Alexander Raphael (1775–1850) was a British politician who was the first British-Armenian to serve in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. He was returned as a Whig MP from the Irish constituency of

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...

, at a by-election in June 1835. However the election was challenged on petition and he was unseated on 19 August 1835. Raphael succeeded in re-entering the House of Commons as a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Whig from

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

in 1847 and retained the seat until his death. Prior to serving in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, he had been

Sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...

for 1834, where he lost the tip of his left index finger in a fight with a criminal.

Early life

Raphael was born in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India to father Edward Raphael, a founder of Carniac Bank who died in 1791, and mother Maria Stephana Manuel, who died in 1790. He was baptised as a Catholic. His father was reportedly descended from Armenians (surnamed either Gharamiants or Kharan) who moved to

New Julfa New Julfa (, ''Now Jolfā'', or , ''Jolfâ-ye Now''; , ''Nor Jugha'') is the Armenians, Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran, located along the south bank of the Zayanderud. Established and named after the Gülüstan, Nakhchivan, older city of Julf ...

, Iran in the mid-17th century and then Madras. Raphael was tutored by Father Nicholas Pusani.

Legacy

His legacy is St Raphael's Church in Surbiton,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which he financed and had built as a family chapel. Completed in 1848, only two years before his death, it was later opened to the public as a Roman Catholic church by his nephew, Edward.

References

*''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922'', edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978) * *James Corbett, ''A History of St Albans'' states that Alexander Raphael was a Whig, as does F.W.S. Craig in ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885''.

External links

* 1775 births 1850 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Carlow constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1847–1852 British people of Armenian descent English Roman Catholics Indian people of Armenian descent Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Sheriffs of the City of London People from the Madras Presidency {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-stub