Background
Harry Payne Whitney was born in New York City, the son of William Collins Whitney and Flora (Payne), a nephew of Oliver Hazard Payne, and a descendant of John Whitney who emigrated from England to Watertown, Massachussets, in 1635.
Harry Payne Whitney was born in New York City, the son of William Collins Whitney and Flora (Payne), a nephew of Oliver Hazard Payne, and a descendant of John Whitney who emigrated from England to Watertown, Massachussets, in 1635.
He was educated privately and at Yale, graduating from that university in 1894. There he did a bit of writing, even composing poetry, and was editor of the Yale Daily News. He next studied law at Columbia University, and read for a time as a student in the office of Elihu Root. For years he was his father's closest companion and confidant, and was trained to be his business successor.
The son's first business venture of consequence took place in 1902, when he acted as guide to Daniel Guggenheim through the silver, lead, and copper districts of the western United States and Mexico. They returned with deeds to nearly $10, 000, 000 worth of such properties, in which young Whitney had a share. He was made a director of the Guggenheim Exploration Company and other large corporations, such as the Guaranty Trust Company, the Newport Trust Company, the New York Loan Improvement Company, and other banking, as well as mining and railroad concerns. When the elder Whitney died in 1904, half of his fortune, amounting to about $24, 000, 000, descended to Harry Payne, together with directorships in many corporations. Whitney was a noted traveler and sportsman; he was keenly interested in yachting and hunted tigers in India, where he was the guest of the Viceroy. He organized and was captain and chief strategist of the "Big Four, " most famous of American polo teams, which in 1909 brought the International Cup back from England, where it had remained for many years, and successfully defended it in 1911 and 1913. His polo tactics were later adopted to a considerable degree by the British. He became one of the few "ten-goal" players in the history of the sport, and gave much time to the direction of the game after he retired from active playing. He also devoted much energy to horse racing and to the government of the American turf, being for years an official of the Saratoga and Westchester tracks. His thoroughbreds at one time and another won all the important purses offered on American courses. In 1924, when his racers numbered more than 200, they ran first in 272 races, second in 201, and third in 235. Their winnings, totaling about half a million dollars were the largest among American stables that year. Whitney held only one public office, that of commissioner of municipal statistics of New York City, which place he resigned after little more than a year's incumbency. In 1921-22 he provided funds for the Whitney South Sea Expedition, sent by the American Museum of Natural History to collect birds of Polynesia.
The benefactor to many organizations, in 1920 H. P. Whitney financed the Whitney South Seas Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History, Rollo Beck's major zoological expedition that sent teams of scientists and naturalists to undertake botanical research and to study the bird population of several thousand islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Whitney Collection of Sporting Art was donated in his memory to the Yale University Art Gallery.
He was a member of more than twenty prominent clubs.
On August 25, 1896, he married Gertrude Vanderbilt, whom he had known from childhood. They had a son and two daughters.
