He was born in Wyndham Place, Bryanston Square, London, the youngest son of Benjamin Cohen, a prosperous bill broker.

[1] After three years' study at the gymnasium in Frankfurt-on-the-Main, he entered as a student at University College London.

He proceeded to Cambridge University at a time when it was almost impossible for a Jew to gain admission into the colleges.

As a Jew he could not take his degree until after the passing of the Cambridge Reform Act of 1856, which abolished the obligatory Christian oath which had preceded graduation.

In 1880, he was elected for the Southwark division, and shortly afterward in February 1881, was offered a judgeship, which he declined, Gladstone not wishing to trigger a risky by-election.

For many years he was president of the Board of Deputies, succeeding his uncle, Sir Moses Montefiore; but he resigned the position in 1894.