Sir Julien Cahn, 1st Baronet (21 October 1882 – 26 September 1944) was a British businessman, philanthropist and cricket enthusiast.
Early life and family
Cahn was born in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
in 1882 to parents of German Jewish descent. His father, Albert Cahn (1856–1921), was born in the small village of Russheim in the
Germersheim district,
Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis
The Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis () is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) the district-free city Worms, Germany, Worms, the district Bergstraße (district), Bergstraße, dis ...
. Albert married Matilda Lewis (d. 1921), daughter of Dr Sigismund Lewis of Liverpool, who had also emigrated from Germany. Dr Lewis delivered his grandson after a difficult birth; Matilda recovered well but Julien would be an only child.
Julien grew up in a strict
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
household in Nottingham, where his father opened the Nottingham Furnishing Company in 1885. Albert was very active in the Nottingham Jewish community, becoming the president of the Chaucer Street synagogue and Hebrew Philanthropic Society.
Julien attended primary school with
Harold Bowden, later the 2nd Baronet, and the two became lifelong friends.
Cahn married Phyllis Muriel Wolfe on 11 July 1916. They had three children, Patience Cahn (born 1922), Albert Jonas (1924) and Richard Ian (1927). Albert Jonas assumed the baronetcy on his father's death.
Business
Cahn took over the family business and, seeing a new potential market in hire purchase sales, expanded the company to the extent that his Jays and Campbells stores were to be found in most major towns across Britain. By 1943 when he retired and sold out to
Great Universal Stores
GUS plc was a FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the ''Glorious Gussies'' amon ...
(GUS), he controlled a chain of more than 300 stores.
Philanthropy
After his business success, Cahn established himself as a philanthropist. Having been
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
in 1929, Cahn was made a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in 1934. The honour was made ostensibly for his charity and services to agriculture. However, it was actually bestowed for secretly providing £30,000 to the Conservative Government to ensure honours salesman
Maundy Gregory
Arthur John Maundy Gregory, who later used the name Arthur John Peter Michael Maundy Gregory (1 July 1877 – 28 September 1941) was a British theatre producer and political fixer who is best remembered for selling honours for the Prime Minister, ...
stayed out of Britain.
One of his most-well known gifts was his rescue of the
Newstead Abbey
Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron. The Abbey is on the national ...
, the 12th-century ancestral home of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
, which was at risk. Cahn purchased Newstead and donated it to the
Nottingham City Council
Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Nottingham, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous ...
to help preserve Byron's legacy.
Cahn was the long-time president of
The National Birthday Trust Fund, a charity that promoted the provision of maternity services. In this capacity he became very friendly with the trust's vice president,
Lucy Baldwin, Countess Baldwin of Bewdley
Lucy Baldwin, Countess Baldwin of Bewdley (; 19 June 1869 – 17 June 1945) was an English writer and activist for maternal health. From 1892 until her death in 1945, she was the wife of Stanley Baldwin, three-time Prime Minister of the United ...
, wife of prime minister
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...
.
In 1929, Cahn donated funds to build the
Lucy Baldwin Maternity Hospital in
Stourport-on-Severn
Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest (district), Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, 4 miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Be ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
, named in honour of the countess. It was commemorated by the prime minister on 16 April 1929 with a bronze dedication plaque over the main entrance reading, "What she wanted most in the world. Presented to her by Julien Cahn Esq."
During the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Cahn sponsored cricket clubs and players that needed funds to play. In 1935, Cahn paid the membership subscriptions for more than 800 new members joining the
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called th ...
.
After the war began in 1939, Cahn lent his home at
Stanford Hall to
Nottingham City Hospital
Nottingham City Hospital is a large hospital located in Nottingham, England. It occupies a large site on the ring road to the North of the city centre. It is composed of many buildings, most of which are joined by long corridors. Buildings incl ...
. Stanford Hall initially offered 22 beds for convalescing soldiers, but by 1940 expanded to house nearly 70.
Sport
Cahn was a fan of
fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...
, and was one of the few Jewish
Masters of Foxhounds
Master, master's or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
In education:
*Master (college), head of a college
*Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline
*Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...
.
His main love, however, was cricket. He began playing as a teenager, during a time when it was common for business owners to organise teams. At age 19, he created the Nottingham Furniture Company XI with 16 of his father's employees. In 1903, the team expanded to 35 players for its third season, and was renamed the Notts Ramblers.
One of the earliest players was W. H. Vaulkhard, who joined the team in 1904; his four sons also took up the sport and played on Cahn's teams.
Pat Vaulkhard became a
first-class player in his day.
He served as president of both the
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called th ...
and
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the coun ...
. He eventually built his own pitch at Stanford Hall so he could watch games at home.
From 1929 to 1939, Cahn was the captain of his own team, the Sir Julien Cahn XI, that toured the world.
It was one of the most successful private teams, losing only 19 out of 621 cricket matches. Cahn recruited top players from outside England, including Australians
Vic Jackson
Victor Edward Jackson (25 October 1916 – 30 January 1965) was an Australian first-class cricketer who played for New South Wales and Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
From Australia to Cahn's XI
Jackson made his first-class debut during t ...
and
Jack Walsh.
Cahn played in many of his team's matches, including six of the 13
first-class matches
First class (or 1st class, Firstclass) generally implies a high level of service, importance or quality. Specific uses of the term include:
Books and comics
* ''First Class'', a comic strip in ''The Dandy'' (1983-1998)
* ''X-Men: First Class' ...
they played between 1929 and 1939. He made his first-class debut in March 1929 at the age of 46 when his team was playing in
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
.
Stephen Chalke
Stephen Chalke (born 5 June 1948) is an English author and publisher, particularly of books on cricket and cricketers.
Chalke was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. He has two undergraduate degrees – one in Drama, English and Philosophy, the oth ...
has written, "No English first-class cricketer of the 20th century can have had less ability than Cahn. He was a hypochondriac, often preferring his electric wheelchair to walking ... he batted in special inflatable
pads
Pads (also called leg guards) are a type of protective equipment used in a number of sports and serve to protect the legs from the impact of a hard ball, puck, or other object of play travelling at high speed which could otherwise cause injuries t ...
that it was his chauffeur's duty to pump up."
See also
*
Sir Julien Cahn's XI cricket team in Ceylon in 1936–37
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part of ...
, international tour
*
Sir Julien Cahn's XI cricket team in New Zealand in 1938–39, international tour
*
Stanford Hall
*
History of cricket
The sport of cricket has a known history beginning in the late 16th century England. It became an established sport in the country in the 18th century and developed globally in the 19th and 20th centuries. International matches have been playe ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahn, Julien
1882 births
1944 deaths
Cahn, Julien, 1st Baronet
English cricketers
Sportspeople from Nottingham
English Jews
English cricket administrators
Masters of foxhounds in England
Knights of the Order of St John
Businesspeople from Cardiff
Jewish cricketers
*
English cricketers of 1919 to 1945
Cricketers from Cardiff
20th-century Welsh businesspeople
Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
Cricket people awarded knighthoods