Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild (1840–31 March 1915) was a British banker and politician from the international Rothschild financial dynasty.

Life and family

Known as "Natty", he was the son of Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879) and Charlotte Rothschild (née von Rothschild), grandson of Nathan Mayer Rothschild after whom he was named, and the great-grandson of Mayer Amschel Rothschild founder of the dynasty.

He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a friend of the Prince of Wales, but left without taking a degree.

In 1864 he married Emma von Rothschild , a cousin from the Frankfurt branch of the family.

Baron and first Jewish member of House of Lords

In 1876 he succeeded to the baronetcy created for his uncle Anthony Rothschild (1810–1876), who had died without a male heir.

In 1884 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Rothschild of Tring, the first Jew to be appointed to the peerage.

The peerage was inherited by his son Walter (Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild).

Work

He worked as a partner in the London branch of the family bank NM Rothschild and Sons and became head of the bank after his father's death in 1879. During his tenure the bank maintained its pre-eminent position in private venture finance and in issuing loans to the governments of the USA, Russia and Austria. Following the Rothschild's funding of the Suez Canal a close relationship was maintained with Benjamin Disraeli and affairs in Egypt.

Natty also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of the British South Africa Company and the De Beers diamond conglomerate. He administered Rhodes's estate after his death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at Oxford University.

Prominent English Rothschild family members

• Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836)
• Moses Haim Montefiore (1784-1885) (Married daughter of Mayer Amschel Rothschild the original family patriarch)
• Baron Mayer de Rothschild (1818-1874)
• Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879)
• Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild (1840-1915)
• Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery (1851-1890) (Daughter of Baron Mayer de Rothschild)
• Charles Rothschild (1877-1923)
• Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild (1868-1937)
• Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild (1910-1990)
• Miriam Rothschild (1908-2005)
• Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild (b. 1936)

See also

• History of the Jews in England