George Ellery Hale, 1868-1938

George Ellery Hale was born at Chicago on 29 June 1868. He was the son of William Ellery Hale and Mary Stratton Hale, who was the daughter of Dr Gardiner Stratton Browne, of Hartford, Connecticut. His father and grandfather had gone, before the American Civil War, from New England to Chicago and had acquired property there. The great Chicago Fire, which broke out in October 1871, involved them in serious losses ; but William Hale, with characteristic energy, continued to develop his business of manufacturing hydraulic elevators, and subsequently became one of the leaders in this field of enterprise in America, and established offices in London and Paris. Thus it came about that George Hale grew up amidst circumstances of active endeavour, and his character was developed by the wise and stimulating influence of his father and mother.