Ferdinand James von Rothschild

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (17 December 1839 – 17 December 1898), also known as Ferdinand James Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild, was a British banker, art collector and politician who was a member of the Rothschild family of bankers. He identified as a Liberal, later Liberal Unionist, and sat as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1898. Ferdinand had a younger sister, Alice, who like her brother was a keen horticulturalist and collector. She inherited Ferdinand's property, Waddesdon Manor, in 1898 after he died and likewise continued the tradition of using the house as a place to keep his collections. Life and career Although Ferdinand de Rothschild was born in Paris in 1839, he was from Vienna and a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. He was the second son of the Viennese baron Anselm Salomon von Rothschild (1803–1874) and his English wife Charlotte Nathan Rothschild (1807–1859), daughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild. Ferdinand's great-grandfather was Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Although possessing the hereditary title of Freiherr (baron) in the Austrian nobility, he was familiarly referred to as 'Ferdy' by his sister Alice and friends. When Ferdinand became a British subject and moved from Vienna to London, "[he] epitomised the expanding lifestyle of the fourth generation". This statement is more evident when, on 7 June 1865, he married his second cousin Evelina de Rothschild (1839–1866), the daughter of Lionel de Rothschild (1808–1879). On 4 December 1866 their son was stillborn, and Evelina died later the same day. In her memory, Ferdinand built, equipped and endowed the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children in Southwark, south London.