1879), succeeded him as head of the London branch. Under Lionel, the bank financed the British government's 1875 purchase of Egypt's interest in the Suez Canal. The Rothschild bank also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of the British South Africa Company. Leopold de Rothschild (1845<unk>1917) administered Rhodes's estate after his death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at the University of Oxford. In 1873, de Rothschildères in France and N. M. Rothschild & Sons of London joined with other investors to acquire the government's money-losing Spanish Rio Tinto copper mine. The new owners restructured the company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the British government purchased Egypt's interest in the Suez Canal. The Rothschild bank also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of the British South Africa Company.
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