Antonin Besse

Antonin Besse (1877–1951) was a French-born businessman based in Aden, where he spent most of his adult life. St Antony's College, Oxford was established in 1950 as a result of a large donation he made to the university. Early life Antonin Besse was born in June 1877 in Carcassonne, France. After his father died, Antonin, then 7, moved to Montpelier with the rest of his family including six brothers. He was not academically inclined and this might have prompted him to enlist in the army when he was 18, where he stayed until he was 22. Early career Besse then started looking for work and signed a three-year contract to work as a clerk for Bardey et Cie (Bardey & Co.), an Aden-based French trading house that exported coffee from Yemen. Being penniless, he borrowed money from his brother-in-law to buy tropical clothing as well as his passage to Aden. He left Marseille on a steamer bound for Aden in April 1899. Besse worked very hard at Bardey & Co., often waking up at 4.30 in the morning and working non-stop until 6 in the evening, learning everything to be learned about the Yemeni coffee trade.