Louisa de Rothschild (née Montefiore), Lady de Rothschild (28 May 1821 – 22 September 1910), was an Anglo-Jewish philanthropist, and founding member of the

Union of Jewish Women The Union of Jewish Women (UJW) was a trade union and the first national Jewish women's society in Britain. The UJW was formed with the intention of bringing women's perspectives to matters of importance to the Jewish community. Formation The UJW w ...

. Born in England, the daughter of

Abraham Montefiore There have been two baronetcies created for members of the Montefiore family, both in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Both creations are extinct. The Montefiore Baronetcy, of East Cliff Lodge in the Isle of Thanet and County of Kent, was ...

, she married Baron Anthony de Rothschild in 1840, and was influential and able to push conventions that traditionally bound Jewish women at the time. She founded the first independent Jewish women's philanthropic associations, the Jewish Ladies' Benevolent Loan Society and the Ladies' Visiting Society in London in 1840. In 1885, she and Helen Lucas jointly paid for the cost of a nurse to work among the poor who were Jewish. Lucas would pay for two more in 1891 and 1892 and they were encouraged to use a traditional common sense approach to the help and sympathy they offered. Lucas believed that relief workers should give little priority to statistics or paperwork.

References

1821 births 1910 deaths English Jews English philanthropists Wives of baronets Sebag-Montefiore family Jewish women philanthropists English women philanthropists Jewish British philanthropists Louisa Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery {{Philanthropist-stub