APPENDIX 2
A private partnership of the sort formed by the five Rothschild houses was under no obligation in the period covered by these statistics to produce balance sheets or profit and loss accounts. The figures for the capital of the five houses produced in tables c and d are taken from the surviving partnership agreements. The profit and loss accounts for N. M. Rothschild & Sons are based on summaries (the purpose of which is not known) which begin in 1829. The accounts are simple: on one side all the year’s sales of commodities, stocks and shares are listed, on the other, all the year’s purchases and other costs; the difference is recorded as the annual profit or loss. Table e gives the “bottom line” data and also figures for net appropriations (withdrawals and new capital) by partners. The balance sheet figures in table f are based on a similar series of summaries dating from 1873.
Nineteenth-century banks did not draw up balance sheets or profit and loss accounts in a standardised way, so comparisons with other banks for which figures are available must be made with extreme caution.
Table c: Combined Rothschild capital, 1818-1904 (selected years, £ thousand).
Sources: CPHDCM, 637/1/3/1-11; 1/6/5; 1/6/7/7-14; 1/6/32; 1/6/44-5; 1/7/48-69; 1/7/115-20; 1/2/1-7; 1/9/1-4; RAL, RFamFD/3, B/1; AN. 132 AQ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19; Gille, Maison Rothschild, vol. II, pp. 568-72.
Table d: Rothschild partners’ shares of capital, 1852-1905 (percentages).
Sources: CPHDCM. 637/1/7/115-20, Societats-Übereinkunft, Oct. 31, 1852; AN, 132 AQ 3/1, undated document, c. Dec. 1855; AN, 132 AQ 2, Partnership act, no. 2, Sept. 1879; Oct. 24, 1882; June 28, 1887; April 2, 1888; Nov. 23, 1899; Dec. 24, 1900; Dec. 16, 1901; Nov. 27, 1902; July 24, 1903; Gille, Maison Rothschild, vol. II, pp. 568—72.
Table e: N. M. Rothschild & Sons: profit and loss accounts, 1849-1918 (£).
Sources: RAL, RFamFD/13F; RFamFD/13E.
Table f: N. M. Rothschild & Sons: balance sheets, 1873-1918 (£, end of calendar year).
Sources: RAL, RFamFD/13a/1; 13B/1; 13C/1; 13D/1; 13D/2; 13/E.