[2] He was adopted as a Liberal candidate for the London constituency of St George's in the East, but on being invited, he contested in 1885 another seat, at Aylesbury,[6] which he won and held until his death.

[7] In 1886, over the issue of Irish Home Rule, he joined the Liberal Unionists and hosted meetings at Waddesdon Manor (where Joseph Chamberlain, Arthur Balfour and Lord Randolph Churchill were often guests) that led to the formation of the Unionist-Conservative alliance.

Ferdinand de Rothschild died at Waddesdon Manor on his 59th birthday, thought to be the result of a cold caught when last visiting his wife's tomb.

Fluent in three languages, and considered "as much at home in Paris as in London",[3] Ferdinand was an already inspired collector of eighteenth-century French decorative arts from his early twenties.

[3] In the autumn of 1874, Ferdinand de Rothschild bought land in the village of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire from the Duke of Marlborough in order to build a property in which he could house his diverse collections.

Yet, 'towards the end of his life, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild became increasingly concerned about the future of Waddesdon Manor',[13] shown here in his quote from The Red Book:"A future generation may reap the chief benefit of a work which to me has been a labour of love, though I fear Waddesdon will share the fate of most properties whose owners have no descendants, and fall into decay.

May the day yet be distant when weeds will spread over the garden, the terraces crumble into dust, the pictures and cabinets cross the Channel or the Atlantic, and the melancholy cry of the nigh-jar sound from the deserted towers"[14] - Ferdinand de Rothschild, 1897Miss Alice, in turn, bequeathed the estate to their nephew, James Armand de Rothschild.