Vogel was born in London and lived as a child at Finsbury Pavement, on the western side of Finsbury Square. After university he worked as a journalist, first in Australia and later in Otago, New Zealand. He served as Prime Minister of New Zealand, the first Jew to hold that office, from 1873 until 1875 and briefly again in 1876, when he was knighted.

Cohen was born at 5 South Street (now Dominion Street) in Finsbury. He entered his father’s stockbroking business but appears to have been more interested in public service: he was involved with several Jewish charities as well as the London Orphan Asylum. He served as Unionist MP for Islington East 1902-06. A year earlier he had been created a baronet.

Benjamin Disraeli, one of the great prime ministers of the 19th century, is usually said to have been born in Theobalds Road, Bloomsbury but an alternative narrative is that his actual birth was in a doctor’s surgery in Upper Street, Islington, where Budgens is today. The young Benjamin is said to have attended Mrs Roper’s Academy in Colebrooke Row.