The Riddell Collection of Wax Seals:
Seal Life Stories: the remarkable careers of 23 individuals from the Riddell Collection of Wax Seals
20: Nathan Mayer Rothschild (Baron de rothschild) (1777-1836)
Nathan Mayer, Baron de Rothschild
Born in the Frankfurt Ghetto, part of the Free City of Frankfurt to Mayer Amschel Rothschild and Gutle Schnapper, he moved to Manchester, England in 1798, where he established a business in textile trading and finance. After moving to London he continued to expand his business becoming a freemason in 1802. From 1809 he began investing and dealing in gold bullion, and in 1811 at the outset of the Napoleonic Wars he made investments to support British troops. He was not the first person to bring news of the results of the battle of Waterloo to London however.
In 1824 he founded founded the Alliance Assurance Company, which later merged with Sun Insurance to form Sun Alliance. By 1826 his bank was successful enough to supply sufficient coin to the Bank of England to avoid a liquidity crisis. Before his death in 1836, he had signed a contract with the Spanish Governmment for mining rights which gave Britain a European mercury monopoly.
After the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Nathan loaned the British Government £15 million (£1.46 billion in 2022) in order to compensate slave owners in the British Empire. He was both a claimant and a beneficiary under the scheme.
He married Hannah Barent-Cohen in 1806 and the couple went on to have seven children.
The arms on his seal represent the Five Arrows, a device which Nathan created in 1818 and originates with a Persian tale told by his father in which five arrows held in a bundle are far stronger than a single one.