Peter Meyer (merchant)
Sir Peter Meyer was a major City of London merchant in the West Indies trade, merchant banker and a co-owner of the leading London international trade firm Meyer & Berenberg.
Meyer was born in Hamburg; his family was from the Duchy of Holstein. The son of the Hamburg merchant Jacob Meyer, he settled in London, became an English citizen in 1691 and was knighted at St James's Palace on 9 October 1714. He owned plantations on Barbados, a sugar refinery in London and the estate Poynter's Grove in Totteridge.
In 1697, he married Sarah Anna Berenberg, the sister of his business partner John Henry Berenberg. She was a member of the Berenberg family and a descendant of the Amsinck family. His wife was a great-granddaughter of Hans Berenberg, co-founder of Berenberg Bank.
They were the parents of the London merchant Peter Meyer, who married Sarah; Paul, Rudolph, Elizabeth Meyer, who married her relative William Amsinck and Sarah, who married the Hamburg merchant Paul Heeger. Their first child, Johan Heinrich, died young; he was baptised in 1698 and buried in 1699.
He died in 1728, aged 64. He was buried at Totteridge, Hertfordshire ). His monument is in the churchyard of that parish, to the north of the church. At the north end are the Meyer and Berenberg arms.These Arms are the Right of Sir Peter Meyer, Knt. and Citizen of London, and his Descendents:
