Jewish community of St. Petersburg was also under obligation to Baron Günzburg for its synagogue, of which he was president. He was also the head of a new, non-sectarian school erected in honour of the wedding of Tsar Nicholas II. In 1880, together with Samuel Polyakov and Nikolai Bakst, Baron Gunzburg petitioned Tsar Alexander II for permission to start an assistance fund which would provide vocational education and training in practical occupations like handicrafts and agriculture for thousands of Russian Jews then living in poverty in the Pale of Settlement and would help them to help themselves. The initiative would eventually evolve into the World ORT educational network. Horace Günzburg is also closely identified with other institutions of a non-sectarian character. He was an honorary member of the committee of the Prince Oldenburg Infant Asylum from 1863, and honorary member of the Society for Improving the Condition of Poor Children of St. Petersburg since 1876. Between 1868 and 1872 he was consul-general of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1871 the title "Baron" was bestowed upon him by the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, permission being given by the Tsar to accept that title of nobility. In 1880, 1884, and 1888 he received successively the titles of "counsel of commerce," "secretary of state," and "member of the council of commerce of the Treasury Department." For many years he was an alderman of St. Petersburg, but, upon the passage of a statute prohibiting the election of Jewish aldermen, vacated that office. Baron Günzburg was repeatedly elected trustee of the charitable affairs of the Stock Exchange of St. Petersburg and member of the council of the Stock Exchange Hospital. He contributed heavily to the erection of the latter institution. In 1898 he was elected member of the committee of the Society for the Dissemination of Commercial Knowledge, and in the same year became chairman of the house committee of the Women's Sewing-School of the Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna. In 1899 he was made trustee of the School of Commerce of Tsar Nicholas II. In 1900 he was chosen a member of the committee of the Russian Society for the Protection of Women. He was a member of the board of the Treasury Department of the Stock Exchange, and a member of the executive board of the St. Petersburg Archeological Institute. Even at his advanced age he was often invited by the government to sit on commissions for the