A Natural Collector
Chloe Hardman
Walter Rothschild (1868-1937) assembled the largest natural history collection ever made by one person. He charmed royalty with his zebra-drawn carriage, kept giant tortoises as pets and published around 1200 books and papers over his lifetime. Yet his personal life remains shrouded in mystery. Who was Lionel Walter, second Baron Rothschild, and how did he contribute to science? Walter Rothschild had a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve in his life. Despite being born into the world’s most powerful banking family, his dream was to open a natural history museum. Aged seven, he had chosen a curator and by twelve he had started his first museum in a shed. After his first term at the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate he had acquired 38,000 butterflies and moths, 5000 birds and 3000 other creatures. A keen naturalist, Rothschild enjoyed the company of exotic animals and kept a small flock of kiwis with him in Magdalene College. Where space allowed, large birds were his favoured pets and the family gardens were home to many emus and cassowaries, along with kangaroos, zebras and wild horses.
After graduating in Natural Sciences, Rothschild was expected to go into banking in preparation for inheriting his father’s role. This he did for 18 years, receiving an allowance from his father, who hoped his enthusiasm for natural history was a passing boyish phase. However, Rothschild never gave up on his childhood ambition and continued writing to collectors and buying specimens. His father recognised this determination in 1889 and commissioned the building of a museum near the family home in Tring, Hertfordshire. The doors opened to an excited crowd in 1892.
Rothschild acquired specimens with remarkable speed, helped by his family wealth. This made him unpopular with scientists, like Alfred Newton, a Professor of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Rothschild managed to organise the first zoological expedition to the Chatham Islands and published a journal called Novitates Zoologicae but both projects were severely criticised by Newton. Nonetheless, this did not deter Rothschild, who undertook the sharing of scientific knowledge with great gusto. A prime example was a meeting of the British Ornithological Club, which he arrived at with a model of a giant moa bird sticking out of the roof of his taxi.
A man of contrasts, he was both spectacularly eccentric and on occasions, acutely shy. Early in life he suffered from a speech impediment which may explain his introverted character and his inability to communicate openly, even with his closest relatives. His child-like passion for collecting combined with his immense wealth made him vulnerable to being overcharged and deceived by many collectors. When paying an unannounced visit to a dealer, Rothschild once witnessed false locality labels being attached to specimens. Still, he managed to build up a network of reliable dealers, perhaps helped by international trading at the family bank.
Over his lifetime, Rothschild collected over 2 million butterflies and moths, 300,000 bird skins and 200,000 bird eggs. Many are type specimens, single examples for each species that have become the reference point for taxonomists and must be referred to when naming a similar new species. Rothschild’s influence as a naturalist was so great that some 250 species were named in the family’s honour.
He took particular care in arranging exhibits so he could “put in one case three times as much as is normally done and yet see all well”. It would seem the acquisition of so many specimens was destroying the natural world he loved. However, unlike many great collectors of the day, Rothschild took an active interest in conservation.
One such conservation venture was the protection of the giant Aldabra tortoise. Second in size to the Galapagos tortoise, this species was threatened by plans for a permanent human settlement on Aldabra, a small coral island in the Seychelles. A letter highlighting the “imminent extermination” of these tortoises was sent by Charles Darwin and others to the Government of Mauritius. Hearing of the threat, Rothschild decided to rent the island to protect the breeding tortoise population.
His zoological studies have furthered our understanding of evolution, as charted in the journals of Novitates Zoologicae, which described new species and classifications. Alfred Russel Wallace found “valuable material” in the journal, as did many evolutionary thinkers. Ernst Mayr praised Rothschild’s curator Jordan for having the clearest definition of the biological species concept. Many specimens were accompanied by detailed geographical data and so could be used to support new speciation theories. Microscopic studies of the genitalia of different butterflies and moths were carried out. This provided supporting evidence for the mechanical isolation method of speciation. Rothschild and his curators were all proponents of Darwinism, a relatively new theory at the time. They also pioneered the use of trinomial nomenclature to emphasise recognition of subspecies in taxonomy.
The break up of the collections in 1932 was a great loss, both personally for Rothschild and nationally. Financial difficulties reached a climax during the depression of the 1930s. Unknown to his family, Rothschild had been blackmailed by an unknown female in New York, who demanded he settle a debt. He did not ask for financial assistance from his family and in desperation decided to sell his beloved bird collections to the American Museum of Natural History, where it is housed today. The remaining collections and museum were donated to the British Natural History Museum when Rothschild died in 1937. It was the largest single donation ever received. His museum in Tring is still open to visitors, now as an outpost of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London. The display cases have been thinned out somewhat but the galleries retain their Victorian character, giving the impression of 'a museum of a museum'.
Rothschild lived at a time when public interest in natural history was high and much of the world remained unexplored. Collecting was a fashionable hobby of Victorian middle classes, from beetles in the back garden to elephant seals from the Falklands. However, the blanket collecting method (taking both the common and the rare) is no longer practiced so these collections are of immense value. Without them, many species would still be unknown and could have become extinct before discovery. Labelled specimens are time capsules, providing a snapshot of information on the location, morphology and genetic code of that individual. This is especially important in charting human influences on nature such as the effect of environmental pollutants. For example a correlation between declining egg shell thickness and the use of the pesticide DDT was found through research on museum specimens.
DNA analysis has extended the collections’ scientific worth beyond Rothschild’s original intention. A recent study of birds of paradise compared the sequences of mitochondrial genes by taking samples from museum specimens. The evidence has prompted a revision of the evolutionary relationships between these birds and other families.
The value of the collections is by no means limited to academia. Rothschild made great efforts to bring the wonders of the natural world to the public. With over 110,000 visitors viewing his zoological museum last year, Rothschild’s vision continues to astound.
It is impossible to know exactly what Rothschild had in mind when he announced at the age of seven that he would open a museum. Whether his personal ambition was satisfied, or even exceeded, will never be known. The drive he sustained throughout his life suggests he was striving for an unobtainable ideal, always seeking one more specimen to improve his collections. His enthusiasm for zoology was infectious, demonstrated by the fervour with which his employees worked. Although it seems he rarely communicated his innermost thoughts, much of his character can be inferred from the collections. Arguably the greatest natural history collector, his outstanding legacy will express his enthusiasm for zoology for many years to come.
