User:Giano/Rothschild estates in the Vale of Aylesbury
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The Rothschild estates in the Vale of Aylesbury were mostly formed and assembled between 1850 and 1880. The English branch of the international branch of the banking family had been established by Nathan Mayer Rothschild, who arrived in London in the early nineteenth century. His priority was to establish his business and to acquire influence, by the time of his death in 1836 he was able to pass a fast growing banking business on to his sons. His three sons, Lionel, Anthony and Mayer were all passionate, if ecclectic, collectors of art and by the late 1840s were in a positiont to not only purchase art, but fully enjoy the fruits of their labours acquire vast estats and build houses in which to not only live but didplay their collections. It was to be their three adjoining estates at Tring, Mentmore and Wing were to be the nucleus of the Rothschild estates in the Vale of Aylebury - which became in effect a rothschild enclave. [1]
The brothers were joined in the Vale by their cousin, once removed, Ferdinand, who in 1874 purchased the Waddesdon estate, from the Duke of Marlborough, and built the most flamboyant of all the Rothschild's english houses, Waddedon manor. Other members of the family were to acquire smaller satelite estates in the vicinity.
Thus, the family's policy of building large mansions, serviced by numerous picturesque cottages, rebuilding whole villages coupled with land improvement schemes not only changed the appearance of a large section of the English countryside, but created employment and prosperity in a climate of rural depression. In return the family gained polictical clout and social cachet. By the close of the 19th century, the Rothschild family and its relations owned nine estates in the vale of Aylesbury, totalling some at 30,000 acres. [2] Check this out - it's 50,000 elsewhere.