Joseph Cowen (born 1868)
English Zionist leader and clothing manufacturer; associate of Theodor Herzl, director of the Jewish Colonial Trust and chairman of the board of The Jewish Chronicle from 1927 until 1932
| Joseph Cowen
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Joseph Cowen, from David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (1994) |
| Born | 1868 Davenport, England |
| Died | 26 May 1932 |
| Occupation | Clothing manufacturer; Zionist leader; company director |
| Known for | British Zionist Federation (1899); director of the Jewish Colonial Trust; director (1907–32) and chairman (1927–32) of the company that owned The Jewish Chronicle |
Joseph Cowen (1868 – 26 May 1932) was an English Zionist leader and clothing manufacturer who was an early associate of Theodor Herzl and one of the original shareholders and directors of the company that bought The Jewish Chronicle in 1907. He succeeded Israel Davis as chairman of its board in 1927 and held the post until his death.[1][2][3]
Zionist career
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says Cowen was born in Davenport and was at first indifferent to Jewish affairs until his relative Israel Zangwill persuaded him to attend the First Zionist Congress, after which he became Herzl's chief associate in British affairs. It names him as the moving spirit behind the foundation of the British Zionist Federation in 1899 (of which he served several times as president), as having accompanied Herzl to his audience with the Ottoman sultan in 1902, and as the model for the character "Joe-Joseph Levy" in Herzl's novel Altneuland. He became a director of the Jewish Colonial Trust on its foundation and held the post until his death.[3] According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Herzl appointed him guardian of his only son, Hans Herzl, and he was a former president of the English Zionist Federation, succeeded in that office by Chaim Weizmann, and a former member of the Zionist world executive.[4] The 1949 centenary volume calls him "Herzl's old associate and Greenberg's close friend", "a prosperous business-man in the gown trade" and a friend of Zangwill.[5] Cesarani describes him as "a well-to-do clothing manufacturer and member of the Actions Committee and the JCT".[1]
During the First World War, the Encyclopaedia Judaica says, he was one of the few Zionist leaders to support Vladimir Jabotinsky's efforts to create a Jewish Legion and was Weizmann's "right-hand man" during the preparatory political work for the Balfour Declaration; it adds that he was a member of the Zionist Commission to Palestine in 1918, treasurer of the Zionist Organization, a member of the Zionist Executive in 1921–22 and head of Keren Hayesod in Britain.[3] Cesarani records that on 6 December 1914 he attended, with Leopold Greenberg and Dr David Eder, the London meeting on the proposed Jewish unit in the British Army, and that Weizmann referred to Greenberg and Cowen in a letter of that month as "the enemies in our camp".[6][7]
The Jewish Chronicle
In the first plan for the 1906–07 purchase, Cesarani says, Wolffsohn, Katzenelson, Cowen, Kann and Greenberg were to be the principal shareholders; when the plan was reworked, Greenberg set up a company with Davis as chairman and himself, Kann, Cowen and Leopold Kessler as principal shareholders, along with David Wolffsohn and Nissan Katzenelson. Cowen was one of its directors.[8][1] Cesarani says Cowen, like Greenberg, was an early admirer and aide of Herzl, and that Cowen, Kessler and Kann sat on the board throughout the 1907–31 period.[1][2] When Davis died in 1927 Cowen succeeded him as chairman, a post he held until his death in May 1932; the 1949 volume says Kessler succeeded him.[2][5] Cesarani writes that Greenberg's death in 1931 followed by Cowen's in May 1932 "upset the equilibrium" of the board, and that Kann and Kessler then looked for a successor to Cowen as director. His brother, Harry Cowen, was favoured by Kann but ruled out by Kessler, who thought he had taken no part in the paper's affairs; in March 1933 Leopold Kessler and Mortimer Epstein split the 2,194 shares Harry Cowen disposed of.[2][9][10]
Death
Cowen died on 26 May 1932, aged 64 according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.[4] The Encyclopaedia Judaica cites the Jewish Chronicle of 27 May 1932 among its sources, and distinguishes him from his non-Jewish namesake, the radical MP Joseph Cowen (1829–1900).[3]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 105.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 142.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Getzel Kressel, Cowen, Joseph in Encyclopaedia Judaica (Encyclopedia.com), accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Death of Joseph Cowen, Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily Bulletin, 26 May 1932, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Jewish Chronicle 1841–1941: A Century of Newspaper History (London, 1949), p. 169.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 118.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 123.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 104.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 152.
- ↑ David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841–1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 153.