History of the Jews in England

Thehistory of the Jews in Englandgoes back to the reign ofWilliam the Conqueror.Although it is likely that there had been someJewish presence in the Roman period,there is no definitive evidence, and no reason to suppose that there was any community duringAnglo-Saxon times.The first written record ofJewishsettlement inEnglanddates from 1070. TheJewish settlement continueduntilKing Edward I'sEdict of Expulsionin 1290.

The location ofEngland(dark green) in theUnited KingdominEurope.

After the expulsion, there was no overt Jewish community (as opposed to individualspractising Judaism secretly) until the rule ofOliver Cromwell.While Cromwell never officially readmitted Jews to theCommonwealth of England,a small colony ofSephardic Jewsliving inLondonwas identified in 1656 andallowed to remain.TheJewish Naturalisation Act 1753,an attempt to legalise the Jewish presence in England, remained in force for only a few months. Historians commonly dateJewish emancipationto either 1829 or 1858, whileBenjamin Disraeli,born a Sephardi Jew but converted toAnglicanism,had been elected twice as thePrime Minister of the United Kingdomin 1868 and in 1874. At the insistence of Irish leaderDaniel O'Connell,in 1846 the British law "De Judaismo", which prescribed a special dress for Jews, was repealed.

The Tower was a refuge for the Jews of medieval London.

Due to the rarity of anti-Jewish violence in Britain in the 19th century, it acquired a reputation forreligious toleranceand attracted significant immigration fromEastern Europe.By the outbreak ofWorld War II,about half a million European Jews fled to England to escape theNazis,but only about 70,000 (including almost 10,000 children) were granted entry.Jews facedantisemitismand stereotypes in Britain, and antisemitism "in most cases went along withGermanophobia"duringWorld War Ito the extent that Jews were equated with Germans, despite theBritish royal familyhaving partial German ethnic origins. This led manyAshkenazi Jewish familiesto Anglicise their often German-sounding names.

Jews in the UKnow number around 275,000, with over 260,000 of these in England, which contains the second largestJewish populationin Europe (behind France) and thefifth largest Jewish community worldwide.The majority of the Jews in England live in and around London, with almost 160,000 Jews in London itself and a further 20,800 in nearbyHertfordshire,primarily inBushey(4,500),Borehamwood(3,900), andRadlett(2,300). The next most significant population is inGreater Manchesterwith a community of slightly more than 25,000, primarily inBury(10,360),Salford(7,920),Manchesteritself (2,725),andTrafford(2,490).There are also significant communities inLeeds(6,760),Gateshead(3,000),Brighton(2,730),Liverpool(2,330),Birmingham(2,150),andSouthend(2,080).

Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England

It is probable that there were Jews in Roman Britain under theRoman Empire,perhaps assoldiers,slaves,silversmithsor traders. However, there is little or no definitive evidence.One piece of circumstantial evidence is from a tradition inCaerleon(inWales), a major legionary base, of two Roman era Christian martyrs,Julius and Aaron,with the name Aaron suggesting Jewish origin.

There is little reason to think that there was any settled Jewish presence in Anglo-Saxon England, although there is considerable discussion of the nature of Jewish religion and its relationship toChristianityin literature.The few references in theAnglo-SaxonChurch lawsrelate to Jewish practices aboutEaster.

Norman England, 1066–1290

Main article:History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)

William of Malmesburystates thatWilliam the Conquerorbrought Jews fromRouento England during theNorman Conquest.William the Conqueror's object may be inferred: his policy was to getfeudal duespaid to theroyal treasuryin coin rather than in kind, and for this purpose it was necessary to have a body of men scattered through the country who would supply quantities of coin.

Status of Jews

Prior to their expulsion in 1290, the status of Jews in England was completely dependent on the will ofthe Crown.English Jews were legally under the jurisdiction of the king, who offered them protection in return for their economic function.As "royal serfs", they were allowed freedom of the king'shighways,exemption from tolls, the ability to hold land directly from the king, and physical protection in the vast network of royal castles built to assert Norman authority.

The Jews of London were the responsibility of theConstable of the Towerand for this reason they were able to seek refuge in theTower of Londonwhen at risk of mob violence. This was resorted to on a number of occasions, with large numbers staying there, sometimes for months at a time. There are records of a body of Jewish men-at-arms forming part of the garrison of theTowerin 1267, during a civil war.

A clause to that effect was inserted underHenry Iin some manuscripts of the so-calledLeges Edwardi Confessoris( "Laws of Edward the Confessor" ). Henry granted a charter to Rabbi Joseph, the chiefRabbiof London, and his followers. Under this charter, Jews were permitted to move about the country without paying tolls, to buy and sell, to sell their pledges after holding them a year and a day, to be tried by their peers, and to be sworn on theTorahrather than on aChristian Bible.Special weight was attributed to a Jew's oath, which was valid against that of twelve Christians. The sixth clause of the charter was especially important: it granted to Jews the right to move wherever they wanted, as if they were the king's own property ( "sicut res propriæ nostræ" ).As the king's property, English Jews could be mortgaged whenever the monarch needed to raise revenue and could be taxed without the permission ofParliament,eventually becoming the main taxpaying population.

English Jews experienced a "golden age" of sorts underHenry IIin the late 12th century due to huge economic expansion and increased demand for credit. Major Jewish fortunes were made in London,Oxford,Lincoln,Bristol,andNorwich.The Crown, in turn, capitalized on the prosperity of its Jews. In addition to many arbitrary taxes,Richard Iestablished the Ordinance of the Jewry in 1194 in an attempt to organize the Jewish community. It ensured that mandatory records would be kept by royal officials for all Jewish transactions. Every debt was recorded on a chirography to allow the king immediate and complete access to Jewish property.Richard also established a special exchequer to collect any unpaid debts due after the death of a Jewish creditor. The establishment of theExchequer of the Jewseventually made all transactions of the English Jewry liable to taxation by the king in addition to the 10% of all sums recovered by Jews with the help of English courts.So, while theFirstandSecond Crusadesincreasedanti-Jewishsentiments, Jews in England went relatively unscathed beyond occasional fines and special levies. Though they did not experience the same kind of social mobility and cultural advancements thatJews under Muslim ruledid, the Jews of England's population and prosperity increased under the protection of the king.

The status of Jews in England dramatically worsened with the consolidation of governmental authority as well as the deepening of popular piety in the late 12th century; further isolating Jews from the greater English community. Though rulers of both church and state exploited and monopolized on the advancements in commerce and industry of English Jews, popular anti-Jewish sentiments grew as a result of their prosperity and relationship with the king and the courts.External pressures such as the circulating myth of theblood libel,the religious tensions in light of theCrusades,and the interference ofPope Innocent IIIin the late 12th century created an increasingly violent environment for English Jews.Mob violenceincreased against the Jews in London,Norwich,andLynn.Entire Jewries were murdered inYork.Because of their financial utility, however, English Jews were still offered royal protection, andRichard Icontinued to renew orders to protect the Jews, formalizing the Exchequer and designating "archae",or centralized record chests monitored by panels of local Christian and Jewish key holders to better protect records of all Jewish transactions.

The incompetence ofKing Johnin the early 13th century depleted even the wealthiest Jews, and though they had more than a decade to recover,Henry III's equally mismanaged finances pressed roughly 70,000 pounds out of a population of only 5,000.To do so, they had to sell off many of their mortgage bonds to wealthy nobles. The Jews then became a focal point of those debtors' hatred and mass violence spiked again in the mid-13th century. Their legal status, however, did not change until Henry's son,Edward I,took control of the Jewries. He issued restrictive statutes, forbidding them from taking any more property into bond, the means by which they could lend money and how they lived. With almost all means of income denied them and property being confiscated, the Jewish population diminished. New waves of crusading zeal in the 1280s in conjunction with debt resentment pressured Edward into the expulsion of the depleted Jewish community in 1290.

Attitudes of the kings and the church

Jewish communities inMedieval England.

Gentile-Jewish relations in England were disturbed underKing Stephen,who burned down the house of a Jew inOxford(some accounts say with a Jew in it) because he refused to pay a contribution to the king's expenses. In 1144 came the first report in history of theblood libelagainst Jews; it came up in the case ofWilliam of Norwich(1144).Anthony Juliusfinds that the English were endlessly imaginative in inventing antisemitic allegations against the Jews. He contends that England became the "principal promoter, and indeed in some sense the inventor of literary anti-Semitism."In his 2010 book, Julius argues thatblood libelis the key, because it incorporates the themes that Jews are malevolent, constantly conspiring against Christians, powerful, and merciless. Variations include stories about Jews poisoning wells, twisting minds, and buying and selling Christian souls and bodies.

While theCrusaderswere killing Jews inGermany,outbursts against Jews in England were, according to Jewish chroniclers, prevented by King Stephen.

With the restoration of order underHenry II,Jews renewed their activity. Within five years of his accession Jews were found atLondon,Oxford,Cambridge,Norwich,Thetford,Bungay,Canterbury,Winchester,Stafford,Windsor,andReading.Yet they were not permitted to bury their dead elsewhere than in London, a restriction which was not removed till 1177. Their spread throughout the country enabled the king to draw upon their resources as occasion demanded. He repaid them with demand notes on the sheriffs of the counties, who accounted for payments thus made in the half-yearly accounts on thepipe rolls(seeAaron of Lincoln).Strongbow's conquest ofIreland(1170) was in part financed by Josce, a Jew of Gloucester; and the king accordingly fined Josce, five pounds, for having lent money to those under his displeasure, pipe rolls also indicate Strongbow borrowed monies from Aaron of Lincoln.As a rule, however, Henry II does not appear to have limited in any way the financial activity of Jews. The favourable position of English Jews was shown, among other things, by the visit ofAbraham ibn Ezrain 1158, by that ofIsaac of Chernigovin 1181, and by the immigration to England of Jews who were exiled from the king's properties inFrancebyPhilip Augustusin 1182, among them probably beingJudah Sir Leon of Paris.

In 1168, when concluding an alliance withFrederick Barbarossa,Henry II seized the chief representatives of the Jews and sent them toNormandy,and imposed atallageon the rest of the community of 5,000 marks.When, however, he asked the rest of the country to pay atithefor the Crusade againstSaladinin 1188, he demanded a quarter of all Jewishchattels.The so-called "Saladin tithe"was reckoned at £70,000, the quarter at £60,000. In other words, the value of the personal property of Jews was regarded as one-fourth that of the whole country. It is improbable, however, that the whole amount was paid at once, as for many years after the imposition of thetallage,arrears were demanded from the recalcitrant Jews.

Aaron of Lincolnis believed to have been the wealthiest man in 12th century Britain. It is estimated that his wealth may have exceeded that of the king.The king had probably been led to make this large demand on English Jewry's money by the surprising windfall which came to his treasury at Aaron's death in 1186. All property obtained by usury, whether by Jew or by Christian, fell into the king's hands on the death of the usurer; Aaron of Lincoln's estate included £15,000 worth of debts owed to him. Besides this, Aaron's large fortune passed to King Henry but much of it was lost on the journey to the royal coffers in Normandy. A special branch of the treasury, known as "Aaron's Exchequer",was established in order to deal with this large account.

During the earlier years of Henry II's reign Jews lived on good terms with their non-Jewish neighbours, including the clergy. They entered churches freely, and took refuge in the abbeys in times of commotion. Some Jews lived in opulent houses, and helped to build many of theabbeysandmonasteriesof the country. However, by the end of Henry's reign they had incurred the ill-will of the upper classes. Anti-Jewish sentiment, fostered by the Crusades during the latter part of the reign of Henry, spread throughout the nation and began to be reflected in official policy.

During the thirteenth century, English monarchs were increasingly careless and finally actively hostile in their policies. This was in part due to changes in church policy, which was becoming increasingly hostile after theFourth Lateran Council.The church demanded the separation of Jews and Christians, so that heresy did not spread for instance by ensuring Jews could be identified by the wearing ofJewish badgesor hats.

John and Henry III both overtaxed the Jews, regarding them as an easy source of income. The result was that Jews were forced by the crown to pull in all overdue debts, and as debt was generally secured against land, this meant dispossessing members of the middling gentry of the source of their feudal status, land. The crown's immediate allies, in their inner circle and court, benefited from these sales as they picked up these assets cheaply; Jews could not by law hold onto land holdings. This repeated cycle bred resentment and anti-Jewish sentiment, but monarchs continued this process until Jewish assets had in essence run out.

Henry III's official attitudes moved from protection to hostility when he became the first monarch to lend credence to ablood libel,when he ordered investigations and arrests of Jews concerning the death of a child,Hugh, in Lincoln.He was locally venerated, and stories about him this clearly circulated widely, including in prose and folk songs.

Persecution and expulsion

Artefacts from Jewish houses in medieval London, in display at the Jewish Museum London.

Main articles:Edict of Expulsion,Statute of the Jewry,andHistory of the Jews in England (1066–1290) § Edward I and the Expulsion

External audio
The Medieval Massacre of the Jews of York,Speaking with Shadows,published by English Heritage, retrieved 10 November 2019

The persecution of England's Jews built up from the late twelfth century, and was brutal. Massacres were recorded in London,NorthamptonandYorkduring the crusades in 1189 and 1190. The massacre at York was mentioned byWilliam of Newburghthat it was carried out less for religious reasons, but instead for greed.

In 1269,Henry IIImade blasphemy by Jews a hanging offence, and when Edward returned from Crusade, he passed theStatute of the Jewryin 1275.

The number of Jews were around 2-3,000 in England by the 1270s.They were much less capable of generating income for the Crown, as they had been overtaxed and their capital was much eroded. Overtaxation inevitably led to overdue debts being foreclosed, meaning that the lands of middling Knights and gentry being bought up by the biggest landowners, notoriously including Queen Eleanor and other members of the court. This process had fuelled anti-Semitism among the forces opposing the crown centred aroundSimon de Montfortduring Henry III's time. During theSecond Barons' Warin the 1260s, de Montfort's forces led a series of pogroms in many English cities where Jewish communities were attacked, and debt records captured and destroyed.

During Edward's reign, anti-Semitism moved from being used by opponents of the crown, to being "deliberately deployed and developed in the interests of the English state".While financial considerations may have played a part in his actions leading to the expulsion of the Jews, it is important to note Edward's "sincere religious bigotry".Shortly after Edward returned from the Crusades, in order to assuage concerns among the landed classes and in Parliament, he passed theStatute of the Jewryin 1275.

To finance hiswar against Walesin 1276,Edward Iof Englandtaxed Jewish moneylenders.When the moneylenders could no longer pay the tax, they were accused of disloyalty. Already restricted to a limited number of occupations, Edward abolished their "privilege" to lend money, restricted their movements and activities and forced Jews to wear a yellow patch.

On 17 November 1278 the heads of households of the Jews of England, believed to have numbered around 600 out of a population of 2-3,000, were arrested on suspicion ofcoin clippingand counterfeiting, and Jewish homes in England were searched. At the time, coin clipping was a widespread practice, which both Jews and Christians were involved in. A financial crisis had resulted in pressure to act against coin clippers. In 1275, coin clipping was made a capital offence, and in 1278, raids on suspectedcoin clipperswere carried out. According to the Bury Chronicle, "All Jews in England of whatever condition, age or sex were unexpectedly seized… and sent for imprisonment to various castles throughout England. While they were thus imprisoned, the innermost recesses of their houses were ransacked." Some 600 were detained in theTower of London.More than 300 are known to have been executed in 1279, with 298 being killed in London alone. Some of those who could afford to buy a pardon and had a patron at the royal court escaped punishment.

Edward Iincreasingly showedantisemitismas in 1280 he granted a right to levy a toll on the rivulet bridge atBrentford"for the passage of goods over it, with a special tax at the rate of 1d.each for Jews and Jewesses on horse, 0.5d. each on foot from which all other travellers were exempt ".This antipathy eventually culminated in his legislating for the expulsion of all Jews from the country in 1290. Most were only allowed to take what they could carry. A small number of Jews favoured by the king were permitted to sell their properties first, though most of the money and property of these dispossessed Jews was confiscated. A monk,Gregory of Huntingdon,purchased all the Jewish texts he could to begin translating them, ensuring that at least some of what they had written and created was preserved.

From then until 1655, there is no official record of Jews in England outside theDomus Conversorum,with a few exceptions such asJacob Barnet,who was ultimately arrested and exiled.

Resettlement period, 16th–19th centuries

Between the expulsion of Jews in 1290 and theirformal returnin 1655, there are records of Jews in theDomus Conversorumup to 1551 and even later. An attempt was made to obtain a revocation of the edict of expulsion as early as 1310, but in vain. Notwithstanding, a certain number of Jews appeared to have returned; four complaints were made to the king in 1376 that some of those trading asLombardswere actually Jews.

Occasionally permits were given to individuals to visit England, as in the case of Elias Sabot (an eminent physician fromBolognasummoned to attendHenry IV) in 1410, but it was not until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497 that any considerable number ofSephardic Jewsfound refuge in England. In 1542 many were arrested on the suspicion of being Jews, and throughout the sixteenth century a number of persons named Lopez, possibly all of the same family, took refuge in England, the best known of them beingRodrigo López,physician toQueen Elizabeth I,and who is said by some commentators to have been the inspiration forShylock.

England also saw converts such asImmanuel TremelliusandPhilip Ferdinand.Jewish visitors includedJoachim Gaunse,who introduced new methods of mining into England and there are records of visits from Jews named Alonzo de Herrera and Simon Palache in 1614. The writings ofJohn Weemesin the 1630s provided a positive view of theresettlement of the Jews in England,effected in 1657.

Henry VIII and Judaism

Over the course of his reign,Henry VIIIshowed interest in Judaism. During his attempt toannul his marriagetoCatherine of Aragon,Henry's representatives consulted with notable Italian Jews, and he attempted to justify his annulment using laws from the Old Testament.Later in Henry's reign Hebrew was first printed in England from 1524, while in 1549 the use of Hebrew was allowed to be used in private worship.

Hidden Jews in England

Main article:History of the Marranos in England

From the beginning of the 16th century, in the wake of theSpanish Inquisition,Jews began to return to England. Although Jews had to conceal their religion for fear of raising discourse, they needed only to conceal it loosely, and many Jews in England became known as Jews, despite their attempts to conceal their faith.Many hidden Jews made names for themselves while in England. OneMarranofrom Spain, Hector Nunes, played a vital role in English espionage by relaying intelligence from Spain toQueen Elizabeth's spymaster,Sir Francis Walsingham,on his merchant vessels. This information was instrumental in England's defeat of theSpanish Armadain 1588.Another Jew who made a name for himself in England wasJoachim Gaunseof Bohemia, who came to England as a metallurgist and metal engineer to aid in their defeat of Spain. Because of his work,Sir Walter Raleighinvited Gaunse to sail with him on anexpedition to North America,where he became the first Jew to set foot on North American soil.

Another Marrano gained attention in England for less patriotic reasons.Roderigo Lopez,who became personal physician to Elizabeth I, was allegedly bribed by the Spanish Crown to poison the Queen, and subsequently executed. This prompted a wave of anti-Jewish sentiment in England which had not been seen since the Jews' expulsion. In the wake of his trial, famous plays likeWilliam Shakespeare'sThe Merchant of VeniceandChristopher Marlowe'sThe Jew of Maltawere written, both of which depict Jews in negative, stereotypical manners.

Toward the middle of the 17th century a considerable number of Marrano merchants settled in London and formed there a secret congregation, at the head of which wasAntonio Fernandez CarvajalandSamuel Maylott,a French merchant, who has many descendants in England. They conducted a large business with theLevant,EastandWest Indies,Canary Islands,andBrazil,and above all with theNetherlandsandSpain.

Francis Drake's quartermaster in hiscircumnavigation of the globewas named as "Moses the Jew". There is evidence of Jews resident inPlymouthin the 17th century.

Resettlement, 1655

Main article:Resettlement of the Jews in England

Prior to their resettlement, a growingphilo-Semitismin England had turned the environment there into a more hospitable one for Jews. In the wake of theEnglish Reformation,it became more popular for Anglicans to identify their practices and traditions with Jewish ones over Catholic ones. In 1607,Cambridge Universityreceived its first rabbi to teach Hebrew to students, and many of these students went on to translate theKing James Bible.This translation of the Bible, for the first time, began to "dehellenize" biblical names For example, Elias, as he had been called previously, becameElijahto sound more like the Hebrew pronunciation. ManyPuritansshowed great appreciation for these Old Testament names, and Puritan children were often named using the new Hebrew spellings.Puritans furthered the English appreciation of Judaism by adopting Jewish practices like strict observation of the Sabbath.When they challenged Anglican practices as being too similar to Catholic ones,Richard Hooker,a well-known Anglican theologian, was cunning enough to tie these practices to Jewish ones rather than Catholic ones in an attempt to silence the Puritan reformers' attacks.At the turn of the 17th century, Englishmen likeEdwin SandysandLaurence Alderseybegan to show interest in Jewish culture, traveling to Jewish ghettos, visiting synagogues on the Sabbath, and comparing Jewish and Anglican practices in popular writings upon their returns.Oliver Cromwellbelieved the English to be one of theTen Lost Tribes of Israel,and therefore entitled to the blessings promised in the Old Testament.Under his rule after theEnglish Civil War,philo-Semitism flourished, making the climate right for Jews to propose their official readmission.

Bevis Marks Synagogue,the first synagogue of Spanish-Portuguese Jews, completed in 1701, oldest synagogue in the UK, was built by the first generation of readmitted Jews to England.

In the 1650s,Menasseh Ben Israel,a rabbi and leader of theDutch Jewishcommunity, approached Cromwell with the proposition that Jews should at long-last be readmitted to England. He agreed, and although he could not compel a council called for the purpose in December 1655 to consent formally to readmission, he made it clear that the ban on Jews would no longer be enforced. In the years 1655–56, the controversy over the readmission of Jews was fought out in apamphlet war.The issue divided religious radicals and moreconservativeelements within society. ThePuritanWilliam Prynnewas vehemently opposed to permitting Jews to return, theQuakerMargaret Fellno less passionately in favour, likeJohn Wemyss,a minister of theChurch of Scotland.In the end, Jews were readmitted in 1655, and, by 1690, about 400 Jews had settled in England.Emblematic of the progress in the social status of Jews was theknightingbyWilliam III of Englandin 1700 ofSolomon de Medina,the first Jew to be so honoured.

18th century

TheJewish Naturalisation Act 1753receivedroyal assentfromGeorge IIon 7 July 1753 but was repealed in 1754 due to widespread opposition to its provisions.

During theJacobite rising of 1745,the Jews had shown particular loyalty to the government. Their chief financier,Samson Gideon,had strengthened thestock market,and several of the younger members had volunteered in the corps raised to defend London. Possibly as a reward,Henry Pelhamin 1753 brought in the Jew Bill of 1753, which allowed Jews to become naturalised by application toParliament.It passed theLordswithout much opposition, but on being brought down to theHouse of Commons,theToriesmade a great outcry against this "abandonment ofChristianity",as they called it. TheWhigs,however, persisted in carrying out at least one part of their general policy ofreligious toleration,and the bill was passed and received royal assent (26 Geo. 2.c. 26).

In 1798,Nathan Mayer von Rothschildestablished a business in Manchester, and laterN M Rothschild & Sonsbank in London, having been sent to the UK by his fatherMayer Amschel Rothschild(1744–1812). The bank fundedWellingtonin theNapoleonic Wars,financed the British government's 1875 purchase ofEgypt's interest in theSuez Canaland fundedCecil Rhodesin the development of theBritish South Africa Company.Beyond banking and finance, members of theRothschild family in UKbecame academics, scientists and horticulturalists with worldwide reputations.

Some English ports, such asHullstarted to receive immigrants and trading "port Jews"from around 1750.

In the 1780s and '90s, English boxerDaniel Mendozawas an active prizefighter; Mendoza was ofSephardicorPortuguese Jewishdescent.

Emancipation and prosperity, 19th century

Main article:Emancipation of the Jews in England

Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild(1840–1915).

WithCatholic Emancipationin 1829, the hopes of the Jews rose high; and the first step toward a similar alleviation in their case was taken in 1830 whenWilliam Huskissonpresented a petition signed by 2,000 merchants and others of Liverpool. This was immediately followed by a bill presented byRobert Granton 15 April of that year which was destined to engage theParliamentin one form or another for the next thirty years.

In 1837,Queen VictoriaknightedMoses Haim Montefiore;four years later,Isaac Lyon Goldsmidwas made abaronet,the first Jew to receive a hereditary title. The first JewishLord Mayor of London,SirDavid Salomons,was elected in 1855, followed by the 1858 emancipation of the Jews. On 26 July 1858,Lionel de Rothschildwas finally allowed to sit in theBritish House of Commonswhen the law restricting the oath of office to Christians was changed;Benjamin Disraeli,abaptised Christianof Jewish parentage, was already an MP. In 1868, Disraeli became Prime Minister having earlier been Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 1884,Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschildbecame the first Jewish member of the BritishHouse of Lords;again Disraeli was already a member. (Though born a Jew, Disraeli'sbaptismas a child qualified him as eligible for political aspirations, presenting no restrictions regarding a mandated Christian oath of office.) Disraeli as a leader of theConservative Party,with its ties to the landed aristocracy, used his Jewish ancestry to claim an aristocratic heritage of his own. His biographerJonathan Parryargues:

Disraeli convinced himself (wrongly) that he derived from the Sephardi aristocracy of Iberian Jews driven from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century....Presenting himself as Jewish symbolized Disraeli’s uniqueness when he was fighting for respect, and explained his set-backs. Presenting Jewishness as aristocratic and religious legitimized his claim to understand the perils facing modern England and to offer ‘national’ solutions to them. English toryism was ‘copied from the mighty [Jewish] prototype’ (Coningsby,bk 4, chap. 15). Disraeli was thus able to square his Jewishness with his equally deep attachment to England and her history.

Nevertheless, Todd Endelman points out that, "The link between Jews and old clothes was so fixed in the popular imagination that Victorian political cartoonists regularly drew Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) as an old clothes man in order to stress his Jewishness." He adds, "Before the 1990s...few biographers of Disraeli or historians of Victorian politics acknowledged the prominence of the antisemitism that accompanied his climb up the greasy pole or its role in shaping his own singular sense of Jewishness.

By 1880 the flourishing Jewish community inBirminghamwas centred on its synagogue. The men organised collective action to defend the reputation and promote the interests of the community. Rituals regarding funerals and burials brought together the rich and the poor, the men and the women. Intermarriage outside the community was uncommon. However, the arrival of East European Jews after 1880 caused a split between the older, assimilated, middle-class Anglicized Jews and the generally much poorer new immigrants who spokeYiddish.

By 1882, 46,000 Jews lived in Englandand, by 1890, Jewish emancipation was complete in every walk of life. Since 1858, Parliament has never been without practising Jewish members. At this time many of the Jews of theEast Endmoved to more prosperous parts ofEast Londonsuch asHackney(includingDalstonandStamford Hill), or toNorth Londondistricts such asStoke NewingtonandCanonbury.

Synagogues were built openly, occasionally across the country as large, architecturally elaborateclassical,romanesque,ItalianateorVictorian gothicbuildings such asSingers Hill Synagogue,inBirmingham.However, not all grand examples survive: for instanceDalston Synagogue(counter-intuitively not inDalston,but inNewington Green,North London) in the last-mentioned style was in poor repair so its congregation sold its land for building of an apartment block and relocated in 1970.

All Jewish Rifle Volunteer Corps, 1861

The invasion scare of 1857 saw the creation of theVolunteer Forcewhich included both Engineer and Rifle Volunteer Corps. These units were raised by local communities with the permission of their localLord Lieutenant.

TheLord Lieutenantof theTower Hamlets,an area larger than themodern boroughand which stretched fromStepneytoStamford Hill,was theConstable of the Tower.With his permission, Jews fromEast Londonformed theEast Metropolitan Rifle Volunteers (11th Tower Hamlets).

The Jewish Chroniclereported on the 165 Jewish volunteers, marching along with fife and drum as "a sight never before seen in Britain, and very rarely if ever since the rising ofBar Cocba"

Like most of theVolunteer Forceunits, theEast Metropolitan Rifle Volunteersonly existed for a short time before being merged with other (integrated)Tower Hamletsunits, but their establishment stimulated debate in the Jewish community, at the time and subsequently, as to whether separate or integrated military units were more desirable.

Modern times

1880s to 1920

Immigrant Jews in the transit shed atTilbury(c. 1891). This illustration is captioned "The Alien Invasion".

From the 1880s through the early part of the 20th century, massivepogromsand theMay Lawsin Russia caused many Jews to flee thePale of Settlement.Of the East European Jewish emigrants, 1.9 million (80 percent) headed to the United States, and 140,000 (7 percent) to Britain. The chief mechanism waschain migrationin which the first successful member(s) of the chain send information, local currency (and sometimes tickets or money for tickets) to later arrivals.TheseAshkenazi Jewswere funnelled by therailways of Europeto itsNorth SeaandBalticports,and entered England via London,Hull,GrimsbyandNewcastle.The Jewish communities of the Northern ports were swelled both by transient and temporary migrants, bound forNew York,Buenos Aires,the Cape,as well as London and other British cities.

The Jewish population increased from 46,000 in 1880 to about 250,000 in 1919. They lived primarily in the large industrial cities, especiallyLondon,ManchesterandLeeds.Until the late 20th century, East London was the main centre of Jewish life in England, with settlement heavily focussed on an area in and aroundWhitechapel,extending fromBishopsgatetoCable Street.The area was chosen because of its cheap rents and the independent trades,notably weaving and textiles, known colloquially as "the rag trade".The district ofSpitalfieldslay within this area and gained the nicknameLittle Jerusalem.

Manchester, and neighbouring Salford, were also areas of Jewish settlement, particularly theStrangeways,CheethamandBroughtondistricts. Unlike much of theJewish community in Poland,the Jewish community in England generally embraced assimilation into widerEnglish culture.They startedYiddishandHebrewnewspapers and youth movements such as theJewish Lads' Brigade.Immigration was eventually restricted by theAliens Act 1905,following pressure from groups such as theBritish Brothers' League.The 1905 legislation was followed by theAliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919.

In 1917,Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschildset up the conditions for theBalfour Declaration,which promised ahomelandinPalestinefor Jews in a newZionistState.

Marconi Scandal (1912–1913)

TheMarconi scandalbrought issues of antisemitism into the political arena, on the basis that senior ministers in theLiberal governmenthad secretly profited from advanced knowledge of deals regardingwireless telegraphy.Some of the key players were Jewish.Historian Todd Endelman identifies Catholic writers as central critics:

The most virulent attacks in the Marconi affair were launched byHilaire Bellocand the brothersCecilandG. K. Chesterton,whose hostility to Jews was linked to their opposition toliberalism,theirconservative strand of Catholicism,and the nostalgia for a medieval Catholic Europe that they imagined was ordered, harmonious, and homogeneous. The Jew baiting at the time of theBoer Warand the Marconi scandal was linked to a broader protest, mounted in the main by theRadicalwing of theLiberal Party,against the growing visibility of successful businessmen in national life and the challenges. What were seen as traditional English values.

Historian Frances Donaldson says, "If Belloc's feeling against the Jews was instinctive and under some control, Chesterton's was open and vicious, and he shared with Belloc the peculiarity that the Jews were never far from his thoughts."

First World War

About 50,000 Jews served in theBritish Armed ForcesduringWorld War I,and around 10,000 died on the battlefield, while Britain's first all-Jewish regiment, theJewish Legionfought inPalestine.An important consequence of the war was the British conquest of thePalestinian Mandate,and theBalfour Declaration,making an agreement between the British Government and theZionist Federation of Great Britain and Irelandto strive to set up a homeland for Jews in Palestine.

Entrepreneurs

The Eastern European Jews brought with them a long history as skilled entrepreneurial middlemen. They were much more likely to become entrepreneurs than their gentile neighbours, with a heavy concentration in the garment industry as well as in retailing, entertainment and real estate. London provided excellent financing opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Sports

Harold Abrahams, gold medal winner at the 1924 Olympics.

Antisemitism was a serious handicap for Britain's Jews, especially the widespread stereotype to the effect that Jews were weak, effeminate and cowardly. The Zionist social criticMax Nordaupromoted the term "muscle Jew"as a rebuttal to the stereotype. Challenging that stereotype was an important motivation for wartime service in theBoer warand in the First World War. It was also motivation for sports that appealed to the largely working-class Jewish youth element.

From the 1890s to the 1950s, British bo xing was dominated by Jews whose families had migrated from Russia or theAustro-Hungarian Empire.Jews were heavily involved in bo xing as professional and amateur fighters, managers, promoters, coaches and spectators—as well as gamblers and a certain criminal element that tried to fix fights.Their high visibility in a prestigious sport among theBritish working classhelped reduce antisemitism and increased their acceptance in British society.The Jewish establishment worked hard to promote bo xing among the youth, as a deliberate "Anglicisation" campaign designed to speed their adoption of British character traits and cultural values. The youth themselves eagerly participated, although the rising middle class status after theSecond World Warled to a sharp falloff of interest in younger generations.

The most celebrated of the Jewish athletes in Britain wasHarold Abrahams(1899–1978)-– the man made famous by the filmChariots of Firefor winning the gold medal in the 100 metre sprint in the1924 Paris Olympics.Abrahams was thoroughly Anglicised, and his cultural integration went hand-in-hand with his sporting achievements. He became a hero to the British Jewish community. However, Abrahams' quest to enter upper class British society increasingly dominated his career, as his Jewishness meant less and less to him and his associates.

Before and during World War II

See also:Jewish refugees from German-occupied Europe in the United Kingdom

Kindertransport – The Arrivalsculpture in central London marks theKindertransportwhen the UK took in nearly 10,000 Jewish children prior to WWII. Dubbed the "British Schindler",Nicholas Wintonwas a notable member of the operation.

Though there was some growing antisemitism during the 1930s, it was counterbalanced by strong support for British Jews in their local communities leading to events such as theBattle of Cable Streetwhere antisemitism and fascism was strongly resisted by socialists, trade unionists, Jews and their neighbours, who were successful in preventing aBritish Union of Fascistsrally through a heavily Jewish area, despite police efforts to clear a path.

Consistent with its complex history, Britain was not particularly receptive to Jewish refugees fleeing theNaziregime in Germany, and the otherfasciststates of Europe. Approximately 40,000 Jews from Austria and Germany were eventually allowed to settle in Britain before the War, in addition to 50,000 Jews from Italy, Poland, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Despite the increasingly dire warnings coming from Germany, Britain refused at the 1938Evian Conferenceto allow further Jewish refugees into the country. The notable exception allowed by Parliament was theKindertransport,an effort on the eve of war to transport Jewish children (their parents were not given visas) from Germany to Britain. Around 10,000 children were saved by the Kindertransport, out of a plan to rescue five times that number.

During theNazi occupation of the Channel Islandsthree Jews fromGuernsey—Marianne Grunfeld, Therese Steiner, and Auguste Spitz—were deported toSaint-Malo,Nazi-occupied France,and eventually killed atAuschwitz concentration camp.They would be the only Jews deported from British soil and killed in theHolocaust.

Allied forces celebrateRosh Hashanahin London, 1943.

With the declaration of war, 74,000 German, Austrian and Italian citizens in the UK were interned asenemy aliens.After individual consideration by tribunal, the majority, largely made up of Jewish and other refugees, were released within six months.

Even more important to many Jews was the permission to settle in the British-controlledMandatory Palestine.In order to try to maintain peace between the Jewish and Arab populations, especially after the1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine,Britain strictly limited immigration. This limitation became nearly absolute after theWhite Paper of 1939all but stopped legal immigration. During the War, Zionists organised anillegal immigrationeffort, conducted by "Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet"(the precursor of theMossad) that rescued tens of thousands of European Jews from the Nazis by shipping them to Palestine in rickety boats. Many of these boats were intercepted and some sank with great loss of life. The efforts began in 1939, and the last immigrant boat to try to enter Palestine before the end of the war wasMVStruma,torpedoed in theBlack Seaby aSoviet Navysubmarine in February 1942. The boat sank with the loss of nearly 800 lives.

Many Jews joined theBritish Armed Forces,including some 30,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine alone, some of whom fought in theJewish Brigade.Many formed the core of theHaganahafter the war.

By July 1945, 228,000 troops of thePolish Armed Forces in the West,includingPolish Jews,were serving under the high command of the British Army. Many of these men and women were originally from theKresyregion ofeastern Polandand weredeportedby Soviet First SecretaryJoseph Stalinto Siberia 1939–1941. They were then released from the SovietGulagsto form theAnders Armyand marched toIranto form theII Corps (Poland).The Polish II Corps then advanced to the BritishMandate of Palestine,where many Polish Jews, includingMenachem Begin,deserted to work on forming the state ofIsrael,in a process known as the 'Anders Aliyah'. Other Polish Jews remained in the Polish Army to fight alongside the British in theNorth AfricaandItaly campaigns.Around 10,000 Polish Jews fought under the Polish flag – and British High Command – at theBattle of Monte Cassino.All of them were eligible to settle in the UK after thePolish Resettlement Act 1947,Britain's first mass immigration law.

Mythical history of the Jews in England

Main articles:British IsraelismandAssyria and Germany in Anglo-Israelism

See also

• Antisemitism in the United Kingdom
• Chuts(19th Century Dutch Jewish immigrants)
• Council of Christians and Jews
• Early English Jewish literature
• Emancipation of the Jews in the United Kingdom
• History of the Jews in Ireland
• History of the Jews in Manchester
• History of the Jews in Northern Ireland
• History of the Jews in North East England
• History of the Jews in Scotland
• History of the Jews in Wales
• Jewish Museum (Camden)
• List of British Jewish nobility and gentry
• List of British Jews
• Polish British
• Rothschild banking family of England
• Starr (law)
• The War on Britain's Jews?,a 2007 documentary film

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore;et al., eds. (1901–1906)."England".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

Further reading

• Carlos, Ann M., Karen Maguire, and Larry Neal. "‘A knavish people...’: London Jewry and the stock market during the South Sea Bubble."Business History(2008) 50#6 pp: 728–748.
• Crome, Andrew. "The 1753 ‘Jew Bill’ Controversy: Jewish Restoration to Palestine, Biblical Prophecy, and English National Identity."English Historical Review130.547 (2015): 1449-1478.online
• Davis, Richard W. "Disraeli, the Rothschilds, and anti-Semitism."Jewish History(1996): 9-19online.
• Endelman, Todd M(May 1985). "Disraeli's Jewishness Reconsidered".Modern Judaism.5(2): 109–123.doi:10.1093/mj/5.2.109.
• Diniejko, Andrzej. "Benjamin Disraeli and the Jewish Question in Victorian England"The Victorian Web(2020)online

• Endelman, Todd M., and Tony Kushner, eds.Disraeli's Jewishness(2002)
• Endelman, Todd M.The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000(Univ of California Press, 2002)
• Feldman, David.Englishmen and Jews. Social Relations and Political Culture, 1840–1914(Yale UP, 1994).
• Gartner, Lloyd P.The Jewish Immigrant in England, 1870-1914.Third edition. London: Vallentine Mitchell 2001.
• Godley, Andrew.Jewish Immigrant Entrepreneurship in New York and London, 1880–1914(2001)
• Green, Joseph.A Social History of the Jewish East End in London, 1914–1939: A Study of Life, labour, and liturgy(Edwin Mellen Press, 1991)
• Hirsch, Brett D. "Jewish Questions in Robert Wilson’s The Three Ladies of London."Early Theatre19.1 (2016): 37-56. SeeThe Three Ladies of London(1584).online
• Holmes, Colin.Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1876–1939(1979)
• Hyams, Paul (1974)."The Jewish Minority in Medieval England, 1066-1290".Journal of Jewish Studies.xxv(2): 270–293.doi:10.18647/682/JJS-1974.
• Julius, Anthony.Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England(Oxford University Press; 2010) 811 pages; Examines four distinct versions of English anti-Semitism, from the medieval era (including the expulsion of Jews in 1290) to what is argued is anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Zionism today.
• Katz, David S.The Jews in the History of England, 1485–1850(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994) xvi, 447 pp.
• Katz, David S.Philo-Semitism and the Readmission of the Jews to England, 1603–1655(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982) x, 286 pp.
• Kent, Aaron M.Identity, Migration and Belonging: The Jewish Community of Leeds, 1890-1920(Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015)
• Knepper, Paul. "The British Empire and Jews in Nineteenth Century Malta."Journal of Modern Jewish Studies9.1 (2010): 49-69.
• Langham, Frank Raphael.The Jews in Britain: A Chronology(Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
• Lipman, Vivian David.Social history of the Jews in England: 1850–1950(1954)
• Mundill, Robin R. (2002),England's Jewish Solution,Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-52026-3,OL26454030M
• Mundill, Robin R. (2003). "Edward I and the Final Phase of Anglo-Jewry". In Skinner, Patricia (ed.).Jews in Medieval Britain.Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 55–70.ISBN978-1-84383-733-6.
• Rokéah, Zefira Entin (1988). "Money and the hangman in late thirteenth century England: Jews, Christians and coinage offences alleged and real (Part I)".Jewish Historical Studies.31:83–109.JSTOR29779864.
• Nicolay, Claire. "The anxiety of 'Mosaic' influence: Thackeray, Disraeli, and Anglo‐Jewish assimilation in the 1840s."Nineteenth‐Century Contexts25.2 (2003): 119-145.
• Pollins, Harold.Economic history of the Jews in England(Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1982)
• Rabin, Dana Y. "The Jew Bill of 1753: Masculinity, virility, and the nation."Eighteenth-Century Studies(2006) 39#2 pp: 157–171.
• Ragussis, Michael.Figures of Conversion. The “Jewish Question” and English National Identity(1995).
• Stacey, Robert (2001)."Anti-Semitism and the Medieval English State".In Maddicott, J. R.; Pallister, D. M. (eds.).The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell.London: The Hambledon Press. pp. 163–77.
• Wohl, Anthony S. "'Ben JuJu': Representations of Disraeli's Jewishness in the Victorian political cartoon."Jewish history10.2 (1996): 89-134online
• Yuval-Naeh, Avinoam. "The 1753 Jewish Naturalization Bill and the Polemic over Credit."Journal of British Studies57.3 (2018): 467-492.online
• Yogev, Gedalia.Diamonds abd Coral: Anglo/Dutch Jews and Eighteenth-Century Trade.Leicester University Press 1978.ISBN0718511573

Primary sources

• Richard of Devizes (1841),The chronicle of Richard of Devizes concerning the deeds of Richard the First, King of England,London: James Bohn,OCLC4692428,OL24872893M

External links

• The Jews of Angevin England; documents and records, from the Latin and Hebrew sources, printed and manuscript by Joseph Jacobs, 1854-1916
• "Jews and Jewish communities in Great Britain 18th–20th centuries".The National Archives.
• York 1190: Jews and Others in the Wake of the Massacre (academic conference, March 2010)
• Virtual History Tour of Jewish England
• England related articles in the Jewish EncyclopediaArchived2011-09-26 at theWayback Machine
• Articles on British Jewish history
• Jews in England 1066–1290, 1553–1970Archived2008-06-02 at theWayback Machine(fromEncyclopaedia Judaica1971)
• Words of English Thinkers on the Jewish People
• Jewish Communities & Records – United Kingdom
• Tracing the First Jews of Britain
• Chabad-Lubavitch Centers in England
• The Jewish Chronicle(UK)
• A reading of Israel Zangwill's historical satireThe King of Schnorrers(1894)
• "Immigration and Emigration – The world in a city: East End Jews".BBC. February 2004.