Evelina (Evy) de Rothschild (1839-1866)
Evelina de Rothschild was born in London on 25 August 1839, the daughter of Lionel and Charlotte. She was popular with all her siblings, but especially close to Leo with whom she shared a similar sense of humour.
A frequent visitor to Paris where her sister Leonora had lived since her marriage in 1857, Evy revelled in the salons of James and Betty. In 1864 Evy and her brother Nathaniel (1840-1915) were both involved in a dreadful train accident in France, which her mother Charlotte later reported in a letter of 8 February 1864 to her youngest son Leopold (1845-1917):
“Eve and Natty have had a most providential escape. There was an accident on the line, owing to some puzzle-headed pointsman, who sent a train, heavily laden with coals, into the express which conveyed Evy and Natty to Calais. - Our dear travellers were separated from the engine only by the tender - and the violence of the shock sent them up into the air to fall in their shattered carriage on to the locomotive, where the heat was terrific, and the danger, after having escaped destruction, that their clothes might take fire.
Natty disappeared most completely - and poor Evy could see nothing of him but the soles of his feet. - How your sister threw herself off into the road, I know not, but when she found herself on the road she had not any garment on except her shift and her drawers - the remainder of the wearing apparel had been torn off to extricate her. The poor guard was killed, and all the passengers were more or less hurt - the latter is extraordinary, as their carriages remained unharmed - and the one which contained Evy and Natty was completely annihilated.
Your brother is, thank God, quite well, though his back remains somewhat. Evy's limbs are black and blue with bruises, but she is out paying visits - a proof that barring the discoloration of her skin, she is quite flourishing.”
Marriage to Ferdinand de Rothschild
Evelina married her cousin Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898) at 148 Piccadilly on 7 July 1865 and spent a honeymoon at his father Anselm Salomon's estate of Schillersdorf. The tragic death of Evelina in childbirth on 4 December 1866 cast a shadow over her family. Ferdinand never remarried; he devoted himself to the building and furnishing of Waddesdon Manor, with his sister Alice (1847-1922) as a companion.
The Evelina Hospital for Sick Children
The Evelina Hospital for Sick Children in London was established by Ferdinand in memory of Evelina. He initially intended to create a maternity hospital on the site at South Sea Court, off Southwark Bridge Road,but was persuaded that this particular area of London needed a childrens' hospital, which he endowed with £10,000. Although Ferdinand had intended to be the sole source of finance for the hospital during the early years, the demands on resources were so great that a public subscription fund had to be set up in 1871, enabling the hospital to increase the number of cots from 30 to 40 in 1872. Ferdinand made a second donation of£10,000 in 1896 for the purposes of modernisation and the installation of electric lighting.
The Evelina received royal patronage in 1901 and continued to operate as a voluntary hospital until it was incorporated into the public health system in 1946. The hospital was substantially rebuilt in 2005. The Rothschild family continues to be associated with the hospital.
