Rufus and Stella Isaacs
Toronto Daily Star, August 13 1931
Rufus Isaacs, the first Marquess of Reading (1860-1935), was no ordinary peer. He was the first practicing Jew to ever become a marquess, the second to become a member of the British cabinet, and the first to become Lord Chief Justice. He was born the son of a fruit importer and became the second commoner to become a marquess, with the first being the Duke of Wellington.
He was knighted in 1910, ennobled in 1914, a Viscount in 1916, a Count in 1917, and finally made it all the way to Marquess in 1926. Before acquiring all of these honours, he was a lawyer and a Liberal Party member of the British Parliament. His first wife, the former Alice Cohen, passed away in 1930.
Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading (1894-1971) was originally the first Marchioness of Reading's secretary before becoming the Marquess's secretary. After his first wife's death, she became his political hostess and then became his second wife; the marriage was apparently greeted with "universal applause". After his death in 1935, the Marchioness went on to form the WVS (Women's Voluntary Service). It was said of her at the time that had she been born a man, she might very well have become Prime Minister. As it was, she became a life baroness in her own right in 1958.
Created September 25, 2025.