Neville Laski

English judge and leader of Anglo-Jewry

Neville Jonas Laski QC (18 December 1890 – 24 March 1969) was an English judge and leader of Anglo-Jewry.

Family

Laski came from a distinguished family. His father was Nathan Laski (1863-1941), a Lithuanian Jewish Manchester cotton merchant and a leader of British Jewry; his mother, Sarah Frankenstein, had married Nathan Laski in 1889.^[1] His younger brother was Harold Laski. He married Phina Emily, eldest daughter of Moses Gaster; he had four children, including Marghanita Laski.

Education

Manchester Grammar School
Clifton College^[2]
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MA Beit Prize, 1912.

Career

Laski was a barrister and was appointed a King's Counsel (KC) in 1930 and a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1938. He was a Judge of Appeal of the Isle of Man, 1953–1956 and Recorder of Burnley, 1935–1956. He was a Judge of the Crown Court and Recorder of Liverpool (1956–1963).

During the First World War he served with the 6th Lancashire Fusiliers in Gallipoli, Sinai and France, retiring with the rank of Captain.

He was a member of the General Council of the Bar, 1950–1956, Chairman of its Professional Conduct Committee, 1952–1956 and its Honorary Treasurer, 1955–1956.

Other positions held

Chairman, Manchester Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital
President, Board of Deputies of British Jews, 1933–1939^[3]
Presiding elder of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation, 1961–1967
Vice-president, Anglo-Jewish Association

Publications

The Laws and Charities of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London (1663-1677)
Jewish Rights and Jewish Wrongs

References

^ Frangopulo, N. J., ed. (1962) Rich Inheritance. Manchester: Education Committee; pp. 157-58
^ "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p9257/8: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
^ Board of Deputies of British Jews, London Metropolitan Archives

Board of Deputies of British Jews

General

Presidents

18th century	Benjamin Mendes Da Costa (1760—1766) Joseph Salvador (1766—1789) Moses Isaac Levy (1789—1801)
19th century	Naphtaly Bazevy (1801—1802) unknown (1802—1812) Raphael Brandon (1812—1817) Moses Lindo (1817—1829) Moses Mocatta (1829—1835) Moses Montefiore (1835—1838) David Salomons (1838) I.Q. Henriques (1838—1840) Moses Montefiore (1840) Hananel De Castro (1840—1841) Moses Montefiore (1841—1846) David Salomons (1846) Moses Montefiore (1846—1855) Isaac Foligno (1855) Moses Montefiore (1855—1862) Joseph Meyer Montefiore (1862—1868) Moses Montefiore (1868) Joseph Meyer Montefiore (1868—1871) Moses Montefiore (1871—1874) Joseph Meyer Montefiore (1874—1880) Arthur Cohen (1880—1895) Joseph Sebag-Montefiore (1895—1903)
20th century	David Lindo Alexander (1903—1917) Stuart Samuel (1917—1922) Henry Henriques (1922—1925) Walter Rothschild (1925—1926) Osmond d'Avigdor-Goldsmid (1926—1933) Neville Laski (1933—1940) Selig Brodetsky (1940—1949) Abraham Cohen (1949—1955) Barnett Janner (1955—1964) Abraham Moss (1964) Solomon Teff (1964—1967) Michael Fidler (1967—1973) Samuel Fisher (1973—1979) Greville Janner (1979—1985) Lionel Kopelowitz (1985—1991) Israel Finestein (1991—1994) Eldred Tabachnik (1994—2000)
21st century	Josephine Wagerman (2000—2003) Henry Grunwald (2003—2009) Vivian Wineman (2009—2015) Jonathan Arkush (2015—2018) Marie van der Zyl (2018—present)