Writer Explodes Old Legends in Tale of Lord Reading’s Rise

The story of Lord Reading, “From Humble Ship’s Boy to Marquisate,” is told by Sir John Foster Fraser in the North Eastern Daily Gazette.

“It is not true,” he writes, “that the Most Noble the Marquess of Reading P. C., G. C. B., G. C. S. I., G. C. I. E., G. C. V. O., who in his time played many parts, King’s Counsel, Member of Parliament, Chief Law Adviser to the Crown, Lord Chief Justice of England, British ambassador to the United States, Viceroy of India, and now on the boards of a group of companies representing 120,000,000 pounds, including the presidency of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., started life as a poor East End Jew, called Rufus Isaacs, who ran away to sea.

LAZY AT SCHOOL

“He was not a poor little boy and he didn’t run away. His father was a Covent Garden fruit merchant, and as a side line did some shipbroking. Rufus Isaacs, with the middle name Daniel, went to University College School. The story is that he was ‘a demoniacal young imp who was always in disgrace and being caned. He was lazy with his lessons. He was a ‘bit of a handful at home, thought he knew enough at sixteen and instead of wanting to improve his mind he wanted to see the world. There was family resistance, but Rufus had his way.

” ‘Well,’ said the skipper, ‘you’ll have to go as ship’s boy, the lowest job in the ship.’ So his job was to do the meanest work—holy-stone the deck, polish the brass and clean out the pig-styes — a duty which might have been spared me, considering my origin,’ said Lord Reading, with a laugh. And that is how he went to South America and ultimately sailed up the Hugli River in Bengal to Calcutta.

“There was no excitement, no military parade, no booming of welcoming guns as there were— and Lord Reading chuckled gently as he described to me the contrast—when long years later he stepped ashore near the same spot as Viceroy representative of the King-Emperor.

NO VISION OF FUTURE

“It is always interesting to know whether men who attain great distinction and honor in later life had in their youthful day dreams of what they intended to achieve. Well, Lord Reading had not. As a young fellow, married with no money, he just worked hard. When he heard of friends getting to be a stipendiary magistrate or a county judge at £1,500 a year, he envied their good fortune.

“Always handsome, with a cast of features which proclaim the cultured mind, there is a lingering sadness in the eyes that one so often sees in the eyes of intellectual Jews. At times there have been waves of protest against one of his race holding some of the highest offices in the state. He has never retorted, and has always been staunch to the faith of his fathers. He was the first Jew to become a marquess. Only once have I known him to show indignation. Because of the recent Nazi treatment of the Jews he— ever ready to promote international cordiality—resigned his position with the Anglo-German Association.”