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Sources for business history: plans of New Court

Sources for art history: Catalogue of the pictures of Alfred de Rothschild 1901

Sources for yachting history: Plans for Nathaniel von Rothschild's yacht Veglia 1905

Sources for natural history: Walter 2nd Lord Rothschild and his zebra carriage: c.1910

Sources for global financial history: Map of lines of the Brazil Railway Company: c.1920

Sources for business history: index cards to bank files

Sources for social history: Rothschild Hospital Paris: 1920s

Sources for business history: detail of a Rothschild bond coupon

Sources for architectural history: Halton House: 1890s

Sources for the history of travel: Lionel de Rothschild's tours of Spain: 1909

Sources for local history: Tring Park: c.1900

Sources for Royal history: shooting party with Edward Prince of Wales: 1893

Sources for political history: Lionel de Rothschild: first Jewish MP: 1858

Sources for sporting history: St Amant winner of the Derby: 1904

Sources for local history: gardeners at Aston Clinton: 1899

Sources for Rothschild family history: Lionel de Rothschild's yacht Rhodora: 1927

Sources for London history: entrance to New Court: 1965

Sources for design history: plans for Lionel de Rothschild's Rolls-Royce: 1930

Sources for business history: Rothschild gold bars produced by the Royal Mint Refinery: 1930s

Sources for business history: letters of August Belmont Rothschild Agent in New York: 1860s

Exhibition - From Bank to Westminster

3: Lionel stands for parliament

Lionel was moved by the same instincts as his father but was to choose a different path. Between 1830 and 1836 four bills to remove the barriers to Jews entering parliament had failed to become legislation: something more dramatic was needed. In 1847 Lionel was persuaded to stand as a candidate for the City of London.

Lionel is elected to parliament for the City of London

In the 1847 election he came third, with 6792 votes, enough to earn him one of the City's seats in Parliament. He was, in fact, only a few hundred votes behind the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, who was also standing for re-election.

Throughout the campaign, people had been aware that Lionel, if he was elected, would face the problem of having to take an oath on the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), on 'the true faith of a Christian'. Once Lionel had been elected, Russell, the Prime Minister, introduced a Jewish Disabilities Bill, which would have overcome this problem, softening the requirement for a Christian oath. The Bill was duly passed in the Commons in February 1848, only to be thrown out by the Lords, not once but twice in 1848 and then again in 1849.

Cutting from a London newspaper entitled 'A sign of the times'

Cutting from a London newspaper entitled 'A sign of the times'