ROTHSCHILD

the name of a British family of businessmen and politicians, originally from Germany. Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836) opened the bank of N M Rothschild and Sons in London in 1798, and became a British citizen in 1804. His son Lionel Nathan Rothschild (1808–79) became the first Jewish Member of Parliament in 1858 and worked to achieve new legal freedoms for British Jews. Lionel’s son Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild (1840–1915) became the first Jew to be made a life peer , in 1885. Miriam Rothschild (1908– ), the granddaughter of Nathaniel, is a noted scientist.