Samuel Cohen (14 July 1812 – 4 November 1861) was an English-born Australian politician and businessman.
Cohen was born at
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
to merchant Barnett Cohen and his wife Sierlah (sarah). He came to Australia, arriving in Sydney on 19 April 1834, aboard the ''Resource''. He had been sent by his father to take his brothers, David and Lewis, back to England, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
[''These are the Names: Jewish Lives in Australia1788-1850'', John S. Levi, The Miegunyah Press, 2006.]
Business Interests
From 1835 he lived at
Maitland
Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
, and partnered with
Lewis Levy
Lewis Wolfe Levy (13 June 1815 – 25 January 1885) was an English-born Australian businessman and politician.
Life and career
He was born in London, the son of merchant Benjamin Wolfe Levy and his wife Martha née Levy. He migrated to S ...
, later also a politician.
In 1836 he co-founded a general merchants company with his brother David, operating out of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
.
Politics
In 1860 Cohen was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
for
Morpeth
Morpeth may refer to:
*Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia
** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales
* Morpeth, Ontario, Canada
* Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK
** Morpeth (UK ...
in a by-election, but he was defeated at the general election later that year.
Personal life
On 23 August 1837 he married Rachel Nathan, with whom he had seven children.
Samuel Cohen died suddenly, in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, on 4 November 1861. The
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
reported that "the mournful cortege consisted of a hearse, fourteen mourning coaches, and seventy-two carriages...As the funeral passed through the different streets, large numbers of spectators assembled to witness it; thus showing the general esteem in which the deceased gentleman was held by all sections of the community."
[''Empire'' (Sydney) 7 November 1861](_blank)
Funeral of the late Mr. Samuel Cohen. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
Cohen's wife, Rachel, died in London on 26 October 1893.
See also
*
Cintra House, Maitland#The David Cohen Company in Australia
References
External links
Obituaries Australia Samuel Cohen. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
*
Australian Jewish Historical Society
The Australian Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1938 in Sydney. The first president was Percy J. Marks. At the first business meeting of the Society, the then-president of the Royal Australian Historical Society K. R. Cramp expressed ...
; Journal and Proceedings, volume 6, September 1969, pp 334–343. ''Samuel Cohen, an early Settler and a Parliamentarian with a Conscience.''
*
Australian Jewish Historical Society
The Australian Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1938 in Sydney. The first president was Percy J. Marks. At the first business meeting of the Society, the then-president of the Royal Australian Historical Society K. R. Cramp expressed ...
; Journal and Proceedings, volume 9, No. 8, 1985. ''David Cohen & Co; The Family and the Firm, an Anglo-Jewish Story.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Samuel
1812 births
1861 deaths
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
19th-century Australian politicians
Jewish Australian politicians