Maurice de Rothschild

Maurice Edmond Karl de Rothschild
Born	(1881-05-19) May 19, 1881 Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Died	September 4, 1957(1957-09-04) (aged 76)
Occupation(s)	Financier, politician, vineyard proprietor, art enthusiast
Known for	Member of Rothschild banking family of France; French Chamber of Deputies and Senate member; founder of Swiss branch of family bank

Maurice Edmond Karl de Rothschild (19 May 1881 – 4 September 1957) was a prominent French financier, politician, vineyard proprietor, and art enthusiast affiliated with the Rothschild banking family of France.

Early life

Maurice entered the world on 19 May 1881 in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris. He was the second offspring of Edmond James de Rothschild and Adelheid von Rothschild. His upbringing took place at the family estate, the Château Rothschild located in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Career

Upon inheriting wealth from the childless Adolph Carl von Rothschild of the Naples branch, Maurice founded the Swiss division of the family’s banking enterprise based in Geneva, Switzerland.

He secured a seat in the French Chamber of Deputies in 1919, holding office until 1929. Subsequently, he represented Hautes-Alpes as a senator from 1929 through 1945.

During the 1940 German invasion of France, Maurice and his relatives obtained Portuguese visas issued by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, facilitating their escape to Portugal. From Lisbon, Maurice continued his journey to Scotland.

Personal life and death

In 1909, Maurice de Rothschild wed Noémie de Rothschild, whose maternal lineage traced back to Marie Hermine Rodrigues Péreire of the competing Péreire banking family. The couple had one son, named Edmond.

Legacy

The scientific community commemorates Maurice de Rothschild through the naming of a Malagasy lizard species, Paracontias rothschildi. His zoological expedition across Africa from 1904 to 1905 was chronicled in a comprehensive three-volume work published in 1922 entitled Voyage de M. le baron Maurice de Rothschild en Éthiopie et en Afrique orientale anglaise (1904-1905) : résultats scientifiques : animaux articulés, now preserved within the Biological Diversity Heritage Library.

Further reading

• The Rothschilds; a Family Portrait by Frederic Morton. Atheneum Publishers (1962) (1998 reprint)
• The Rothschilds, a Family of Fortune by Virginia Cowles. Alfred A. Knopf (1973)
• Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty by Derek Wilson. Scribner, London (1988)
• House of Rothschild : Money's Prophets: 1798-1848 by Niall Ferguson. Viking Press (1998)
• The House of Rothschild (vol. 2) : The World's Banker: 1849-1999 by Niall Ferguson. Viking Press (1999)

External links

• The Rothschild Archive – London-based international research center dedicated to the history of the Rothschild family.