The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Eyre, Edward

EYRE, ār, Edward, American financier: b. Dublin, Ireland, 25 March 1851. He was educated at the Jesuit school, Belvidere Place, Dr. Quinn's Preparatory School, and at Trinity College. He entered the employ of Grace Brothers and Company, becoming junior partner in 1876 and full partner four years later. He was one of the original founders of Grace House, Chile, in 1882, and became successively manager, vice-president and president of the W. R. Grace Company, New York, in 1903-06. Since 1906 he is a member of the board of managers of the London branch of W. R. Grace Company. Mr. Eyre took prominent part in bringing about a settlement of Peru's foreign debt after the war with Chile, and for some time was manager of the railroad systems handed over by Peru to its creditors. In 1892 he negotiated with Chile for the settlement ot the claims against her made by the holders of the Peruvian bonds, due to the seizure by Chile of the guano deposits and other properties which formed part of the guarantee of the bonds from Peru. In 1898 Mr. Eyre, on behalf of an American syndicate, obtained from Nicaragua a concession for the construction of an inter-oceanic canal through that country, the project being subsequently held up by the government of the United States; the text of this concession was used later by the United States government in its treaty with Colombia and appears almost verbatim in the treaty actually concluded between the United States and the Republic of Panama. Mr. Eyre was a member of the board of directors of ‘The Catholic Encyclopædia’ and the council of the Westminster Catholic Federation and is an ex-president of the Marquette League. He published a criticism of Viscount Bryce's ‘South America: Observations and Impressions.’