the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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CHAPTER 2<br />
The Rothschild Archive<br />
Victor Gray with Melanie Aspey<br />
In order to explain <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> body <strong>of</strong> material which today makes up <strong>the</strong><br />
Rothschild Archive, I must begin with an elementary early history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Rothschild<br />
family. Mayer Amschel Rothschild, a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Frankfurt Jewish community,<br />
was a merchant dealing in general goods, including textiles but with a specialism in<br />
historical coins sold by mail order, which brought him to <strong>the</strong> attention <strong>of</strong> a number<br />
<strong>of</strong> important collectors. In 1798, his third son, Nathan Mayer, as part <strong>of</strong> a strategy<br />
for expansion, moved to England to buy much sought-after English textiles at <strong>the</strong><br />
best terms for supply into mainland Europe. He stayed in Manchester until 1809<br />
when he made a final move to London and concentrated on an aspect <strong>of</strong> trading<br />
activity which he had been gradually developing – that <strong>of</strong> mercantile credit.<br />
Meanwhile, back at home, his four bro<strong>the</strong>rs had been playing a full part in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
fa<strong>the</strong>r’s business, both in <strong>the</strong> Frankfurt <strong>of</strong>fice and by travelling in increasingly<br />
wide circles on <strong>the</strong> firm’s business, developing and feeding a broadening range <strong>of</strong><br />
contacts and agents. This circle was put to a corporate test in 1814 when Nathan<br />
was commissioned by <strong>the</strong> British government to assemble substantial quantities <strong>of</strong><br />
gold from around Europe to feed Wellington’s army and to pay <strong>the</strong> subsidies due to<br />
Britain’s allies. The conspicuous success <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir corporate activity meant that <strong>the</strong>y<br />
were well poised after <strong>the</strong> war to take up an important and eventually central role<br />
in <strong>the</strong> field <strong>of</strong> bond issues on behalf <strong>of</strong> European and o<strong>the</strong>r governments.<br />
As a result <strong>of</strong> this development, by <strong>the</strong> early 1820s, not only was Nathan a<br />
key figure in London <strong>banking</strong>, but James had established himself in Paris as de<br />
Rothschild Frères, Salomon was spending much time in Vienna, where his presence<br />
developed into <strong>the</strong> firm <strong>of</strong> S.M. Rothschild, Carl took <strong>of</strong>f for Naples, setting up<br />
C.M. de Rothschild e figli, and Amschel developed his fa<strong>the</strong>r’s home business in<br />
Frankfurt, M.A. Rothschild und Söhne. Of <strong>the</strong>se branches, <strong>the</strong> Naples bank closed<br />
in 1863 after Carl’s death and <strong>the</strong> fall <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> monarchy, <strong>the</strong> Frankfurt bank closed<br />
in 1901 for want <strong>of</strong> a male Rothschild heir, its business being transferred to <strong>the</strong><br />
Disconto-Gesellschaft. The Viennese bank was seized by <strong>the</strong> Nazis in 1938 and<br />
aryanized. The Paris bank persisted, until it was nationalized in 1981 and <strong>the</strong>n,<br />
eventually, allowed to recreate itself as Rothschild & Cie Banque. The London<br />
bank still flourishes.<br />
The archival history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se five institutions is chequered, to say <strong>the</strong> least.<br />
Nothing survives – to <strong>the</strong> best <strong>of</strong> our knowledge – from <strong>the</strong> Naples bank, which<br />
was always, like Vienna, regarded as a branch <strong>of</strong>fice to Frankfurt. It is known<br />
that on its closure, whatever survived <strong>of</strong> interest went back to Frankfurt, to suffer<br />
in time <strong>the</strong> fate which was to await <strong>the</strong> corpus <strong>of</strong> archives <strong>of</strong> M.A. Rothschild