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ROTHSCHILD

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 759 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROTHSCHILD , the name of a Jewish See also:

family which has acquired an unexampled position from the magnitude of its See also:financial transactions. The See also:original name was See also:Bauer, the founder of the See also:house being See also:MAYER See also:ANSELM (1743-1812), the son of Anselm See also:Moses Bauer, a small Jewish See also:merchant of Frankforton-the-See also:Main. His See also:father wished him to become a See also:rabbi, but he set up as a See also:money-lender at the sign of the " Red See also:Shield " (Rothschild) in the See also:Frankfort Judengasse. He had already acquired some See also:standing as a banker when his numismatic tastes obtained for him the friendship of See also:William, ninth See also:landgrave and afterwards elector of See also:Hesse-See also:Cassel, who in 1801 made him his See also:agent. In the following See also:year Rothschild negotiated his first See also:great See also:government See also:loan, ten million thalers for the Danish government. When the landgrave was compelled to flee from his See also:capital on the entry of the See also:French, he placed his See also:silver and other bulky treasures in the hands of Rothschild, who, not without considerable See also:risk, took See also:charge of them and buried them, it is said, in a corner of his See also:garden, whence he dug them up as opportunity arose for disposing of them. This he did to such See also:advantage as to be able afterwards to return their value to the elector at 5% See also:interest. He died at Frankfort on the 19th of See also:September 1812, leaving ten See also:children, five sons and five daughters. Branches of the business were established at See also:Vienna, See also:London, See also:Paris and See also:Naples, each being in charge of one of the sons, the See also:chief of the See also:firm always residing at Frankfort. By a See also:system of co-operation and See also:joint counsels, aided by the skilful employment of subordinate agents, they obtained unexampled opportunities of acquiring an accurate knowledge of the See also:condition of the financial See also:market, and practically embraced the whole of See also:Europe within their financial network. The unity of the interests of the several members of the firm has been preserved by the system of intermarriages which has been the See also:general practice of the descendants of the five See also:brothers. Each of the brothers received in 1815 from See also:Austria the See also:privilege of hereditary landowners, and in 1822 they were created barons by the same See also:country.

The charge of the Frankfort house devolved on the eldest, ANSELM MAYER (1773-1855), See also:

born on the 12th of See also:June 1773, who was chosen a member of the royal Prussian privy See also:council of See also:commerce, and, in 1820, Bavarian See also:consul and See also:court banker. The Vienna See also:branch was undertaken by See also:SOLOMON (1774-1826), born on the 9th of See also:December 1774, who entered into intimate relations with See also:Prince Metternich, which contributed in no small degree to bring about the connexion of the firm with the allied See also:powers. The third See also:brother, NATHAN MAYER (1777-1836), born on the 16th of September 1777, has, however, generally been regarded as the financial See also:genius of the family, and the chief originator of the transactions which have created for the house its unexampled position in the financial See also:world. He went to See also:Manchester about 1800 to See also:act as a purchaser for his father of manufactured goods; but at the end of five years he removed to London. The boldness and skill of his financial transactions, which caused him at first to be regarded as unsafe by the leading banking firms and financial merchants, later awakened their admiration and envy. By the employment of See also:carrier-pigeons and of fast-sailing boats of his own for the transmission of See also:news he was able to utilize to the best advantage his See also:special See also:sources of See also:information, while no one was a greater See also:adept in the See also:art of promoting the rise and fall of the See also:stocks. The See also:colossal See also:influence of the house See also:dates from an operation of his in 181o. In that year See also:Wellington made some drafts which the See also:English government could not meet; these were See also:purchased by Rothschild at a liberal See also:discount, and renewed to the government, which finally redeemed at See also:par. From this See also:time the allied powers negotiated loans to carry on the See also:war against See also:Napoleon chiefly through the house of Rothschild. Rothschild never lost faith in the ultimate over-throw of Napoleon, his all being virtually staked on the issue of the contest, He is said to have been See also:present at the See also:battle of See also:Waterloo. Being able to transmit to London private information of the allied success several See also:hours before it reached the public, he effected an immense profit by the See also:purchase of stock, which had been depressed on the news of See also:Blucher's defeat two days previously. Rothschild was the first to popularize See also:foreign loans in See also:Britain by fixing the See also:rate in See also:sterling money and making the dividends payable in London and not in foreign capitals.

Latterly he became the financial agent of nearly every civilized government, although persistently declining contracts for See also:

Spain or the See also:American States. He did not confine himself to operations on a large See also:scale, but on the contrary made it a principle to despise or neglect no feasible opportunity of trans-acting business, while at the same time his operations gradually extended to every See also:quarter of the globe. He died on the 28th of See also:July 1836, and was succeeded in the management of the London house by his son LIONEL (1808-1879), born on the 22nd of See also:November 1808, whose name is associated with the removal of the See also:civil disabilities of the See also:Jews. He was elected a member for the See also:City of London in 1847, and again in 1849 and 1852, but it was not till 1858 that the joint operation of an act of See also:parliament and a See also:resolution of the House of See also:Commons, allowing the omission from the See also:oath of the words to which as a See also:Jew he conscientiously objected, rendered it possible for him to take his seat. He continued to represent the City of London till 1874. His eldest son, NATHAN (b. 1840), was created a peer as See also:Baron Rothschild in 1885. See also:JACOB (1792-1868), the youngest of the original brothers, was entrusted with the See also:mission of starting the business in Paris after the restoration of the Bourbons, for whom he negotiated large loans. At the Revolution of 1848 he was a heavy loser, and had also to be protected for a time by a special guard. It was by his capital that the earliest See also:railways were constructed in See also:France; the profits he obtained from the See also:speculation were very large. He died on the 15th of November 1868. The Naples branch was superintended by another of the brothers, KARL (1780-1855).

It was always the least important of the five, and after the See also:

annexation of Naples to See also:Italy in 1860 it was discontinued. See Das Haus Rothschild (1858) ; Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish See also:History (1875); See also:Francis, See also:Chronicles and Characters of the Stock See also:Exchange (1853); Treskow, Biographische Notizen ilber Nathan See also:Meyer Rothschild nebst seinem Testament (1837) ; Roqueplan, Le Baron See also:James the Rothschild (1868).

End of Article: ROTHSCHILD

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