His older brother, Baron Raphael Slidell d'Erlanger, who might have been more likely to follow his father into banking, was instead a scientist and professor at Heidelberg. Emile followed the banking route and from his father he was entrusted with presidency of the railway and tramway companies including the New General Traction Company in England.
In 1891, he became a naturalised British subject.[2]
From 1911, he was chairman of the Channel Tunnel Company (the predecessor of EuroTunnel) and financed its design.[3]
The company also financed the building of railways in Rhodesia, Angola and the Congo.
They lived in Falconwood, Woolwich, near Shooters Hill, south-east London, and also at 139 Piccadilly, the former home of Lord Byron. Later they moved to America and lived in Beverly Hills. His wife, the Baroness, was a patron of the arts, supporting artists such as Cecil Beaton, Romaine Brooks,[5] and Sergei Diaghilev.
The couple had five children,
Robert (called Robin) Emile Frédéric Regis d'Erlanger (1896–1934)