Co-founder and funder (with Alfred Beit) of the Royal School of Mines building.
Born Damstadt, Germany, came to London in 1871, and, acting as a diamond agent, went to Kimberly in South Africa. Returned to London in 1880 to run the London end of Wernher, Beit & Co (later De Beers) , the company he had formed with his friend Beit. The fortune he amassed from his gold-mining went to fund his art-collecting habit. This collection is now on public display at in Blackheath.
See Otto Beit's page for the difficulties the source of Wernher's wealth is causing Imperial College in 2021.
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