Nathan Mayer Rothschild
| Nathan Mayer Rothschild | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Freiherr von Rothschild | |||
| Born | 16 September 1777 Free City of Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire | ||
| Died | 28 July 1836 (aged 58) Frankfurt am Main, German Confederation | ||
| Nationality | Jewish | ||
| Occupation | Financier, exploitationist | ||
Nathan Mayer Rothschild, from 1817 von Rothschild, from 1822 Freiherr von Rothschild (16 September 1777 — 28 July 1836), was a Jewish financier of the infamous House of Rothschild and the founder of the London branch of the dynasty.
Contents
Life
Nathan, the son of Mayer Amschel Bauer (1744-1812), who later called himself "Rothschild", was sent to London by his father in 1798. On 12 June 1804, he received limited citizenship in England.[1] When he married Hannah Cohen (1783–1850) in 1806, he gained family ties to the leading Jewish families in London. After an internship of several months with the merchant banker Levi Barent Cohen, a London business partner of his father and Rothschild's future father-in-law, he moved to Manchester, the center of the English textile industry. He founded a trading business there to export cloth to the continent in close collaboration with his father and brothers.[2]
He is perhaps most infamous because of his alleged part in the Rothschild London Stock Exchange swindle during the Napoleonic Wars in which Rothschild, whose family backed both sides, is said to have tricked the gentile stock and bond holders into thinking that Wellington lost to Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and then bought up all their bonds at rock bottom prices. In 1934, an English film was produced called The House of Rothschild which highlighted the scandal.[3]
In 1817, he was elevated to Imperial Austrian nobility. In 1820, he was appointed Austrian consul at the English court. With a diploma of nobility dated 29 September 1822, Emperor Franz I of Austria elevated him to the status of an Austrian Baron as Freiherr von Rothschild (Baron de Rothschild).
In 1847, he was first elected for the Liberal Party (UK) as one of the four Members of Parliament for the City of London, despite Jews being banned from sitting in the chamber of the House of Commons. Following Jewish emancipation he took his seat but still refused to swear the Loyal Oath upon the Christian Holy Bible.
Death
He died unexpectedly in Frankfurt in 1836 after the partnership agreement with the brothers was renewed at a large family gathering and his son Lionel Nathan married his brother's daughter (first cousin) Charlotte von Rothschild (1808–1879). The message “Il est mort” ("He is dead") is said to have been delivered to his business headquarters in London using carrier pigeons. The body of Freiherr von Rothschild was transferred to England and buried in London.
Rothschild was characterized by his contemporaries as the “Bonaparte of finance”; He was the most important banker in the first half of the 19th century and one of the richest men in England. Together with his brothers, he established the, albeit questionable, global reputation of the Rothschild Bank.
Quotes
To the Rothschilds, [England's] chief financial agents, Waterloo brought a many million pound scoop. A Rothschild agent jumped into a boat at Ostend, Nathan Rothschild let his eye fly over the lead paragraphs. A moment later he was on his way to London (beating Wellington's envoy by many hours) to tell the government that Napoleon had been crushed: but his news was not believed, because the government had just heard of the English defeat at Quatre Bras. Then he proceeded to the Stock Exchange. Another man in his position would have sunk his work into consols, already weak because of Quatre Bras. But this was Nathan Rothschild. He leaned against "his" pillar. He did not invest. He sold. He dumped consols. Consols dropped still more. "Rothschild knows," the whisper rippled through the 'Change. "Waterloo is lost." Nathan kept on selling, consols plummeted—until, a split second before it was too late, Nathan suddenly bought a giant parcel for a song. Moments afterwards the great news broke, to send consols soaring. We cannot guess the number of hopes and savings wiped out by this engineered panic. —Frederic Morton, The Rothschilds: A Family Portrait, 1962.
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