Raymond Belmont II
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Raymond Belmont II (May 31, 1888 – April 5, 1934) was a champion polo player.[1]
Belmont was born on May 31, 1888, in Nassau County, New York. He was one of three sons born to financier August Belmont Jr. (1853–1924) and, his first wife, Elizabeth "Bessie" Hamilton (née Morgan) Belmont (1862–1898).[2] Among his siblings was August Belmont III and Morgan Belmont. After his mother's death in 1898, his father remarried to the English born actress, Eleanor Robson.[3]
Belmont graduated from Harvard University in 1910.[2]
Career
After graduation from Harvard, he became a clerk in the office of August Belmont & Co., the banking house founded by his grandfather August Belmont. In 1916, Belmont attended the Citizens' Military Training Camp in Plattsburgh, New York, before shipping off to France in May 1918 as a lieutenant in the Headquarters Troop of the 78th Division. He was promoted to captain in the St. Mihiel advance.[2]
Polo career
Belmont was a champion polo player, with a six-goal handicap, in 1923, and was a member of the team (along with Devereux Milburn, Thomas Hitchcock Jr., and Robert Early Strawbridge Jr.) that won the National Open Championship from the British Army four.[2] He was also a horse breeder and one of the best known gentleman riders in the county. His horse, Oracle, twice won the Maryland Hunt Club.[4]