{"record":{"aliases":["Rufus Daniel Isaacs","Lord Reading","Marquess of Reading"],"appointmentIds":["united-kingdom-ea7de5d4b56826"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/the-earl-of-reading-16a9ff3057/","countrySlug":"united-kingdom","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/the-earl-of-reading-16a9ff3057/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Rufus Daniel Isaacs (1860–1935), later Marquess of Reading, built his first career at the English bar. The son of a London Jewish merchant, he worked at sea and on the Stock Exchange before turning to law. He became a prominent advocate, entered Parliament as Liberal member for Reading in 1904, and served successively as solicitor-general and attorney-general. In 1913 he became lord chief justice, the first Jewish holder of that office.","His American diplomacy grew out of wartime finance. He headed the Anglo-French Loan Mission to the United States in 1915 and returned on another special mission in 1917. In 1918 he assumed the combined responsibilities of ambassador and high commissioner, bringing diplomatic representation, finance, and the purchase of war supplies under one senior representative. He retained the office of lord chief justice during this service.","Reading and Secretary of State Robert Lansing signed agreements to coordinate the military service obligations of nationals living in each other’s countries. In February 1918 Reading explained how exemptions could reconcile different British and American conscription ages without delaying matters for amendments to British law. The convention they signed in June covering Canada allowed eligible men a period in which to return home or enlist in their own forces; those who remained could become liable to service in the country where they lived. It also preserved their nationality despite serving in the other country’s army.","As viceroy of India from 1921 to 1926, Reading faced Gandhi’s non-cooperation campaign and the connected Khilafat movement. His government arrested large numbers of activists while initially hesitating to arrest Gandhi himself. Reading remained willing in late 1921 to consider a conference, but could offer little of the political change the nationalist movement demanded. Gandhi’s suspension of mass civil disobedience after the violence at Chauri Chaura in February 1922 altered the confrontation; Reading privately interpreted the retreat as a grave political setback for Gandhi.","After returning to Britain, Reading received a marquessate. He became involved in the development of Palestine’s electricity industry and in discussions of Jewish and Zionist affairs. In 1931 he briefly served as foreign secretary in the National Government and became Liberal leader in the House of Lords, a position he held until his death in 1935."],"id":"united-kingdom:the earl of reading","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-16a9ff3057bdc569fa99.html","name":"The Earl of Reading","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["src-c481941bd72a6fc8","src-405df7929419adfa"],["src-c481941bd72a6fc8","src-340f21ad2a53621b","src-405df7929419adfa"],["src-5e1d97865466b2ae","src-c8d3092f26dc9f30"],["src-ab60be0999935ff4"],["src-c481941bd72a6fc8","src-405df7929419adfa"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-16a9ff3057bdc569fa99.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"fd5f2ff62b7a415a","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1930-10-10","id":"src-c481941bd72a6fc8","locator":"Career profile; celebratory judgments and inconsistent precise dates excluded","publisher":"Jewish Telegraphic Agency","title":"Lord Reading, Former Indian Viceroy, Reaches 70 Today","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.jta.org/archive/lord-reading-former-indian-viceroy-reaches-70-today"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"src-405df7929419adfa","locator":"Life dates and chronological list of offices","publisher":"Journal of Liberal History","title":"Rufus Isaacs","type":"reference","url":"https://liberalhistory.org.uk/people/rufus-isaacs/"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1918-01-12","id":"src-340f21ad2a53621b","locator":"p. 3, contemporary announcement","publisher":"The Spectator","title":"Sir Cecil Spring-Rice and the appointment of Lord Reading","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/12th-january-1918/3/sir-cecil-spring-rice-the-british-ambassador-at-wa"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1918-02-20","id":"src-5e1d97865466b2ae","locator":"FRUS 1918 Supplement 2, document 825, Reading note dated 19 February","publisher":"US Department of State","title":"Lansing to Wilson, with Reading’s note on military service","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1918Supp02/d825"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1918-06-03","id":"src-c8d3092f26dc9f30","locator":"FRUS 1918 Supplement 2, document 842; articles I–V and signatures","publisher":"US Department of State","title":"Convention on military service of Americans in Canada and Canadians in the United States","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1918Supp02/d842"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"src-ab60be0999935ff4","locator":"Reading, negotiations, arrests, and suspension of civil disobedience","publisher":"Government of India, Publications Division","title":"Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement, 1919–1922","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://publicationsdivision.nic.in/catalog/view/theme/default/images/new_ngm_final/timeline/pages/page9.html"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-a0d34300fd88c1009d26","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"The Earl of Reading — mission record (1918–1919)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1918Supp02/d841"}],"topics":["law","Anglo-French loan mission","First World War","military service conventions","Canada","India","non-cooperation movement","Khilafat","Palestine electricity"]},"schemaVersion":1}