In 1843 he withdrew from the house of Peabody,
Riggs & Co., and established the house of "George Peabody & Company, of
Warnford Court, City."
His dealings were chiefly with America, and in American securities, and
he was always regarded as one of the best specimens of the American
merchant ever seen in London. He was very proud of his country; and
though he passed so many years of his life abroad, he never forgot that
he was an American. In speaking of the manner in which he organized his
business establishment, he once said: "I have endeavored, in the
constitution of its members and the character of its business, to make
it an American house, and to give it an American atmosphere; to furnish
it with American journals; to make it a center of American news, and an
agreeable place for my American friends visiting London."
It was his custom, from his first settlement in England, to celebrate
the anniversary of the independence of his country by an entertainment
at one of the public houses in the city, to which the most distinguished
Americans in London were always invited, as were also many of the
prominent men of Great Britain; and this dinner was only discontinued in
deference to the general celebration of the day which was afterward
instituted by the whole body of Americans resident in the British
metropolis.
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