LORD READING

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 221, 19 August 1931, Page 9

LORD READING

1 A SPECTACULAR CAREER. There are few great Englishmen who have behind them such a romantic career as that of the Marquess of Reading, whose engagement to his secretary was announced'recently. At the age of fourteen as Rufus Daniel Isaacs, he ran away to sea, obtaining a job as cabin boy on a sailing ship bound for'Calcutta; forty-seven years later he mado a second trip to India, hut as Viceroy in the name of the King. Born in October, 18(50, Iris father was a merchant in the City of London. His youth was full of variety for his education was divided between London, Brussels and Hanover, and this gave him a distaste for his father’s counting house, which led to him running away to sea. Returning to England, young Isaacs tried his hand in the Stock Exchange, but lie failed and was hammered out. Deciding to try his fortune in the United States, he had gone to Liverpool to board a liner, when his mother found him and

influenced him to return home and take up law. Within five years he had paid off all his debts and built up an extensive practice. His rise then became rapid. In 1904 lie entered Parliament as Liberal member for Reading; in 1912 he was appoint**! Solicitor-General and Attorney-Gen-eral, and two years later was given a seat in the Cabinet, the first instance on record of an Attorney-General being so honoured. In 1913, he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England. During the war he executed several important missions to the United States. His career reached its climax when, in 1921, he was appointed Viceroy of India. In the meantime he had received many honours from the King being created a Baron in 1914. a Viscount in 1916, and an Earl in 1917. He was created a Marquess on his return from India in 1926.

Lord Reading’s first wife (nee Edith Cohen) in spite of ill-health, was an invaluable aid to her husband, and they were always together. She did valuable work for the welfare of Indian women and children. Her death at the end of 1929 was a great blow to Lord Reading.