author
Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild Rothschild
1868–1937
Better known for his passion for animals than for banking, he built one of the most remarkable private natural history collections of his time. His life linked science, politics, and the famous Rothschild family in unexpected ways.
1 Audiobook
Extinct birds : An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times
by Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild Rothschild
About the author
Born in London in 1868, Walter Rothschild was the eldest son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild. Although he came from one of Britain's best-known banking families, he was far more drawn to zoology and collecting than to finance.
He devoted much of his life to natural history, assembling an enormous collection of animals, birds, insects, and specimens at Tring. That work became the foundation of the museum now known as the Natural History Museum at Tring, and he is still remembered as an important zoologist and collector.
Rothschild was also a public figure beyond science. He served as a Member of Parliament and is often noted in political history because the Balfour Declaration was addressed to him in 1917. He died in 1937, leaving behind a legacy that still connects scholarship, museums, and modern Jewish history.