This is an account of the history and local influence of the Rothschilds.

Another document - The Counting House home of Robert Masters Chartered Accountants illustrates the changes from the 1870's to 1930's and today.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild was born here, in 1744; his five sons developed banking houses in five European cities - Frankfurt, London, Naples, Paris and Vienna. The third of Mayer Amschel's sons, Nathan Mayer Rothschild, left Frankfurt for England in 1798, aged just 21. He settled, first of all, in Manchester in order to co-ordinate one of the most important aspects of the family's trading business, the supply of British textiles to the continental market.

After ten years in Manchester, he and his wife Hannah moved to London, where Nathan expanded the purely financial side of his business and became a merchant banker, based at New Court, St Swithin's Lane. From this address, Nathan and his brothers secured their first great business coup - the commission from the British Government to supply funds to finance the Duke of Wellington's campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte.

Hannah Rothschild was from an established Anglo-Jewish family and she ensured that their seven children were brought up to take their place in English society - music lessons for the girls, hunting for the boys. It has been suggested that Hannah was responsible for the family's first connections with Tring, as she thought that her boys should take more country exercise. Hannah was also behind one of the Rothschild family's most significant campaigns - to enable members of the Jewish community to become Members of Parliament. Her eldest son, Lionel de Rothschild, finally took his seat as Liberal representative for the City of London in 1858, eleven years after he was first elected, when the House of Lords agreed to a change of the wording of the oath that was compulsory for all MPs.

The Manor of Tring is described in the 11th century Doomsday survey and was in Royal Hands where it remained until the death of Charles I's Queen, Henrietta Maria. The Manor then passed to Henry Guy, Groom to the Bedchamber and Clerk of the Treasury to Charles II. In 1682. Colonel Guy built the home (now The Arts Educational School), in Tring Park, to designs by Sir Christopher Wren and is said to have provided a house here for the King's favourite, Nell Gwynne. In 1705, Colonel Guy sold the Tring Park estate to Sir William Gore, a banker and former Lord Mayor of London. Sir William was succeeded in 1710 by his son William who was responsible for diverting the main road from its route through the park.

Subsequently let to other families, the Rothschilds' earliest association with the house dates back 1833 to when Nathan Mayer Rothschild rented 'Tring House' for the summer; the first land was purchased, at Mentmore, in 1836. In 1842, the first properties were purchased locally, a small group of farms in the parishes of Mentmore and Wing.

The London and Birmingham Company railway line opened in 1837 but had less immediate impact on Tring than the arrival of Natty Rothschild at Tring Park, 35 years later. The Rothschilds 'had a passion for hunting' and began, with a pack of staghounds, in the Vale of Aylesbury, in 1839, renting stables and kennels at Tring Park. It was this new enthusiasm more than anything else that prompted the first purchase of property, three years later. Nathaniel 'Natty' Rothschild (1840 ' 1915) married Emma (1834 - 1935), in 1867 and moved from London, to the house in Tring Park, in 1872. The house had been bought at auction, for £230,000, by his father, Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808 - 1879), son of Nathan. With Lionel retaining ownership, it was a wedding present home for Natty and Emma. Considerable alterations were made, according to designs by George Devey, who also worked on Ascott, another Rothschild property, at about the same time. The family eventually owned estates at Ascott, Aston Clinton, Halton, Mentmore and Waddesdon, each house said to be visible, one from the other. The new design resulted in a red brick house in 18th century French style, with stone dressings and slate mansard roof. Natty, inherited Tring Park in 1879, and it became his country residence following his father Lionel's death. He became Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild and as the second Baronet was created the first Baron, Lord Rothschild, in 1885 - the first Jewish peer.

Natty's chosen architect at Tring was 'Wm. Huckvale', and his work can be seen all over the area. Constance Battersea, Natty's cousin, wrote, "Cottage building was one of his hobbies, and very comfortable and well-constructed his cottages are, with a low rental to recommend them... He built four hundred at the very least on his estate." The number may be an exaggeration! Two striking examples of William Huckvale's work are the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum and the Louisa Cottages, Park Road, the latter named after Emma's mother. In addition, many of the estate buildings are his work, some of which are the offices (including The Counting House) that form the entrance to the Park and the Rose and Crown Hotel. The Zoological Museum (now part of the Natural History Museum), including a library and curator's cottage, was built in 1889, opened to the public in 1892 and subsequently much extended. It was given by Natty to his son Walter as part of a coming-of-age present, for Walter to house his zoological collection, accumulated since the age of six. Before his death, Walter agreed to give the Museum to the nation.

Natty and Emma adored Tring. Natty's political counsel was widely sought and together they entertained their influential political, literary and artistic friends here, as well as a vast network of family members from all over Europe. There was a steady round of Victorian and Edwardian house parties whose guests included Balfour, the Chamberlains, Randolph Churchill, the young Winston Churchill, the Gladstones, Cecil Rhodes and Edward VII, both as Prince of Wales and King. Typically, when greeting the many guests entertained at Tring, Natty would receive them in the central hall before leading them into the morning room, panelled in exotic woods, with an elaborate fireplace and four built-in cupboards which housed his impressive collection of objets d'art.

However, Natty and Emma were always conscious of their responsibilities to the community of Tring and contributed greatly to its wellbeing. They were big employers in the district and transformed the town, in conjunction with Tring Urban District Council, formed in 1895. An ambitious programme of housing, social and medical welfare was begun; they introduced a health care system for their staff and the people of Tring and also endowed local causes. He and his wife, Emma, were generous landlords. They built and maintained over 200 modern cottages, in a unifying Tudor revival, Arts & Crafts movement influenced style, in and around Tring, complete with sewage arrangements and water supply. It was said that if an unemployed local person approached Natty's agent, Richardson Carr, they would be found a position somewhere on the estate. When the silk trade collapsed, Natty ran the mill at a loss until other work could be found and turned it into a generating station, to the envy of the Royal family. Emma's granddaughter, Dame Miriam Rothschild, has recorded the memories of people in the town who remembered Natty. One recalled, "He was the fellow who gave you the sack if you went home without a rabbit in your pocket and a bundle of wood." Tring was a 'paternalistic welfare state'.

Poignantly, Natty's death in 1915 marked the end of Tring's glorious late Victorian and Edwardian era. Whilst the younger son Charles inherited a fortune, Walter succeeded to the title as the second Lord Rothschild; he received the famous letter from the Prime Minister, the "Balfour Declaration", which led to the creation of the state of Israel. Walter, remaining uninterested in banking and devoted his life to the museum. Emma was left a life interest in the house, where she lived with her son Walter spending her 20-year widowhood at Tring until she died in 1935. Walter survived her by just two years, dying, unmarried, in 1937. The family wanted the whole estate to be used as a research centre and wildlife park but this was refused and it was subsequently broken up. Emma's grandson, Victor, inherited the title as the third Lord Rothschild, he was also Walter's nephew and a distinguished scientist. He is remembered for his gift of Victoria Hall to Tring. Faced with the burden of death duties, in 1938 came the first of the estate sales. The County Council gained the woodlands and the Mansion was used briefly by the bank before becoming a school. The remaining estate later passed to his son Jacob who was to succeed to the title himself, in 1990. Meanwhile, Tring Park was sliced in two by the Tring bypass in 1975 and the land on the south side was sold in 1989. Tring Park's history has shaped the town and its legacy is immense.