Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/41

 outside Jewish ranks by virtue of his tact and wide culture.

Adler's main and invariable endeavour was to serve the best interests of his co-religionists at home or abroad, and he actively identified himself with all movements or institutions, charitable, political, social, educational, and literary, which were likely to serve that end. In 1885 he joined the Mansion House committee for the relief of persecuted Jews in Russia. The same year he visited the Holy Land and inspected many of the colonies established there by Russo-Jewish refugees. He represented the Russo-Jewish community at the conferences of the Hebrew congregations of Europe and America, held at Berlin in 1882 and at Paris in 1890. He was president of the Jewish Historical Society of England (1897), and vice-president of the Anglo-Jewish Association. His other offices included those of vice-president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and of the Mansion House Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Poor; he was a governor of University College, an administrator of the 'People's Palace,' Mile End, and an energetic member of the committees of the King Edward Hospital Fund and the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund. He gave useful evidence before the select committee of the House of Lords on sweating in 1888; before the joint committee on Sunday closing in May 1907; and before the divorce commission in 1910.

Adler's seventieth birthday in 1909, which synchronised with the jubilee of his ministry, was publicly celebrated with general enthusiasm. A portrait in oils, executed by Mr. Meyer Klang, was hung in the council chamber of the United Synagogue, Aldgate. A replica was presented by the Jewish congregations to Mrs. Adler, and on her death passed to his elder daughter. He was also made hon. D.C.L. of Oxford, and he received the C.V.O. from King Edward VII. He had already been made honorary LL.D. of St. Andrews in 1899, and he was elected a member of the Athenæum Club under Rule II on the suggestion of Mandell Creighton, bishop of London, in 1900.

Adler died of heart failure on 18 July 1911 at his residence, 6 Craven Hill, London, and was buried at the Willesden Jewish cemetery. He married in September 1867 Rachel, elder daughter of Solomon Joseph, who survived him till 9 Jan. 1912. Of his two daughters, the elder, Nettie, was elected member of the London county council. His only son, Alfred, a minister, predeceased him in 1911. By his will he left the testimonials and addresses which had been presented to him to the [q. v. Suppl. II] library and museum at University College, as well as various sums to Jewish and other institutions (The Times, 11 Aug. 1911). Of two portraits in oils, besides that mentioned above, one painted by Mr. B. S. Marks, in 1887, belongs to Adler's younger daughter, Mrs. Ruth Eichholz; the other, executed by Mr. Solomon J. Solomon, R.A., in 1908, was presented by (Sir) Adolph Tuck to the Jews' College. A cartoon by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1894.

His published works, besides sermons and pamphlets and reviews, include: He also contributed a chapter to 'Immortality: a Clerical Symposium' (1885); and a paper on 'The Chief Rabbis of England' (in Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhib. volume, 1887) (1888).
 * 1) 'Ibn Gabirol, the Poet Philosopher, and his Relation to Scholastic Philosophy' (in University Coll. Essays), 1864.
 * 2) 'A Jewish Reply to Bishop Colenso's Criticism on the Pentateuch,' 1865.
 * 3) 'Sermons on the Biblical Passages adduced by Christian Theologians in support of the Dogmas of their Faith,' 1869.
 * 4) 'Anglo-Jewish Memories, and other Sermons' (jubilee memorial volume), 1909.



AGNEW, JAMES WILLSON (1815–1901), prime minister of Tasmania, born at Ballyclare, co. Antrim, Ireland, on 2 Oct. 1815, was son of James William Agnew and Ellen Stewart of Larne, co. Antrim. Educated for the medical profession at University College, London, at Paris, and Glasgow, he qualified as M.R.C.S. in 1838 and graduated M.D. at Glasgow in 1839. He almost immediately started for Sydney, N.S.W., sailing on the Wilmot. He spent a few months practising in Sydney, and then tried for a time the rough station life of the western part of Victoria. Subsequently he reached Hobart, and there he was disappointed of the post of private secretary to Sir, then governor of Tasmania. On 24 Dec. 1841 he became assistant surgeon on the agricultural establishment; in July 1842 he was removed to Saltwater Creek in the same capacity, and on 28 Feb. 1845 he was transferred to be colonial assistant surgeon at Hobart, with charge of the