Benjamin, Judah Philip

Benjamin, Judah Philip, Q.C., born in 1811 at St Croix, West Indies, was the son of Anglo-Jewish parents, who emigrated to the United States, where he practised as a lawyer in New Orleans. He early engaged prominently in politics, serving first with the Whigs, and afterwards with the Democrats. He sat in the United States senate from 1852 till Louisiana's secession in 1860, and in February 1861 joined Jefferson Davis's cabinet as Attorney-general. He was for a few months Secretary of War, and then acted as Secretary of State until Davis's capture in 1865, when he escaped with some difficulty to England. He was called to the English bar in the following year, became a Q.C. in 1872, and retired from a large practice in 1881. He died in Paris, 6th May 1884. His Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Property reached a third edition in 1883.