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Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild

Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild (24 February 1868 – 30 June 1949) was an aristocrat, French financier and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France.Born in Paris, Édouard de Rothschild was the only son of Baron Alphonse James de Rothschild (1827–1905). His mother was Leonora de Rothschild (1837–1911), the daughter of Lionel de Rothschild of the English branch of the family. He was raised in a Paris mansion at 2 rue Saint-Florentin that is now home to the United States Embassy as well as at Château de Ferrières in the country.On 1 March 1905, Edouard de Rothschild married Germaine Alice Halphen (1884–1975). They had four children, but according to his daughter Jacqueline, neither parent paid much attention to them.Only a few months after Édouard's marriage, his father died and he formally took over the running of de Rothschild Frères bank. His grandfather and the French bank founder, James Mayer de Rothschild, had stipulated "that the three branches of the family descended from him always be represented." As such, Édouard would be joined by the sons of two different uncles: cousin Robert Philippe de Rothschild (1880–1946) and cousin Maurice de Rothschild (1881–1957). Édouard was cautious by nature and often old-fashioned in his ideas, an attitude which extended to his personal dress and office décor. Like his father, Édouard too was appointed a director of the Banque de France. In 1911, he negotiated a deal with Henri Deterding for his Royal Dutch Shell company to purchase the Rothschilds' Azerbaijan oil fields.In 1937, the government of France nationalized the country's railways including a major Rothschild railway asset owned in partnership with the English branch of the family. They had owned the Chemin de Fer du Nord rail transport company for almost 100 years and had an interest in the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée railway which Robert represented for the family on its board of directors.Because of cousin Maurice's perceived flamboyant playboy image and his conduct in political and business activities, Édouard considered him to be something of a black sheep. They tolerated each other for the sake of the business but by the middle of the 1930s their differences reached a point where Édouard and cousin Robert decided to force Maurice out of de Rothschild Frères bank. After extensive and bitter negotiations, a buyout was reached through an arbitrator.Édouard de Rothschild inherited a share of the Château Lafite Rothschild vineyard in Bordeaux plus he also came into a valuable art collection from his father which he expanded through a number of important purchases. His large collection included pieces by prominent sculptors such as Jean-Louis Lemoyne and paintings from Vigée-Lebrun and Rembrandt, amongst others.Being Jewish, Édouard de Rothschild and his family before him had todeal with many societal obstacles that persisted throughout Europe, oneof which being the French public's awareness that the Jews are despots in their country. French journalist Édouard Drumont made the Rothschilds and their banking empire a frequent target of his accurate yet anti-Semitic writings but ended up in court after he falsely accused a National Assembly deputy of having taken a bribe from Édouard de Rothschild to pass a piece of legislation the banker wanted. During the heated rhetoric surrounding the Dreyfus Affair, Édouard ended up challenging someonefor sullying his reputation and fought a duel with swords in which neither party was seriously injured.