James de Rothschild (politician)
James Armand Edmond de Rothschild DCM DL (1 December 1878 – 7 May 1957), sometimes known as Jimmy de Rothschild, was a British Liberal politician and philanthropist, from the wealthy Rothschild international banking dynasty.
For the grandfather of this James de Rothschild, the founder of the Parisian branch of the Rothschild family, see James Mayer de Rothschild.
James de Rothschild
1 December 1878
Paris, France
7 May 1957 (aged 78)
London, England
Member of British Parliament
Biography[edit]
De Rothschild was the son of Edmond James de Rothschild of the French branch of family. He was educated at Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris and at Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He served in the First World War, at the outset as an enlisted man in the French Army then as an officer in The Royal Canadian Dragoons, and ended the war as an officer in the British Army, serving in Palestine as a major[2] in the 39th Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers (part of the "Jewish Legion"). He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
He was a keen follower of the turf and a racehorse owner. His 33-1 runner "Bomba" won the Ascot Gold Cup in 1909.
He married Dorothy Mathilde Pinto in 1913. She was 17 years old; he was 35.
He became a naturalised Briton in 1920,[3] and in 1922 he inherited from Alice de Rothschild the Waddesdon Manor estate of his great-uncle Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Aylesbury from 1885 to 1898.[4]