Lionel Nathan de Rothschild

Who was Lionel Nathan de Rothschild?

Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, OBE was an English banker and Conservative politician best remembered as the creator of Exbury Gardens by the New Forest in Hampshire. He was the eldest of the three sons of Leopold de Rothschild and Marie née Perugia and a part of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England.

Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was born in London and educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge where he graduated BA in 1903 and MA in 1908. On 25 January 1910 he was elected to the House of Commons for the constituency of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. In 1912 he married Marie Louise Eugénie Beer. They had the following children:

Rosemary Leonora Ruth

Edmund Leopold

Naomi Luisa Nina

Leopold David

At the outbreak of World War I, Lionel's younger brothers Evelyn and Anthony both joined the British Army. However, as the eldest son he was needed as the heir to take over the family's N M Rothschild & Sons banking house. Much to his frustration, Lionel de Rothschild, a Major in the Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, had no choice but to remain at home where he was employed on recruiting duties, for which he was made OBE in the Military Division in 1917.