1850 - 1880 :
From 1850 the family began to use its newly found wealth.
Great art collections began to grow.

Great houses were built in the 1850s - Mentmore in England and Ferrières in France - the first of many to follow across Europe. All were filled with works of art.

The Bordeaux vineyards of Mouton and Lafite were acquired.

Charitable foundations were established with increasing pace.

The family were caught up in the political storms of the mid-century. The Year of Revolutions, 1848, left them largely unmoved, but the Unification of Italy in 1861 eventually brought about the closure of their Naples bank.

Meanwhile the business of bond issues grew and spread.

And still there were great moments, like the decisively swift and secret raising of finance by Lionel de Rothschild in 1875 to enable the British government to acquire a major interest in the Suez Canal.

With the death of Baron James in 1868 the first generation of Rothschild bankers came to an end.

Despite increasing identification with the countries in which they now lived - England, France, Germany and Austria - the family links remained firm, strengthened by binding partnership agreements.