Constituency : Aylesbury 1899-1910 ( Liberal Unionist )
Walter took over for the Liberal Unionists at Aylesbury when his uncle Ferdinand died.
Walter was the son and heir of the former Aylesbury MP Baron Rothschild. He was educated privately through concerns for his health then at Bonn University and Cambridge. He collected animals from childhood , wanting to start his own zoo. He was once attacked by some workmen while riding and attributed that to anti-semitism. He rather reluctantly went into the banking business between 1889 and 1908. In 1892 he opened his own zooological museum at Tring and eventually amassed the largest wildlife collection ever by a private individual. In 1894 he drove a carriage to Buckingham Palace pulled by six zebras to prove they could be tamed.
Walter was 6'3 and suffered from a speech impediment. As a result he was quite a shy man and made few contributions in the House.
In 1902 Walter inadvertently introduced the edible dormouse to the English countryside.
Walter stayed with the Liberal Unionists in 1903 despite his support for Free Trade.
Walter retired from banking in 1908 and resigned his seat in January 1910.
In 1915 Walter succeeded to his father's title.
Walter was the recipient of the letter from Arthur Balfour that became known as the "Balfour Declaration".
Walter had to sell a large part of his bird collection in the 1930s to pay off a former mistress.
He died in 1937 aged 69 leaving his collections to the Natural History Museum, their largest ever bequest.
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