Alphonse James de Rothschild
Encyclopedia
Mayer Alphonse James Rothschild (February 1, 1827 - May 26, 1905), was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

, vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

 owner, art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

 collector, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

, racehorse owner/breeder and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France
Rothschild banking family of France
The Rothschild banking family of France was founded in 1812 in Paris by James Mayer Rothschild . James was sent there from his home in Frankfurt, Germany by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...

.

Biography

Known as Alphonse, he was the eldest son of James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild was a French banker and the original founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family.-Biography:...

 (1792–1868). His mother was Betty de Rothschild (1805–1886), the daughter of Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild was a German-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Viennese branch of the prominent Mayer Amschel Rothschild family....

 from the Austrian branch
Rothschild banking family of Austria
The Rothschild banking family of Austria was founded by Salomon Mayer von Rothschild in 1820 in Vienna in what was then the Austrian Empire.-History:...

 of the family. Alphonse was educated to take his place at the head of de Rothschild Frères bank, training in the other Rothschild banking houses in Europe. In France he soon became a major force in the financial world and in 1855 was appointed a regent of the Banque de France
Banque de France
The Banque de France is the central bank of France; it is linked to the European Central Bank . Its main charge is to implement the interest rate policy of the European System of Central Banks...

, a position he held for the remainder of his life.

In 1857 Alphonse de Rothschild married a cousin, Leonora "Laure" de Rothschild (1837–1911), the daughter of Lionel de Rothschild
Lionel de Rothschild
Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was a British banker and politician.-Biography:The son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Hanna Barent Cohen, he was a member of the prominent Rothschild family....

 (1808–1879) of the English branch
Rothschild banking family of England
The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer von Rothschild who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London. Nathan was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...

 of the family. They had four children. Their firstborn, Bettina Caroline (1858–1892), married Albert Salomon von Rothschild
Albert Salomon von Rothschild
Albert Salomon von Rothschild was a banker in Austria-Hungary and a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Businesses that he owned included Creditanstalt and the Northern Railway.-Personal life:...

.

As a vineyard operator

Alphonse and his brother Gustave developed somewhat of a rivalry with their English cousin Nathaniel de Rothschild
Nathaniel de Rothschild
Nathaniel de Rothschild, , known as "Nat," was the founder of the French wine-making branch of the Rothschild family.-Family:...

 who had moved to Paris after marrying their sister Charlotte
Charlotte de Rothschild
Charlotte de Rothschild was a French socialite, painter, and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France. She was born in Paris, the daughter of Betty von Rothschild and James Mayer de Rothschild . Charlotte de Rothschild was raised by very wealthy parents who were at the center...

. Nathaniel worked at de Rothschild Frères bank and in 1853 he purchased the Château Brane Mouton
Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild is a wine estate located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km north-west of the city of Bordeaux, France. Its red wine of the same name is regarded as one of the world's greatest clarets. Originally known as Château Brane-Mouton it was renamed by Nathaniel...

 vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

 in Pauillac
Pauillac
Pauillac is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-Wine:The commune consists of only 3000 acres of vineyards in the Haut-Médoc between the villages of Saint-Julien to the south and Saint-Estèphe to the north, but is home to three of Bordeaux's five...

 in the Médoc
Médoc
The Médoc is a region of France, well known as a wine growing region, located in the département of Gironde, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux. Its name comes from Medullicus, or "country of the Medulli", the local Celtic tribe...

 wine growing region. Nathaniel's Mouton vineyard received a second-growth ranking in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855
Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855
The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines which were to be on display for visitors from around the world...

. Just three months before their father died in 1868, Alphonse and Gustave convinced him to buy the more prestigious First Growth
First Growth
First Growth status refers to a classification of wines primarily from the Bordeaux region of France.-Bordeaux reds:The need for a classification of the best Bordeaux wines arose for the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris. The result was the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, a list...

 Château Lafite
Château Lafite-Rothschild
Château Lafite Rothschild is a wine estate in France, owned by members of the Rothschild family since the 19th century. The name Lafite comes from the Gascon term "la hite" meaning "small hill"....

 vineyard in Pauillac when it came up for sale.

On the death of their father in 1868, Alphonse and Gustave inherited the Château Lafite-Rothschild vineyard. However, they lived in Paris and the vineyard was not significant relative to their massive investments in banking and other business ventures. As such, they only visited the Pauillac vineyard occasionally, maintaining little more than an arms-length interest. On their deaths, the Rothschild brothers willed the property to a son and it remains in family hands to this day.

As a financier and investor

Alphonse de Rothschild inherited a large fortune on the death of his father in 1868, including share positions in de Rothschild Frères bank and the Northern Railway
Chemin de Fer du Nord
Chemin de Fer du Nord , often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a rail transport company created in September 1845, in Paris, France. It was owned by among others de Rothschild Frères of France, N M Rothschild & Sons of London, England, Hottinger, Laffitte and Blount...

 company. He began his training in finance at a young age and his father put him in charge of the bank's gold bullion operations.

During the 1860s, great debates raged across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 as to an appropriate monetary system
Monetary system
A monetary system is anything that is accepted as a standard of value and measure of wealth in a particular region.However, the current trend is to use international trade and investment to alter the policy and legislation of individual governments. The best recent example of this policy is the...

 for the changing times. In France, the prominent Péreire brothers
Péreire brothers
The Péreire brothers were prominent 19th century financiers in Paris, France who were rivals of the Rothschilds. Like the Rothschilds, they were Jews, but unlike them the Péreire brothers were Sephardi Jews of Portuguese origin....

 bankers were proponents of paper money
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...

 in contrast to Alphonse de Rothschild who defended preservation of France's bimetallism
Bimetallism
In economics, bimetallism is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent both to a certain quantity of gold and to a certain quantity of silver; such a system establishes a fixed rate of exchange between the two metals...

 system. Initially, Alphonse had an influential supporter for his position through his long friendship with statesman Léon Say
Léon Say
Jean-Baptiste Léon Say , French statesman and economist, was born in Paris.-Biography:The family was a most remarkable one. His grandfather Jean-Baptiste Say was a well-known economist. His brother Louis Auguste Say , director of a sugar refinery at Nantes, wrote several books against his theories...

, a former employee of the Rothschild's Northern Railway Company
Chemin de Fer du Nord
Chemin de Fer du Nord , often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a rail transport company created in September 1845, in Paris, France. It was owned by among others de Rothschild Frères of France, N M Rothschild & Sons of London, England, Hottinger, Laffitte and Blount...

 who became the Minister of Finance
Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (France)
The Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment , or Minister of Finance for short, is one of the most prominent positions in the cabinet of France after the Prime Minister....

 in 1872. However, as part of the Latin Monetary Union
Latin Monetary Union
The Latin Monetary Union was a 19th century attempt to unify several European currencies, at a time when most circulating coins were still made of gold and silver...

 France joined most of the rest of Europe and adopted the gold standard
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...

 by 1873. In 1880, Alphonse de Rothschild put together the deal that saw the family take control of Société Le Nickel (SLN), a nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...

 mining business in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

.

During the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

, Alphonse de Rothschild had guarded the ramparts of Paris on the eve of the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n siege. When a peace treaty was finally agreed to in January 1871, his bank would play a major role, not only in raising the five billion francs France was obliged to pay in reparations to the new German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, but in helping bring about economic stability. France made a dramatic financial recovery and repaid the reparations bill ahead of schedule which, under terms of the armistice, brought about an end to the German occupation of northern French territory in 1873. In contrast though, that same year, both the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 stock markets crashed, plunging all of Central Europe into an economic depression. However, in less than a decade Alphonse de Rothschild would witness considerable economic upheaval in France. The collapse of the investment bank Société de l'Union Générale precipitated the 1882 stock market crash
Stock market crash
A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic as much as by underlying economic factors...

 that triggered a downturn in the economy. In 1889, the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris bank went into receivership and shortly thereafter the Panama scandals
Panama scandals
The Panama scandals was a corruption affair that broke out in the French Third Republic in 1892, linked to the building of the Panama Canal...

 erupted, culminating in an official enquiry being conducted into the matter in 1893 by the French parliament.

His intense pressure pushed back the abrogation project of the décret Crémieux
Crémieux
Crémieux may refer to:* Adolphe Crémieux, French lawyer and statesman* Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, French playwright and librettist* The residents of Crémieu, a town near Lyon, France, known as Crémieux....

filed by the chief of the provisional government, Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...

 in 1871.

Already made a member of the Legion of Honor, for his contributions to the French economy at a time of crisis, in 1896 Alphonse de Rothschild was elevated to the Grand Cross, the highest class of the Legion of Honor.

Thoroughbred racing

Alphonse de Rothschild was an enthusiastic supporter of thoroughbred horse racing who in 1852 at the age of twenty-four became a member of the Paris Jockey Club
France Galop
France Galop is the governing body of flat and steeplechase horse racing in France. It was founded on May 3, 1995 as the result of the amalgamation of four different industry organizations...

. He eventually purchased a rural property near Touques, Calvados in the Basse-Normandie
Basse-Normandie
Lower Normandy is an administrative region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy...

 region where he built the Haras de Meautry
Haras de Meautry
Haras de Meautry in Touques, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France, is a thoroughbred horse breeding farm. It was acquired in the 19th century by horse-racing enthusiast Alphonse James de Rothschild who passed it down to his offspring so that today it is in the hands of Edouard Etienne de...

 horse breeding
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

. There, he laid the foundation for a breeding operation that would prove highly successful for more than one hundred years and one that under the guidance of his descendants remains in operation today. Alphonse de Rothschild raced in an era before the creation of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

. Among the major races his horses won were:
  • Grand Prix de Paris
    Grand Prix de Paris
    The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in July.-History:...

     - (1) - Le Roi Soleil (1898)
  • Prix de Diane
    Prix de Diane
    The Prix de Diane, sometimes referred to as the French Oaks, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies...

     - (3) - Brie (1878), Crinière (1889) Brisk (1894)
  • Poule d'Essai des Poulains
    Poule d'Essai des Poulains
    The Poule d'Essai des Poulains, sometimes referred to as the French 2,000 Guineas, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts...

     - (3) - Brio (1887), Heaume (1890) et Le Nicham II (1893)
  • Prix du Jockey Club
    Prix du Jockey Club
    The Prix du Jockey Club, sometimes referred to as the French Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

     - (2) - Kilt (1876) Heaume (1890)
  • Prix de la Forêt
    Prix de la Forêt
    The Prix de la Forêt is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late September or early October.-History:The race was established in 1858,...

     - (2) - Kilt (1876) Le Nord (1891)
  • Prix Morny
    Prix Morny
    The Prix Morny is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,200 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in August.-History:...

     - (4) - Louis d'Or (1879), Strelitz (1880), Fresca (1893) Thélème (1903)

As an art collector

Over his lifetime Alphonse de Rothschild put together a massive collection of artworks. He was an avid collector of the Dutch Masters as well as an important assembler of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic works of art. In 1885 he was made a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...

 and would donate and/or bequeath approximately 2,000 pieces to many different museums.

Residences

As part of his father's estate, Alphonse de Rothschild inherited a large residence in Paris at 2 rue Saint-Florentin on Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...

 which today is part of the American Embassy complex. In addition, he also received the Château de Ferrières
Château de Ferrières
Château de Ferrières is a French château built between 1855 and 1859 by Baron James de Rothschild in the Goût Rothschild. Rothschild ownership of the Château de Ferrières was passed down through the male line according to the rule of primogeniture...

, an enormous mansion and woodlands in the country about 26 km east of Paris.

Assassination attempt

In August 1895, a crude letter bomb
Mailbomb
A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber...

 addressed to Alphonse de Rothschild was delivered to his Paris residence. Not at home, a member of the house staff had it forwarded to the de Rothschild Frères offices where it detonated, seriously injuring the chief clerk.

On his passing in 1905, Alphonse's son Edouard took over as head of the family business.

External links

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