Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild
Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild[1] GCVO, PC (8 November 1840 – 31 March 1915) was a British Jewish banker and politician from the wealthy international Rothschild family.
The Lord Rothschild | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire | |
| In office 1889–1915 | |
| Monarch | Victoria Edward VII George V |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Lincolnshire |
| Member of Parliament for Aylesbury | |
| In office 1865–1885 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Tyringham Bernard Samuel George Smith |
| Succeeded by | Ferdinand James von Rothschild |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild 8 November 1840 London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 31 March 1915 (aged 74) London, United Kingdom |
| Resting place | Willesden Jewish Cemetery |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal then Liberal Unionist then Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Emma Louise von Rothschild
(m. 1867) |
| Children | Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild Evelina Rothschild-Behrens Charles Rothschild |
| Parents | Lionel de Rothschild Charlotte von Rothschild |
| Relatives | Nathan Mayer Rothschild (grandfather) Mayer Amschel Rothschild (great-grandfather) |
| Residence | 148 Piccadilly, London |
| Education | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Banker |
Early life
Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild was the eldest son of Austrian Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808–1879) and Baroness Charlotte von Rothschild (née von Rothschild).
His paternal grandparents were Freiherr (or Baron) Nathan Mayer Rothschild, after whom he was named, and Hannah (née Barent-Cohen) Rothschild, the daughter of Levy Barent Cohen. His maternal grandparents were Freiherr Carl Mayer von Rothschild (1788–1855) and Adelheid Herz (1800–1853). Through both of his grandfathers, who were brothers, he was the great-grandson of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), founder of the dynasty.
In his youth, Rothschild was a Captain in the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry.[2] Rothschild was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,[3] where he was a friend of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), but left without taking a degree.
Career
Rothschild worked as a partner in the London branch of the family bank, N M Rothschild & Sons, and became head of the bank after his father's death in 1879. During his tenure, he also maintained its pre-eminent position in private venture finance and in issuing loans to the governments of the US, Russia and Austria. Following the Rothschilds' funding of the Suez Canal, a close relationship was maintained with Benjamin Disraeli and affairs in Egypt.
Rothschild also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of the British South Africa Company and the De Beers diamond conglomerate. He later administered Rhodes' estate after Rhodes' death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at the University of Oxford. He was a prominent member of the Round Table movement, created in 1909.
A noted philanthropist, Rothschild was heavily involved with the foundation of the Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company, a model dwellings company whose aim was to provide decent housing, predominantly for the Jews of Spitalfields and Whitechapel.[4] He also served as a trustee of the London Mosque Fund until his death.[5] From 1889 until his death, he was Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and was well known as an agriculturist.[6]
In the 1902 Coronation Honours list,[7] he was appointed a Privy Counsellor and was sworn a member of the council at Buckingham Palace on 11 August 1902.[8] On the same day, he was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Grand Cross (GCVO).[9][10]
House of Commons
From 1865 to 1885, Nathan Rothschild sat in the House of Commons as Liberal Member of Parliament for Aylesbury. His father Lionel had previously been elected for the City of London from 1847 but had been unable to take the obligatory oath until 1858; they were MPs together from 1865 to 1868 and from 1869 to 1874.
Baron Rothschild
In 1847, his uncle Anthony Nathan de Rothschild (1810–1876) was created 1st Baronet de Rothschild, of Tring Park. Since Sir Anthony had no male heirs, the baronetcy passed on his death by special remainder to his nephew Nathan.
In 1885, Rothschild became a member of the House of Lords when he was created Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertford, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[11] He also was Baron de Rothschild (Freiherr von Rothschild) in the Austrian Empire, a noble title he had inherited via his father. In 1838, Queen Victoria had authorized the use of this Austrian title in the United Kingdom.[1]
When he was raised to the peerage by Gladstone,[6] Rothschild was the first Jewish member of the House of Lords not to have previously converted to Christianity. (Disraeli had been created Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876, but was baptised into Anglicanism at age twelve).
In common with the rest of his family, Rothschild joined the breakaway Liberal Unionist Party, formed in 1886 by Joseph Chamberlain, which ultimately merged into the Conservative Party.[12]
In 1909, he was famously derided by then Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, over his opposition to the People's Budget, when the latter said, at a meeting at the Holborn Restaurant on 24 June that year: "I really think we are having too much Lord Rothschild. Are we to have all ways of reform, financial and social, blocked, simply by a notice-board; 'No Thoroughfare. By Order of Nathaniel Rothschild'?"[13] Rothschild recommended the Lords reject the Parliament Bill, which was, however, passed.[14]
In 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, Rothschild was consulted for economic advice by Lloyd George. At his first invitation to confer at the Treasury, when asked what could be done to raise more money for the war effort, Rothschild reportedly answered: "Tax the rich, and tax them heavily."[15]
Personal life
On 16 April 1867, he married Emma Louise von Rothschild (1844–1935), a double first cousin (i.e., they shared both sets of grandparents) from the Rothschild banking family of Germany in Frankfurt.[16] They had three children:
- Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868–1937), who never married but had two mistresses, one of whom bore him a daughter.[17]
- Evelina Rothschild-Behrens (1873–1947)
- Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (1877–1923), who married Rózsika Edle von Wertheimstein (1870–1940)
He died in London, five days after an operation, on 31 March 1915 and was buried at Willesden Jewish Cemetery.[18] Following his death, the peerage was inherited by his son, Lionel Walter Rothschild.
References
- Bulletins of State Intelligence, 1838, p. 220
- Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1913. Kelly's. p. 1487.
- "Rothschild, Nathaniel Mayer (RTST859NM)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- White, Jerry (1980). Rothschild Buildings: Life in an East-End Tenement Block 1887 - 1920. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-1-4464-8306-0.
- East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre. History display at their premises at 46–92 Whitechapel Road, London as seen on 28 April 2011.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
- "The Coronation Honours". The Times (36804). London. 26 June 1902. p. 5.
- "No. 27464". The London Gazette. 12 August 1902. p. 5173.
- "Court Circular". The Times (36844). London. 12 August 1902. p. 8.
- "No. 27467". The London Gazette. 22 August 1902. p. 5461.
- "No. 25486". The London Gazette. 3 July 1885. p. 3060.
- Roth 1939, p. 128.
- Roth 1939, p. 130.
- Roth 1939, p. 131.
- Roth 1939, pp. 275–276.
- "Nathaniel Mayer (Natty) de Rothschild (1840-1915)| Rothschild Family". family.rothschildarchive.org. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
- Hannah Rothschild, "The Butterfly Effect", Archived 28 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, pages 18-21.
- Roth 1939, pp. 277–278.
Sources
- Cooper, John (2015). The Unexpected Story of Nathaniel Rothschild. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4729-1707-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Roth, Cecil (1939). The Magnificent Rothschilds. R. Hale.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Valynseele, Joseph; Mars, Henri-Claude (2004). Le Sang des Rothschild (in French). Paris: ICC Editions. ISBN 978-2-908003-22-2.
External links
Media related to Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild at Wikimedia Commons- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Nathan Rothschild
- Newspaper clippings about Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas Tyringham Bernard Samuel George Smith |
Member of Parliament for Aylesbury 2-seat constituency until 1885 1865–1885 With: Samuel George Smith 1865–1880 George W. E. Russell 1880–1885 |
Succeeded by Ferdinand James von Rothschild |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos |
Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1889–1915 |
Succeeded by The Marquess of Lincolnshire |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New title | Baron Rothschild 1885–1915 |
Succeeded by Walter Rothschild |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Anthony Nathan de Rothschild |
Baronet (of Tring Park) 1876–1915 |
Succeeded by Walter Rothschild |
Authority control  |
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