Baron Harry Louis Nathan visit to Israel (997009326816105171)

Harry Louis Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan, (2 February 1889 – 23 October 1963) was a British

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician who from 1934 onwards represented the Labour Party. He served two

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

seats non-consecutively and while serving the second seat was elevated to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

(by the creation of his peerage); five years later he served in two positions consecutively as a government minister in the

Attlee Ministry Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom in July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 1945 gene ...

until 1948.

Early life

Nathan was born in London in 1889, son of Michael Henry Nathan, a fine art publisher and

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

. Educated at St Paul's School, he became a solicitor and member of the firm of Herbert Oppenheimer, Nathan and Vandyk. He became honorary secretary of the Brady Working Lads' Club, the oldest and largest of the London Jewish Lads' Clubs (now

JLGB The JLGB (Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade) is a national Jewish youth organisation based in and primarily serving the United Kingdom. The UK's oldest Jewish youth movement, it was founded in 1895 as the Jewish Lads' Brigade by Colonel Albert E. ...

). Nathan served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, leaving with the rank of Major. He acted as honorary solicitor to the

Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...

which promoted the re-establishment of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Politics

He stood as the Liberal candidate in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

for Whitechapel and St. George's without success. He was a member of the Liberal Industrial Inquiry which prepared '' Britain's Industrial Future'', also known as the ''Liberal Yellow Book''. He was first elected in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bethnal Green North East and was re-elected in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

. Along with many other Anglo-Jewish communal leaders, Nathan was a founding member of the Central British Fund for German Jewry renamed some years after his death.Gottlieb, Amy Zahl. ''Men of Vision: Anglo-Jewry's Aid to Victims of the Nazi Regime, 1933–1945''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998, p.26 In 1934, he defected to the Labour Party. Labour won the seat at the 1935 general election but Nathan was not their candidate; he opted instead to stand in Cardiff South. He lost by 1.8% of the votes cast, a small increase in the two-party swing his campaign saw – of 271 votes – would have seen him elected.''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949'',

F. W. S. Craig Frederick Walter Scott Craig (10 December 1929 – 23 March 1989) was a Scottish psephologist and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations, compilin ...

In 1937, Nathan returned to Parliament in a by-election in Wandsworth Central as the Labour candidate. He in turn stepped down in 1940 to make way for

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...

, and was created a hereditary peer as Baron Nathan, of

Churt Churt is a village and civil parish in the borough of Waverley, Surrey, Waverley in Surrey, England, about south of the town of Farnham on the A287 road towards Hindhead. A nucleated village, clustered settlement is set in areas acting as its b ...

in the

County of Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

on 28 June 1940. He continued in active politics from the

, serving as

Under-Secretary of State for War The position of Under-Secretary of State for War was a British government position, first applied to Evan Nepean (appointed in 1794). In 1801 the offices for War and the Colonies were merged and the post became that of Under-Secretary of State for ...

(1945–46 and Minister for Civil Aviation (4 October 1946 – 31 May 1948). He was made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

in 1946.

Family

His wife

Eleanor Nathan Eleanor Joan Nathan, Lady Nathan (1892–1972) was a British politician and member of the London County Council (LCC) from 1928 to 1934 for the Liberal Party and from 1937 to 1948 for the Labour Party, serving the last year as the council's chair ...

was Chairman of

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(1947–1948). He was succeeded to the

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

y by his son

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

(1922–2007). His daughter, Joyce, was married to

Bernard Waley-Cohen Sir Bernard Nathaniel Waley-Cohen, 1st Baronet (29 May 1914 – 3 July 1991) was a British businessman. He was the 633rd Lord Mayor of London, elected in 1960. Biography The son of Sir Robert Waley Cohen and Alice (''née'' Beddington), Waley-C ...

, later the 633rd

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

, and the son of

Robert Waley Cohen Sir Robert Waley Cohen, KBE (8 September 1877 – 27 November 1952) was a British industrialist and prominent leader of Anglo-Jewry. Early life He came from a prominent Jewish family, being the grandson of Jacob Waley and a cousin of Arthur ...

, an industrialist and fellow leading member of the Central British Fund for German Jewry.

Arms

References

* *''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' obituary, 25 October 1963

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Harry 1st Baron Nathan 1889 births 1963 deaths English Jews English solicitors Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Jewish British politicians Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 People educated at St Paul's School, London UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs who were granted peerages War Office personnel in World War II 20th-century English lawyers Barons created by George VI Military personnel from London British Army personnel of World War I Royal Fusiliers officers