Mayer Carl ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

'' von Rothschild (5 August 1820 – 16 October 1886) was a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

banker and politician, as well as scion of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

Early life

Born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

on 5 August 1820. He was a son of Adelheid (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Herz) and

Carl Mayer von Rothschild Carl Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild (24 April 1788 – 10 March 1855) was a Frankfurt-born banker in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the founder of the Neopolitan branch of the prominent Rothschild family. Life and career Born as Kalman Ma ...

. Among his siblings were Charlotte (wife of

Lionel de Rothschild Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (22 November 1808 – 3 June 1879) was a British Jewish banker, politician and philanthropist who was a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England. He became the first practising Jew to sit a ...

), Adolphe Carl, Wilhelm Carl (1828–1901), and Anselm Alexander Carl, who died young. He studied law at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

and the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

Career

After studying law, he joined the family banking firm M. A. Rothschild & Söhne in Frankfurt. Following the death of their uncle

Amschel Mayer Rothschild Amschel Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild (12 June 1773 – 6 December 1855) was a Ashkenazi Jewish, German Jewish banker of the prominent Rothschild family. He was the second child and eldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), the founde ...

, Mayer Carl and his brother Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild became heads of the firm. In 1854, the firm was made Banker to the Court of Prussia. He was appointed the

Duchy of Parma The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (, ) was an Italian state created in 1545 and located in northern Italy, in the current region of Emilia-Romagna. Originally a realm of the Farnese family after Pope Paul III made it a hereditary duchy for his s ...

consulship in Frankfurt,

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and Austrian

Consul-General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

and, in 1866, he took part in a Frankfurt delegation to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

to demand a reduction in the contribution to the

war effort War effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and civilian—towards the support of a military force, particular during a state of war. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative si ...

, was a deputy in the North German Diet, a member of the German Reichstag and took a seat on the Frankfurt city parliament. In 1871, Rothschild became the first Jewish member of the House of Lords of Prussia.

Personal life

On 6 April 1842, Rothschild married his cousin at the London synagogue in Duke's Place. Together, the couple had seven daughters: # (1843–1922), married to Salomon James de Rothschild (1835–1864) in 1862. # Emma Louise von Rothschild (1844–1935), married to

Nathan Mayer Rothschild Nathan Mayer Rothschild (16 September 1777 – 28 July 1836), also known as Baron Nathan Mayer Rothschild, was a British-German banker, businessman and finance, financier. Born in Free City of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, he was the third of ...

(1840–1915) in 1867. # Clementine Henriette von Rothschild (1845–1865) # Thérèse von Rothschild (1847–1931), married to James Edouard de Rothschild (1844–1881) in 1871. # (1850–1892). # (1855–1905), married to (1851–1925), a son of Agenor, 10th Duke of Gramont, in 1878. # Bertha Clara von Rothschild (1862–1903), married to Louis Philippe Marie Alexandre Berthier, 3rd Prince of Wagram (1836–1911), a son of Napoléon Alexandre Berthier, 2nd Prince of Wagram, in 1882.August 2018: Portrait of a ‘Princess’: Bertha Clara von Rothschild by Ellis William Roberts, 1890
''The Rothschild Archive'' (accessed 4 August 2020) Rothschild died on 16 October 1886.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Mayer Carl von 1820 births 1886 deaths German bankers Jewish German bankers 19th-century German Jews Mayer Carl Members of the Prussian House of Lords Members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation Members of the Zollparlament Burials at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt