941 Arthur Cohen

Constituency : Southwark 1880-5, 1885-8

Arthur  recaptured  Southwark  from  the  Tories.

Arthur  was  Jewish. He  was  educated  in  Frankfurt  and  University  College London. After a  struggle  he  was  admitted  to  Cambridge  but  had  to  wait  for  the  1871  Test  Act  to  graduate. He  became  the  first  practising  Jew  to do so. He  became  a  barrister. As  an  expert  in  shipping  and  insurance  law  he  represented  England  in  the  Alabama  arbitration  in  Geneva  in  1872. He stood  for  Lewes  in  1874.

Arthur  declined a  judgeship  shortly  after  his  election.  He  often  represented  foreign  governments  in  cases  before  the  English  courts. He  became  vice-president  of  the  newly  formed  London  and  Counties  Liberal  Union.

Arthur resigned  hid  seat  in  1888  to  become  a  judge  of  the  Cinque  Ports.

Arthur  was President  of  the  Board  of  Deputies of  Jews  until  1894  when  he  resigned  because  one  of  his  daughters  married  out. He  was  scathing  of  Reform  Judaism.

He died in  1914  aged  84.