Evelina de Rothschild - Biography

Evelina Gertrude de Rothschild (August 25, 1839 – December 4, 1866) was an English socialite and a member of the Rothschild banking family of England.

Biography

Evelina de Rothschild was the daughter of Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879), the first openly uncoverted Jew to sit in the British House of Lords. Her mother was Charlotte von Rothschild (1819-1884), a cousin from the Naples branch of the family.

On June 7, 1865, Evelina married her cousin Ferdinand James von Rothschild (1839-1898) of the Austrian branch of the family. Because of her parents' prominent position as one of the wealthiest and most influential families in England, guests at her wedding banquet and ball included Benjamin Disraeli, the ambassadors from Austria and France, and Prince George, Duke of Cambridge.

Following a lengthy honeymoon across Europe, Evelina and her husband settled into a home at 143 Piccadilly in London near her parents. Pregnant with their first child, she died on December 4, 1866 while giving birth to a stillborn son. She is buried at the Rothschild Mausoleum in the Jewish Cemetery at West Ham.

Commemoration

In her memory, her husband built, equipped, and endowed the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children in Southwark, one of the neglected and poorest districts of London. Her father Lionel assumed sponsorship of the first school for girls in Palestine, which opened in Jerusalem in 1854, and renamed it the Evelina de Rothschild School. Her mother, Charlotte, inaugurated the Evelina Prize, awarded at Jewish elementary schools and Jews' College.