Alexander Raphael

Alexander Raphael MP
Member of Parliament for St Albans
In office 1847–1850
Preceded by	Benjamin Bond Cabbell
Succeeded by	Jacob Bell
Member of Parliament for Carlow
In office June 1835 – 19 August 1835
Personal details
Born	1775 Madras, India
Died	1850(1850-00-00) (aged 74–75)
Political party	Whig

Alexander Raphael (1775–1850) was a British politician who was the first British-Armenian to serve in the House of Commons.^[1] He was returned as a Whig MP from the Irish constituency of County Carlow, at a by-election in June 1835. However the election was challenged on petition and he was unseated on 19 August 1835. Raphael succeeded in re-entering the House of Commons as a Catholic Whig from St Albans in 1847 and retained the seat until his death.

Prior to serving in Parliament, he had been Sheriff of London for 1834, where he lost the tip of his left index finger in a fight with a criminal.^[2]

Early life

Raphael was born in Madras, India to father Edward Raphael, a founder of Carniac Bank who passed away in 1791, and mother Maria Stephana Manuel, who died in 1790. He was baptised as a Catholic. His father was reportedly descended from Armenians (surnamed either Gharamiants or Kharan) who moved to New Julfa, Iran in the mid-17th century and then Madras. Raphael was tutored by Father Nicholas Pusani.^[3]

Legacy

St Raphael's Church, Surbiton

His legacy is St Raphael's Church in Surbiton, London, which he financed and had built as a family chapel. Completed in 1848, only two years before his death, it was later opened to the public as a Roman Catholic church by his nephew, Edward.^[4]

References

1. Seth, Mesrovb Jacob (1937). Armenians in India: From the Earliest Times to the Present. Calcutta. p. 595. ISBN 9788120608122.
2. David Marshall Lang.Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. George Allen and Unwin Publishers. British ISBN 0-04-956008-5
3. Kennedy, David A (30 January 2018). "From Madras to Surbiton. Alexander Raphael, unbeaten champion, 1775-1850". Kingston History Research. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
4. "Saint Raphael - Our Church". Official website. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

• Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• James Corbett, A History of St Albans states that Alexander Raphael was a Whig, as does F.W.S. Craig in British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Alexander Raphael

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Kavanagh Henry Bruen	Member of Parliament for County Carlow 1835 With: Nicholas Aylward Vigors	Succeeded by Henry Bruen Thomas Kavanagh
Preceded by Benjamin Bond Cabbell George Repton	Member of Parliament for St Albans 1847 – 1850 With: George Repton	Succeeded by Jacob Bell George Repton