Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild

British banker and politician (1840–1915)

For other persons with a similar name, see Nathaniel Rothschild.

The Right Honourable

The Lord Rothschild

GCVO PC

Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
In office
1889–1915
Monarchs| 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

Serving with Samuel George Smith 1865–1880
George W. E. Russell 1880–1885

Preceded by| Thomas Bernard
Samuel George Smith
Succeeded by| Ferdinand de Rothschild
Member of the House of Lords

Lord Temporal

In office
2 July 1885 – 31 March 1915
Preceded by| Peerage created
Succeeded by| The 2nd Baron Rothschild
Personal details
Born|

Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild

(1840-11-08)8 November 1840
London, England
Died| 31 March 1915(1915-03-31) (aged 74)
London, England
Resting place| Willesden Jewish Cemetery
Political party| Liberal
then Liberal Unionist
then Conservative
Spouse|

Emma Louise von Rothschild

(m. 1867)​

Children| Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
Evelina Rothschild-Behrens
Charles Rothschild
Parent(s)| Lionel de Rothschild
Charlotte von Rothschild
Relatives| Nathan Mayer Rothschild (grandfather)
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (great-grandfather)
Residence(s)| 148 Piccadilly, London
Education| Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation| Banker

Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild (8 November 1840 – 31 March 1915), was a British banker and politician from the wealthy international Rothschild family. He was also a hereditary Baron of the Austrian Empire.[1][2]

## Early life

[edit]

See also: Rothschild banking family of England

Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild was the eldest son of Baron Lionel de Rothschild and Baroness Charlotte von Rothschild (née von Rothschild). His paternal grandparents were Nathan Mayer Rothschild, after whom he was named, and Hannah Barent-Cohen, daughter of Levy Barent Cohen. His maternal grandparents were Carl Mayer von Rothschild and Adelheid Herz. Through both of his grandfathers, who were brothers, he was the great-grandson of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, founder of the dynasty.

In his youth, Rothschild was a Captain in the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry.[3] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,[4] where he was a friend of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), but left without taking a degree.

## Career

[edit]

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.[5] He also served as a trustee of the London Mosque Fund until his death.[6] From 1889 until his death, he was Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and was well known as an agriculturist.[7]

In the 1902 Coronation Honours list,[8] he was appointed a Privy Counsellor and was sworn a member of the council at Buckingham Palace on 11 August 1902.[9] On the same day, he was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Grand Cross (GCVO).[10][11]

### House of Commons

[edit]

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

[edit]

In 1847, his uncle Anthony de Rothschild was made a baronet in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.[12] Since Sir Anthony had no male heirs, upon his death, the baronetcy passed 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.[13] He was also a hereditary Freiherr (baron) of the Austrian Empire, a noble title that he had inherited via his father.[2] 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,[7] 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 he 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.[14]

In 1909, he was famously derided by David Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, 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'?"[15] Rothschild recommended the Lords reject the Parliament Bill, which was, however, passed.[16]

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."[17]

## Personal life

[edit]

Emma Louise von Rothschild in 1902Portrait of his daughter, Evelina, by Philip de László, 1911

On 16 April 1867, he married Emma Louise von Rothschild, a double first cousin (i.e., they shared both sets of grandparents) from the Rothschild banking family of Germany in Frankfurt.[18] They had three children:

* Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868–1937), who never married but had two mistresses, one of whom bore him a daughter.[19]
* Charlotte Louisa Adela Evelina Rothschild (1873–1947), who married Clive Behrens, son of Edward Behrens of Bettisfield Park, Whitchurch, in 1899.[20]
* 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.[21] Following his death, the peerage was inherited by his son, Lionel Walter Rothschild.

## See also

[edit]

* History of the Jews in England
* Rothschild banking family of England

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Baron of the Austrian Empire". Bulletins of State Intelligence. 1838. p. 220.
2. ^ a b "Rothschild baronets". Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage. 1880. p. 384.
3. ^ Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1913. Kelly's. p. 1487.
4. ^ "Rothschild, Nathaniel Mayer (RTST859NM)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
5. ^ White, Jerry (1980). Rothschild Buildings: Life in an East-End Tenement Block 1887 - 1920. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-1-4464-8306-0.
6. ^ East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre. History display at their premises at 46–92 Whitechapel Road, London as seen on 28 April 2011.
7. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Rothschild, Nathaniel Mayer, 1st Baron" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
8. ^ "The Coronation Honours". The Times. No. 36804\. London. 26 June 1902. p. 5. Retrieved 20 January 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
9. ^ "No. 27464". The London Gazette. 12 August 1902. p. 5173.
10. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36844\. London. 12 August 1902. p. 8. Retrieved 20 January 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
11. ^ "No. 27467". The London Gazette. 22 August 1902. p. 5461.
12. ^ "No. 20684". The London Gazette. 18 December 1864. p. 5885.
13. ^ "No. 25486". The London Gazette. 3 July 1885. p. 3060.
14. ^ Roth 1939, p. 128.
15. ^ Roth 1939, p. 130.
16. ^ Roth 1939, p. 131.
17. ^ Roth 1939, pp. 275–276.
18. ^ "Nathaniel Mayer (Natty) de Rothschild (1840-1915)| Rothschild Family". family.rothschildarchive.org. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
19. ^ Hannah Rothschild, "The Butterfly Effect", Archived 28 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, pages 18-21.
20. ^ "Current Notes". Bye-gones: 218. 11 October 1899. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
21. ^ Roth 1939, pp. 277–278.

## Sources

[edit]

* Cooper, John (2015). The Unexpected Story of Nathaniel Rothschild. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4729-1707-2.
* Roth, Cecil (1939). The Magnificent Rothschilds. R. Hale.
* Valynseele, Joseph; Mars, Henri-Claude (2004). Le Sang des Rothschild (in French). Paris: ICC Editions. ISBN 978-2-908003-22-2.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild.

* 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 Bernard
Samuel George Smith

|  Member of Parliament for Aylesbury
two-seat constituency until 1885
1865–1885
With:  Samuel George Smith 1865–1880
George W. E. Russell 1880–1885  | Succeeded by

Ferdinand de 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 creation |  Baron Rothschild
1885–1915
Member of the House of Lords
(1885–1915) | Succeeded by

Walter Rothschild

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by

Anthony de Rothschild

|  Baronet
of Grosvenor Place
1876–1915  | Succeeded by

Walter Rothschild

* v
* t
* e

Rothschild

General|

* Genealogy of the Rothschild family
* Mayer Amschel Rothschild
* Amschel Mayer Rothschild
* Rothschild Mausoleum
* Rothschild Park
* Prix Rothschild
* Baron Rothschild
* Baron Rothschild (Austria)
* British Empire
* French Empire
* Austro-Hungarian Empire
* Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
* Holy See

Banking and
companies|

* Rothschild & Co
* RIT Capital Partners
* Edmond de Rothschild Group
* de Rothschild Frères
* S. M. von Rothschild
* Imerys
* Eramet
* Club Med
* Libération
* Economist Group (The Economist)
* Mouton Cadet
* Opus One Winery
* Chemins de Fer du Nord
* Vítkovice Mining and Iron Corporation
* Palestine Jewish Colonization Association
* Yad Hanadiv
* Creditanstalt
* British South Africa Company
* Rio Tinto
* De Beers
* Caspian and Black Sea Oil Company
* Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway
* Asia Resource Minerals
* Genel Energy
* Alliance Assurance

Properties|

* Rothschild properties in the Home counties
* Ascott House
* Aston Clinton House
* Champneys
* Eythrope
* Exbury Gardens
* Gunnersbury Park
* Halton House
* Mentmore Towers
* Tring Park Mansion
* Waddesdon Manor
* Spencer House
* Palais Rothschild
* Château Mouton Rothschild
* Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay
* Château Clarke
* Château de Ferrières
* Château Lafite
* Château de Laversine
* Château des Laurets
* Château de la Muette
* Château Rothschild, Boulogne-Billancourt
* Haras de Meautry
* Hôtel Lambert
* Hôtel de Marigny
* Hôtel de Pontalba
* Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild
* Talleyrand Building

Austria|

* Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
* Anselm Salomon von Rothschild
* Mathilde Hannah von Rothschild
* Nathaniel Mayer Anselm von Rothschild
* Ferdinand de Rothschild
* Salomon Albert Anmselm von Rothschild
* Ludwig (Louis) von Rothschild
* Eugéne Daniel von Rothschild
* Jeanne Stuart von Rothschild
* Alice Charlotte von Rothschild

United Kingdom|

* Alfred de Rothschild
* Amschel Mayor James Rothschild
* Sir Anthony de Rothschild, 1st Baronet
* Anthony Gustav de Rothschild
* Anthony James de Rothschild
* Charles Rothschild
* Charlotte Henriette de Rothschild
* David Mayer de Rothschild
* Dorothy de Rothschild
* Edmund Leopold de Rothschild
* Emma Georgina Rothschild
* Evelina de Rothschild
* Evelyn Achille de Rothschild
* Sir Evelyn de Rothschild
* Ferdinand de Rothschild
* Hannah de Rothschild, Countess of Rosebery
* Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild
* Kathleen (Nica de Koenigswarter) Rothschild
* Leopold de Rothschild
* Leopold David de Rothschild
* Lionel de Rothschild
* Lionel Nathan de Rothschild
* Lynn Forester de Rothschild
* Mayer Amschel de Rothschild
* Miriam Louisa Rothschild
* Nathaniel de Rothschild
* Nathan Mayer Rothschild
* Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild
* Nathaniel Rothschild, 5th Baron Rothschild
* Nicky Hilton Rothschild
* Serena Rothschild
* Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild
* Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild

France|

* Alphonse James de Rothschild
* Aline Caroline de Rothschild
* Ariane de Rothschild
* Arthur de Rothschild
* Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild
* Benjamin de Rothschild
* Betty von Rothschild
* Charlotte de Rothschild
* Bethsabée de Rothschild
* David René de Rothschild
* Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild
* Edmond James de Rothschild
* Édouard Etienne de Rothschild
* Edouard Alphonse de Rothschild
* Élie de Rothschild
* Elisabeth de Rothschild
* Guy de Rothschild
* Hélène de Rothschild
* Henri de Rothschild
* Jacqueline Rebecca de Rothschild
* James Armand de Rothschild
* James Mayer de Rothschild
* Marie-Hélène de Rothschild
* Nadine de Rothschild
* Nathaniel Robert de Rothschild
* Nicole de Rothschild
* Pauline de Rothschild
* Philippe de Rothschild
* Philippine de Rothschild
* Salomon James de Rothschild
* Maurice de Rothschild
* Gustave de Rothschild
* Robert de Rothschild
* Alain de Rothschild
* Éric de Rothschild
* Marie Angliviel de la Beaumelle

Naples|

* Charlotte von Rothschild
* Carl Mayer von Rothschild
* Mayer Carl von Rothschild
* Adelheid von Rothschild
* Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild
* Berthe von Rothschild
* Thérèse von Rothschild
* Marguerite de Rothschild
* Bina von Rothschild

* Category: Rothschild family

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Israel

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* SNAC

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