Rufus Isaacs, 1er marquis de Reading

Origins and early life

Rufus Daniel Isaacs was born in London on 10 October 1860, the son of Joseph Michael Isaacs, a Jewish fruit merchant of Spitalfields, and he remained a practising Jew all his life, never converting.

Work and career

He left school at fifteen, went to sea as a ship's boy, failed on the Stock Exchange, and only then read for the bar, where he became one of the most formidable advocates of his generation. Elected a Liberal member of parliament in 1904, he was appointed Solicitor General and then Attorney General, and in 1913 he became the first Jew to sit in a British cabinet while holding that office, after Herbert Samuel; the Marconi share scandal of 1912 and 1913, in which he and Lloyd George bought shares in the American Marconi company while the government negotiated with its British affiliate, damaged him and was tinged with antisemitic attacks in the press.

In 1913 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England, the first Jew to hold the office, and during the First World War he negotiated the Anglo-French loan in the United States and served as ambassador to Washington and High Commissioner. In 1921 he became Viceroy of India, again the first Jew, and his years in Delhi covered the non-cooperation movement and the imprisonment of Gandhi, whom he met and respected. He served briefly as Foreign Secretary in 1931, supported the Zionist cause, and in 1933 spoke publicly against Nazi persecution of German Jews. He died in London on 30 December 1935, the only man to have been both Lord Chief Justice and Viceroy.