Lionel de Rothschild
Lionel Nathan Baron de Rothschild (born November 22, 1808 in London , † June 3, 1879 there ) was a British banker and politician. He was the first Jewish member of the British House of Commons .
Life
Lionel de Rothschild came from the Rothschild family ; he was the eldest son of Nathan Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild and Hanna Barent Cohen. He studied at the University of Göttingen before working as an apprentice in the Rothschild family's banks in London, Paris and Frankfurt.
On June 16, 1838, as a British subject, Queen Victoria gave him permission to use the Imperial Austrian Baron title of his father, who died in 1836.
As one of the four MPs for the City of London in 1847, he won a seat in the House of Commons in the 1847 general election. At that time it was still impossible for Jews to belong to parliament because the oath of office was explicitly Christian. Other Jewish politicians had therefore converted to Christianity before their election. Liberal Prime Minister John Russell introduced the Jewish Disabilities Bill into Parliament to change the oath. The House of Commons adopted the law in 1848, but the House of Lords rejected it twice. In 1849 the House of Lords again rejected the law. To strengthen his position, Rothschild ran again and won the by-election. In 1850 he was finally able to take his place in the House of Commons. He refused to swear on the Bible ; his request for an Old Testament was granted. However, when he left out the words "upon the true faith of a Christian", he was expelled from the Chamber.
Another Jewish Disabilities Bill failed in the House of Lords in 1851. In 1852 Rothschild again won a constituency in London. But the next draft law that would have allowed him to take his seat in parliament also failed in 1853. It was not until 1858 that the House of Lords entered into the compromise, according to which each of the two chambers of parliament has to decide on the form of the oath to be given by its respective MPs lay down. So Rothschild was finally able to take his seat on July 26, 1858, because he could omit the specifically Christian parts of the oath.
Lionel de Rothschild was buried in the Willesden Jewish Cemetery in the north London suburb of Willesden .
family
In 1836 Lionel de Rothschild married Charlotte von Rothschild , the daughter of Carl Mayer von Rothschild . The marriage resulted in four children; his son Nathan Mayer later became the first Jewish member of the House of Lords as Baron Rothschild .
- Leonora (1837-1911)
- Evelina (1839-1866)
- Nathan Mayer (1840-1915)
- Alfred Charles (1842-1918)
- Leopold (1845-1917)
Trivia
His horse "Sir Bevys" won the Epsom Derby in 1879 .
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Rothschild, Lionel Freiherr von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 27th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1874, p. 131 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Stanley Weintraub: Charlotte and Lionel. A Rothschild marriage. Pocket Books, London 2004, ISBN 0-7434-3026-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The London Gazette: 19628, 1413 , June 22, 1838.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rothschild, Lionel de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rothschild, Lionel Nathan Baron de (full name); De Rothschild, Lionel Nathan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British banker and politician, Member of the House of Commons |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 22, 1808 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 3, 1879 |
| Place of death | London |