(1824-04-24)24 April 1824 Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Died	2 October 1899(1899-10-02) (aged 75) Sandown, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Education	Sheffield Grammar School

Career

Drabble arrived in Uruguay in 1847 along with his younger brother, Charles Thompson, in the middle of the civil war, In 1864, while in Argentina, he was president of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.^[2][3] Drabble remained doing business in the River Plate until 1870 where he settled in London to channel British investment into the River Plate, in this time he held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Banco de Londres y Río de la Plata. He had a great influence on the British companies settled in the River Plate and the decisions of the local governments. He was a member of the Central Argentine Railway and the president of the Compañía del Ferrocarril a Campana, constructor of the Buenos Aires and Rosario Railway,^[2][3] while in Uruguay he was Chairman of three railway companies: The Central Uruguay Eastern Extension Railway, the Central Uruguay Northern Extension Railway, and the Central Uruguay Railway Company of Montevideo.^[4]

Rosario incident

In 1876, an incident occurred between the government of the province of Santa Fe and the Banco de Londres y Río de la Plata, where the Santa Fe government, supported by the president Nicolás Avellaneda, ordered the liquidation of the local branch in Rosario of the Banco de Londres y Río de la Plata, after a new law was passed that prohibited any other organization apart from the Santa Fe government, to convert paper money to gold. This order was given as the bank refused to back down. An international incident arose when its gold reserves were seized and the manager arrested.^[2][5]

In June of that year, Drabble went to Argentina to replace the British ambassador in the negotiations. Upstream on the Paraná River, British forces dispatched a warship, the HMS Beacon, to support negotiations. After this the manager was released, the liquidation order rectified, and the gold returned.^[2]

River Plate Fresh Meat Company

Main article: River Plate Fresh Meat Company

In 1882, Drabble and his brother James Drabble, founded the River Plate Fresh Meat Company, in an attempt to use the refrigeration in the international meat industry, after buying in 1877 two De La Vergne refrigeration machines, which produced up to 5,000 kg of ice per day and lowered the temperature in the cold rooms to −10 °C.^[2][6] Its headquarters were located in London,^[2][6] In 25 November 1883, it made its first shipment of refrigerated meat, which arrived successfully in London in January 1884.^[7] The main factory was settled in Campana, while a Uruguayan factory was settled in Real de San Carlos, near Colonia. The Uruguayan factory closed in 1888 but still bought sheep from Uruguay, which was then sent to the factory in Argentina.^[8][2] Argentine meat was offered in London at a significantly lower price than meat from the United States, and was therefore very successful.^[9] After a fire in 1924 in the Argentine factory, the company had to close down in 1926.^[10]

Personal life

Drabble was born in 24 April 1824 in Sheffield, he studied at the Sheffield Grammar School, he was married on 11 March 1857 to Elisabeth White in the St. Andrew’s Scots Presbyterian Church and had 5 children.^[4][11] His home in London was located at 1 Pembridge Square.^[4] He died on 2 October 1899 of a kidney failure, on Sandown, Isle of Wight.^[2]

Legacy

There is a railway station called Drabble in the district of General Villegas, Furthermore, in Uruguay, the current town of José Enrique Rodó, grew up around a railway station inaugurated in 1901 under the name of Estación Drabble.^[3]

Notes

1. Also known by its Spanish name, Jorge Drabble.^[1]