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48-523: Jacob Mayer Rothschild , the youngest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild , settled in Paris in 1812 where his name Jacob was translated to James. In 1817, he formally created the bank MM. Rothschild Frères , whose partners were himself and his brothers Amschel of Frankfurt , Carl of Naples , Nathan of London and Salomon of Vienna . In 1822 the five brothers were awarded the hereditary title of Baron by Emperor Francis I of Austria , after which James used

96-515: A family-controlled holding company that had escaped the nationalization, into Rothschild & Cie Banque . They were joined by their cousin Eric de Rothschild. In 2003, following the retirement of Evelyn de Rothschild as head of N M Rothschild & Sons of London, the English and French firms merged into Rothschild & Co under the leadership of David de Rothschild. In 1818, James Rothschild purchased

144-529: A genuine interest. The purchase of Greuze 's painting, La Laitière , in 1818 formed the basis of a magnificent art collection which he supplemented often in frenzied buying sprees from the grand sales of the Paris hotels. In 1835, Baron James de Rothschild created racing stables at his Ferrières estate. Still in existence, now relocated to Normandy, the Rothschild stables are one of the oldest in France. Ferrières

192-569: A health care services and pensions group. This bank and insurance -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . James Mayer de Rothschild Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (born Jakob Mayer Rothschild ; 15 May 1792 – 15 November 1868) was a German - French banker and the founder of the French branch of the prominent Rothschild family . He was born as Jakob Mayer Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main , then part of

240-406: A lucrative gold refining business with Saint-André, Poisat et Cie co-owned with Grégoire Saint-André and Michel Poisat. King Louis Philippe was forced to abdicate after the outbreak of the  French Revolution of 1848 . Under Emperor Napoleon III , de Rothschild lost part of his political influence. However, despite some difficulties, the family business managed to survive and prosper under

288-686: A powerful ally of Austria's Prince Klemens Metternich . In March 1821, in support of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies , the Austrian army entered the Sicilian Kingdom and occupied Naples. This event opened the door to the Rothschild interests and Carl von Rothschild was sent to Naples where he established C M de Rothschild & Figli to operate as a satellite office to the Rothschild banking family of Germany headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. In 1822,

336-612: The Austrian branch of the family, who married Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild of Naples/Frankfurt, founded and endowed the Carl von Rothschild Public Library  [ de ] as a public institution. In 1901, at the time of the closure of the Rothschilds' Frankfurt office, family discussions took place concerning the disposition of the records of the Naples house. Alphonse James de Rothschild opposed

384-484: The Bordeaux region, it is a business that remains in the family to this day. On 11 July 1824, in Frankfurt , Germany, de Rothschild married his niece Betty von Rothschild (1805–1886), the daughter of his elder brother, Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774–1855). They had the following children: De Rothschild and his sophisticated Viennese wife were at the center of Parisian culture. The chef for their lavish receptions

432-685: The Chemin de Fer du Nord railway in France that ran from their major hub, the Gare du Nord in Paris, to the English Channel and Belgium. By the later part of the 19th century, the bank was heavily involved in oil exploration in the Baku area of present-day Azerbaijan through their company, the Caspian and Black Sea Oil Industry and Trade Society established in 1883, an investment that proved to be highly lucrative. In 1898,

480-598: The Holy Roman Empire . He was the fifth son and youngest child of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812) and his wife, Guttle Schnapper (1753–1849). In 1812, he moved to Paris to co-ordinate the purchase of specie and bullion for his brother Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), and in 1814 and 1815, he was the linchpin in Nathan's plan to provide funds for Wellington 's armies. In 1817, he expanded his family's banking empire to Paris, opening De Rothschild Frères . By 1823,

528-583: The Papal States and to various Kings of Naples plus the Duchy of Parma and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . However, in the 1830s, Naples followed Spain with a gradual shift away from conventional bond issues that began to affect the bank's growth and profitability. During the second half of the 1840s, the business evidenced no growth and was only marginally profitable. The year 1855 was one of considerable change for

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576-513: The Rue Laffitte across to Père Lachaise Cemetery , were lined with unknown thousands of citizens, who paid tribute to the banker. De Rothschild had remained active in business throughout his life, expanding his railways, industries, factories, shipping, and mining interests so successfully that by the time of his death, the capital of the Paris house perhaps even exceeded some of his other prominent family members. Sons Alphonse and Gustave took

624-673: The Rue Saint-Florentin and moved there, but the bank remained on rue Laffitte, so that the street's name later became a metonymy for the Banque Rothschild. In 1969, as the bank was expanding into new lines of business, the Rothschilds demolished the historic building and replace it with a modernist office building designed by prominent French architect Pierre Dufau together with American Max Abramovitz , and inaugurated in early 1970. That building has been more recently used as headquarters by Malakoff Humanis  [ fr ] ,

672-566: The 19th century, they became major stakeholders in large-scale mining and rail transport ventures that were fundamental to the rapidly expanding industrial economies of Europe . By 1820, N M Rothschild & Sons bank was already operating successfully in London , England , de Rothschild Frères in Paris , and S M von Rothschild in Vienna , Austria where Salomon Mayer von Rothschild became

720-581: The Parisian branch was firmly established as banker to the French government. As an adviser to ministers and kings, he became the most powerful banker in the country. Following the Napoleonic Wars, he played a major role in financing the construction of railroads and the mining business, contributing to France's emergence as an industrial power. Along the way, he added to his fortune with investments in areas such as

768-611: The Rothschild family following the Liberation of France . In 1949, Guy de Rothschild took over the bank's leadership following Edouard de Rothschild's death. In 1953, future President of France , Georges Pompidou , joined de Rothschild Frères and from 1956 to 1962 served as its general manager. In 1962, the bank created Imétal (later renamed Imerys), an umbrella company for their extensive mining ventures. Headed by Guy de Rothschild, Imétal looked outward, investing in Great Britain and

816-514: The Rothschild family with the death of the head of both the Naples and German branches. Of the three sons of Carl von Rothschild, the eldest, Mayer , and the youngest surviving son, Wilhelm , succeeded their childless uncle Amschel Mayer von Rothschild in Frankfurt while the middle son Adolphe  [ fr ] reluctantly agreed to run the Naples branch. The succession negotiations were marked by considerable rancor as cousin Anselm von Rothschild ,

864-649: The Rothschild family. The stables were successful in James's lifetime with victories in the Grand Prix Royal in 1844 won by  Drummer , and the Prix du Jockey Club in 1846 won by  Médon . De Rothschild also used his enormous wealth for philanthropic works and became a leader of the French Jewish community. His contributions to France, along with those of his offspring, can be found in many fields, including medicine and

912-666: The Rothschilds established the Mazut Transportation Society that developed a fleet of oil tankers operating in the Caspian Sea . In 1911, the Royal Dutch Shell company purchased the Rothschilds' Azerbaijan oil fields. In 1873 de Rothschild Frères in France and N M Rothschild & Sons of London joined with other investors to acquire the Spanish government's money-losing Rio Tinto copper mines. The new owners restructured

960-430: The Two Sicilies from Frankfurt in 1821. Endogamy within the family was an essential part of the Rothschild strategy in order to ensure control of their wealth remained in the family's hands. Through their collaborative efforts, the Rothschilds rose to prominence in a variety of banking endeavors including loans , government bonds , and trading in bullion . Their financing afforded investment opportunities and during

1008-533: The United States, a move that put him on the December 20, 1963 cover of Time magazine . Following France's 1966 banking reform, on 1 January 1968 the partnership de Rothschild Frères was re-organized as Banque Rothschild, a limited-liability company. By 1980, the Paris business employed about 2,000 people and had an annual turnover of 26 billion francs ($ 5 billion in the currency rates of 1980). In 1982,

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1056-490: The arts. He was involved in many charities: anti-tuberculosis dispensaries, the first social housing in Paris, or aid provided to Assistance Publique . Baron James de Rothschild died in 1868, just three months after purchasing the Chateau Lafite vineyard. As Nathaniel de Rothschild reported, on his funeral, 4,000 guests waited in his drawing rooms, while another 6,000 guests waited in the courtyard. The streets of Paris, from

1104-560: The company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the Rothschild interest in Rio Tinto amounted to more than 30 percent. In 1887, the French and English Rothschild banking houses lent money to, and invested in, the De Beers diamond mines in South Africa, becoming its largest shareholders. In the 1930s, however, the bank's vast railroad holdings were nationalized . The bank's growth

1152-441: The death of Nathan in 1836, James took over the management of the family firm. His sons, brothers and nephews were in awe of his dynamic authority. Contemporaries remembered his quick wit, expressed in a heavy German accent, though the sharp tongue which went with it was not always benign. James was devoted to his extended family, but it was not beyond him to turn against any member whom he felt to have acted improperly. His response to

1200-595: The family until 1950, when it was sold to the United States government; today it serves as the consular section of the American Embassy . In 1854, de Rothschild commissioned the famous architect Joseph Paxton to build the Château de Ferrières in Ferrières-en-Brie , some 35 kilometres (22 mi) east of Paris. Ferrières was inaugurated 16 December 1862 with a gala attended by Napoleon III. The property remained

1248-645: The finances of the new government and a second loan in 1834. In recognition of his services to the nation, King Louis-Philippe elevated James to a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor . Following the Franco-Prussian War , in 1871–1872 the bank put together a syndicate that raised the five billion francs the country was obliged to pay Prussia under the terms of Armistice of Versailles . The Banque Rothschild then expanded its investment banking activities. In partnership with N M Rothschild & Sons of England, it owned

1296-406: The five Rothschild brothers at the head of the family's banks in various parts of Europe were each granted the hereditary title of Freiherr ( baron ) in the Austrian nobility by Emperor Francis I of Austria (formerly Francis II , the last Holy Roman Emperor ). As a result, some members of the Rothschild family used the nobiliary particle de or von before their surname to acknowledge

1344-517: The former hôtel particulier of 18th-century financier Jean Joseph de Laborde , on rue d'Artois in Paris (No. 19-21). That property had been owned by Joseph Fouché , and purchased from him by Count Moritz von Fries and a Prague-based partner; Fouché still had briefly lived there during the Hundred Days in 1815. To its south lied the Hôtel de la reine Hortense  [ fr ] , and to its north

1392-527: The grant of nobility. Carl von Rothschild developed a good working relationship with Luigi de' Medici , the "Direttore della Segreteria di Azienda del Regno di Napoli" (Finance Minister), and his operation became the dominant banking house in Naples. As a result of Carl's success, the Rothschilds had a substantial banking presence in England and three other major European capitals, giving the family considerable influence and an advantage over their competitors. During

1440-413: The home of his inheriting male descendants until 1975, when Guy de Rothschild gave it to the  University of Paris . It was considered to be the largest and most luxurious 19th-century château in France. Beyond his business activities, de Rothschild was an avid collector of art, fuelled not only by a desire to show himself the equal in taste and possessions of any of the French aristocracy but by

1488-531: The idea of preserving the documents in the Rothschild Library in Frankfurt and eventually it was agreed that all the Naples office records be destroyed. The brothers Mayer Carl and Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild had only daughters (ten in total) and with the 1935 deaths of Emma Louisa de Rothschild (daughter of Mayer Carl) and Adelheid de Rothschild (daughter of Wilhelm Carl), the Neapolitan branch went extinct in

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1536-459: The importation of tea and the wine industry. A strong-willed and shrewd businessman, de Rothschild amassed a fortune that made him one of the richest men in the world. In 1822, de Rothschild, along with his four brothers, was awarded the hereditary title of Freiherr (Baron) by Emperor Francis I of Austria . That same year, he was appointed consul-general of the Austrian Empire . In 1823, he

1584-493: The latter's share. Maurice went on to be enormously successful and, having inherited a fortune from the childless Adolph Carl von Rothschild of the Naples branch of the family, moved to Geneva , Switzerland, thus establishing a new Swiss branch of the family. In 1940, the Nazi occupiers forced the Rothschilds to sell the bank together with their other French properties. It was returned to

1632-482: The male line. All branches of the Rothschild banking family are famous for their art collections and a number for their palatial estates. Because the Naples branch was run by just two family members, father Carl Mayer von Rothschild, and son Adolphe, the only great property they occupied there was the Villa Pignatelli at Riviera di Chiaia with a spectacular view of Mount Vesuvius , acquired in 1841. Members of

1680-446: The mansion of Anne Jean Marie René Savary , both of which would later be absorbed into the Rothschild compound. Further north (No. 27) lied the mansion of banker Jacques Laffitte , after whom the street was renamed in 1830 (during his lifetime) as rue Laffitte . In 1836, James de Rothschild had his property remodeled by designers Duponchel and Bellenger. In 1838, he purchased the storied Hôtel Saint-Florentin  [ fr ] in

1728-546: The marriage of his niece, Hannah Mayer to a Christian, displayed at once his demand for obedience and his faithfulness to the family's Jewish beliefs. In 1817, de Rothschild purchased Château Rothschild in Boulogne-Billancourt , where his children were born and reared. In 1838, he purchased from Charles Maurice de Talleyrand a large residence in Paris, at 2 rue Saint-Florentin on the Place de la Concorde . It remained in

1776-433: The new regime. From 1852, he also had to defend the attacks from the bank Crédit Mobilier . The conflict between the Rothschilds and the rival company also spread to other countries as well. Nonetheless, de Rothschild succeeded in maintaining the leading position of his banking house. In addition to his banking business, de Rothschild purchased Château Lafite in 1868, one of France's most outstanding vineyards . Located in

1824-473: The nobility particle "de" before his name, and the bank was subsequently known formally as de Rothschild Frères . The Banque Rothschild was very active in lending to governments. Following the independence of Belgium , it financed Leopold I of Belgium . Following the July Revolution of 1830 that saw Louis-Philippe come to power in France, James de Rothschild put together the loan package to stabilize

1872-422: The recently elected Socialist government of François Mitterrand nationalized the Banque Rothschild, paying 150 million French francs to the Rothschild family, and rebranded it Compagnie Européenne de Banque , the name of a former mortgage subsidiary. That bank was privatized in 1991 and acquired by Barclays . In 1987, David de Rothschild and his half-brother Edouard de Rothschild renamed Paris Orléans ,

1920-627: The reins of a vast French business empire, whose industrial interests spread as far afield as Africa and the South Sea Islands. Rothschild banking family of Naples The Rothschild banking family of Naples ( Italian : Famiglia di banchieri Rothschild ) was the Neapolitan branch of the Rothschild family . It was founded by Carl Mayer von Rothschild (1788–1855), who was sent to the Kingdom of

1968-426: The then head of the Rothschild banking family of Austria , disagreed with the decision and Adolphe felt he had been unfairly treated. The end of the Naples branch began when revolution broke out and Giuseppe Garibaldi captured Naples on September 7, 1860, and set up a provisional government. Because of the family's close political connections with Austria and France, Adolphe Carl von Rothschild  [ fr ]

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2016-676: The winter of 1826, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg , future King of the Belgians was a guest of Carl von Rothschild at his villa in Naples. In 1829, he was appointed consul-general of Sicily at Frankfurt and in January 1832 the Jewish banker was given a ribbon and star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George at a ceremony with the new Pope , Gregory XVI . The bank, C M de Rothschild & Figli, arranged substantial loans to

2064-515: Was Antonin Carême . They patronized major personalities in the arts, including Gioacchino Rossini , Frédéric Chopin , Honoré de Balzac , Eugène Delacroix , and Heinrich Heine . As an acknowledgment of the many years of patronage extended by Baron James and his wife Betty, in 1847 Chopin dedicated his Valse Op. 64, N° 2 in C sharp minor to their daughter Charlotte. In 1848 Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres painted Betty de Rothschild's portrait . After

2112-516: Was awarded the French Legion of Honour . Following the July 1830 Revolution that brought King Louis Philippe to power, de Rothschild put together a loan package to stabilize the finances of the new government, and in 1834 a second loan. In gratitude for his services to the French nation, Louis Philippe elevated him to the dignity of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour . In 1838, De Rothschild created

2160-622: Was caught in a delicate position. He chose to take temporary sanctuary in Gaeta with the Bourbon king Francis II of the Two Sicilies but the Rothschild houses in London, Paris, and Vienna were not prepared to financially support the deposed king. With the ensuing unification of Italy and the mounting tension between Adolf and the rest of the family, after forty-two years in business, the Naples house closed in 1863. Mathilde Hannah von Rothschild (1832–1924) of

2208-560: Was run by his sons Alphonse (d. 1905), Gustave (d. 1911) then Edmond (d. 1934) together with Alphonse 's son Edouard . James de Rothschild had stipulated "that the three branches of the family descended from him always be represented." For the next seven decades that was the case but in 1939, Edouard and his cousin Robert de Rothschild (son of Gustave), experiencing friction with their other cousin Maurice de Rothschild (son of Edmond), bought out

2256-415: Was spectacular and near-continuous. According to the bank's records, in 1815 the capital of the Paris banking house James Mayer de Rothschild founded amounted to £55,000 (equivalent to £4.8 million in 2023); by 1852 the figure was £3,541,700 (equivalent to £523.4 million in 2023), and in 1878, just ten years after his death, £16,914,000 (equivalent to £2.2 billion in 2023). After James, the Banque Rothschild

2304-406: Was the perfect location, close to both Paris and Chantilly , which was the centre of the horse-racing world in France. Initially, the majority of horses belonging to Baron James raced under the colours of their trainer, Thomas Carter, in amber vest, lilac sleeves and grey cap. This was soon changed to the now famous blue vest and yellow cap, variations of which are still used by different members of

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