Julian Goldsmid

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Julian Goldsmid

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Julian Goldsmid, Vanity Fair, 1887-04-23.jpg

| alt =

| caption = "St Pancras". Caricature by Ape published in Vanity Fair in 1887.

| constituency_MP = Honiton

| parliament = United Kingdom

| majority =

| term_start = 1866

| term_end = 1888

| alongside =Alexander Baillie-Cochrane

| predecessor = Frederick Goldsmid

Alexander Baillie-Cochrane

| successor = Abolished

| prior_term =

| constituency_MP2 = Rochester

| parliament2 = United Kingdom

| majority2 =

| term_start2 = 1870

|alongside2= Philip Wykeham Martin 1870–1878

Sir Arthur Otway, Bt 1878–1880

| term_end2 = 1880

| predecessor2 = Philip Wykeham Martin

John Alexander Kinglake

| successor2 = Sir Arthur Otway, Bt

Roger Leigh

| prior_term2 =

| constituency_MP3 = St Pancras South

| parliament3 = United Kingdom

| majority3 =

| term_start3 = 1885

| term_end3 = 1896

| predecessor3 = None

| successor3 = Herbert Jessel

| prior_term3 =

}}

Sir Julian Goldsmid, 3rd Baronet, DL, JP (8 October 1838 – 7 January 1896) was a British lawyer, businessman and Liberal (later Liberal Unionist) politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1866 and 1896.

Background and early life

Goldsmid was the son of Frederick Goldsmid and his wife Caroline Samuel. His father was a banker and Member of Parliament for Honiton. Goldsmid was educated privately until he entered University College, London. In 1864 he became a fellow of University College, and was also called to the bar.[https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1886londuoft Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886] After a brief period on the Oxford circuit, he gave up practising law when he was elected to parliament.[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=G&artid=322 Jewish encyclopedia]

Career

File:Julian_Goldsmid.jpg

Goldsmid first stood for Parliament at a by-election in February 1864 for the borough of Brighton, without success,{{cite book

|last=Craig

|first=F. W. S.

|author-link= F. W. S. Craig

|title=British parliamentary election results 1832–1885

|orig-year=1977

|edition= 2nd

|year=1989

|publisher= Parliamentary Research Services

|location=Chichester

|isbn= 0-900178-26-4

|page=66

}} and he was defeated again at the 1865 general election, when he contested Cirencester.Craig, page 92 He was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament (MP) for Honiton at a by-election in March 1866.Craig, page 154 In that year, Goldsmid inherited Somerhill House near Tonbridge, Kent, on the death of his father.{{cite web|url=http://www.schoolsatsomerhill.com/project/uploaded-media/somerhill-history.pdf |title=SOMERHILL HISTORY |first=Diane |last=Huntingford |publisher=The Schools at Somerhill |date=February 2009 |access-date=8 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006040751/http://www.schoolsatsomerhill.com/project/uploaded-media/somerhill-history.pdf |archive-date= 6 October 2011 }} Honiton was disfranchised in 1868 by the Reform Act 1867 and at the 1868 general election Goldsmid stood unsuccessfully for Mid Surrey.Craig, page 467 He was elected for Rochester at a by-election in 1870 and held the seat until his defeat at the 1880 general election.Craig, pages 258–9 In 1879, Goldsmid began expanding Somerhill to accommodate his large family; he had eight daughters. The work took until 1897 to complete.

He then contested a by-election in May 1880 for Sandwich,Craig, page 269 and was returned to the Commons after a five-year absence at the 1885 general election as MP for St Pancras South,{{cite book

|last=Craig

|first=F. W. S.

|author-link= F. W. S. Craig

|title=British parliamentary election results 1885–1918

|orig-year=1974

|edition= 2nd

|year=1989

|publisher= Parliamentary Research Services

|location=Chichester

|isbn= 0-900178-27-2

|page=43

}} holding that seat until his death in 1896. In 1894 Goldsmid was deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

In 1878 Goldsmid succeeded his uncle, Sir Francis Goldsmid to the baronetcy and to the estate of Whiteknights Park at Earley in Berkshire, as well as others in Sussex, Kent and elsewhere. He also bore the Portuguese title of Baron de Goldsmid e da Palmeira. His business interests included being chairman of the Submarine Telegraph Company and the Imperial and Continental Gas Association, and he was a director of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. A steam locomotive was named Goldsmid after him in 1892.[http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__6543.aspx Brighton St Ann's Well]

Goldsmid was treasurer of University College in 1880-81 and was a member of the council of University College Hospital. He was vice-chancellor of the University of London when he died. He was Deputy lieutenant of Kent, Sussex, and Berkshire, J. P. for Kent, Sussex, and London, colonel of the 1st Sussex Rifle Volunteers, and honorary colonel of the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers.

Goldsmid was one of many who was concerned about the Russian persecutions of the Jewish community in 1881. He was assigned as chairman of a fund that focused on the relief of Russo-Jewish refugees. This fund supported the Board of Guardians, a body that performed the Russian exodus into England. The number of refugees permanently residing in London was not large. The majority of refugees continued their voyage to America.

[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10098-london Profile], Jewishencyclopedia.com. Accessed 27 December 2022.

Marriage

In 1868, Goldsmid married Virginia Philipson of Florence and had eight daughters.{{Cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/Sir-Julian-Goldsmid-3rd-and-last-Baronet/6000000005033734978 | title=Sir Julian Goldsmid, 3rd and last Baronet | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=www.geni.com}} As he had no son, his entailed property passed to a male relative, his house in Piccadilly being converted into the Isthmian Club.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Goldsmid|display=Goldsmid s.v. Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart.|volume=12|page=214}}

Death

Goldsmid died at the age of 57 at Brighton where his grandfather, Sir Isaac Goldsmid had purchased the Wick Estate in 1830. "Julian Road" in the estate is named after him.