Gustave Samuel James de Rothschild (1829-1911)
Gustave Samuel James de Rothschild, was born in Paris on 17 February 1829, the second of James and Betty's sons. His father was by this time well-established in the city and his children had all the benefits of the family's social standing.
Gustave was educated at the Collège Bourbon and served an apprenticeship in Frankfurt. Gustave was expected to marry a cousin, and his family hoped that he would propose to one of his cousins, Mathilde von Rothschild (1832-1924) or Evelina de Rothschild (1839-1866). Instead, in 1859, Gustave married Cécile Anspach (1840-1912), the daughter of a high official in the Court of Cassation.
The couple made their home in Paris at 23 avenue de Marigny; originally three houses which the couple transformed and aligned to create a very successful new house. The purchases, made between 1869 and 1879, were probably made at the instigation of Cécile, and she was instrumental in the decoration of the house. Inside and out, the house was embellished with elements from 18th century Parisian houses, taken from other properties destined to be demolished. Cécile’s art teacher painted allegorical scenes over the doors in the Louis XV drawing-room, incorporating portraits of members of the family, while Cécile herself added sculptures to the mantelpieces. In 1874 Gustave de Rothschild bought Laversine Park on a vast plateau overlooking the Oise, which became the family’s country residence.
Cécile and Gustave had six children; Octave who died in infancy in 1860; Zoé (Lucie) Betty (1863–1916), who married Belgian banker Léon Lambert in 1882; Aline Caroline (1867–1909), who married Sir Edward Albert Sassoon (1856–1912) in 1887; Bertha Juliette de Rothschild (1870–1896), André de Rothschild (1874–1877), who died young, and Robert (1880–1946), who married Gabrielle Nelly Régine Beer in 1907.
In his later adult life, Gustave shared the management of de Rothschild Frères with his brother Alphonse, and was a director of the Chemin de fer du Nord and the PLM company. Experience in the National Guard in 1848 had made him aware of the vicissitudes of political life in France and he never developed a robust attitude to change. From 1852 he was a member, and later president, of the Paris Consistory. His commitment to improving the lot of the Jewish community was undertaken on behalf of that body and in connection with family foundations.
A Hebrew primary school in Paris, which he founded in 1866 bore his name, and he was a director of the Rothschild Hospital. Together with his brothers, he created in 1904 the Fondation Rothschild to build artisans' dwellings.
