10.35

Rothschild...

The name is associated with the great wealth of the international banking family of Rothschild, whose name derives from the red shield by which their parent house at Frankfurt was known. The family banking business really stems from the activities of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), who made a fortune during the Napoleonic Wars. His five sons separated, extending the business throughout Europe. Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) established a branch at London in 1798 and made a financial scoop by his advance knowledge of the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in 1815. His son Lionel Nathan (1808-79) was best known for his work for Jewish emancipation in Great Britain. Lionel's son Nathan Mayer (1840-1915) was made a baron in 1885 and was the first Jew to be admitted to the House of Lords. Nathan's son Lionel Walter (1868-1937), the 2nd Baron Rothschild, was a noted collector and taxonomist. The 3rd baron, Nathan's grandson, was Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild (1910-90), a zoologist and administrator. His own son, Nathaniel Charles Jacob (b.1936), 4th Baron Rothschild, largely assumed his father's administrative mantle. Jacob's heir is Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild (b.1971).

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition (2002)