Very short History of Jewish Life in Britain

This is a very abridged history of Jewish Life in the UK (largely England). Others would choose different things to put in I'm sure!!

British Jewish Life

1066 - Invasion of William the Conqueror. Until now there were possibly a few Jews in Anglo-Saxon England but they were not an organised community. They arrived in greater numbers with other Flemish immigrants as merchants after William's invasion. Around half settled in London, but communities also found in York, Winchester, Lincoln, Canterbury, Northampton and Oxford.

1144 - ‘Blood Libel' against Jews of Norwich - young William of Norwich is said to have been used in a re-enactment of the crucifixion. Similar claims were made in 1168 in Gloucester, 1181 in Bury St Edmunds and in 1183 in Bristol when children were killed in suspicious circumstances. In 1189 Richard the Lion Heart was crowned in London and a pogrom against London's Jews broke out.

1190 - Riots against Jews as Crusaders head for Jerusalem. York Massacre is particularly famous but there was also a massacre in Norwich. When the Crusades were declared in 1189 Jews were taxed particularly highly to finance them.

1217 - English Jews forced to wear yellow badges in the form of two stone tablets.

1232 - Start of Henry III's reign. The king confiscated a newly built London synagogue. By the mid thirteenth century, more than one third of the circulated coins in England were controlled by a few hundred Jews, leading the king to levy upon them untenable rates of taxation and creating rampant anti-Semitism. 1253, a decree was issued forbidding the Jews to live in towns that did not have an established Jewish community. In 1255, the Jews were once again accused of blood libel against Hugh of Lincoln, 100 Jews were executed. Conditions became so bad in 1255 that Jews volunteered to leave, however their request was turned down by Henry III who considered them royal property. Between 1263 and 1266, community after community was ransacked and many inhabitants killed. In 1265, the Crown started dealing with Italian bankers, minimizing their need for Jews financial services. In 1269, the Crown further restricted Jewish rights: Jews were not allowed to hold land and children could not inherit their parents money. When a Jew died, his money reverted to the government. In 1275, Queen Eleanor deported Cambridge's Jews to nearby Norwich. Also in 1275, Edward I issued the Jewish Affairs Bill, forbidding the Jews of England to loan money on interest. They were allowed to earn a living as tradesmen or farmers, but were ineligible for membership in guilds or tenure as farmers. The Jews became poor and the king could no longer collect taxes from them. In 1278, many were arrested and hanged for secretly continuing their money lending.

1290 - Jews are expelled. It is thought that small numbers of Jews remained, and practiced their religion privately.

1656 - The first Englishmen to propose the return of the Jews were radical Puritan Christians hoping the Jews presence would speed the return of the Messiah, an event in which they saw Britain playing an important role. The Jews Returned, but the expulsion was never officially rescinded, and their legal status was thus undefined and ambiguous. Oliver Cromwell was probably more influenced by Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel from Amsterdam than by any Christian ideals.

1657 - A small synagogue on Creechurch Lane was opened, and escaped the Great Fire in 1666. It became a fashionable sight to visit in London, and Samuel Pepys visited on 14^th october 1663:

"Thence home and after dinner my wife and I, by Mr. Rawlinson's conduct, to the Jewish Synagogue: where the men and boys in their vayles, and the women behind a lattice out of sight; and some things stand up, which I believe is their Law, in a press to which all coming in do bow; and at the putting on their vayles do say something, to which others that hear him do cry Amen, and the party do kiss his vayle. Their service all in a singing way, and in Hebrew. And anon their Laws that they take out of the press are carried by several men, four or five several burthens in all, and they do relieve one another; and whether it is that every one desires to have the carrying of it, I cannot tell, thus they carried it round about the room while such a service is singing. And in the end they had a prayer for the King, which they pronounced his name in Portugall; but the prayer, like the rest, in Hebrew. But, Lord! to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true God, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this."

1664 - ‘Gates of Hope', a boys school for poor Jewish children opened, founded and supported from Synagogue funds. It was not until 1730 that Villa Real, an equivalent for girls, was opened. Also in 1664: the first Ashkenazi communities charity was founded; called Bikkur Cholim, it was for the purposes of visiting the sick and burying the dead.

1677 - A collection of the names of merchants living in and around London was published for Sam. Lee and Dan Majorm,  possibly the first printed commercial directory of London. It featured names of Jewish merchants such as Moses Mocate of Chamomile-Street.

1687 - James II issues the Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, extending toleration to all religions. James and Charles (his father) both protected the new Jewish Community against calls for the enforcement of the expulsion act of 1290 and calls to restrict Jewish activity (fearing merchant competition).

1690 - The Great Synagogue founded. This was the first time that Ashkenazim could support their own institutions on this scale.

1700 - Solomon de Medina (financier) is knighted

1701 - Bevis Marks opens

1753 - Parliament passes the Jewish Naturalization Bill

1754 - Hardwicke Act: Printed Marriage Register forms were to be used - but Quakers & Jews were exempt

 By 1720 at the latest there were more Ashkenazim than Sephardim in England, in the first half of 18^th Century. 6000 Ashkenazim migrated to Britain.

1750-1815 - 8-10 thousand Ashkenazim arrived in Britain "It is this migration, rather that of former conversos in the seventeenth century that created the demographic foundation for English Jewry" Endelman

1833-35 - The first Jew is admitted to the Bar and the first Jewish Sheriff is appointed

1838 -  Moses Montefiore is knighted by Queen Victoria, and Isaac Lyon Goldsmid is the first Jew to receive a hereditary title

1840 - West London Synagogue Founded

1841 - First Anglo-Jewish periodical, The ‘Jewish Chronicle' is founded

1855 - Jews College founded, and Sir David Salomons becomes the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London

1858 - Emancipation of the Jews becomes law, and as a result Baron Lionel de Rothschild is able to take his seat in the House of Commons

1863 - Rabbi Adler unites Ashkenazim under the banner of The United Synagogue and creates the office of Chief Rabbinate

1881- Renewed persecution in Russia prompts mass emigration to England

1899 - English Zionist Federation Founded

1902 - The Jewish Religious Union (later Liberal Judaism) is founded

1906/1908 - Edgar Seligman is the first known British Jew to win Olympic medal (1906 Olympics were unofficial)

1909 - Herbert Samuel became first professing Jew to serve in the British Cabinet. He later became the High Commissioner of Palestine

1917 - Balfour Declaration

1934 - Hore-Belisha served as Minister of Transport and the Belisha Beacon is named after him by the public.

1936 - October 4^th - Battle of Cable Street

1942 - CCJ founded, Association of British Synagogue (today known as The Movement for Reform Judaism) was founded with 6 synagogues.

1^st and Second world wars 

1956 - Leo Baeck College founded

1964 - The Jacobs Affair

1975 - First Woman ordained - Jackie Tabick

2003 - Michael Howard first Jewish Leader of the Opposition since Disraeli (who was baptized)