Arthur Strauss

Arthur Isidor Strauss (28 April 1847 – 30 November 1920) was a British Liberal Unionist, and later Conservative Member of Parliament who later joined the Labour Party.

Arthur Strauss was born Issidor Arthur Strauss on 29 April 1847 in Mayence (Mainz), Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He was the son of Samuel Strauss (born 8 November 1811, Kriegsheim, Germany), a merchant, and Rosalia Drucker (b. 4 January 1820, Frankfurt, Germany).

Strauss had two brothers: Heinrich Alphons Strauss (b. 21 December 1841, Mainz; d. 14 June 1906, London) and Sigmund Ferdinand Strauss (b. 16 November 1843, Mainz; d. 13 July 1882, Paris). Strauss lived together with his elder brother Heinrich, at 91 St George's Square, Pimlico, London, until his marriage.

He was educated at a German university where he took first prizes in mathematics, Latin and Greek.

In 1884, while living at 91 St. George's Square, London, he became a naturalised British citizen and modified his name to Arthur Isidor Strauss, making his middle name 'Isador' (with one 's').

At the age of 46, Arthur Strauss married 29-year-old Minna Cohen on 3 June 1893 at the Register Office in the District of St. George's Square, Pimlico, London.

Strauss had two children: George Russell Strauss (1901-1993), a politician and for five years "Father of the House" (of Commons), and Victor Arthur Strauss (1895-1916), a lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps who was killed in action in 1916. In 1901, Strauss was living with his wife in an eighteen-room mansion situated at No. 1 Kensington Palace Gardens, Kensington, London. The merchant banker and philanthropist, Isaac Seligman, lived down the road at No. 17 Kensington Palace Gardens.

Strauss and his brother Heinrich Alphons were both tin and copper merchants and ran a highly successful metals business called A. Strauss & Co, situated at 16 Rood Lane, EC3, London.

In the General Election of 1892, Strauss, a Liberal Unionist, lost to Charles Augustus Vansittart Conybeare (Liberal) by 438 votes in the battle for the Camborne constituency of Cornwall.

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