Viscount Herbert Louis Samuel, Britain’s first High Commissioner for Palestine under the League of Nations mandate, member of the Privy Council, former leader of the Liberal Party, former Home Secretary, and a devoted Orthodox Jew, died here today. He was 92.
Born at Liverpool in November 1870, Lord Samuel was educated at Oxford and held also degrees from Cambridge University, the University of Liverpool and the University of Leeds. A member of Parliament from 1902 to 1918, he was Parliamentary Undersecretary in the Home Department from 1905 to 1909; Postmaster General from 1910 to 1916; Secretary of State for Home Affairs for two terms, 1916 and 1931-32; and Britain’s Special Commissioner to Belgium before assuming the High Commissionership in Palestine in 1920.
Formerly president of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, Lord Samuel was the recipient of many high British and foreign decorations and was known as a man of great learning and the author of many books and scholarly treaties. He was elevated to the title of Viscount in 1937. Among Israelis and Zionists throughout the world, he was lauded for many years for his contributions to the growth of Palestine as a Jewish homeland, in spite of some major disagreements with his policies during his term as High Commissioner, He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem, and president of the British Friends of the Hebrew University.
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