The Denver Jewish news., 1921-10-05
Jews and the Eng
lish Peerage

The first British Jew to be admitted
to the Second Estate of the Realm was
the late Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild,
who was raised to the pecraGe in 1889
under the style of Baron Rothschild OF
Tring II was IA notable event, and has
duly been recognized as such in every
manual of Anglo-Jewish history, for it
scaled in a concrete fashion the powers
conferred on the Crown by the Parlia-
mcntary Oaths Act of 1866. a refer
encc to the debate on that Act, which
we borrow from the excellent mono
graph by Mr.. HenIiques. K.C.. is some
what topical today. \ chief opponent
of the measure, who was only vail
quishcd by the logic of facts. had been
the Lord Chelmsford of that day. fine
present holder of whose title has been
succeeded as yiceroy of India by IL Jew.
and served the greater part of his term
of office under n Jewish Secretary of
State. Lord Chelmsford in 1856 dis
cusspd the creation of Jewish peer as
ii kind of abstract proposition. which
did not enter into practical politics
and. as II fact. it was nineteen years
before IL Liberal Prime Minister advised
the Sovereign to extend to the Upper
House of Parliament an innovation un-
der the Oaths Act, which had been in
operation nearly thirty years in the
House of Commons.
Except for an accident of mortality.
it is possible that the first Jewish peer
might not have been selected from the
great financial house, of which Sir
Nathaniel was the head. The death in
1883 of Sir George Jessel, then Master
of the Rolls. occurred before an oppor-
tuni.y was afforded OF comforting upon
the holder of that high Office the barony
appropriate to its dignity; and the
baronctcy given to his elder son. nj the
early age of twcnty-threc, was quite
properly regarded as kind of dividend |
on Sir George Jcssel's deserts. The |
creation of Jewish legal peer WAS |
portponcd till 1911. when Sir Rufus
Isaacs. as Lord Chief Justice, was rails
ed TO the barony oe Reading: and the
subscqucno grants of a viscounty and /
an oarldom to that eminent lawyer and
statesman have been the steps of his
professional prcfcrment.
Another more or less professional
pccrugc was the barony of Pirbright.
bestowed in 1873 ON the late Baron
Henry dc Worms. Lord PiTbright's pro-
fcsson was politics. aGl hc had filed
with distinction two Parliamentary
Secrctaryships in the Conservative ad-
ninistrations after 1886. His barony
and that of the late Lord Wandsworth.
who sat in the House of Commons as
Sydney Stern, We're both cNtinglishcd
mt the deaths of their first holders and
the Burnham pcerage. conferred. in
1903, on the then proprietor of the
Daily Telegraph, father of the present
genial Niscognt can no longer lie count
ed as Jewish.
More than twenty years after TIE
Rothschild bnrOny. which set land
mark In Anglo-Icwish history, a sec
cnd great Jewish banker was raised 10
the same rank. in the person of thcilatc
Sir Samuel Montagu, for many years
MP for Whiteehapel, who entered the
House of Lords under the style of Lord
Swaythling. To him. and TO his eldest
son. the present popular holder of the
title. the hnglo-.Jcwish community owes
an immense debt of gratitude, for their
in
lavish yet wise generosity, and their
untiring efforts in all philanthropic
work ON behalf of their less fortunate
co-rcligionists. The Samuel family.
from which the first baron sprang. has
given several men of note to public
affairs. both within and without the
Jewish community Sir Stuart Samuel.
who was in Parliament for some years,
has found more congenial mcticr rs
President of the Jewish Board of Dcpu-
ties and of the Association of Jewish
Friendly Societies. The Rt. Hon. Ed
win Samuel Montagu, MP, is Secrc
tary of State for India; his brother,
Mr.. Lionel Montagri, bore himself gal
l1lllH III bHlllpbll' NHtlt ht N'4i INV
D.S.O.; and. perhaps the two members
of the family who have most closely
touched Jewish imagination are the
Hon. Lily Montagu, J.P., whose noble
work for girls clubs and childrcn's wei
fare has extended now over thirty /
years. aud the Itt. Hon. Sir Herbert |
samuel. G. Il. T., the first High Com
missioner for Palestine, in whose com |
potent hands is the fate of some dreams |
and some real waking hopes.