Private clients

The management of private investments was the foundation upon which Rothschild banking was built. Since the formation of the first partnership, the Rothschild banking houses managed the assets of, and provided credit to, a small and distinguished clientele, which included Royalty, politicians and noted persons of the day.

Prince William IX Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel (1785-1821) became one of the first Rothschild clients in 1769, when Mayer Amschel was appointed Court Agent to the principality of Hesse-Hanau. Other famous clients of the London bank have included the politician Randolph Churchill, (1849-1895), Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881), British statesman and Prime Minister 1874-1880, opera singers Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931) and Adelina Patti, (1843-1919), the Dukes of Wellkington, and and Queen Victoria and her family.

Evidence of Rothschild business with a wide range of clients survives in the Private Client Accounts of the London house. These series of papers mainly concern deceased private clients and includes accounts, correspondence and papers between the executors of individuals' estates in relation to an account held at the London bank. 

Information relating to private client accounts may also be found in ledgers of the bookkeepers Department. See Accounts Current »

Private client papers dated later than 1945 are closed; access to private client papers up to 1945 is at the discretion of the Archive.