BENAS, BARON LOUIS

BENAS, BARON LOUIS (1844–1914), English banker and communal worker. Born in London, he settled in Liverpool early in life where he carried on the family banking business. He established in 1867 the Liverpool branch of the *Alliance Israélite Universelle, which later became the local branch of the *Anglo-Jewish Association, serving as its president until his death. He was chairman of a commission set up in 1882 by the London Russo-Jewish Committee to supervise the emigration via Liverpool to the United States of refugees from Russia. He was elected president of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society in 1890 and wrote several papers for that and other learned societies, including Records of the Jews in Liverpool (1899) as well as an article on the history of Liverpool Jewry for The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1909. His son, bertram benjamin baron (1880–1968), practiced as a chancery barrister from 1906. A well-known figure in legal circles, he was appointed bencher of the Middle Temple in 1953 and was also chairman of the Liverpool Bar Association. He served as president of the Merseyside Jewish Representative Council (1944–46) and of the Jewish Historical Society of England (1951–53). He was the author of a number of books and papers, including supplements to his father's pioneering monograph on Liverpool Jewish history.

bibliography:

jc (Feb. 6, 13, 1914, on Baron Louis; Dec. 13, 1968, on Bertram Benjamin); Roth, Mag Bibl, index; Lehmann, Nova Bibl, index. add. bibliography: B. Benas, "A Survey of the Jewish Institutional History of Liverpool and District," in: jhset, 17 (1951–52).

[Sefton D. Temkin]