Sir George Henry Lewis, 1st Baronet (21 April 1833 – 7 December 1911) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

extraction.

Biography

Solicitor

Lewis was born at 10

Ely Place Ely Place is a gated road of multi-storey terraces at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. It hosts a 1773-rebuilt public house, Ye Olde Mitre, of Tudor origin and is adjacent to Hatton Garden. It is privatel ...

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, London, and educated at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. In 1850 he was articled to his father, James Graham Lewis (1804–1873), founder of Lewis & Lewis, one of the best-known firms of solicitors in the

city of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. George was admitted in

Hilary term Hilary term is the second academic term of the University of OxfordOverend and Gurney Bank, who had caused the disastrous panic of 1866, and for a time he devoted special attention to financial cases. In criminal cases he drew public attention to himself by his cross-examination in the

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

case in 1875, and from that time onward was connected with most criminal "causes célèbres," being conspicuous in the prosecution of fraudulent persons like

Madame Rachel Sarah Rachel Russell or Leverson or Levison, best known as Madame Rachel (c.1814 – 12 October 1880), was a British criminal and con artist in Victorian-era London during the late 19th century. She operated a prominent beauty salon from which sh ...

and Slade the medium. Among other cases may be mentioned the

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourit ...

diamond robbery case; the case involving

Boulton and Park Thomas Ernest Boulton and Frederick William Park were two Victorian cross-dressers. In 1870, while in drag, they were arrested after leaving a London theatre. They were charged with conspiracy to commit sodomy, a crime that carried a maximum pri ...

; Belt versus Lawes; and the

Royal Baccarat Scandal The Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft Affair, was a British gambling scandal of the late 19th century involving the Prince of Wales—the future King Edward VII. The scandal started during a house party in September 1890, ...

, in which the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

was called as a witness; and he was selected by the

Parnell Commission The Parnell Commission, officially Special Commission on Parnellism and Crime, was a judicial inquiry in the late 1880s into allegations of crimes by Irish parliamentarian Charles Stewart Parnell which resulted in his vindication. Background On ...

to conduct the case for

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

and the Irish party against ''

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 ...

''. Lewis had by far the largest practise in financial cases of any lawyer in London, and was especially expert in

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

cases, being retained by some of the chief newspapers. He showed himself especially skilful in exposing the practises of usurious money-lenders. One of the last cases he was involved in personally was the

Archer-Shee case George Archer-Shee (6 May 1895 – 31 October 1914) was a Royal Navy cadet whose case of whether he stole a five shilling postal order was decided in the High Court of Justice in 1910. Archer-Shee was successfully defended by barrister ...

in 1908, the 14-year-old naval cadet expelled from Osborne College accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order, the basis of Rattigan's play ''

The Winslow Boy ''The Winslow Boy'' is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Background Set against the strict co ...

''. He was well known as a tidy disposer of skeletons in closets. This earned him a mention in

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

's Sherlock Holmes story "

The Adventure of the Illustrious Client "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" (1924) is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and one of the 12 stories collected as ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' (1927). It was first p ...

". Speaking of a similar, fictional character named Sir James Damery, Holmes observes "He has rather a reputation for arranging delicate matters which are to be kept out of the papers. You may remember his negotiations with Sir George Lewis over the Hammerford Will case".

Honours and family

Lewis was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed in 1893. It was announced that he would receive a

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in the

1902 Coronation Honours The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list shou ...

list published on 26 June 1902 for the (subsequently postponed) coronation of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

, and on 24 July 1902 he was created a Baronet, of Portland place, in the borough of Marylebone. The Prime Minister,

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...

, apparently objected, but a grateful King overruled him. Mrs George Lewis

Lewis was married twice: * 1st to Victorine Kann (1840 Frankfurt/Germany – 21 April 1865 London), who died shortly after childbirth (daughter Alice Victorine Lewis) * 2nd to Elizabeth Eberstadt (27 October 1844 Mannheim/Germany – 4 September 1931 London), daughter of Ferdinand Eberstadt of Worms/Mannheim and his wife Sara Seligmann. Elizabeth was sister of the professor of architecture in Berlin Rudolph Eberstadt and aunt of banker and philanthropist

Otto Hermann Kahn Otto Hermann Kahn (February 21, 1867 – March 29, 1934) was a German-born American investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Kahn was a well-known figure, appearing on the cover of ''Time'' magazine and was sometimes ...

in New York. Lewis and Elizabeth had three children: *George James Graham Lewis, 2nd Baronet, (1868–1927) *Gertrude Rachel Lewis (1871 – after 1949), who married in 1902 Theodore B. Birnbaum *Katherine Elizabeth Lewis (1878–1961). In their London home, Sir George and Lady Lewis met 'tout le monde'. Juxon described it: "Over the next thirty years this house was to be thronged with painters, sculptors, musicians, actors, writers, lawyers, politicians, indeed, .... , to be invited to "Lady Lewis's" was to enter a social milieu at once fluid and eclectic.... Here the establishment and Bohemia had to embrace – because Elizabeth wanted them to." He died on 7 December 1911 at

Portland Place Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the Third Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to BBC Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Institute of British A ...

in London.Biography for: George Henry Lewis

References

*Men and Women of the Times; Who's Who; *Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knighthood, 1903 *Juxon, John: Lewis & Lewis; The Life and Times of a Victorian Solicitor. William Collins Sons & Co., Glasgow 1983 *Ellmann, Richard: Oscar Wilde. R. Piper, Munich 1991 *Ash, Russell: Sir Edward Burne-Jones; Pavilian Books Ltd, London, 1993 atie Lewis*Burne-Jones, Edward: Letters to Katie; British Museum Publications, 1988 *Dictionary of National Biography, London 1912 *Chamber's Biographical Dictionary, Vol. II, 1901–1950, Oxford University Press 1961 *Concise Dictionary of National Biography 1901–1950, Oxford University Press, 1961 *Dictionary of British Portraiture, The Victorians, Bd. 3. B.T. Batsford Limited London 1981 *Who was Who 1897–1916 *Debrett's Illustrated Baronetage of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1908 *Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes for 1925 (51st edition) *Weimarer Historisch-genealoges Taschenbuch des gesamten Adels jehudaischen Ursprungs (Semigotha)Kyffhauser-Verlag, Munich, 1913 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, George Henry 1833 births 1911 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom English Jews Knights Bachelor 19th-century English lawyers Alumni of University College London