Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
Encyclopedia
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild FRS (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937), a scion of the Rothschild family
, was a British
banker, politician, and zoologist
.
, an immensely wealthy financier, of the international Rothschild financial dynasty, the first unconverted (to Christianity) Jewish peer
in England.
The eldest of three children, Walter was deemed to have delicate health and was educated at home. As a young man he traveled in Europe, attending the university at Bonn for a year before entering Magdalene College at Cambridge. In 1889, leaving Cambridge after two years, he was required to go into the family banking business to study finance.
At the age of seven, he declared that he would run a zoological museum. As a child, he collected insects
, butterflies
, and animals. Among his pets at the family home in Tring Park
were kangaroos
and exotic birds. It was near Tring that Rothschild experienced a "Jew Hunt" as he was dragged off his horse and assaulted by workmen while on a hunting ride.
At 21, he reluctantly went to work at the family bank, N M Rothschild & Sons
in London
. He worked there from 1889 to 1908. Нe evidently lacked any interest or ability in the financial profession, but it was not until 1908 that he was finally allowed to give it up. However, his parents established a zoological museum as a compensation, and footed the bill for expeditions all over the world to seek out animals.
Rothschild was 6' 3" tall, suffered from a speech impediment and was very shy, but he had his photograph taken riding on a giant tortoise
, and drove a carriage harnessed to six zebras
to Buckingham Palace
to prove that zebras could be tamed.
Though he never married, Rothschild had two mistresses, one of whom bore him a daughter. In 1929 he bought one of the largest mansions in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, at 70th Street, with over 11000 square feet (1,021.9 m²).
. Meeting Albert C. L. G. Günther
sparked his interest in the taxonomy
of birds and butterflies.
Although Rothschild himself traveled and collected in Europe and North Africa for many years, his work and health concerns limited his range, and beginning while at Cambridge he employed others - explorers, professional collectors, and residents - to collect for him in remote and little-known parts of the world. He also hired taxidermists, a librarian, and, most importantly, professional scientists to work with him to curate and write up the resulting collections: Ernst Hartert
, for birds, from 1892 until his retirement at the age of 70 in 1930; and Karl Jordan
for entomology, from 1893 until Rothschild's death in 1937.
At its largest, Rothschild's collection included 300,000 bird skins, 200,000 birds' eggs, 2,250,000 butterflies, and 30,000 beetles, as well as thousands of specimens of mammals, reptiles, and fishes. They formed the largest zoological collection ever amassed by a private individual.
He was the first to describe the Rothschild giraffe
(Giraffa camelopardis rothschildi], a subspecies with five horns instead of two, which was named after him. It also known as the Ugandan or Baringo Giraffe, and is the most endangered of the nine subspecies. Another 153 insects, 58 birds, 17 mammals, three fish, three spiders, two reptiles, one millipede, and one worm also carry his name.
Rothschild opened his private museum in 1892. It housed one of the largest natural history collections in the world, and was open to the public. In 1932 he was forced to sell the vast majority of his bird collection to the American Museum of Natural History
after being blackmailed by a woman. In 1936 he donated the rest of the collection to the Trustees of the British Museum
. The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
at Tring
is now a division of the Natural History Museum
Rothschild was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Giessen
in 1898, was elected a Trustee of the British Museum in 1899, and was elected a member of the Royal Society
in 1911.
and Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament
for Aylesbury
from 1899 until he retired from politics at the 1910 general election
.
and close friend of Chaim Weizmann
, he worked to formulate the draft declaration for a Jewish homeland in Palestine
. On 2 November 1917 he received a letter from the British foreign secretary
, Arthur Balfour
, addressed to his London home at 148 Piccadilly
. In this letter the British government declared its support for the establishment in Palestine of "a national home for the Jewish people". This letter became known as the Balfour Declaration.
" from his father Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild in 1915. He died in 1937 in Hertfordshire
aged 69. He had no legitimate children, and his younger brother Charles Rothschild
had predeceased him, so the title was inherited by his nephew (Nathaniel Mayer) Victor Rothschild.
He also inherited the title "Baron de Rothschild" of the Austrian nobility
, which was an authorized title in the United Kingdom by Warrant of 27 April 1932.
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
, was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
banker, politician, and zoologist
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
.
Biography
Walter Rothschild was the eldest son and heir of Lord [Nathan] RothschildNathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild
Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild was a British banker and politician from the international Rothschild financial dynasty.-Life and family:...
, an immensely wealthy financier, of the international Rothschild financial dynasty, the first unconverted (to Christianity) Jewish peer
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
in England.
The eldest of three children, Walter was deemed to have delicate health and was educated at home. As a young man he traveled in Europe, attending the university at Bonn for a year before entering Magdalene College at Cambridge. In 1889, leaving Cambridge after two years, he was required to go into the family banking business to study finance.
At the age of seven, he declared that he would run a zoological museum. As a child, he collected insects
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
, butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
, and animals. Among his pets at the family home in Tring Park
Tring Park
Tring Park is a large country house near Tring, Hertfordshire.The Manor of Tring is first mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is referred to as "Treunge" and was owned by Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, a countryman of William the Conqueror...
were kangaroos
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
and exotic birds. It was near Tring that Rothschild experienced a "Jew Hunt" as he was dragged off his horse and assaulted by workmen while on a hunting ride.
At 21, he reluctantly went to work at the family bank, N M Rothschild & Sons
N M Rothschild & Sons
N M Rothschild & Sons is a private investment banking company, belonging to the Rothschild family...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He worked there from 1889 to 1908. Нe evidently lacked any interest or ability in the financial profession, but it was not until 1908 that he was finally allowed to give it up. However, his parents established a zoological museum as a compensation, and footed the bill for expeditions all over the world to seek out animals.
Rothschild was 6' 3" tall, suffered from a speech impediment and was very shy, but he had his photograph taken riding on a giant tortoise
Giant tortoise
Giant tortoises are characteristic reptiles of certain tropical islands. Often reaching enormous size—they can weigh as much as 300 kg and can grow to be 1.3 m long—they live, or lived , in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos...
, and drove a carriage harnessed to six zebras
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
to Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
to prove that zebras could be tamed.
Though he never married, Rothschild had two mistresses, one of whom bore him a daughter. In 1929 he bought one of the largest mansions in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, at 70th Street, with over 11000 square feet (1,021.9 m²).
Zoological career
Rothschild studied zoology at Magdalene College, CambridgeMagdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
. Meeting Albert C. L. G. Günther
Albert C. L. G. Günther
Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther , was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist....
sparked his interest in the taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of birds and butterflies.
Although Rothschild himself traveled and collected in Europe and North Africa for many years, his work and health concerns limited his range, and beginning while at Cambridge he employed others - explorers, professional collectors, and residents - to collect for him in remote and little-known parts of the world. He also hired taxidermists, a librarian, and, most importantly, professional scientists to work with him to curate and write up the resulting collections: Ernst Hartert
Ernst Hartert
Ernst Johann Otto Hartert was a German ornithologist. Hartert was born in Hamburg. He was employed by Lionel Walter Rothschild as ornithological curator of his private museum at Tring from 1892 to 1929....
, for birds, from 1892 until his retirement at the age of 70 in 1930; and Karl Jordan
Karl Jordan
Heinrich Ernst Karl Jordan was a German entomologist.Jordan was born in Hanover and educated at Göttingen University. In 1893 he began work at the Walter Rothschild's Museum at Tring, specialising in Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Siphonaptera...
for entomology, from 1893 until Rothschild's death in 1937.
At its largest, Rothschild's collection included 300,000 bird skins, 200,000 birds' eggs, 2,250,000 butterflies, and 30,000 beetles, as well as thousands of specimens of mammals, reptiles, and fishes. They formed the largest zoological collection ever amassed by a private individual.
He was the first to describe the Rothschild giraffe
Rothschild giraffe
The Rothschild Giraffe is among the most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred members in the wild. It is named after the famous family of the Tring Museum's founder, Lord Walter Rothschild, and is also known as the Baringo Giraffe, after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya, or as the...
(Giraffa camelopardis rothschildi], a subspecies with five horns instead of two, which was named after him. It also known as the Ugandan or Baringo Giraffe, and is the most endangered of the nine subspecies. Another 153 insects, 58 birds, 17 mammals, three fish, three spiders, two reptiles, one millipede, and one worm also carry his name.
Rothschild opened his private museum in 1892. It housed one of the largest natural history collections in the world, and was open to the public. In 1932 he was forced to sell the vast majority of his bird collection to the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
after being blackmailed by a woman. In 1936 he donated the rest of the collection to the Trustees of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild, today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom...
at Tring
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
is now a division of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
Rothschild was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Giessen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
in 1898, was elected a Trustee of the British Museum in 1899, and was elected a member of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1911.
Political career
Walter Rothschild was a LiberalLiberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Aylesbury
Aylesbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Aylesbury is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party has held the seat since 1924, and held it at the 2010 general election with a 52.2% share of the vote.-Boundaries:...
from 1899 until he retired from politics at the 1910 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1910
There were two general elections held in the United Kingdom in 1910:*United Kingdom general election, January 1910 was held from 15 January – 10 February 1910....
.
Zionism and the Balfour Declaration
As an active ZionistZionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and close friend of Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann, , was a Zionist leader, President of the Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected on 1 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952....
, he worked to formulate the draft declaration for a Jewish homeland in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. On 2 November 1917 he received a letter from the British foreign secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
, Arthur Balfour
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
, addressed to his London home at 148 Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
. In this letter the British government declared its support for the establishment in Palestine of "a national home for the Jewish people". This letter became known as the Balfour Declaration.
Peerage
Walter inherited the British peerage title "Baron RothschildBaron Rothschild
Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first person of the Jewish faith to be raised to the peerage...
" from his father Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild in 1915. He died in 1937 in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
aged 69. He had no legitimate children, and his younger brother Charles Rothschild
Charles Rothschild
Nathaniel Charles Rothschild , known as "Charles", was an English banker and entomologist and a member of the Rothschild family.-Family:...
had predeceased him, so the title was inherited by his nephew (Nathaniel Mayer) Victor Rothschild.
He also inherited the title "Baron de Rothschild" of the Austrian nobility
Austrian nobility
Historically, the Austrian nobility was a privileged social class in Austria. The nobility was officially abolished in 1919 after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Former noble families and their descendants are still a part of Austrian society today, but they no longer retain any specific...
, which was an authorized title in the United Kingdom by Warrant of 27 April 1932.
External links
- The Avifauna of Laysan and the Neighboring Islands with a complete history to date of the birds of the Hawaiian possession (1893-1900) Walter Rothschild. From Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum
- Lecture on Walter Rothschild
- Extinct birds. London, England: Hutchinson and Co., 1907.
- Internet Archive A Revision of the Lepidopterous Family Sphingidae