Almina Carnarvon and Alfred de Rothschild's Will : 1918: Financial Claims Considered

 

Almina Wombwell, 5th Countess of Carnarvon

 of Highclere Castle

Alfred de Rothschild’s Legacy to Almina in 1918

              Did  Alfred de Rothschild ( as one biography  claims )  leave

Lady Almina Carnarvon,  “ virtually everything” in his Will?

Baron Alfred de Rothschild  died on 31 January, 1918. 

Incidentally, when was he made  "Sir Alfred" so dubbed by Highclere Caste's book on Almina?  " Sir"  is the usual title only for a Knight or a Baronet.  Alfred's usual title was “ Baron” and  this was more of a courtesy address stemming from the Rothschild family’s wider European extraction.  Only his brother,  Nathan Mayer Rothschild ( known as Natty)  ( 1840-1915)  was made a British Peer, he became the first Lord Rothschild,  a  title which continues in the Rothschild family to the present day.  

In William Cross's book “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon”  ( 2011) he suggests that Alfred  “ left much of his wealth to Almina”. This is the relevant reference in that text: 

“Throughout his life Alfred, “the joyless lonely bachelor” had cared for “ the importunate and extravagant.” Almina emotionally and financially; now in death he sought to ensure that this security would last her lifetime. The Baron left much of his wealth to Almina, including his magnificent London home at 1 Seamore Place, with its priceless artwork and furniture worth several hundred thousand pounds. In addition, he left her £50,000 in cash and declared, “the covenant he had entered into on the marriage of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon for the payment of £500,000 to the trustees of their marriage settlement remained in full force”. Only his estate at Halton remained within his family, inherited by his nephew Lionel de Rothschild (1880–1942).”

The two claims of " virtually everything" and " much of his wealth"  seem at variance with each other. So which is it?

William Cross has revisited his research papers, uplifted from a number of files in National Archives, Kew,   Class IR59 ( IR 159/519, IR 59 /520 and IR 59/520)  to glean the reasons why I  stated that  Almina was only left “ much of his [Alfred’s]  wealth”. National Archives opened these files under the Freedom of Information Act, following an application by William Cross. 

Alfred left Almina  cash of £50,000, together with the freehold of 1, Seamore Place, Mayfair, valued at £27,500, and also the impressive contents of 1, Seamore Place, valued at almost £500,000. The income from the 1895 marriage Settlement was  worth £12,000 a year. Alfred paid the latter sum annually to Almina and Lord Carnarvon. 

Therefore, deducting what had been paid between 1895 and 1918 the final balance payable out of Alfred’s estate to the Carnarvons was  £212,000. The combined legacy ( with £25,00 cash also paid to Lord Carnarvon in Alfred Will )  was £787,000. From this statement it’s apparent that Alfred’s legacy to Almina  was a substantial one. By including the  1918 value of the  1895 marriage settlement  in the calculations, it can be argued that Almina, with Lord Carnarvon were Alfred’s principal beneficiaries.  In fact William Cross records  this elsewhere in  “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon.”   

Alfred's estate - when the Rothschild partnership assets of £1.4million are added was worth £2.4 million.  Legacy Duty, Exemptions ( for Art / Ceramics / Pictures etc )  and debts etc owed reduced the size of the Estate to approximately £1.5 million, as was sworn by his Executors. The State benefited hugely.   Almina’s pay-off was £787,000 and this is my declared judgment of it being  “ much of his wealth”  but this is certainly not “ virtually everything”.

Alfred’s de Rothschild nephew, Lionel's share was worth around £483,000. He was left Alfred's country home at Halton, Buckinghamshire.   As well as Almina’s cash legacy of £50,000, cash left by Alfred to others was over £200,000 ( NB £50,000 ( i.e. £25k each)  to Almina’s two children ). Alfred left several works of art and other personal possessions to several others too, including to the nation. 

Sadly, there were many old retainers and charity cases whose small pensions were ended on Alfred’s death. He simply did not write these weekly/ monthly sums down ( for continuance after his death ),  such amounts were simply paid out willy-nilly. The Executors were unsympathetic to representations. Evidence seen in Alfred’s papers in the Rothschild Archives suggests this caused great poverty and hardship.    

Interestingly, Alfred funeral costs were a mere £161 pounds nine shillings and sixpence.    

 

Copyright William Cross c 2011 

       

William Cross is the Author of “ The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” : A Candid Biography of Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon, of Tutankhamun fame.

Another book “Lady Carnarvon's Nursing Homes: Nursing the Privileged in Wartime and Peace”  was published on 15 October 2011.

 

Contact William Cross by e-mail at

 

williecross@aol.com