Edwin Samuel (1898–1978)

Edwin Herbert Samuel, later 2nd Viscount Samuel, was born in London, England. His parents were Beatrice Franklin and Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount and Viscountess Samuel, and he had three siblings. Edwin Samuel was educated at Westminster School and Oxford University. In 1917, during World War I, he joined the Royal Artillery and was posted to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. He also served in the Jewish Legion. After the war, he served on the staff of the Zionist Commission headed by Chaim Weizmann. Samuel joined the government of the British Mandate of Palestine, and was appointed the last mandate-era director of the Palestine Broadcasting Service. In 1945, he established the nucleus of what became Israel's Institute of Public Administration, of which he was principal. He divided his time between Britain and Israel, where he lectured on British institutions and political theory. He published a number of books, among them Problems of Government in the State of Israel (1956), The Theory of Administration (1947), and The Social Structure of Israel (1969). He also wrote short stories. His memoir A Lifetime in Jerusalem was published in 1970. As a member of the British House of Lords, he advocated for the repeal of the law that forbade marriage between a widow and her brother-in-law. He was married to Hadassah Samuel, with whom he had two sons, including Prof. David Samuel, 3rd Viscount, a prominent chemist and neurobiologist.