Israel Davis (born 1847)

From Powerbase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English barrister and writer; co-owner of The Jewish Chronicle from 1878, its controlling proprietor from 1902 and chairman of its company from 1907 until his death in 1927

Israel Davis

Image Israel Davis JC 1949.jpg
Israel Davis, from The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (1949)
Born 29 March 1847 Blackheath, London
Died 21 January 1927
Occupation Barrister; newspaper proprietor; communal worker
Known for Co-owner (1878) and sole proprietor (1902–06) of The Jewish Chronicle; chairman of its company (1907–27)
Spouse(s) Jane Jaffe (married 1880)
Education City of London School; Christ's College, Cambridge

Israel Davis (1847 – 21 January 1927) was an English barrister and writer who, with Sydney Montagu Samuel, bought The Jewish Chronicle from the Anglo-Jewish Association in 1878 and took Asher Myers into partnership. After Myers's death in 1902 he was the paper's sole proprietor and, in practice, its editor until he sold it in 1906–07 to a group organised by Leopold Greenberg. He then served as chairman of the new company until his death.[1][2][3][4]

Early life and career

Cesarani writes that Davis was born in March 1847 in Blackheath and educated at the City of London School and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he played football for the university and was the first Jewish vice-president of the Union. After taking a first in classics he was called to the Bar and practised from 1870. He was for a time secretary to Sir David Salomons and, from 1873 to 1884, a frequent contributor to The Times on financial legislation. He served on the council of the Anglo-Jewish Association and on the executive committee of the Jewish Historical Society of England, and gave adult-education lectures in the evenings.[2] As a child he edited a family newspaper and sent juvenile poems to Abraham Benisch for publication.[2]

The Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry Project gives his dates as 29 March 1847 and 21 January 1927, records his marriage to Jane Jaffe on 3 February 1880, and lists The Jews in Roumania (1872) among his publications.[5] The same entry says he edited the Jewish World in 1873–75; Cesarani and the 1949 centenary volume instead say that the Jewish World was founded in 1873 by George Lewis Lyon with Myer Davis as its first editor.[6][7]

The 1949 volume says he was a member of the council of the Anglo-Jewish Association in 1878 but retired from it in order to leave his hands free in the negotiations for the Chronicle. It also records that in the mid-1870s Salomons asked him to approach Frederic David Mocatta for his collaboration in a scheme of Benisch's for a new periodical, which fell through when Mocatta disapproved.[8][9] In the 1949 volume's account, he had entered Jewish public life under the auspices of the Rothschilds of an earlier generation and, though called to the Bar, "did not trouble to build up a practice".[10]

The Jewish Chronicle

Purchase, 1878

Benisch's will left the paper to the Anglo-Jewish Association, which had no wish to run a newspaper and looked for a buyer. Cesarani says it was acquired by Davis and Sydney Montagu Samuel, a "wealthy scion of the Samuel Montagu family", who appointed Myers editor and made him a partner although he put in no capital.[1] The 1949 volume says the Association's council arranged to dispose of the paper to Davis, Myers and Samuel, "a nephew of Samuel Montagu"; Myers had no capital, so the other two provided the purchase money and admitted him as a partner on equal terms. It adds that Lionel Louis Cohen, Samuel Montagu and Lionel Van Oven, who held a veto under the arrangement made in 1869, could instead have bought the paper from Benisch's executors, and that Van Oven wanted to use his option in favour of Davis.[9] Cesarani quotes the agreement under which Myers was appointed: it said that "all reasonable efforts" would be made to carry out Davis's instructions on insertions and omissions, general tone and policy.[1] Davis later recalled that Benisch used to dictate his leading articles to Myers.[1]

Davis and Myers, 1878–1902

For the next twenty-four years, in the 1949 volume's words, Myers and the paper "were practically synonymous"; the same account says Davis was closely associated with the editorial work even in Myers's time.[9][10] The contents of the paper's jubilee supplement, reprinted in the 1949 volume, include "Some Worthies of the Half-Century: Personal Reminiscences" by Davis.[11] The 1949 volume also names Davis and Myers as members of the council of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition of 1887.[12]

Sole proprietor, 1902–06

Myers died in May 1902 and Davis, as the survivor of the three partners, became sole proprietor.[10] Cesarani writes that between May 1902 and December 1906 Davis led the paper "in a heroic struggle against anti-alienism", with long supplements on the Royal Commission on Alien Immigration and the Aliens Bill.[13] Day-to-day editing was done by Morris Duparc, with the title of managing editor, and Solomon Davis (no relation) as manager; the 1949 volume says the real control lay with Davis, "editor in fact though not in name".[10] Cesarani describes him as having little feel for modern journalism, with a formal, stilted style and an aversion to certain display advertising; Cecil Roth is quoted as calling his pen "fastidious" and noting a "hyper-delicacy of feeling".[2] The 1949 volume likewise describes a "fastidious though not a vigorous pen" and a "perfect and never-failing courtesy", and says that he seldom came to the office and that his anxiety grew as the paper's net earnings fell.[10][14]

Cesarani records that the paper's star reporter and leader writer Simon Gilbert (then Simon Gelberg) once threatened to resign over an editorial, and that Duparc and Davis quarrelled continually.[13] When the Aliens Act came into force in 1905, Davis wanted the paper to accept defeat and avow loyalty to the law; Gelberg refused to write the leading article and offered his resignation, and Davis relented.[15] The 1949 volume tells the same story, saying that Davis, who "knew that he was receiving first-class service at almost sweated rate", yielded and professed himself satisfied if Gelberg would "tone down a bit".[16]

On Zionism, Cesarani says Davis personally favoured Jewish settlement in Palestine and sympathised with the opposition to Theodor Herzl over the East Africa (Uganda) proposal, but that his unwillingness to take sides may have reflected a desire not to alienate readers; the paper commended the Jewish Territorial Organisation while keeping its distance from it and from the Zionist movement.[17] The 1949 volume says he was "personally definitely opposed to Zionism" but recognised that it was a serious movement and so sought to report it dispassionately.[18]

Sale to Greenberg and chairmanship

Cesarani writes that, exhausted after nearly five years at the helm and with profits falling, Davis went looking for a buyer in December 1906.[19] Greenberg's offer was for £10,000, the price Davis had asked.[20] The 1949 volume says the group around the Jewish World had let it be known that they would pay £10,000, but that Davis could not bring himself to sell to them.[21] Greenberg then set up a company with Davis as chairman and himself, Jacobus Kann, Joseph Cowen and Leopold Kessler as principal shareholders, together with David Wolffsohn and Nissan Katzenelson.[3] Davis remained chairman of the board until his death in 1927, when Cowen succeeded him.[4][22]

Death and bequest

Davis died on 21 January 1927; Cesarani cites the paper's obituary of 28 January 1927.[5][4] The 1949 volume says he bequeathed a large part of his fortune to the teaching of English in Palestine, although this did not mean that he approved of political Zionism.[10][23] After his death his shareholding passed in part to the Kessler family, which Cesarani says gained 1,675 shares.[24]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 67.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 96.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 105.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 142.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Alison Chapman (ed.) and the DVPP team, "Davis, Israel (M)", Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry Project, Edition 0.98.11beta (University of Victoria), accessed 11 November 2026.
  6. ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 68–69.
  7. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 157.
  8. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 88.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 90.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 112.
  11. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 98.
  12. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 99.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 97.
  14. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 122.
  15. ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 100.
  16. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 120.
  17. ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 101.
  18. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 121.
  19. ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 102.
  20. ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 103.
  21. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 123.
  22. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 169.
  23. ↑ The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 113.
  24. ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 153.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Israel_Davis_(born_1847)&oldid=308562"