The Marquess of Reading | |
|---|---|
 Reading in 1917 | |
| Leader of the House of Lords | |
| In office 25 August 1931 – 5 November 1931 | |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | The Lord Parmoor |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Hailsham |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 25 August 1931 – 5 November 1931 | |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | Arthur Henderson |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Simon |
| Viceroy and Governor-General of India | |
| In office 2 April 1921 – 3 April 1926 | |
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | The Lord Chelmsford |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Halifax |
| Lord Chief Justice of England | |
| In office 21 October 1913 – 8 March 1921 | |
| Appointed by | George V |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Alverstone |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Trevethin |
| Attorney-General for England | |
| In office 7 October 1910 – 19 October 1913 | |
| Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
| Preceded by | Sir William Robson |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Simon |
| Solicitor-General for England | |
| In office 6 March 1910 – 7 October 1910 | |
| Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
| Preceded by | Sir Samuel Evans |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Simon |
| Member of theHouse of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 9 January 1914 – 30 December 1935 Hereditary Peerage | |
| Preceded by | Peerage created |
| Succeeded by | The 2nd Marquess of Reading |
| Member of Parliament forReading | |
| In office 6 August 1904 – 19 October 1913 | |
| Preceded by | George William Palmer |
| Succeeded by | Leslie Orme Wilson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rufus Daniel Isaacs (1860-10-10)10 October 1860 Tower Hamlets,London, England |
| Died | 30 December 1935(1935-12-30) (aged 75) |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Gerald Isaacs, 2nd Marquess of Reading |
| Education | University College School |
| Profession | Lawyer, jurist, politician |
Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading (10 October 1860 – 30 December 1935), known asthe Earl of Reading from 1917 to 1926, was a British Liberal politician and judge, who served asLord Chief Justice of England,[1]Viceroy of India, andForeign Secretary, the last Liberal to hold that post. The second practising Jew to be a member of the British cabinet (the first beingHerbert Samuel,[2] who was also a member ofH. H. Asquith's government), Isaacs was the first JewishLord Chief Justice, and the firstBritish Jew to become amarquess.
Rufus Isaacs was born at 3 Bury Street, in the parish ofSt Mary Axe, London, the son of a Jewish fruit importer atSpitalfields.[3] He was educated atUniversity College School[1] and then entered the family business at the age of 15. In 1876–77 he served as a ship's boy and later worked as ajobber on thestock-exchange from 1880 to 1884. In 1887 he marriedAlice Edith Cohen, who suffered from a chronic physical disability and died of cancer in 1930, after over 40 years of marriage. TheLady Reading Hospital inPeshawar is named after her.
He then marriedStella Charnaud, the first Lady Reading's secretary. His second marriage lasted until his own death in 1935. After his death Stella Isaacs was madeDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1941,[4] promoted toDame Grand Cross (GBE) in 1944,[5] and then in 1958 made alife peeress as Baroness Swanborough, of Swanborough in the County of Sussex.
Isaacs was admitted as a student to theMiddle Temple in 1885, and wascalled to the Bar in 1887.[6] He set up his own chambers at 1 Garden Court, Temple, and was very successful; within five years he was able to repay his creditors, and after twenty years at the bar earned the enormous sum of £30,000 per year. He was appointed aQueen's Counsel in 1898, after only ten and half years at the junior bar.
Isaacs mainly practised in theCommercial Court, with occasional appearance in the divorce court or at the Old Bailey. Among his famous cases were the defence ofThe Star against a charge of libel by Arthur Chamberlain (at the behest of his brotherJoseph), theTaff Vale case (where he appeared for the union), the 1903Bayliss v. Coleridge libel suit, the prosecution of the fraudsterWhitaker Wright, the defence ofSir Edward Russell on a charge of criminal libel, and that ofRobert Sievier on a charge of blackmail.
As a barrister, Isaacs was a hard worker, rising early to prepare his cases, although he never worked after dinner. His advocacy was calm and forensic, and he was renowned for his style of cross-examination.
Having earlier contested unsuccessfully North Kensington in 1900, Isaacs entered theHouse of Commons as theLiberal Party member of Parliament (MP) forReading at theby-election on 6 August 1904, a seat he held for nine years until 1913.[1]
In 1910, he was appointedsolicitor general in the government ofH. H. Asquith and received the customaryknighthood. After six months, he was appointedattorney general. On the resignation ofLord Loreburn as Lord Chancellor in 1912, Isaacs had expected to succeed him, but was passed over in favour ofLord Haldane. To appease him, Asquith invited Isaacs to join the Cabinet; he was the first attorney general to sit in the Cabinet.
As law officer, Isaacs handled many high-profile cases. As solicitor general, he appeared for the Admiralty in theGeorge Archer-Shee case. As attorney general, he led the prosecutions ofEdward Mylius for criminal libel against KingGeorge V (and was appointedKCVO shortly after), of poisonerFrederick Seddon (the only murder trial Isaacs ever took part in), and of suffragetteEmmeline Pankhurst. He also represented theBoard of Trade at the inquiry into the sinking of the RMSTitanic.
In addition, he helped to pilot through the Commons several pieces of key legislation, including theParliament Act 1911, theOfficial Secrets Act 1911, theNational Insurance Act 1911, theTrade Union Act 1913, and theGovernment of Ireland Act 1914. He was appointed to thePrivy Council in the1911 Coronation Honours.
Isaacs was one of several high-ranking members of theLiberal government accused of involvement in theMarconi scandal.[7] An article published inLe Matin on 14 February 1913 alleged corruption in the award of a government contract to theMarconi Company andinsider trading in Marconi's shares, implicating a number of sitting government ministers, includingLloyd George, thechancellor of the Exchequer; Isaacs, then attorney general;Herbert Samuel,postmaster general; and the treasurer of the Liberal Party,Lord Murray.[8]
The allegations included the fact that Isaacs's brother,Godfrey Isaacs, was managing director of the Marconi company at the time that the cabinet, in which Isaacs sat, awarded Marconi the contract.[9][10] Isaacs and Samuels suedLe Matin forlibel, and as a result, the journal apologised and printed a complete retraction in its 18 February 1913 issue.[8][11][12]
The factual matters were at least partly resolved by a parliamentaryselect committee investigation, which issued three reports: all found that Isaacs and others had purchased shares in theAmerican Marconi company, but while the fellow-Liberal members of the committee cleared the ministers of all blame, the opposition members reported that Isaacs and others had acted with "grave impropriety".[8] It was not made public during the trial that these shares had been made available through Isaacs's brother at a favourable price.[13]
In October 1913 he was madeLord Chief Justice of England, in succession to theViscount Alverstone. At the time the Attorney General had the right of first refusal for the appointment, but his involvement in the Marconi scandal complicated matters. Although reluctant to abandon his political career Isaacs felt he had little choice: to refuse would be to suggest that the Marconi scandal had tainted him. Consequently, he accepted the post, and was elevated to the peerage asBaron Reading,ofErleigh in theCounty of Berkshire, on 9 January 1914.[14] His appointment caused some controversy, and led toRudyard Kipling attacking him in the poem "Gehazi".
As Lord Chief Justice, Reading presided over the trial ofRoger Casement for high treason. His attendance in court was, however, intermittent, as he was frequently called upon by the government to serve as an advisor. In August 1914 Reading was enlisted to deal with the financial crisis brought about by the outbreak of theFirst World War. In 1915 he led theAnglo-French Financial Commission to seek financial assistance for the Allies from the United States. During the December 1916 Cabinet crisis, he acted as intermediary between Asquith andDavid Lloyd George.
In September 1917 Reading returned to the United States with the special appointment of high commissioner to the United States and Canada. In 1918 he was appointedBritish Ambassador to the United States, all the while remaining Lord Chief Justice. Returning to England for six months in 1918, he frequently attended theWar Cabinet and was sent to France as Lloyd George's confidential emissary. He returned to the United States as Ambassador in 1919, relinquishing the post the same year. After the excitement of wartime diplomacy, he returned unwillingly to the bench in 1919, while seeking new appointments.
For his wartime public service he was appointedGCB in 1915, madeViscount Reading,of Erleigh in the County of Berkshire in 1916, andEarl of Reading as well asViscount Erleigh,of Erleigh in the County of Berkshire, in 1917.[15][16]
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In 1921, he resigned the chief justiceship to becomeViceroy and Governor-General of India. Reading preferred a conciliatory policy: he was determined to implement the provisions of theGovernment of India Act 1919 and opposed racial discrimination. He personally receivedMohandas Karamchand Gandhi andMuhammad Ali Jinnah, and visitedAmritsar as a gesture of reconciliation. However, he ended up using force on several occasions: in 1921 he ordered the suppression of theMalabar rebellion, and in 1922 he put down Sikh unrest in the Punjab. The same year, he had Gandhi arrested for sedition. Reading cultivated good relations with the Indian princes, but forced two maharajas to abdicate.
On his return from India in 1926, he was madeMarquess of Reading, the first man to rise from commoner to a marquessate since theDuke of Wellington.[3] The next year he was madeCaptain of Deal Castle in 1927, a position he held until 1934.[17] As Viceroy Reading was appointed GCSI and GCIEex officio in 1921, and in 1922 was promoted to GCVO.
As a former viceroy, Reading was critical of some of the policies of his successorLord Irwin. On 5 November 1929 he attacked Irwin in the House of Lords for using the term "Dominion Status" with regard to India, prior to the report of theSimon Commission.[18]
On his return from India, Reading, who had no pension and was a heavy spender, sat on several corporate boards, and later became president ofImperial Chemical Industries. TheLeader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords from 1931 to 1935, he took part in theRound Table Conferences of 1930–32 on the future of British India as head of the Liberal delegates. He was also a member of the select committee charged with the drafting of theGovernment of India Act 1935.
In MacDonald'sNational Government in August 1931, Reading briefly served asSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs andLeader of the House of Lords, but stood down after the first major reshuffle in November due to ill-health.
He was appointedLord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1934.
Reading died in London in December 1935 aged 75. After cremation atGolders Green Crematorium, his ashes were buried at the nearbyJewish cemetery.[19] The house where he died, No. 32Curzon Street inMayfair, has had ablue plaque on it since 1971.[20]
In addition to five peerages and five knighthoods, Reading was appointed Grand Cordon of theOrder of Leopold in 1925.[21] He wasCaptain of Deal Castle andLord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and was aBencher and Treasurer of the Middle Temple.[citation needed]
The Lord Reading Law Society, founded in 1948 to promote the interests of Jewish members of theQuebec Bar, was named for him.[22] He was a founding chairman of the Palestine Electric Corporation and theReading Power Station inTel Aviv, Israel was named for him.[23]
Isaacs championed the taxation of land values and reforms in the legal standing of unions, education, licensing, and military organization.[24] Isaacs also gave staunch official backing to David Lloyd George's initiative on land reform, together with his tax on land values[25] and national social insurance scheme.[26]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forReading 1904–1913 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Lords 1931 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Foreign Secretary 1931 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Liberals in theHouse of Lords 1931–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Solicitor General 1910 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Attorney General 1910–1913 | |
| Preceded by | Lord Chief Justice 1913–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Viceroy of India 1921–1925 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | British Ambassador to the United States 1918–1919 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1934–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Marquess of Reading 1926–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Earl of Reading 1917–1935 | ||
| Viscount Reading 1916–1935 | ||
| Baron Reading 1914–1935 | ||
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