Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Cohen, Arthur (1829-1914), lawyer, politician and Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Parallel form(s) of name
- The Rt Hon Arthur Cohen, PC, QC, MP, FBA
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1829-1914
History
Matriculated in 1849, as Fellow-Commoner: a graduate of University College, London, he was refused admission at Trinity, Christ’s and one other College, but after the intervention of the Prince Consort as Chancellor, he was admitted to Magdalene, with dispensations as to Chapel attendance. He was the first professing Jew to become a graduate of the University.
5th Wrangler (not being Senior Wrangler rankled for the rest of his life). President of the Union, 1853.
A commercial lawyer (Inner Temple), specialising in insurance cases, but also keenly interested in International Law, as well as Mathematics and Philosophy. Counsel to the University, 1879, and to the secretary of state for India, 1893; Liberal MP for Southwark, 1880-1887 (which precluded acceptance of a judgeship).
Honorary Fellow, 1885 (one of the first; not 1883 as usually stated). ‘A great lawyer… for the argument of a question of law before an appellate tribunal he had few equals’ (ODNB). Major player in the Alabama arbitration.
Silver candlesticks presented in his memory by his nephew.
Arms in Hall glass, E1.
Obituary, College Magazine No. 17 (1914), pp. 328-330