Arthur Samuel, 1st Baron Mancroft

Who was Arthur Samuel, 1st Baron Mancroft?

Arthur Michael Samuel, 1st Baron Mancroft, was a British Conservative politician.

Lord Mancroft was the eldest son of Benjamin Samuel of Norwich and Rosetta Haldinstein, and grandson of Michael Samuel, all of them Ashkenazi Jews. He was educated at Norwich School. He was Lord Mayor of Norwich from 1912 to 1913 and was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Norwich in 1928. In 1918 he was elected as Member of Parliament for Farnham, a seat he would hold until 1937, and served under Stanley Baldwin as secretary for overseas trade from 1924 to 1927 and as financial secretary to the treasury from 1927 to 1929. He was also chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons in 1930 and 1931. Samuel was created a Baronet of Mancroft, in the City of Norwich in the County of Norfolk on 15 January 1932, and on 23 December 1937, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mancroft, of Mancroft in the City of Norwich.

Lord Mancroft married Phoebe Fletcher, daughter of George Alfred Chune Fletcher and wife, in 1912. He died in August 1942, aged 69, and was succeeded in the baronetcy and barony by his son Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft. He was also to become a Conservative government minister.