The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company Prospectus The following text comes from thehistoryoflondon.co.uk. Jews are townspeople, not farmers, and rarely lived in the countryside. In whichever towns the settled they clustered together, for self-protection, for reasons of language and culture, and to be within walking-distance of a synagogue. In the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century London’s main Jewish Quarter was in the Whitechapel, Spitalfields, and Mile End Old Town districts, and the parish of St. George-in-the-East. They were areas that had previously been settled by earlier Huguenot and German immigrants. The former people had largely assimilated and moved elsewhere but the less affluent German community remained in Whitechapel and St. George’s until the First World War. Towards the end of the 19th century 90% of the capital’s Jews lived in East London and 40% of the population of the Borough of Stepney were Jewish. The East End took on an exotic character: streets filled with people speaking Yiddish, Lettish (from Latvia) or German; men dressed in black jupizes (long coats) and with side-curls; Germanic names and Hebrew lettering over the shopfronts; kosher butchers; Jewish booksellers; and Jewish music-halls. The East End area of two square miles was one of the most densely populated in the whole of England. Throughout the second half of the 19th century railway companies ran lines through East London, razing many homes along the way. Residents simply moved a few streets away, creating increased overcrowding as the number of houses decreased and the population grew with new arrivals. There were some streets of fine houses, albeit run-down, as well as mean slums, small, stinking alleyways and narrow courtyards. As with London’s other rookeries, water supply and sanitary conditions were often poor, which only began to improve when a new water authority was created after 1903. Refuse was often left to rot. Conditions inside many homes were bad, with leaking ceilings, damp walls, and foul water closets. In 1884 The Lancet published a report that galvanised the Jewish Board of Guardians into appointing an inspector of housing. Of those properties initially checked 93% were found to not have flushing toilets. Jews, tended to crowd more people into each dwelling, encouraging landlords, often themselves Jews, to charge higher rents than to Gentiles. The latter were then forced out of properties and whole streets became part of the Jewish ghetto. Many Jewish families took in lodgers, perhaps someone newly-arrived. Overcrowded homes were the norm, often with eight or nine people sharing two small rooms, and many doubled-up as workshops. Hence, much of home life was spent outside on the doorstep or in the street. From the 1870s London’s slums were gradually cleared to make way for social housing. In 1884 the United Synagogue reported on the state of East End housing. This resulted in two private social housing companies. The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company, providing a four percent return to investors, was founded and chaired by Nathan Rothschild. (It still exists as the Industrial Dwellings Society). Samuel Barnett of the St. Jude’s church at Whitechapel was the primary instigator of the East End Dwellings Company. Read more about the Prospectus in the Rothschild Archive. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The Rothschild Archive Commercial | CulturalNot online The Rothschild Archive, based in London, is a private archive holding the commercial records and personal papers of members of the Rothschild […] Letter in Judendeutsch Letter from Nathan Mayer Rothschild to his brothers, 1816 • The Rothschild Archive “Poll Book”, 1847 Lionel de Rothschild’s ‘Poll Book’ • The Rothschild Archive
The Chuts Dutch Cigar Makers’ Sabbath meal, C19 • Sandys Row Archive This fantastic photo, from the Sandys Row Archive, is of a family of Dutch cigar makers celebrating a Sabbath meal in London’s East End in the nineteenth century. From the 1840s onwards, a small group of pioneering Dutch Jews (about 50 families), mainly from Amsterdam, settled in an area in West Spitalfields known as the Tenterground, which was named after the open land used by cloth makers who stretched their fabric on wooden frames known as tenters. The Tenterground was developed in the seventeenth century and encompassed the streets of White’s Row, Wentworth Street, Bell Lane and Rose Lane (which no longer exists). Hugeunot silk weavers erected homes and workshops there in the eighteenth century, which became occupied by this small tight-knit Dutch immigrant Jewish community, known as “the Chuts.” These little known of Dutch Jewish settlers pre-date the mass migration of Ashkenazi Jewish migrants who fled persecution in the Pale of Settlements and arrived in their thousands to the area from 1880s onwards. The Dutch immigrants who established Sandys Row Synagogue were economic migrants seeking a better life, rather than refugees fleeing persecution. Frying Pan Alley • Sandys Row Archive Frying Pan Alley today ‘The Chuts’ had their own practises and customs, which were different to other Ashkenazi Jewish groups. They refused to join any of the existing synagogues, renting instead a small room in a building on Whites Row, which served for a while as a prayer room and meeting place. Most of the newly arrived Dutch Jews were skilled workers, predominately involved in the trades of cigar and cigarette making, diamond cutting and polishing, slipper and cap making. Skills were passed on from generation to generation, making this small community of about a thousand people extremely self sufficient. Many small workshops were opened up in and around the Tenterground area, including the streets of Artillery Passage, Frying Pan Alley and Sandys Row. Read more here. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain Sandys Row Archive Communal Records | Cultural | Jewish Life | ReligionPartially online Sandys Row Archive is a digital archive held by the Bishopsgate Institute Archives. It contains the records of Sandys Row Synagogue and […] Bishopsgate Institute Library and Archive Commercial | Cultural | Jewish Life | Local HistoryOnly online Bishopsgate Institute Library and Archive is a free, independent library and archive open to the public. Its collection contains material about London, […] The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company Prospectus Prospectus for Nathan Rothschild’s private social housing company • The Rothschild Archive
Sir David Salomons’ Carriage Doors Sir David Salomons’ Carriage Doors • Jewish Museum London Sir David Salomons, 1st Baronet (22 November 1797 – 18 July 1873) was a leading figure in the 19th century struggle for Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom. He was the first Jewish Sheriff of the City of London and Lord Mayor of London. These carriage doors, from the Jewish Museum London, are painted with his family coat of arms. During the 18th century and first part of the 19th century, Jews faced discrimination, as did anyone who was not a member of the Church of England. In 1753, the “Jew Bill” allowing Jewish immigrants to be naturalised as British subjects was repealed after a public outcry. Sir David Salomons’ Carriage Doors • Jewish Museum London The 19th century saw an active campaign to secure full civil rights. Born in 1797 in London, Salomons followed his father into business and was one of the founders of the London and Westminster bank. From the 1830s, he was elected to take up various posts within public office, including as a Member of Parliament, but was unable to do so because of the requirement to swear an oath “on the true faith of a Christian”. He was finally able to take up his post as the first Jewish Sheriff of London in 1835 after Parliament passed the Sheriff’s Declaration Act. In 1855, he became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, after canvassing support from Sir Robert Peel. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain Jewish Museum London Cultural | Religion | SocialOnly online The Jewish Museum London is a public museum, with an archive collection of historic Jewish cultural, social and religious items. Archive Description […] The Salomons Museum Cultural | Family History | Local HistoryNot online The Salomons Museum comprises two rooms within the Salomons Estate located on the edge of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent. The Salomons […] 18th Century Shofar Engraved Shofar • Jewish Museum London
Jews’ Free School Boys at Jews’ Free School • JCR-UK This fabulous photo, from the treasure-house that is JCR-UK, shows boy pupils, undated, performing a drill at the Jews’ Free School in London. Louise Messik, writing on the JCR-UK site, describes the Jews’ Free School, (which still exists as JFS to this day, in a different location): The Jews’ Free School is Europe’s largest and most successful Jewish secondary school. It was established in 1732 as the Talmud Torah of the Great Synagogue of London, serving orphans of the community.In 1822, the School was relocated to Bell Lane in the heart of the East End where, throughout the 19th century, it absorbed thousands of immigrant children. At one time JFS had 4,000 children on roll and was the largest school in the world.In the inter-war period, children often came straight from the Kindertransport to JFS. During World War II, students were evacuated to East Anglia and Cornwall and the School was destroyed by enemy action. It re-opened in 1958 in Camden Town where its location was central for the London Jewish community of the late 1950s.Maintaining its tradition of mirroring the demography of the community, JFS left Camden Town in 2002 and relocated itself to state of the art facilities closer to the heart of North West London. The JFS archives are partially held by The London Archives. Search the database and see more photos here. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The London Archives Immigration | Local History | Religion | SocialPartially online The London Archives (formerly London Metropolitan Archives) is a public archive, housing a broad collection of social, religious, and local history records. […] Jewish Communities and Records – United Kingdom (JCR-UK) Communal Records | Databases | Family History | Historical Documents | Jewish Life | Local History | ReligionOnly online Jewish Communities and Records – United Kingdom (JCR-UK) is an online project whose aim is to record details of all Jewish communities […] Jews’ Free School Classroom, 1905 Classroom image from the diary of Samuel Morris Rich • Southampton Anglo-Jewish Archives
Great Tailor’s Strike Balance Sheet This balance sheet of the great strike of East London tailors, 1889, comes from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Balance sheet showing income and expenditures of the Great Strike of East London tailors, London, 1899, RG 116 England Territorial Collection, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research The TUC’s Union Online trade union history archive has this to say about the strike and document: London Tailors Strike 1889 was called against the sweated conditions of the Jewish immigrants working in small tailoring workshops in Whitechapel. The strike was called by the Amalgamated Society of Tailors and two smaller pressers’ and machinists’ unions. Their headquarters was the White Hart public house in Greenfield Street. The strike was linked to the other climactic events of 1888-89. Lewis Lyons, the chairman of the strike committee, was a member of the Social Democratic Federation and William Wess, the Secretary was a member of the Socialist League. As in the Dock Strike, daily street processions led by brass bands were organised and John Burns, Tom Mann and Ben Tillett spoke at their meetings. £100 was donated from the residue of the Dockers Strike Fund. Leaflets were printed in English and Yiddish and by September, 10,000 workers were on strike. Lord Rothschild and the local MP, Samuel acted as mediators with the employers and after 5 weeks, the strikers’ demands for a 10½ hour day and a limit on overtime were agreed. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain
Spiritual Possibilities of Judaism Today Spiritual Possibilities of Judaism Today by Lily Montagu, 1898 • Liberal Judaism Archives This essay, on the Spiritual Possibilities of Judaism Today, was written by Lily Montagu in 1898. It comes from the Liberal Judaism Archives, which holds the communal records of the national movement which began as the Jewish Religious Union in 1902, was later renamed the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues, and is now known as Liberal Judaism. The Hon. Lilian Helen “Lily” Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. She grew up in a pious Orthodox Jewish home, in an ethos of privilege and philanthropy, devoted to helping the poor and advancing Jewish institutions. Her eldest brother, Louis, a financier and political activist, founding the League of British Jews to lobby against the creation of the state of Israel. Influenced by Claude Montefiore, a reform-oriented philanthropist and scholar, in 1893 she founded the West Central Jewish Girls Club (which subsequently merged into the Jewish Girls’ Brigade). She was active in social improvement, particularly in respect to unemployment, sweat shops and bad housing. Lilian Helen Montagu • Liberal Judaism Archives In this essay, she asks all religiously committed Jews to help her form an association aimed at strengthening the religious life of the Anglo-Jewish community through the propagation of Liberal Jewish teachings. Membership would not necessarily demonstrate allegiance to Liberal Judaism but simply the recognition of its ability to awaken within many Jews a sense of spirituality and personal responsibility to God. The Jewish Religious Union (J.R.U.), established by Lily Montagu in February, 1902, instituted Sabbath afternoon worship services conducted along Liberal Jewish lines, and “propaganda meetings,” led by Montagu, to clarify and spread its teachings. Though Montefiore agreed to serve as the group’s official leader, thus strengthening its credibility, it was Lily Montagu who assumed responsibility for its major activities and daily affairs. In 1901 and 1902, Montagu lay the groundwork for the establishment of the Jewish Religious Union in London. In February 1902 she arranged the first meeting of the Jewish Religious Union for the Advancement of Liberal Judaism at her sister Henrietta Franklin’s house. The Union set up the first synagogue in Liberal Judaism in the UK and helped found the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Montagu was a founding member with her sister of the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. She sat on the executive committee and led the meetings in prayer. Following the retirement of Leo Baeck, Montagu served for a brief stint (1955–1959) in her 80s as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. You can read more about her life in the Jewish Women’s Encyclopaedia. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain Liberal Judaism Archives Jewish Life | Local History | ReligionPartially online The Liberal Judaism Archives are open to members of the public by appointment and contain historical material from 1898 to the present […] Lily’s Legacy Project Family History | Jewish Life | Local History | ReligionPartially online The Lily’s Legacy Project is a heritage project organised by Liberal Judaism. It is deposited at the London Metropolitan Archive and online, […] Rainbow Jews Communal Records | Cultural | Jewish Life | Local HistoryPartially online Rainbow Jews is an archiving project by Liberal Judaism, and held at The London Archives. Launched in October 2012, Rainbow Jews is […]
Abigail Behrens: Pioneer of Women’s Education Abigail Behrens, née Lucas, one of the founders of Manchester High School for Girls This treasure, from Manchester High School for Girls, is a portrait of Abigail Behrens, traditionally named as one of the school’s founders. She was a member of the Committee of the Manchester Association for the Promotion of the Education of Women from 1874-1875 and she served as School Governor from 1875 – 1899. One of the houses in the MHSG Preparatory Department is named after her. Manchester High School for Girls was founded in January 1874 as a result of the work of the Manchester Association for the Promotion of the Education of Women. At that time there was widespread suspicion of female education. In defiance of such prejudice, the Manchester Association launched a public appeal in 1873 to found a girls’ school “of the highest type.” Within a few weeks over a hundred and forty Mancunians had contributed sums ranging from £1 to £150. The school they founded was Manchester High School for Girls. Here’s a picture of some of the Senior School girls in the 1870s: Abigail was the wife of Edward Behrens, Secretary of the Taunton Commission. In 1873, Mr Behrens gave £50 to the original MHSG Appeal Fund. This was the third largest amount. In 1901, Abigail’s family endowed the Abigail Behrens Memorial Scholarship for girls from the Manchester Jews School, Derby St, Cheetham Hill. It was worth £20 pa. It was awarded about every three years between 1901 and 1927 to enable pupils to attend MHSG. By the mid 1930s, 40 Jewish girls attended the school out of a total of 400 students. Kosher meals were available and a special Jewish assembly put in place. Between 1934 and 1940 the school offered 10 subsidised places for refugee girls from Nazi Europe, who were housed with the community. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain
“Poll Book”, 1847 Lionel de Rothschild's 'Poll Book' • The Rothschild Archive This treasure is a Poll Book, gifted to the trustees of The Rothschild Archive by N M Rothschild & Sons Limited. Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879) was elected to serve as MP for the City of London in 1847. He would not be able to take his seat for another eleven years until the discriminatory legislation against Jews was removed. This volume is entitled ‘City Electors list’ 1847 and is a record of votes cast in the 1847 election. The volume records the names of the nine candidates who stood at the election, and the name and address of each individual who placed a vote. This volume appears to have been made privately and was retained for many years in the Partners’ Room at New Court. When Lionel de Rothschild eventually took up his seat in 1858 he became the first practising Jew to sit as a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Jews had been MPs since Sampson Gideon in 1770, but had been required to convert to Christianity before entering Parliament. Prime Minister William Gladstone had initially proposed that Lionel be made a peer and sit in the House of Lords but Queen Victoria had refused, saying that to title a Jew would cause antagonism, and that it would be unseemly to ennoble someone whose success was based on what she called “a species of gambling” rather than legitimate trade. However, in 1885 the Queen did allow Lionel’s son Nathan to become the first Jewish member of the House of Lords. We are fascinated by this treasure for the insight it gives into the position of Jews in nineteenth century England. Despite his British political activities and philanthropy (for example: organising funding for the Crimean War, organising the relief effort for the Irish and Scottish Highland Potato Famine, organising the purchase of the Suez Canal) Lionel faced great obstacles taking up his seat. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The Rothschild Archive Commercial | CulturalNot online The Rothschild Archive, based in London, is a private archive holding the commercial records and personal papers of members of the Rothschild […]