Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild
Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, Bt, GBE, GM, FRS (31 October 1910 – 20 March 1990), was a biologist by training, a cricketer, a wartime officer for the UK Security Service (MI5), a senior executive with Royal Dutch Shell and N M Rothschild & Sons, an advisor to British Governments and a member of the prominent Rothschild family.
Early life
Rothschild was the only son of Charles Rothschild and Rozsika Rothschild (née Edle von Wertheimstein). He had three sisters. Rothschild suffered the suicide of his father when he was 13 years old. He was educated at Harrow School.
At Trinity College, Cambridge, he read Physiology, French and English. He played first-class cricket for the University and Northamptonshire. At Cambridge he was known for his playboy lifestyle, driving a Bugatti and collecting art and rare books.
Rothschild joined the Cambridge Apostles, a secret society, which at that time was predominantly Marxist, though he stated himself that he "was mildly left-wing but never a Marxist". He became friends with Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and Kim Philby; members of the Cambridge Spy Ring.