The Honourable Charles Rothschild
Charles Rothschild
Born	Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (1877-05-09)9 May 1877 London, England
Died	12 October 1923(1923-10-12) (aged 46) Ashton Wold, Northamptonshire
Occupations	Banker,entomologist
Spouse	Rózsika von Wertheimstein ​ ​ (after 1907)​
Children	Miriam Rothschild Elizabeth Charlotte Rothschild Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild Pannonica Rothschild
Parent(s)	Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild Emma Louise von Rothschild

Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (9 May 1877 – 12 October 1923) was an Englishbanker andentomologist and a member of theRothschild family. He is remembered for 'the Rothschild List', a list he made in 1915 of 284 sites across Britain that he considered suitable fornature reserves.

Nathaniel Charles Rothschild was born in London into theRothschild family, a prominentJewish family of bankers. His parents,Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild, and Emma Rothschild (née von Rothschild), were cousins. Charles boarded atHarrow School, which he found somewhat traumatising for incidents of bullying on account of his religion.^[1]

He worked as a partner in the family bankN M Rothschild & Sons in London. He went to Rothschild's Bank every morning; despite all his interest in science and in natural history, he never missed a day. He was also very interested in the gold refinery operated by Rothschild's, and invented a variety of devices for collecting gold, and working on gold from a scientific point of view. He also became Chairman of theAlliance Assurance Company.^[2]

Charles predeceased his older brotherWalter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild (1868–1937), who died without issue. The peerage therefore passed to Charles's sonVictor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild.

Like hiszoologist brother Walter, Charles devoted much of his energies toentomology and natural history collecting. His enormous collection of some 260,000fleas is now in the Rothschild Collection at theNatural History Museum; he described about 500 new flea species.^[3] One of these, which he discovered and named, was theBubonic plaguevector flea,Xenopsylla cheopis, also known as the oriental rat flea, which he collected atShendi, Sudan, on an expedition in 1901, publishing his finding in 1903.^[4]

Rothschild is regarded as a pioneer of nature conservation in Britain, and is credited with establishing the UK's firstnature reserve when (at the age of 22) he boughtWicken Fen, near Ely, in 1899.^[5] Wicken Fen was presented to theNational Trust but the Trust declined to takeWoodwalton Fen, near Huntingdon, which Rothschild bought in 1910, and this wetland, now aNational Nature Reserve, was kept as a private nature reserve.^[6] In 1911 Rothschild built a bungalow at Woodwalton Fen as a base for fields trips, which still stands.^[7][8] During his lifetime he built and managed hisAshton Wold estate^[9] inNorthamptonshire to maximise its suitability for wildlife, especially butterflies.

He was concerned about the loss of wildlife habitats, and in 1912 set up the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the forerunner ofthe Wildlife Trusts partnership. He produced 'the Rothschild List',^[10] a schedule of the best 284 wildlife sites in the country, some of which were purchased as nature reserves;^[6] the list was published in 1915 by the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves.^[11]

As well as a Lieutenant of the City of London, Rothschild became aJP for the county of Northamptonshire in 1902.^[12] He served asHigh Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1905.^[13]

In 1907, Rothschild marriedRózsika Edle von Wertheimstein (1870–1940), a descendant of an old Austrian-Jewish family that was ennobled long before the Rothschilds.^[14] She was born in 1870 atNagyvárad,Hungary (now theRomanian city ofOradea), the daughter of a retired army officer, Baron Alfred Edler von Wertheimstein. Alfred's sister Charlotte was married toMoritz von Königswarter [de].^[15] Rózsika was one of seven children and had been a championlawn tennis player in Hungary.^[16]

After their marriage on 6 February 1907, they lived atTring and inLondon. Rothschild, who worked in the family's banking business, was a dedicatednaturalist in his spare time: the young couple had met on abutterfly-collecting trip in theCarpathian Mountains. In the evening, they might go together to a concert or a dinner party, but he really preferred to sort out his butterflies. Together, they had four children:

• Miriam Louisa Rothschild (1908–2005), a zoologist
• Elizabeth Charlotte Rothschild (1909–1988), known as "Liberty"
• Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild (1910–1990), known as "Victor", 3rd Baron Rothschild.
• Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild (1913–1988), known as "Nica", abebopjazz enthusiast and patroness ofThelonious Monk andCharlie Parker

Suffering fromencephalitis, in 1923 Rothschild died bysuicide. He was found with his throat slit, locked alone inside his bathroom at his home, Ashton Wold.^[17] His suicide, when he was 46 years old, was a severe shock to his wife and four children. Rózsika died on 30 June 1940.^[18]

• History of the Jews in England
• Rothschild banking family of England

Notes

Sources

• Rothschild, Miriam (1983)Dear Lord RothschildISBN 0-09-153740-1

• 1877 births
• 1923 deaths
• 1923 suicides
• People educated at Harrow School
• English bankers
• English entomologists
• Rothschild family
• English Jews
• Younger sons of barons
• High sheriffs of Northamptonshire
• Suicides in England
• Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery

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