Birth Name: Leonard James Callaghan
Date of Birth: March 27, 1912
Place of Birth: Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Date of Death: March 26, 2005
Place of Death: Ringmer, East Sussex, England
Ethnicity:
*Irish, Ashkenazi Jewish (father)
*English, some Scottish (mother)
James Callaghan was a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, he served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 5 April 1976 to 4 May 1979. He was a Member of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth, from 1945 to 1987.
Prime Minister Callaghan was the son of Charlottie Gertrude (Cundy) and James Callaghan, a chief petty officer in the royal navy.
Prime Minister Callaghan’s paternal grandparents were James Garoghan (the son of John Garoghan and Winifred O’Rourke, Groarck, or O Hara) and Elizabeth Burnstein (the daughter of Lewis Burnstein). John and Winifred were Irish immigrants. Elizabeth was Jewish.
Prime Minister Callaghan’s maternal grandparents were William Henry Cundy (the son of Robert Cundy and Grace Burn) and Rosina Fanny McDowell (the daughter of John McDowell and Charlotte Pidgeon). John likely had Scottish ancestry, due to the surname McDowell being of Scottish origin.
Prime Minister Callaghan was the second person of Jewish ancestry to become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Benjamin Disraeli was the first (serving for the Conservative Party from February 1868 to December 1868, and from 1874 to 1880), and David Cameron (serving for the Conservative Party since 2010) is the third.
Source: Genealogy of James Callaghan – http://www.edwardjdavies.info