Maurice de Rothschild

Maurice Edmond Karl de Rothschild (19 May 1881 – 4 September 1957) was a French art collector, vineyard owner, financier and politician. He was born into the Rothschild banking family of France.

Early life

Maurice de Rothschild was born on 19 May 1881 in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris. He was the second child of Edmond James de Rothschild (1845–1934) and Adelheid von Rothschild. He grew up at the Château Rothschild in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Career

Rothschild inherited a fortune from the childless Adolphe Carl von Rothschild [fr] (1823–1900) of the Naples branch of the family and moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he perpetuated the new Swiss branch of the family.

Rothschild served as a member of the French Senate.

Personal life and death

In 1909 Maurice de Rothschild married Noémie de Rothschild. Her mother was Marie Hermine Rodrigues Péreire (1860–1936), daughter of Eugène Péreire of the Péreire banking family whose Crédit Mobilier were arch-competitors of the Rothschilds. Noémie Halphen and Maurice de Rothschild had one child, a son Edmond.

In June 1940, during the Battle of France, Rothschild and several family members received Portuguese visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes, allowing them to flee France for Portugal. Maurice de Rothschild sailed from Lisbon to Scotland the following month.

Legacy

Maurice de Rothschild is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Malagasy lizard, Paracontias rothschildi. de Rothschild's African expedition 1904-1905, zoological in nature, was conveyed in a three-volume archive and 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" It is housed at the Biological Diversity Heritage Library.