Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading

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Rufus Isaacs around 1910

Rufus Daniel Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading , GCB , GCSI , GCIE , GCVO , PC , QC , (born October 10, 1860 in Spitalfields , London , † December 30, 1935 in London), was a British politician and lawyer .

Life

Early years

Isaacs was the son of a Jewish fruit dealer. At fifteen he started working in the family business. 1876–77 he went to sea as a cabin boy. From 1880 to 1884 he worked on the stock exchange. In 1887 he began practicing law and joined the Middle Temple .

After many years as a respected attorney, Isaacs gained national fame in 1904 for his high profile defense in the Whitaker Wright case. He was elected to the House of Commons that same year as a Liberal MP for the Reading constituency. He would hold his seat in the House of Commons until 1913. In 1912 he was involved in the Marconi scandal .

Political offices

Isaacs on a tiger hunt in India around 1925

From 1905 to 1913 Isaacs served in the governments of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1905-1908) and Herbert Henry Asquith (1908-1916) as Solicitor General and Attorney General . In the latter capacity he was the first holder of the office to be awarded a seat in the cabinet (1912). In 1913 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales . He held this office until 1921.

In 1918 Isaacs was appointed British Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC, succeeding Cecil Spring-Rice . In parallel, he continued to serve as Lord Chief Justice. After he had resigned from his post as ambassador in 1919, he was appointed Viceroy of India in 1921 . Although he was striving for a more compensatory course compared to his predecessors, developments in India sometimes led him to harsh government methods. So he had Mahatma Gandhi imprisoned for rioting in 1922. In the all-party government of 1931, Isaacs served briefly as foreign minister , but left the government after three months (August to November 1931) because of his poor health.

Ennoblement and honors

1914 Isaacs was the basis of merit as Baron Reading in the county, of Erleigh Berkshire , in the hereditary nobility raised. In 1916 he was appointed Viscount Reading , 1917 Earl of Reading . In 1926 he was finally promoted to Marquess of Reading - the highest rank of nobility ever reached by a Jew in the United Kingdom. In 1929 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . From 1934 until his death he was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports .

Together with Alfred Mond and Herbert Louis Samuel , Issacs founded the predecessor institution of the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) under the British League of Nations mandate for Palestine . The Reading power plant in Tel Aviv is named after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
predecessor Office successor
Frederic Thesiger Viceroy of India
1921–1925 		Victor Bulwer-Lytton
New title created Marquess of Reading
1926-1935 		Gerald Rufus Isaacs
personal data
SURNAME Isaacs, Rufus, 1st Marquess of Reading
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reading, Isaacs Rufus, 1st Marquess of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1935
Place of death London