MARGOT RUFUS ISAACS

MARGOT RUFUS Isaacs (née Duke), Dowager Marchioness of Reading, who has died aged 96, had a vivid history and was a spirited and adventurous lady. Her frequent indifference to conventional behaviour raised eyebrows, and this included her marriage to Michael Isaacs, the 3rd Marquess of Reading. Isaac’s grandfather, Rufus Isaacs, who died in 1935, had been created the 1st Marquess of Reading and became the first Jewish Lord Chief Justice, Viceroy of India. In 1931. He also had a brief period as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Ramsay MacDonald’s National Government.

Margot’s sister-in-law Joan was married to Professor Lord Solly Zuckerman. The 3rd Marquess of Reading had an equally distinguished maternal Jewish ancestry, his other grandfather being Alfred Mond who died in 1930 and was created Lord Melchett, destined to become the first Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries. Alfred’s daughter Eva, who married the 2nd Marquess of Reading was a passionate Zionist and probably the last member of the Mond and Isaacs families to have been actively committed to her Jewish heritage.

There is no suggestion that