Teresa Georgina "Tess" Rothschild, Baroness Rothschild, (''née'' Mayor; 10 September 1915 – 29 May 1996) was a British

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

officer and magistrate. She was the second wife of

Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild (31 October 1910 – 20 March 1990) was a British banker, scientist, intelligence officer during World War II, and later a senior executive with Royal Dutch Shell and N M Rothschild & So ...

Early life

She was born Teresa Georgina Mayor in London on 10 September 1915, the daughter of Robert John Grote Mayor (1869–1947), a civil servant working for the

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

, and his wife, (Katherine) Beatrice Mayor, ''née'' Meinertzhagen (1885–1971), a poet and playwright. Her paternal grandfather was

Joseph Bickersteth Mayor Rev. Joseph Bickersteth Mayor (24 October 1828 – 29 November 1916) was an English professor, classical scholar, and Anglican clergyman. Early life and education Mayor was born in Cape Colony''1911 England Census'' while his parents returned ...

, brother of John E. B. Mayor and nephew of

Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale, PC (18 June 1783 – 18 April 1851), a member of the prominent Bickersteth family, was an English physician, law reformer, and Master of the Rolls. Early life and education Langdale was born on 18 June 1 ...

and Rev. Edward Bickersteth. Her father was the brother of English novelist F. M. Mayor and a great-nephew of the historian George Grote, philosopher

John Grote John Grote (5 May 1813, Beckenham – 21 August 1866, Trumpington, Cambridgeshire) was an English moral philosopher and Anglican clergyman. Life and career The son of a banker, John Grote was younger brother to the historian, philosopher and ...

, and colonial administrator

Arthur Grote Arthur Grote (29 November 1814 – 4 December 1886) was an English colonial administrator. Life He was born on 29 November 1814 at Beckenham in Kent, England. He was the son of George Grote (1760–1830), a London banker, and Selina Peckwell (177 ...

. Her maternal grandmother, Katherine Beatrice Meinertzhagen, was the sister of soldier

Richard Meinertzhagen Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer, and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa and the Middle East. He was credited with creating and ...

and the niece of author

Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...

. She was educated at

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventio ...

from 1929 to 1934, and was

head girl Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Au ...

, followed in 1935 by Newnham College, Cambridge, where she was "the most celebrated actress of her day".

Career

After Cambridge, she worked for the publisher Jonathan Cape. During the Second World War, she was recruited by MI5 to work as assistant to

, working in anti-sabotage operations. She became a magistrate, and was Chairman of the Bench, and was a lecturer at the

Cambridge Institute of Criminology The Institute of Criminology is the criminological research institute within the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. The institute is one of the oldest criminological research institutes in Europe, and has exerted a strong influence ...

, and she sat on various Home Office boards investigating the subject of penal reform. She was a trustee of Cambridge's Arts Theatre.

Personal life

On 14 August 1946, she married

, her boss in MI5, and they had two sons (one died in infancy) and two daughters together. *

Emma Georgina Rothschild Emma Georgina Rothschild (born 16 May 1948) is a British economic historian, a professor of history at Harvard University. She is director of the Joint Centre for History and Economics at Harvard, and an honorary Professor of History and Economi ...

(born 1948), married the economist

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...

(born 1933) in 1991 * Benjamin Mayer Rothschild (born and died 1952) * Victoria Katherine Rothschild (born 1953), lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and the second wife of the writer Simon Gray (1936–2008) *

Amschel Mayor James Rothschild Amschel Mayor James Rothschild (18 April 1955 – 8 July 1996) was a British businessman who was the executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England. Early years and kinships Rothschild was born in ...

(1955–1996), married to Anita Patience Guinness, worked for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, and killed himself in 1996

Later life

Rothschild died on 29 May 1996 in London, and was survived by her two daughters, both of whom pursued academic careers, and a son, who entered the Rothschild banking business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Teresa Georgina 1915 births 1996 deaths

Teresa Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...

People educated at Bedales School Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge MI5 personnel Secret Intelligence Service personnel English justices of the peace British baronesses Members of the Order of the British Empire