Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
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| Lionel Walter Rothschild | |
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Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild (February 8, 1868 – August 27, 1937) was a British banker and zoologist from the international Rothschild financial dynasty.
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[edit] Education and zoology
Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, from 1889 to 1908 he worked for the family firm of N M Rothschild & Sons, in London. An introduction to Albert C. L. G. Günther led to a lifelong interest in zoology, particularly the collecting and taxonomy of birds and butterflies. He participated in, and funded, expeditions across the world to gather specimens, and wrote numerous scientific papers. After him is named the Rothchild's subspecies of giraffe Giraffa camelopardis rothschildi, the most endangered of the nine subspecies, also known as the Ugandan or Baringo Giraffe.
Near his country home at Tring Park in Hertfordshire he established his own private zoological museum in the town of Tring, which he opened to the public from 1892. In 1932 he was forced to sell his vast bird collection to the American Museum of Natural History, partly because of financial needs arising due to blackmail by an unknown woman. His collection was one of the world's largest natural history collections, and 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.
Walter Rothschild was a Liberal and Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for Aylesbury from 1899 to 1910. A notable eccentric, he kept kangaroos in his garden and harnessed a team of zebras to pull his carriage. He also owned many dogs, who dined with him at meals.
[edit] Zionism and the Balfour Declaration
As an active Zionist and close friend of Chaim Weizmann he worked to formulate the draft declaration for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. On 2 November 1917 a letter from Arthur Balfour, addressed to "Dear Lord Rothschild" at his London home in 148 Piccadilly, set out the Balfour Declaration, which committed the British Government to supporting the establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jews.
[edit] Peerage
Walter inherited the peerage from his father Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild in 1915. He had no children, and his younger brother Charles Rothschild had predeceased him, so the title was inherited by his nephew (Nathaniel Mayer) Victor Rothschild.
[edit] References
- Miriam Louisa Rothschild. Dear Lord Rothschild. (Hutchinson, 1983) ISBN 0-09-153740-1
[edit] See also
[edit] 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.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ferdinand James de Rothschild |
Member of Parliament for Aylesbury 1899–1910 |
Succeeded by Lionel Nathan de Rothschild |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Nathan Mayer Rothschild |
Baron Rothschild 1915–1937 |
Succeeded by Victor Rothschild |
