ROTHSCHILD:

By: Joseph Jacobs, Isidore Singer, Frederick T. Haneman, Jacques Kahn, Goodman
Lipkind, J. de Haas, I. L. Bril
Table of Contents
Mayer Amschel Roths-child.
Nathan Mayer Roths-child.
Dispersion of the Brothers.
Foreign Loans.
Baron James.
The Union Générale.
As Philanthropists and Art Patrons.
Albert (Anselm) Salomon von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Alphonse, Baron de Rothschild:
Amschel Mayer von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Anselm von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Anthony de Rothschild, Sir:
Arthur de Rothschild, Baron:
Charlotte de Rothschild, Baroness:
Constance de Rothschild (Lady Battersea):
Edmond de Rothschild, Baron:
Ferdinand de Rothschild, Baron:
Gustave de Rothschild, Baron:
Hannah Rothschild.
Henri de Rothschild, Baron:
James Edouard de Rothschild, Baron:
James Mayer de Rothschild, Baron:
Karl Mayer von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Leopold de Rothschild:
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, Baron:
Financial Career.
As a Communal Worker.
Becomes First Jewish Member of Parliament.
Lionel Walter Rothschild:
Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
Mayer Karl von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Mayer Nathan de Rothschild, Baron:
Nathan Mayer Rothschild.
Nathan (Nathaniel) Meyer Rothschild, Lord:
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Wilhelm Karl von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Celebrated family of financiers, the Fuggers of the nineteenth century, deriving
its name from the sign of a red shield borne by the house No. 148 in the Judengasse
of Frankfort-on-the-Main. This house is mentioned in the "Judenstädtigkeit" of
1619, at which date its number was 69. Curiously enough, it at first bore the sign
of a green shield ("Zum Gruünen Schild"). It was restored in 1886, and, though not
in its original location, it still remains in possession of the Rothschilds as a
kind of family museum and memorial.

The Rothschild "Stammhaus," Frankfort-on-the-Main.(From a photograph.)

The earliest notice of a member of the family, given in the burial records of
Frankfort, is that of Moses Rothschild (b. c. 1550), whose daughter Esther died in
1608. Members of the same family are mentioned at Worms in the seventeenth century
as rabbis (Lewysohn, "Sechzig Epitaphien zu Worms"). One of these, Mendel
Rothschild, was for several years preacher in Prague, then rabbi of Bamberg, and
finally rabbi of Worms for fourteen years.

Mayer Amschel Roths-child.

The first Rothschild of any prominence was one Amschel Moses Rothschild, a small
merchant and money-changer at Frankfort-on-the-Main; but the founder of the house
was his son Mayer Amschel Rothschild, born in that city about 1743. When a boy
Mayer used to be sent to exchange money for use in his father's banking business;
and he thereby developed an interest in coins which was both practical and
scientific. He was at one time destined for the rabbinate, and studied for that
purpose in Fürth. He soon changed his career, however, and took a post in the
Oppenheim banking-house in Hanover. About 1760 he started in business for himself
in his native city, in the house of his father, who was then dead. He married, Aug.
29, 1770, Güttele Schnapper, who lived to see her sons at the head of European
finance. Mayer was a general agent and banker, and traded also in works of art and
curios. In the latter connection he became an agent of William IX., Landgrave of
Hesse-Cassel, who on his father's death in 1785 had inherited the largest private
fortune in Europe, derived mainly from the hire of troops to the British government
for the putting down of the Revolution in the United States.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild had become acquainted with the crown prince in 1775, but
does not seem to have done much business with him till toward the end of the next
decade. He changed some English gold for him in 1789, and in 1794 took as much as
£150,000 worth, but not alone, having associated with him no less than six other
bullion-brokers of Frankfort. It was only toward the end of 1798 that he had
sufficient credit with the prince to undertake single-handed any large quantity of
gold brokerage. From 1800 to 1806 the landgrave placed with Rothschild 1,750,000
thaler, mostly at 4 per cent, part of it to be invested in Frankfort town loans,
part in Danish loans. In 1801 he became the landgrave's court agent.

Nathan Mayer Roths-child.

Meanwhile his third son, Nathan Mayer Roths-child (born at Frankfort Sept. 16,
1777), had settled in England under somewhat remarkable circumstances, as related
by himself to Sir Thomas Buxton. The firm dealt in Manchester goods, and, having
been treated somewhat cavalierly by a commercial traveler, Nathan at a moment's
notice settled in Manchester (1798) with a credit of £20,000, upon which he earned
no less than £40,000 during the following seven years by buying raw material and
dyes, having the goods made up to his own order, and selling them abroad, thus
making a triple profit. He became naturalized as a British subject June 12, 1804,
and in 1805 went to London, establishing himself at first in St. Helen's place and
afterward in New Court, St. Swithin's lane, still the office of the firm. He
married shortly afterward a sister-in-law of Moses Montefiore, thus coming into
association with the heads of the Sephardic community, then ruling the financial
world of London through their connection with Amsterdam. Owing to Napoleon's
seizure of Holland in 1803, the leaders of the anti-Napoleonic league chose
Frankfort as a financial center wherefrom to obtain the sinews of war. After the
battle of Jena in 1806 the Land-grave of Hesse-Cassel fled to Denmark, where he had
already deposited much of his wealth through the agency of Mayer Amschel
Rothschild, leaving in the hands of the latter specie and works of art of the value
of £600,000. According to legend, these were hidden away in wine-casks, and,
escaping the search of Napoleon's soldiers when they entered Frankfort, were
restored intact in the same casks in 1814, when the elector returned to his
electorate (see Marbot, "Memoirs," 1891, i. 310-311). The facts are somewhat less
romantic, and more businesslike. Roths-child, so far from being in danger, was on
such good terms with Napoleon's nominee, Prince Dalberg, that he had been made in
1810 a member of the Electoral College of Darmstadt. The elector's money had been
sent to Nathan in London, who in 1808 utilized it to purchase £800,000 worth of
gold from the East India Company, knowing that it would be needed for Wellington's
Peninsular campaign. He made no less than four profits on this: (1) on the sale of
Wellington's paper, (2) on the sale of the gold to Wellington, (3) on its
repurchase, and (4) on forwarding it to Portugal. This was the beginning of the
great fortunes of the house, and its early transactions may be divided into three
stages, in each of which Nathan was the guiding spirit: namely, (1) from 1808 to
1815, mainly the transmission of bullion from England to the Continent for the use
of the British armies and for subventions to the allies; (2) from 1816 to 1818,
"bearing" operations on the stock exchange on the loans needed for the
reconstruction of Europe after Napoleon's downfall; and (3) from 1818 to 1848, the
undertaking of loans and of refunding operations, which were henceforth to be the
chief enterprises of the house.

Dispersion of the Brothers.

(1) As regards the first stage, the deaths in 1810 of both Sir Francis Baring and
Abraham Goldsmid left Nathan Mayer Rothschild without a formidable competitor in
the London bullion market; and it has been calculated that England forwarded to the
Continent through him in the three years 1813 to 1815 no less than £15,000,000
sterling, while in the latter year up to the battle of Waterloo he forwarded in a
similar manner £1,000,000 per month. He had a pigeon-post between England and the
Continent which brought him early information of all important events. While the
battle of Waterloo was in progress his agent Rowerth awaited the result at Ostend,
and was the first to bring the news to London. This was on the morning of June 20,
two days after the battle, when Roths-child immediately transmitted the
intelligence to the government; this shows that the tradition that he gained
largely by keeping the news secret is entirely mythical. In many instances
Rothschild found it unnecessary to transmit English money to the Continent, as the
foreign governments frequently preferred to have their loans reinvested for them in
English consols. It was mainly in connection with this movement in bullion that the
remarkable plan was adopted of having one of the Rothschild brothers in each of the
chief capitals; but it is a mistake to believe that this arrangement was due to the
foresight of Mayer Amschel. James, the youngest of the brothers, was not
established in Paris till 1812, the year of Mayer Amschel's death, and then
secretly for the purpose of collecting French coin to forward to Wellington for his
advance through southern France; the firm of Rothschild Frères was not founded in
Paris till 1817; Karl did not go to Naples till 1821; and Salomon went to Berlin in
1815 to arrange for payments through London to Berlin to the Englishman Herries. It
was evidently Nathan who made these arrangements.V10p494001.jpgNathan Mayer
Rothschild.
(2) The great sums needed by France and the allies after the Waterloo period were
at first not supplied by the Rothschilds at all, though undoubtedly the large
movements of bullion which wererequired for these loans were negotiated through
them, as it is reckoned that from 1814 to 1822 no less than £18,000,000 sterling
was transferred by them to the Continent, and it was for this reason that the
brothers were raised to the Austrian nobility (Sept. 29, 1822; Nathan never assumed
the title, though he acted as Austrian consul-general). But the loans themselves
were made by the banking-house of Baring, which was connected with the firm of Hope
in Amsterdam and with that of Ouvrard in Paris, for a long time the chief rival in
Paris of the Roths-childs. The profits on these issues were enormous. The French
loan of 1816 of 350,000,000 francs yielded 10 per cent; and the Austrian loan of
50,000,000 gulden in 1815 yielded 9 per cent.
Foreign Loans.
(3) As early as Feb. 5, 1817, the Rothschilds had taken up a Prussian loan of
1,500,000 gulden at 5 per cent; and by the end of the following year the brothers
in their collective capacity were reported to be the richest firm in Europe; though
they had not conducted any of the great loans of the preceding three years.
Ehrenberg, therefore, thinks that they must have gained their fortune by
speculating in the loans issued under the auspices of the Barings, probably by
"bearing" operations which were so successful that they forced the governments
concerned to allow the Rothschilds to participate in any future loans.
Year. Country. Amount.
1817 Prussia 1,500,000 gulden.
1818 " £5,000,000
1819 Great Britain £12,000,000
1820 Austria (Lottery Loan) 48,000,000 gulden.
1820 " 20,800,000 "
1821 " 37,500,000 "
1821 Naples 16,000,000 ducats.
1821 Sicily 4,500,000 "
1822 Prussia £3,500,000
1822 Russia £3,500,000
1822 " £6,500,000
1822 Naples 20,000,000 ducats.
1823 Austria £2,500,000
1823 ............................ 25,000,000 gulden.
1823 France 23,000,000 francs.
1824 Brazil £3,200,000
1824 Naples £2,500,000
1825 Grand Duchy of Hesse 6,500,000 gulden.
1825 Brazil £2,000,000
1829 " £800,000
1829 " 25,000,000 gulden.
1829 Hesse-Homburg 1,750,000 "
1829 Hohenzollern-Hechingen 260,000 "
1830 Prussia £4,500,000
1831 Belgium 50,000,000 francs.
1831 Papal States 16,000,000 "
1832 Belgium £2,000,000
1834 Austria 25,000,000 gulden.
1834 Greece 66,000,000 francs.
1834 Grand Duchy of Hesse 2,500,000 gulden.
1835 Great Britain £15,000,000
1837 Duchy of Nassau 2,600,000 gulden.
1839 Austria 30,000,000 "
1840 Duchy of Lucea 1,050,000 "
1840 Baden 5,000,000 "
1842 Austria 40,000,000 "
1843 Duchy of Lucea 1,120,000 "
1845 Papal States 2,160,000 francs.
1845 Baden 14,000,000 gulden.
1847 Irish Famine Loan £10,000,000
1847 France 250,000,000 francs.
1847 Hanover 3,600,000 thaler.
1848 Baden 2,500,000 gulden.
1848 Bavaria 22,000,000 "
1848-51 Hesse (four loans) 6,500,000 "
The above is a list of the loans issued by the Rothschilds during the years 1817 to
1848, as far as these can be definitely ascertained: they make a total of
$654,847,200 (£130,969,440).

The profits on these loans were at first very great. Salomon Rothschild in 1820
declared that the brothers in that year made 6,000,000 gulden, probably on the two
Austrian loans, i.e., about 10 per cent. But others were by no means so
remunerative. No less than £500,000 was lost in attempting to support Lord Bexley's
refunding schemes; and the French refunding operation of 1823 from 5's to 3's,
though originally suggested by Nathan, was equally unremunerative, causing a loss,
it is said, of 3,000,000 francs. Nor were the Rothschilds always successful in
obtaining the issue of loans. In 1834, despite their competition, a syndicate of
the Foulds, Oppenheims, and others obtained the Sardinian loan; but the Rothschilds
adopted their usual "bearing" policy, with the result that the next papal loan was
financed by them. The Pereires were equally inimical to the Rothschilds, and
successfully competed with them for Russian railway contracts.
Baron James.
While the early history of the firm was dominated by the influence of Nathan, after
the year 1830 the youngest brother, James, came to the front, and the Paris house
gained that predominance in French finance which it still retains, whereas
throughout the nineteenth century there was concealed but very effective rivalry
between the Barings and the Rothschilds in London. Baron James had befriended and
assisted Louis Philippe before he came to the throne in 1830, and was the medium
through which that astute monarch conducted his stock-exchange operations till his
overthrow in 1848. In return Baron James obtained in 1846 the concession for the
Great Northern Railway Company of France, having 300,000 shares, each of the value
of 300 francs. His position in the social world of Paris is described by Balzac
under the guise of "Baron Nucingen." In the year 1848 the Paris house was reckoned
to be worth 600,000,000 francs as against 362,000,000 francs held by all the other
Paris bankers. Meanwhile the Vienna branch obtained a similar concession for the
Austrian Northern Railway (Nordbahn). Baron Salomon had also acquired from the
Austrian government the Idra quicksilver-mine; and in 1832 the Almaden mines in
Spain also came under the control of the Rothschilds, who thus obtained a monopoly
of that metal. The Austrian firm later owned, in conjunction with the brothers
Wilhelm and David von Gutmann, mines and iron-works at Witkowitz, Moravia. In the
early stages of its existence the Austrian house did a large money-lending business
with the mediatized and impoverished nobility of the Austrian empire, loans to the
amount of no less than 24,521,000 gulden being on record.

There is little to be said about the Naples house, established in 1821 and
discontinued in 1861 at the fall of the Bourbon dynasty.

Apart from railroads and mines the Rothschilds have rarely been interested in
industrial developments, though the London house is still rated as "N. M.
Rothschild and Sons, merchants." At one time they took up general insurance, and
founded in 1824, with Sir Moses Montefiore, the Alliance InsuranceCompany as a sort
of rival to Lloyd's. Only recently has the firm again turned its attention to
mines, under the influence of Lord Rothschild, the interests of the London house in
the Rio Tinto copper-mines and the De Beers diamond-mines being considerable.
Similarly the firm has large interests in the oil-wells of Baku, Russia, thus
becoming the chief competitor of the Standard Oil Company.

With the fall of Louis Philippe (1848) the hegemony of the various Rothschild firms
again reverted to London. Baron Lionel, though his attention was diverted
considerably from finance to politics by the struggle for the emancipation of the
Jews, gained considerable prestige by his repeated election as representative of
the city of London; and the London firm was instrumental during his leadership of
it in financing no less than eighteen government loans, including the Irish Famine
Loan, one of £15,000,000 to the English government in 1856, the £5,000,000 Turkish
loan of 1858, several refunding operations for the United States, and national
loans to the Russian government. He declined, however, to take up the Russian loan
of 1861, owing to his disapproval of the action of the Russian government toward
Poland.

After Mayer Amschel's death the Frankfort firm, which for many years, especially
between 1850 and 1870, was of great importance, was until about 1855 under the
guidance of Baron Amschel Mayer von Rothschild, and upon his death came under the
joint management of the brothers Baron Mayer Karl and Baron Wilhelm (universally
known in Germany as "Baron Willy"). The former was a man of high culture and great
ability, a lover of art and literature, but somewhat of a misanthrope, owing, it is
said, partly to the fact that seven daughters were born to him but no son. Baron
Mayer Karl became a member of the Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Peers) in 1870, and
thereafter paid little attention to business affairs, leaving these to his brother
Baron Wilhelm. The latter was a very religious man, of rather narrow views, under
whom the importance of the Frankfort firm rapidly declined. It was liquidated after
his death in 1901.

The Rothschilds were not, however, without competitors in the issue of public
loans. Other Jewish families—the Lazards, Sterns, Speyers, and Seligmans—adopted
the Rothschild plan of establishing local branches in European capitals, each
headed by a brother, and after 1848 the governments of Europe adopted the plan of
throwing loans open to the public instead of resorting to one or two banking firms
like the Rothschilds. In this way the Sterns secured the chief Portuguese loans,
while a number of smaller Jewish firms began to combine their resources and form
limited liability companies like the Crédit Mobilier, the Dresdener Bank, and the
Deutsche Reichsbank of Berlin.

Nathan Mayer Rothschild.(From an old print.)

The relative importance of the Rothschilds diminished considerably in the second
half of the nineteenth century. Having been ill advised as to their American
policy, they invested largely in Confederate bonds and lost heavily. This appears
to have disgusted them with American finance, which they left severely alone for
many years, thus losing the opportunities afforded by the great financial expansion
of the United States in the last decades of the nineteenth century. With the
Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) the Rothschilds again came into financial prominence.
They arranged with Bleichröder for the payment to Germany of the indemnity of five
milliard francs; in 1875 the London house advanced the British government
£4,080,000 for Suez Canal shares, upon which the Rothschilds were reported to have
made£100,000; and in 1884 they loaned the Egyptian government £1,000,000.

The Union Générale.

Meanwhile the Nationalist and Reactionary parties in France desired to
counterbalance the "Semitic" influence of the Rothschilds by establishing a banking
concern which should be essentially Catholic. Accordingly in 1876 the Union
Générale was founded with a capital of 4,000,000 francs, increased to 25,000, 000
fraces in 1878 under the direction of a certain Bontoux. After various
vicissitudes, graphically described by Zola in his novel "L'Argent," the Union
failed, and brought many of the Catholic nobility of France to ruin, leaving the
Rothschilds still more absolutely the undisputed leaders of French finance, but
leaving also a legacy of hatred which had much influence on the growth of the anti-
Semitic movement in France. Something analogous occurred in England when the
century-long competition of the Barings and the Rothschilds culminated in the
failure of the former in 1893; but in this case the Rothschilds came to the rescue
of their rivals and prevented a universal financial catastrophe. It is a somewhat
curious sequel to the attempt to set up a Catholic competitor to the Roths-childs
that at the present time the latter are the guardians of the papal treasure.

Of recent years the Rothschilds have consistently refused to have anything to do

with loans to Russia, owing to the anti-Jewish legislation of that empire, though
on one occasion the members of the Paris house joined in a loan to demonstrate
their patriotism as Frenchmen.

As Philanthropists and Art Patrons.

The remarkable success of the Rothschilds, which has now lasted exactly a century,
has been due in the first place to the financial genius of Nathan Mayer Rothschild,
and secondly in large measure to the settlement of the five brothers in the
European capitals, which enabled them to issue loans simultaneously. In the early
and later stages the London house was the base of operations; but during the reign
of Louis Philippe the Paris house appears to have directed undertakings. The
business principles on which the Rothschilds acted were the unified policy of the
five, later four, and finally three firms; their determination never to deal with
unsuccessful persons; their use of the surest information and the most reliable
instruments; and prompt action after obtaining such information. They did not aim
at excessive profits, nor did they put "all their eggs in one basket"; they drew
back in time if an enterprise was not promising, selling quickly, if necessary even
at a loss, on the principle that the first loss is the best; and they were almost
the first to make use of journalistic methods to arouse the interest of the public
in their loans. They have, however, consistently kept the secret of their own
operations. The original five brothers were shrewd business men, but all were
equally uncultured (Karl Mayer writes of a "kondract" he had made). Their
descendants, however, have been among the great patrons of art throughout western
Europe, the collections of Barons Amschel, James, and Ferdinand being especially
noteworthy. They have created quite a school of Jewish dealers in art, whose chief
customers they have been (Duveen, C. Davis, Spitzer, and Wertheimer).

The services of the Rothschilds in the cause of philanthropy have been equally
marked. Special hospitals have been founded by them for all creeds at Jerusalem,
Vienna, Paris, and London; the Jews' Free School of the last-named city is
supported almost entirely by Lord Rothschild at an estimated annual cost of
£15,000. In London and Paris they have established workmen's dwellings on a large
scale and on an economic and commercial basis; and their private charities are very
large. The founder of the house, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, held the curious theory
that if a beggar thanked him, the charitable transaction was concluded, whereas if
he received no thanks, Heaven owed him some recompense for his charity.
Consequently, it was his custom to thrust a coin into the hand of a beggar, and to
hurry away before the latter could express his gratitude.

In addition, some of the members of the family have evinced an interest in Jewish
literature. Baron James in Paris was the founder of the Société des Etudes Juives;
Baron Wilhelm of Frankfort was a zealous collector of Hebrew incunabula, which are
now in the Frankfort town library; and almost all great Jewish literary
undertakings have been subventioned by one or other branch of the firm.

Hitherto the pedigree of the Rothschild family has been traced only as far as
Amschel, the father of Mayer Amschel Rothschild; but, owing to the recent
publication of the tombstone inscriptions of Frankfort-on-the-Main by Horovitz
("Inschriften von Frankfort"), it is now possible to trace it back with a high
degree of probability four generations further, as far as Moses Rothschild, who was
born about the middle of the sixteenth century. There is little doubt that all the
Rothschilds form one family, as is shown by the similarity of first names; this
would account for the somewhat unusual name of Kalman (brother of Mayer Amschel),
and would give some hint as to the use of "Jacob" as the name of Mayer Amschel's
youngest son, since the younger son of the uncle after whom he was named was also
called Jacob. It is also seen that the rabbinic part of the family left Frankfort
early in the seventeenth century, and is not related in a direct line with the more
worldly portion.

The number of marriages between cousins in the later history of the family is
remarkable, especially in the second and third generations after the five brothers
had gone to five different capitals. Altogether of fifty-eight marriages contracted
by the descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild to date (1905), no less than twenty-
nine, or exactly one-half, have been between first cousins. It is noteworthy that
these marriages as a rule have been fertile, which is what is anticipated by
biological science; but several of the unions have resulted in daughters only,
which is also anthropologically significant.

In the first names adopted there has been a restriction in choice in the early
generations, causing a considerable amount of confusion between the many
Charlottes, Louises, Karls, and Nathans. As a rule, the son has adopted the
father's name as a second name, which has enabled a distinction to be made,and the
same plan has with less suitability been followed in the case of the daughters. The
family tree is found on pages 491-493.
Bibliography:
Das Haus Rothschild, Seine Geschichte und Geschäfte, Prague, 1857;
Reeves, The Rothschilds, London, 1887;
Scherb, Gesch. das Hauses Rothschild, Berlin, 1892;
A. Ehrenberg, in Deutsche Rundschau, 1903-4;
Dict. National Biography;
Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon, s. v.;
A. Kohut, Jüdische Berühmtheiten;
Horovitz, Inschriften von Frankfort;
Lewysohn, Sechzig Epiiaphien zu Worms.
The following notices of members of the family are arranged in alphabetical order:

Albert (Anselm) Salomon von Rothschild, Freiherr:

Head of the Austrian branch of S. M. v. Rothschild und Söhne; born at Vienna Oct.
29, 1844; youngest son of Anselm von Rothschild. He was educated at the gymnasium
of Vienna and the University of Bonn; entered the banking-house of Behrend at
Hamburg; and then traveled extensively. He succeeded his father as head of the
Vienna branch in 1874. In 1876 he married Karoline Bettina, daughter of Baron
Alphonse Rothschild (b.at Paris Feb. 15, 1858; d. at Vienna March 24, 1892), in
memory of whom he erected the Bettina Frauenspital. He takes especial interest in
the orphan asylum and foundations for Jewish artists and musicians in Vienna.

Alphonse, Baron de Rothschild:

Second son of Baron James Mayer de Rothschild; born at Paris Feb. 1, 1827. The son
of Austrian parents, he became naturalized in France in 1848. He received a careful
education and was employed at an early age by his father in the management of the
Chemin de Fer du Nord. In 1854 he became head of the French house, and in the same
year was made one of the governors of the Bank of France. In 1869 he became
president of the board of directors of the Chemin de Fer du Nord, also president of
the Central Consistory of the Israelites of France, to which he had belonged as
early as 1851 as delegate of the Jewish community of Bordeaux.

Baron Alpbonse de Rothschild.

When the Franco-Prussian war ended disastrously for the French republic, Baron
Alphonse became the head of the syndicate of French bankers which guaranteed the
payment of the indemnity of five milliard francs by France to Germany. It was
especially through his ability that France was enabled to pay the indemnity within
a very short time.

He further directed the important work of establishing a fund, chiefly in German

bonds, to avoid the expense of converting bills into German currency when remitting
them to the German government, thus saving a great amount to the French government.

As to Baron Alphonse's connection with the Suez Canal transactions, opinions

differ. He and Charles de Lesseps were commissioned to effect a harmonization of
the French and the English interests. It is a fact that the management of the canal
changed hands in 1883, and that England is now actually in possession.

At present the baron is especially interested in important electric and petroleum

undertakings. He has presented over 600 pictures to the Museum of Paris; and in
1895 he succeeded Emile Perrin as honorary member of the Paris Academy of Fine
Arts. The Château of Ferrières-en-Brie (department of Scine-et-Marne) is his
property. The German staff was installed there at the commencement of the siege of
Paris. There also Jules Favre, on behalf of the French government, conducted the
unsuccessful peace negotiations with Prince Bismarck.

The charitable and benevolent institutions of all creeds have been enriched by
gifts from the firm of Rothschild Brothers. Each year as winter approaches, Barons
Alphonse, Gustave, and Edmond donate 100,000 francs for distribution among the poor
of the twenty arrondissements of Paris. They are the founders of sixty annual
stipends for the benefit of young persons wishing to enter the higher commercial
schools. On June 27, 1904, the three Barons Rothschild notified Troullot, minister
of commerce, of their intention to donate the sum of 10,000,000 francs, to be
employed in the erection of inexpensive dwelling-houses, and for the general
furtherance of plans for ameliorating the condition of the working classes.

In 1857 Alphonse married Leonora, daughter of Baron Lionel de Rothschild of London.

His only son, Edouard (b. Feb. 24, 1868), fought a duel during the excitement
caused by the revision of the Dreyfus case.

Bibliography:
Curinier, Dict. Nat. ii. 356;
La Grande Encyclopædie.
Amschel Mayer von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Eldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and, after the death of his father, senior
member of the family and head of the Frankfort branch; born at Frankfort-on-the-
Main June 12, 1773; died there Dec. 6, 1855. The Emperor of Austria knighted him in
1815 and made him a "Freiherr" in 1822. In 1820 he was appointed Bavarian consul in
Frankfort with the title of court banker.

Amschel Mayer was very Orthodox and actively supported the Conservative party in
Judaism. He took great interest in the history of his race, and when in 1840 many
cloisters were sequestered in Spain, he directed his agent to secure all documents
of interest to the Jews. He was besides a collector of paintings, coins, and metal-
work.

Amschel Mayer left no children, but was succeeded in business by two sons of his
brother Karl, the founder of the Naples branch.

Bibliography:
(Anonymous) Das Haus Rothschild, i. 173-205, Prague and Leipsic, 1857.
Anselm von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Austrian banker; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main Jan. 29, 1803; died at Ober-Döbling,
near Vienna, July 27, 1874; only son of Salomon Mayer von Rothschild. Whilehis
father and uncles had received their education and training in the paternal home,
he was sent, in 1820, to the University of Berlin. Two years later he entered the
Paris house of the Rothschilds, spending some time there as well as at Berlin,
Copen-hagen, Brussels, and The Hague. From 1848 he assisted his uncle Amschel Mayer
in Frankfort, and after the death of his father, removed to Vienna (1855), where he
continued to conduct the Austrian house of the Rothschilds till his death.

In 1861 Anselm was appointed a life member of the Austrian House of Lords. In 1869
he founded a Jewish hospital in Vienna. He was an enthusiastic collector of
paintings and other objects of art.

In 1826 Anselm married his niece Charlotte Nathan Rothschild, daughter of Nathan
Mayer Rothschild of London. He left three sons, Nathan, Ferdinand, and Albert
Salomon. Nathan (b. Oct. 26, 1836) is a sportsman, traveling much, especially on
the Mediterranean; he has not taken any active interest in the Rothschild business.
He has published "Skizzen aus dem Süden." Anselm had also three daughters: Julie,
married Adolf Karl von Rothschild; Mathilde, married Wilhelm Karl von Rothschild
(both of the Naples branch); and Luise, who became the wife of Baron Franchetti.

Bibliography:
Von Scherb, Gesch. des Hauses Rothschild, Berlin, 1892.
Anthony de Rothschild, Sir:
Born at New Court, London, 1810; died at Woolston, near Southampton, Jan. 3, 1876;
second son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild. Entering his father's banking business, he
became a prominent member of the firm. He lived the life of a country gentleman,
which did not, however, prevent him becoming the main representative of the family
in the London Jewish community. As president of the Jews' Free School he was
unwearied in his efforts to promote the good management of that institution. He
assisted at the establishment of the United Synagogue, and became its president.
For a short time he was president also of the Jews' Hospital. In 1846 he was
created a baronet of the United Kingdom, with special remainder, failing his own
male issue, to the sons of his elder brother, Baron Lionel de Rothschild. He was
also a baron of the Austrian empire, and was made Austrian consul-general in London
in 1858.

Sir Anthony was prominently connected with numerous mercantile bodies, notably the
Alliance Life and Fire Assurance Company, of which he was a director. In 1840 Sir
Anthony married Louisa, daughter of Abraham Montefiore; he had two daughters, who
survived him.

Bibliography:
Jew. Chron. and Jew. World, Jan. 7, 1876;
The Times (London), Jan. 5, 10, and 11, 1876;
Morais, Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century, s.v., philadelphia, 1880.
Arthur de Rothschild, Baron:
Born at Paris March 28, 1851; died at Monte Carlo 1903; son of Nathaniel Rothschild
of London. He was the author of: "Notice sur l'Origine du Prix Uniforme de la Taxe
de Lettres et sur la Création des Timbres de Poste en Angleterre," Paris, 1871; and
"Histoire de la Poste aux Lettres," ib. 1873. Baron Arthur was interested in
yachting, and for several years was vice-president of the Union des Yachts
Français.

Bibliography:
La Grande Encyclopédie.
Charlotte de Rothschild, Baroness:
Born at Naples 1819; died at Gunnesbury Park, Acton, near London, March 13, 1884;
daughter of Baron Karl von Rothschild. In 1836 she married her cousin Baron Lionel
de Rothschild. She took the deepest interest in politics and was of the greatest
service to her husband in his parliamentary career.

In 1859 the baroness established an Invalids' Kitchen at Bishopsgate, London, and

in Nov., 1859, founded the Home for Aged Incurables, both of which institutions as
well as several other charities were entirely supported by her. In 1867 she became
president of the Ladies' Benevolent Loan and Visiting Society. She founded also the
Emigration Society. Her labors in connection with the Jews' Free School were far-
reaching; she even composed as readings for the school "Addresses to Young
Children." In memory of her daughter, she established "Evelina Prizes" at all the
Jewish elementary schools and at Jews' College.

Bibliography:
Jew. Chron. and Jew. World, March 14, 1884.
Constance de Rothschild (Lady Battersea):
Authoress and communal worker; eldest daughter of Sir Anthony de Rothschild; born
in London 1847. In 1877 she married Cyril Flower, who was created first Baron
Battersea in 1892. In conjunction with her sister Annie (the Honorable Mrs. Eliot
Yorke) she published, in 1870, "The History and Literature of the Israelites
According to the Old Testament and the Apoerypha," an adaptation, for the young, of
the Biblical narrative. The work was republished in 1872, in an abridged form, for
the use of schools. Lady Battersea has since contributed occasionally to magazines,
dealing descriptively with the ceremonial and ritual she witnessed in her father's
house. She has taken a great interest in the Jewish Association for the Protection
of Girls and Women, of which she is vice-president and secretary; and she has been
intimately associated with other departments of Jewish social work in London.
Bibliography:
Jewish Year Book, 5665 (1904-5).
Edmond de Rothschild, Baron:
Born at Paris Aug. 19, 1845. He is associated with his brothers Alphonse and
Gustave in the French house of the Rothschilds. He is known in the Jewish world as
the founder of the Agricultural Colonies in Palestine, at present under the
administration of the Jewish Colonization Association. In 1877 he married Adelaide,
daughter of Wilhelm Karl Rothschild of Frankfort-on-the-Main, by whom he has three
children: James Edmond Armand (b. Dec. 18, 1878; M.A., Cambridge), Maurice (b. May
19, 1881), and Myriam.

Baron Edmond is a great lover of the arts and a collector of paintings. His wife is
president of the patronage committee of the Comité de Bienfaisance, and foundress
and vice-president of the HomeIsraélite Français, which assists young Jewish girls
to find situations in the trades, the industrial arts, as teachers, etc.

Ferdinand de Rothschild, Baron:

English politician and art connoisseur; born in Paris 1839; died at Wallesdon
Manor, England, Dec. 17, 1898; second son of Freiherr Anselm von Rothschild. He was
educated in Vienna, and settled in England in 1860. In 1865 he married his cousin
Evelina de Rothschild, sister of Lord Rothschild. She died in the following year,
and in her memory he built and largely supported the Evelina Hospital for Sick
Children.

Baron Ferdinand was fond of country life and had the ordinary tastes of a country
gentleman. He hunted, and bred fat stock; he made Wallesdon a model village; and he
was fond of yachting. In 1883 he held the office of high sheriff of
Buckinghamshire, and was also justice of the peace and deputy lieutenant for the
county. In 1885, when Lord Rothschild was created a peer, Baron Ferdinand succeeded
as a Liberal to his seat for Aylesbury; but in the following November the borough
was disfranchised, and he was returned for the newly created division of Aylesbury,
which constituency he continued to represent as a Liberal Unionist until his death.
At Wallesdon the baron had the honor of entertaining the Queen of England on May
14, 1890; and the emperor Frederick of Germany and the Shah of Persia were likewise
reckoned among his guests. The baron was a freemason, and in 1892 was one of the
founders of the Ferdinand de Roths-child Lodge, of which he was installed master.

As a collector of works of art, Baron Ferdinand held one of the first places in his
generation. The Manor itself was one of the most celebrated homes in England, its
staircases, copied from those of the Château Chenonceaux, being specially
noteworthy.

Baron Ferdinand rendered valuable services in various capacities to the Jewish

community. From 1868 to 1875 he was treasurer of the Board of Guardians; in 1868 he
laid the foundation-stone of the North London Synagogue; in 1870 he became warden
of the Central Synagogue; and at the Stepney Jewish Schools he founded a "Baron
Ferdinand de Roths-child Technical Scholarship." He was a man of wide culture and
strong literary sympathies. The result of some of his studies he gave to the public
in the form of lectures to working men, in articles in the "Nineteenth Century,"
and in a work (London, 1896) entitled "Personel Characters from French History." At
his death he bequeathed to the British Museum some of the rare art treasures of
Wallesdon Manor, a gift amounting in value to about £100,000.

Bibliography:
Jew. Chron. and Jew. World, Dec. 23, 1898;
The Times (London), Dec. 19, 1898.
Gustave de Rothschild, Baron:
Born Feb. 17, 1829; consul-general for Austria-Hungary, director of the Chemin de
Fer du Nord and the Paris-Lyons and Mediterranean Railway; member of the board of
directors of the Rothschild Hospital and Hospice; president of the Jewish
Consistory of Paris (of which he has been a member since 1856), and also of the
committee of consistorial schools; chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

In 1866 he founded a Hebrew primary school known as "The Gustave de Rothschild

School." On the anniversary of the death of his daughter, Baroness Emanuel Leonina,
in 1898, he established twenty annuities of 600 franes each, to be distributed
among aged Jews of either sex.

In 1859 Baron Gustave married Cecilie Anspach. Issue, five children: Robert (b.
Jan. 19, 1880), civil and mining engineer; Lucie, wife of Baron Lambert, president
of the Central Hebrew Consistory of Belgium, and representative of the firm of
Rothschild Brothers at Brussels; Aline, wife of Sir Edward Sassoon, M.P., of
London; and Juliette, wife of Baron Emanuel Leonina, civil engineer.

The Baroness Gustave de Rothchild is president of the ladies' committee of

inspection of the Hebrew schools of Paris. In 1877 she established a clothing club,
for the distribution of garments, medicines, etc., among the Jewish children
attending the consistorial and parochial schools.

Bibliography:
Léon Kahn, Histoire des Ecoles Communales et Consistoriales de Paris, 1884.
Hannah Rothschild.
See Rosebery, Hannah, Countess of.
Henri de Rothschild, Baron:
French physician; born at Paris July 26, 1872; son of James Edward Rothschild of
London. After a careful education he traveled extensively and then, returning to
Paris, studied medicine, graduating as M.D. in 1898. Establishing himself as a
physician in his native city, he founded a dispensary for the treatment of diseases
of children.

Rotschild is the author of several books on his travels ("Notes Scandinaves,"

"Notes Africaines," "Souvenirs d'Espagne," etc.), and of the following medical
works: "Quelques Observations sur l'Alimentation du Nouveau-Né et de l'Emploi
Raisonné du Lait Stérilisé," Paris, 1897; "Notes sur l'Hygiène et la Protection de
l'Enfance dans les Principales Capitales de l'Europe," ib. 1897; "L'Allaitement
Mixte et l'Allaitement Artificiel," ib. 1898. He has also collaborated on several
professional journals, besides editing unpublished letters of Jean Jacques
Rousseau, with a preface and notes: "Lettres Inédites de Jean-Jacques Rousseau."

Bibliography:
Curinier, Dict. Nat. i 178.
James Edouard de Rothschild, Baron:
Born at Paris Oct. 28, 1844; died there Oct. 25, 1881. He was one of the founders
and the first president of the Société des Etudes Juives and the founder of the
Société des Anciens Textes Français. He is the author of "Introduction au Mystère
du Vieil Testament."

Baron James' widow is directress of the Hospital of Berck-sur-Mer; and his daughter
Jane, wife of Baron Leonino, is the foundress of the Orphanage of Boulogne-sur-
Seine.

Bibliography:
Zadoc Kahn, Souvenirs et Regrets, 1898.
James Mayer de Rothschild, Baron:
Born at Frankfort-on-the-Main May 15, 1792; died at Paris Nov. 15, 1868. He founded
in 1812 the Paris banking-house known under the firm name of Roths-childFrères. In
1822 he was appointed consul-general to Austria-Hungary. He negotiated the French
loans of 1830 and 1834, and in return for his services was created by Louis
Philippe grand officer of the Legion of Honor, of which he had been a chevalier
since 1823. He took a very important part in the building of the Saint-Germain
Railroad, one of the most important roads in the north of France.

The baron was ever active in the interests of his Coreligionists. By his fearless
intervention he frequently averted cruel persecutions of the Jews, and caused the
repeal of unjust and burdensome laws directed againt them. On April 7, 1852, he
made over to the Central Consistory of Paris a hospital in the Rue Piepus, Paris,
built on a site having an area of about 16,000 square meters, on condition that the
establishment should be reserved in perpetuity as a refuge for sick and aged Jews.
He was besides a noted patron of Hebrew letters.

Baron James Mayer de Roths-child.

The baron's wife, Betty (d. in Paris Sept., 1886), was foundress of the Hospital
for Incurables, which she endowed with an annual revenue of 800 francs for each of
its seventy beds. The Salomon and Caroline de Rothschild Orphanage, in Paris
(opened June 3, 1874), wholly devoted to the care of Jewish orphans of either sex,
is another testimony to her charity. She, moreover, left 600,000 francs to the
public charities, for the assistance of poor laborers in paying their rents.

Bibliography:
Zadoc Kahn, Sermons et Allocutions, 3d series, 1894;
idem, Souvenirs et Regrets, 1898.
Karl Mayer von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Born at Frankfort-on-the-Main April 24, 1788; died at Naples March 10, 1855; fourth
son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and head of the Italian branch. From 1821 he lived
in Naples and Frankfort and became banker to the kingdoms of Sicily, Sardinia, and
Naples, of the Papal States, and of the duchies of Parma and Tuscany. He was made a
"Freiherr" by the crown of Austria in 1822 and consul-general of Sicily at
Frankfort in 1829. His wife, Adelheid Herz, was a society leader and a well-known
philanthropist.

Karl Mayer left four sons—Mayer Karl, Adolf Karl, Wilhelm Karl, and Alexander—and
one daughter, all of whom married members of the Rothschild family. Adolf Karl (b.
at Frankfort May 21, 1823) succeeded his father.

Bibliography:
Das Haus Rothschild, ii. 19 et seq., Prague and Leipsic, 1857;
Reeves, The Rothschilds, pp. 252 et seq., London, 1887.
Leopold de Rothschild:
Anglo-Jewish communal worker and sportsman; born Nov. 22, 1845; third son of Baron
Lionel de Rothschild, and brother of Lord Rothschild. He was educated at Trinity
College, Cambridge, England, and is a deputy lieutenant, a justice of the peace,
and commander of the Royal Victorian Order (1905).

Rothschild is an active worker in the Anglo-Jewish community, being vice-president

of the Anglo-Jewish Association, a member of the council of the United Synagogue
and of the Jewish Board of Deputies, chairman of the Jewish Emigration Society, one
of the treasurers of the London Jewish Board of Guardians, and a member of the
board of management of the Central Synagogue, London.

Rothschild is a sportsman, and an intimate friend of the King of England. His horse
St. Amant in 1904 won the English Derby.

Bibliography:
Jewish Year Book, London, 1904;
Who's Who, London, 1904.
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, Baron:
Financial Career.
Born at London Nov. 22, 1806; died there June 3, 1879; eldest son of Baron Nathan
Mayer de Rothschild. After passing some time as a student at Göttingen he was
initiated into the business transactions of the firm under his father's direction.
In 1836 he succeeded the latter in the direction of the English house of
Rothschild, the management of most of the operations and negotiations of the firm
being entrusted to him. He had three brothers, but they deferred implicitly to him.
His was the guiding mind; and while he lived the center of the finance of the world
may be said to have been his office in New Court. In 1847 he negotiated the Irish
Famine Loan; in 1854 he raised £16,000,000 for the English government to meet the
expenses of the Crimean war; and for twenty years he acted as the agent of the
Russian government. He had a large share in the successful funding of the United
States national debt; provided the funds for the immediate purchase of the Suez
Canal shares; and managed the business of the group of bankers who guaranteed to
the German empire the permanence of the exchanges, thus facilitating the payment of
the French indemnity at the close of the Franco-Prussian war. He was a director of
the Alliance Insurance Company, and of the Lombardo Venetian Railway, in which he
held a large interest; and the Chemin de Fer du Nord of France owed its
construction chiefly to his foresight and activity. He actively cooperated with the
Vienna branch of his firm in directing the finances of the Austrian empire; and the
Egyptian loan of £8,500,000 was contracted by his house.

Baron Lionel Nathan de Roths-child.

As a Communal Worker.
Baron Lionel was the leader of the Jewish community in England for upward of thirty
years. He was a member of the Board of Deputies, of which he had been elected
president in April, 1855, but declined to serve; he was for a long period president
of the Great Synagogue; he laid the foundation-stone of the Central Synagogue
(1869), and was for some time on the council of the United Synagogue. In 1843 he
cooperated with Sir Moses Montefiore in the latter's efforts to ameliorate the
condition of the Russian and Polish Jews; and an appeal from him on behalf of the
Rumanian Jews was read at the Berlin Congress of 1878.

Baron Lionel's political career was chiefly memorable for the conspicuous part he
took in the struggle for Jewish emancipation. At the general election in July,
1847, he was elected member of Parliament in the Liberal interest for the city of
London, with Lord John Russel and two other members. Parliament that year met
early, and Lord John Russell, then prime minister, brought in a bill, which was
passed by a large majority in the House of Commons, affirming the eligibility of
Jews to all functions and offices to which Roman Catholics were admitted by law.
The bill was repeatedly rejected in the House of Lords. Gladstone and Disraeli were
among those who voted with the Whigs, the latter appealing to the House to discard
the super-stitions of the Dark Ages, and to perform a great act of national
justice.

Becomes First Jewish Member of Parliament.

In the meantime Baron Lionel was elected to Parliament again and again. In 1849 he
had been a member for two sessions without having taken the oath, when he accepted
the Chiltern Hundreds and a new writ was issued for the city of London. He was
again returned, and continued to be a member without taking the oath "on the true
faith of a Christian"; but being again returned in succeeding parliaments, he
accepted the Chiltern Hundreds a second time, in 1857. On July 23 a writ was again
issued for the city of London, and he was returned for the fifth time. At length,
in 1858, the Jews' Disabilities Bill passed, and its principle was extended by a
further act, passed two years later. Baron Lionel was the first Jew who took the
amended form of oath (July 26, 1858). In commemoration of the event several
scholarships were founded at schools and colleges by subscription and otherwise.
Baron Lionel continued to sit for the city of London, with the exception of a short
interval, till 1874, when he shared in the general Liberal defeat.
Baron Lionel was the friend and counselor of the prince consort, and held intimate
relations with Disraeli, the prime minister, whose Sidonia in "Coningsby" is an
idealized portrait of him.

In his philanthropic endeavors the baron was greatly assisted by Baroness de

Rothschild, who was his almoner, especially in the organization of the Jews' Free
School, which was raised by their joint efforts from squalor to a condition of
comparative refinement. It was said of the baron that more than a tithe of his
great income was applied in charitable works.

Baron Lionel married in 1836 Charlotte, daughter of Baron Karl von Rothschild of
Naples, who survived him. He was succeeded by Nathan Meyer Rothschild, M.P., his
eldest son, and left two other sons, Alfred de Rothschild and Leopold de
Rothschild, and a daughter, Leonora (m. 1857 Baron Alphonse de Rothschild of
Paris). The death in 1866 of his daughter Evelina (m. Baron Ferdinand de
Rothschild) was it blow from which Baron Lionel never entirely recovered.

Bibliography:
Reeves, The Rothschilds, London, 1887;
Jew. Chron. June 6, 1879;
Jew. World, June 6, 1879;
The Times (London), June 4, 5, 12, and 20, 1879;
The Montefiore Diaries, 1890;
Morais, Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century, s.v.:
Dict. National Biography.
Lionel Walter Rothschild:
Naturalist, communal worker, and politician; born in London Feb. 8, 1868; eldest
son of Lord Rothschild. He was educated at Bonn and later at Magdalen College,
Cambridge. In 1899 he was returned to Parliament, for the Aylesbury division of
Buckinghamshire, the seat previously held by his uncle, Baron Ferdinand de
Rothschild. For this constituency he was again returned in the Conservative
interest in Oct., 1900. He is greatly interested in natural history, and has built
in Tring Park a museum containing many rare specimens, to replenish which he has
sent expeditions to the remotest corners of the earth.

Rothschild is member of the council of the United Synagogue, of the Board of

Deputies, of the Jewish Board of Guardians, and of the committee of the Jews' Free
School, and treasurer of the Jewish Industrial School. He has publislied "Avifauna
of Laysan," and is editor of "Novitates Zoologieæ" issued at the Zoological Museum,
Tring.

Bibliography:
Jew. Chron. Sept. 28, 1900.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild.
See p. 490.

Mayer Karl von Rothschild, Freiherr:

German banker; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main Aug. 5, 1820; died there Oct. 16,
1886; eldest son of Karl Mayer von Rothschild of Naples. He lived with his parents
until 1837. During the following two years he studied at the University of
Göttingen, and in 1839 at that of Berlin. In 1840 he returned to Naples, and joined
in 1842 the Frankfort house, of which he became the head in 1855, when his cousin
Anselm succeeded his father in Vienna. Until Mayer Karl's death he presided over
the Frankfort establishment. In 1867 he was elected a member of the North German
Reichstag, which position be held until 1870, when he was appointed a life member
of the Prussian House of Lords. He was philanthropic and a collector of works of
art.
In 1842 Mayer Karl married Louise, daughter of Nathan Mayer von Rothschild of
London, and left as issue five daughters.

Bibliography:
Von Scherb, Gesch. des Hauses Rothschild, Berlin, 1892.
Mayer Nathan de Rothschild, Baron:
English financier and sportsman; born in London June 29, 1818; died there Feb. 6,
1874; fourth son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild. He was educated at Trinity College,
Cambridge, and became a member of the firm of N. M. Rothschild & Sons, in which
house he at one time took an active interest. He held a seatin Parliament, being
elected member for Hythe on several successive occasions, and was a steady adherent
of the Liberal party.

In 1857 Rothschild acquired land in Buckinghamshire and commenced building his

mansion of Mentmore which was soon celebrated alike for its hospitality and works
of art. In the neighboring hamlet of Crafton he set up his stud-farm, where he bred
many famous horses. He was a popular member of the Jockey Club. He thrice won the
One Thousand Guineas stakes and twice the Goodwood Cup. In 1871 he won the Derby,
the One Thousand Guineas, the Oaks, the St. Leger, and the Cesarewitch; and that
year was called "the Baron's year."

Rothschild married in 1850 his first cousin Juliana, eldest daughter of Isaac
Cohen, and left as issue one daughter, who married Lord Rosebery.

Bibliography:
Jew. Chron. and Jew. World, Feb. 13, 1874;
The Times (London), Feb. 7, 11, and 12, 1874.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild.
See p. 490.

Nathan (Nathaniel) Meyer Rothschild, Lord:

Son of Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild; the present (1905) head of the English
house of Rothschild; born in London Nov. 8, 1840. He was educated at Trinity
College, Cambridge, where as a student he was one of the associates of the present
King of England, with whom he has since remained on terms of intimacy. Politically
a Liberal (now a Liberal Unionist), he sat in parliament from 1865 to 1885 as the
member for Aylesbury. He had inherited his English baronetcy from his uncle in 1876
and the Austrian barony from his father in 1879; in 1885 he was raised to the
peerage, and, as Baron Rothschild, was the first Jew to take his seat in the House
of Lords, an event which was regarded as completing the emancipation of the English
Jews. Lord Rothschild has been continuously reappointed lord-lieutenant of the
county of Buckingham. In 1902 he was made a privy councilor, and in the same year
the knight grand cross of the Royal Victorian Order was conferred upon him.

Nathan, Lord Rothschild.

In 1889 he became a member of a parliamentary commission appointed to report on the
congestion in the population of London. He urged the London Jewish community to
unite on what was known as the "East End Scheme," a plan for improving the
spiritual and social life of Jewish East London. Though Lord Rothschild offered
£20,000 toward the expenses, the plan was vigorously opposed by Sir Samuel Montagu
and others, and nothing came of it except the annual free services for the Jewish
masses held on New-Year's Day and the Day of Atonement, which Lord Rothschild
regularly attends.

Lord Rothschild is a governor of the Bank of England and a presiding officer of

many great corporations. In 1902 he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission
on Alien Immigration, an office that brought him in touch with the late Theodor
Herzl, whose East-African project he indorsed. He offered positive and outspoken
resistance to the bills proposed in Parliament for the restriction of alien
immigration. He has always been a liberal contributor to funds for the relief of
the persecuted in Russia and elsewhere; he is a supporter and an officer of most of
the communal charities, and a dispenser of private charity on a large scale, and is
especially interested in the Jews' Free Scliool, of which he is president and which
owes its position to his benefactions. He holds the communal offices of president
of the United Synagogue and warden of the Great Synagogue (the most typically
Orthodox English synagogue in London), and is regarded as the lay head of the
Jewish community of England. As a social worker his most notable success has been
as a founder of the Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Co.

Bibliography:
Jewish Year Book, 1904-5 (5665).
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild, Freiherr:
Austrian banker; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main Sept. 9, 1774; died at Paris July
28, 1855; second son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, head of the Vienna branch of the
Rothschild house. Salomon spent most of his time in his native city until 1816,
when he removed to Vienna, becoming interested in all the great financial
undertakings of the Austrian empire. He became the financial originator of the
Kaiser Ferdinands Nordbahn, which was inaugurated in 1836. Among the other
enterprises in which he was interested may be mentioned: the Austrian state loans
of 1823, 1829, and 1842; the coal-mines of Witkowitz; and the asphalt lake of
Dalmatia.

Salomon Mayer received the honorary freedom of the cities of Vienna and Brünn; he
was knighted in 1815 by the crown of Austria; and in 1822 he was created a
"Freiherr" He acquired for his family extensive landed properties, among them
Oderberg, Hultschin, and Schillersdorf.

Salomon Mayer died while on a visit to Paris; he left two children: Betty, who
married her uncle Baron James de Rothschild of Paris, and a son, Anselm, who
succeeded him in business.

Bibliography:
Letteris, Lebensbild des Verewigten Freiherrn Saloman v. Rothschild (in Hebrew,
with German title), Vienna, 1855;
Reeves, The Rothschilds, pp. 272 et seq., London, 1887;
Von Scherb, Gesch. des Hauses Rothschild, Berlin, 1892.
Wilhelm Karl von Rothschild, Freiherr:
German banker; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main May 16, 1828; died there Jan. 25,
1901; son of Karl Mayer von Rothschild of Naples. With his brother Mayer Karl he
became joint head of the Frankfort house in 1855, and he was sole head from the
time of his brother's decease (1886). He married Mathilde, daughter of Anselm
Rothschild of Vienna, and left two daughters.

As neither Wilhelm Karl nor his brother Mayerleft a male heir, the Frankfort branch
of the house of Rothschild was discontinued (July 1, 1901).

Bibliography:
Von Scherb, Gesch. des Hauses Rothschild, Berlin, 1892.

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