ROTHSCHILD, NATHANIEL CHARLES JACOB, FOURTH BARON ROTHSCHILD

ROTHSCHILD, NATHANIEL CHARLES JACOB, FOURTH BARON ROTHSCHILD (1936– ), banker and public figure. Born in London, Jacob Rothschild was educated at Eton and Oxford. He joined the family bank, N.M. Rothschild, in 1964 and by his dynamism revived its fortunes. He left, however, in 1980, after conflict with its head, his cousin Evelyn de Rothschild, over Jacob's conduct of Rothschild Investment Trust. A series of mergers which he subsequently masterminded led to the creation of the influential financial institution Charterhouse J. Rothschild. From 1971 he was chairman of St. James's Place Capital (formerly J. Rothschild Holdings plc) and from 1980, chairman of Five Arrows Ltd. His activity in public life focused on culture and the arts. From 1985 to 1991, he was chairman of the board of trustees of the National Gallery and in 1992–98 was chairman of the new board of trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund. In the House of Lords he sat as an independent. In 1992, the year of the opening of the Israeli Supreme Court building, a gift of Yad Hanadiv, the Rothschild family foundation, he was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1992) and was made an Honorary Fellow of the City of Jerusalem. In the same year he became president of the Institute of Jewish Affairs.

He succeeded his father as fourth Baron Rothschild in 1990. He was closely involved in the redevelopment of Somerset House, London, as an art gallery, and received several honorary degrees.

[David Cesarani]