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COHEN, George Judah

born 18420427     Died 1937
Cohen, George Judah (1842–1937) by G. F. J. Bergman
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, (MUP), 1981 George Cohen, n.d. George Judah Cohen (1842-1937), banker and financier, was born on 27 April 1842 in Sydney, eldest son of Samuel Cohen and his wife Rachel, née Nathan; both came from old-established Anglo-Jewish families.

18340419 Samuel had migrated from London in the Resource, reaching Sydney on 19 April 1834, and, with his brother David and
1836 his cousin Lewis Wolfe Levy, established the wholesale firm David Cohen & Co. in Sydney and Maitland in 1836;
1860 he represented Morpeth in the Legislative Assembly in 1860 and was a founder of the breakaway Macquarie Street Synagogue.
1857-60 George was educated at Cleveland House under James Kean then at University College School, London, in 1857-60.
1861 He returned to Sydney in 1861, intending to study law; however after the death of his father on 4 November, he decided to enter the family business.
1865 after four years in Sydney, in 1865 he took charge of the firm's Maitland office.
He was active in local affairs—chairman of the Maitland Gas Co., treasurer of the Northern Jockey Club, and helped the School of Arts, one of the finest in the colony.
18680219 On 19 February 1868 in Sydney he married Rebecca (Rè) Levy (d.1933), daughter of his father's partner, in the presence of (Sir) Saul Samuel and J. G. Raphael.
With the coming of rail transport, he established a branch of the firm in Newcastle, but in
1879 moved back to Sydney.
Cohen was a financial wizard and an indefatigable worker.

His acumen was soon recognized and in
1885 he succeeded his father-in-law as a director of the United Insurance Co. Ltd, the Australian Gas Light Co. and CBCof S.
1891 As deputy chairman of the bank in 1891 and 1893-1901 and chairman in 1892-93 and 1901-33, he helped to guide it through the banking crisis of 1893 and the depressions of the 1890s and early 1930s;

he celebrated 50 years as a director of the United Insurance Co. and was chairman in 1904-35; he was also chairman of the Australian Gas Light Co. in 1887-1932, Tooth & Co. Ltd in 1889-1929 and of the Sydney Exchange Co. (Royal Exchange of Sydney) almost continuously from 1887 to 1935. In
1912 David Cohen & Co. Ltd was registered as a public company.

At 'no time did get-rich-quick schemes' appeal to Cohen.  If he had any vanity, it was for his good name in financial circles. He had a profound insight into the whole Australian economy—as early as 1903, whilst warning against excessive borrowing by State governments, he urged that all their debts should be taken over by the Commonwealth. Many inducements were offered to him to enter politics, but he dreaded the interference with the happiness of his family life, and his dislike of publicity was a byword in financial circles

DIBBS, T.A.

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DUGUID, Lessli

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FRAZER, JOHN (1827-1884)

Merchant, company director and philanthropist, was born in Dromore, County Down, Ireland. As 'a carpenter and joiner' he arrived at Sydney as a bounty immigrant in the Margaret on 23 January 1842, with a brother and two sisters. He first went up country 'to learn something of squatting', on 'a very modest salary indeed', and then worked as a clerk in Sydney. In 1847 he opened his own wholesale grocery business and in 1853 he married Elizabeth Ewan. Her two sisters married William Manson and James Watson who with her brother James, became Frazer's closest friends and business partners. In 1858 he moved into larger premises in York Street and next year took Manson as a partner. By hard work, 'integrity, prudence and punctuality' Frazer made John Frazer & Co. into one of the most influential mercantile houses in Sydney. The York Street stores were burnt down in 1865 and rebuilt for £15,000 in massive stone and with modern fire-fighting equipment. From the mid-1860s Frazer speculated in land in Queensland and by 1871 had four runs of his own and eighteen in partnership. In Sydney he had built two large new stores, a bonded warehouse and the impressive Frazer House. He had also sold his home, Ranelagh at Darling Point, and about 1874 bought Quiraing at Edgecliff. His directorships included
the Australian Joint Stock Bank,
the Mutual Life Association of Australasia and
the Sydney Exchange Co. in addition to three other insurance companies,
a shipping line, an ironworks and several mining companies.
Later he was also a director of
The Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney and
the Australian Gaslight Co.

JONES, Richard

After he retired from Parliament following his appointment in 1857 as Colonial Treasurer in the second Cowper Ministry, Richard Jones became a member of Board of Directors of which he was Chairman for 20 years.
1892 he died; when his son:-
Jones Richard succeeded his father as a Director.
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KATER, Gregory Blaxland