Charles Rothschild

(Nathaniel) Charles Rothschild (May 9, 1877 - October 12, 1923) was an English banker and entomologist and a member of the Rothschild banking family of England.

Family

He was the son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild and Emma Rothschild (née von Rothschild).

Charles predeceased his older brother Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild (1868-1937) who died without issue. The peerage therefore passed to Charles's son Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild.

Charles Rothschild worked as a partner in the family bank NM Rothschild and Sons in London. However, like his zoologist brother, he devoted much of his energies to entomology and natural history collecting. His collection of fleas is now in the Rothschild Collection at the British Museum. He also discovered and named the plague vector flea, Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild), also known as the oriental rat flea, at Shendi, Sudan, on an expedition in 1901, publishing his finding in 1903.

Nature conservation

He is regarded as a pioneer of nature conservation in Britain, and managed his estate at Ashton Wold in Northamptonshire to maximise its suitability for wildlife, especially butterflies. He was concerned about the loss of widlife habitats, and in 1912 set up the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the forerunner of The Wildlife Trusts partnership. In 1915 the Society produced a schedule of the best wildlife sites in the country, some of which were purchased as nature reserves.

Marriage

In 1907 Charles Rothschild married Rozsika Edle von Wertheimstein (1870–1940). They had four children:

Miriam Louisa Rothschild (1908-2005), a zoologist

Elizabeth Charlotte Rothschild (1909-1988), known as "Liberty"

Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild (1910-1990), known as "Victor"

Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild (1913-1990), known as "Nica", (later Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter), a bebop jazz enthusiast and patroness of Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker

Suffering from encephalitis, in 1923 Charles Rothschild committed suicide.