Walter Rothschild

1868 – 1937

Zoologist and Zionist

Walter Rothschild was much more interested in zoology than the family business of finance. With a lifelong passion for the natural sciences and, like many Rothschilds, an avid collector, he opened the Natural History Museum and Library at Tring, Hertfordshire, in 1892. 

He owned many exotic animals including a giant tortoise and zebras, which he famously trained to pull a carriage.  

Lionel Walter, 2nd Lord Rothschild, was the recipient of a significant letter during World War One that signalled the British government’s support for the establishment of a national home for Jews, in British-ruled Palestine, after centuries of persecution in Europe and elsewhere. The letter that arrived at Rothschild’s 148 Piccadilly home became known as “The Balfour Declaration”.  

Unlike his father Nathaniel, the first Jew to sit in the House of Lords, Walter was a proud supporter of the Zionist cause which gained political momentum in the early years of the century as Jews’ situation in Europe deteriorated. He called for respect for the rights and privileges of non-Jewish neighbours in Palestine.

Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937)
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