History of the Jews in England
The year 70 CE marks the probable arrival of Jews in Roman Britain, though no definitive evidence confirms their existence. Some traditions from Caerleon suggest two Christian martyrs named Julius and Aaron may have had Jewish origins. These early communities likely included soldiers, slaves, silversmiths, or traders. However, the Anglo-Saxon takeover following the Roman evacuation around 410 CE erased all traces of these groups. The tumultuous period that followed saw them wiped out without a recorded legacy.
William the Conqueror brought Jews from Rouen to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066. Their primary function was to supply coin for feudal dues paid to the royal treasury rather than goods. Henry II established the Exchequer of the Jews in 1194 to record every debt on chirography. This allowed the king immediate access to Jewish property and ensured mandatory records were kept by royal officials. Aaron of Lincoln became the wealthiest man in 12th century Britain, with debts exceeding £15,000 at his death in 1186. His estate passed to King Henry, creating a special branch of the treasury known as Aaron's Exchequer.
Massacres occurred in London, Northampton, and York during the crusades of 1189 and 1190. Edward I issued the Statute of the Jewry in 1275, forbidding moneylending and restricting movement. On the 17th of November 1278, heads of households believed to number around 600 were arrested for coin clipping. More than 300 were executed in 1279, with 298 killed in London alone. By 1290, Edward I legislated the expulsion of all Jews from England. Most could only take what they could carry, while their properties were confiscated. A monk named Gregory of Huntingdon purchased Jewish texts to preserve them before the final departure.
Menasseh Ben Israel approached Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s proposing readmission for Jews. Although no formal council consented, Cromwell made it clear the ban would not be enforced. By 1690, about 400 Jews had settled in England. Solomon de Medina received knighthood from William III in 1700, becoming the first Jew so honored. Antonio Fernandez Carvajal led a secret congregation at the head of which Samuel Maylott served as a French merchant. They conducted large business with the Levant, East Indies, Canary Islands, Brazil, Netherlands, and Spain. Bevis Marks Synagogue, completed in 1701, stands today as the oldest synagogue in the UK built by this first generation of readmitted Jews.
Lionel de Rothschild was finally allowed to sit in the British House of Commons on the 26th of July 1858 after changing the oath restriction. Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1868 having earlier been Chancellor of the Exchequer. Nathan Mayer Rothschild became the first Jewish member of the House of Lords in 1884. The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 received royal assent but was repealed in 1754 due to opposition. By 1890, Jewish emancipation was complete in every walk of life. Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler unified diverse congregations under the United Synagogue founded in 1870. The community emphasized respectability, philanthropy, and education as routes to acceptance in broader society.
Massive pogroms and May Laws in Russia caused many Jews to flee the Pale of Settlement from the 1880s onward. Of East European emigrants, 140,000 went to Britain while 1.9 million headed to the United States. They entered England via London, Hull, Grimsby, and Newcastle through chain migration mechanisms. The population increased from 46,000 in 1880 to about 250,000 by 1919. Whitechapel extended from Bishopsgate to Cable Street became known as Little Jerusalem. Harold Abrahams won gold in the 100 metre sprint at the 1924 Paris Olympics, becoming a hero to the British Jewish community. Boxing dominated British sports from the 1890s to the 1950s among working-class youth.
The Kindertransport saved around 10,000 children from Germany before World War II began. Nicholas Winton earned the nickname British Schindler for his efforts. Approximately 40,000 Jews from Austria and Germany settled in Britain before the war, plus 50,000 from Italy, Poland, and elsewhere. During Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands, three Jews from Guernsey, Marianne Grunfeld, Therese Steiner, and Auguste Spitz, were deported to Auschwitz. About 74,000 German, Austrian, and Italian citizens were interned as enemy aliens upon war declaration. Around 50,000 Jews served in British Armed Forces during World War I, with 10,000 dying on the battlefield. The Jewish Legion fought in Palestine under British command.
Common questions
When did Jews first arrive in Roman Britain?
The year 70 CE marks the probable arrival of Jews in Roman Britain, though no definitive evidence confirms their existence. Some traditions from Caerleon suggest two Christian martyrs named Julius and Aaron may have had Jewish origins.
Why were all Jews expelled from England in 1290?
Edward I legislated the expulsion of all Jews from England by 1290 after issuing the Statute of the Jewry in 1275 which forbade moneylending and restricted movement. Most could only take what they could carry while their properties were confiscated.
Who was the wealthiest man in 12th century Britain?
Aaron of Lincoln became the wealthiest man in 12th century Britain with debts exceeding £15,000 at his death in 1186. His estate passed to King Henry creating a special branch of the treasury known as Aaron's Exchequer.
How many children were saved by the Kindertransport before World War II began?
The Kindertransport saved around 10,000 children from Germany before World War II began. Nicholas Winton earned the nickname British Schindler for his efforts during this operation.
When did Lionel de Rothschild sit in the House of Commons?
Lionel de Rothschild was finally allowed to sit in the British House of Commons on the 26th of July 1858 after changing the oath restriction. By 1890 Jewish emancipation was complete in every walk of life.
All sources
74 references cited across the entry
- 1bookA History of the Jews in EnglandCecil Roth — Oxford at the Clarendon Press — 1964
- 2encyclopediaRoman society in the United KingdomMichael C. Prestwich et al.
- 4newsWe've been here before7 June 2002
- 5encyclopediaAnglicization (?)12 December 2006
- 6newsLondon Jewish Museum reopens after major face-lift17 March 2010
- 17journalWere There Jews in Roman Britain?Shimon Applebaum — 1951
- 18bookChurches in the landscapeDent & Sons — 1989
- 22bookRoyal Jews: A Thousand Years of Jewish Life In and Around the Royal County of BerkshireJonathan Romain — Grenfell Publishing — 2013
- 26bookJews in Medieval Britain: Historical, Literary and Archaeological PerspectivesBoydell & Brewer — 19 July 2012
- 27bookThe Exchequer of the Jews of England in the Middle Ages: A Lecture Delivered at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, Royal Albert Hall, 1887Charles Gross — Sagwan Press — 2013
- 31journalFinancing Conquest and Colonization in Angevin Ireland: A Jewish role?Marie Therese Flanagan — 2021-01-01
- 33bookThe Jews of Medieval Western Christendom: 1000–1500Robert Chazan — Cambridge University Press — 2006
- 34webSamuel Gruber's Jewish Art & Monuments: A Visit to Medieval Jewish Winchester17 December 2019
- 35webThe Persecution of Jews, 1189Roger of Hoveden — Fordham University
- 36bookThe Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made EnglandDan Jones — HarperCollins Publishers — 2012-05-10
- 37conferenceYork 1190: Jews and Others in the Wake of MassacreMarch 2010
- 38bookA Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th centuryBarbara Wertheim Tuchman — Knopf — 1978
- 39bookMiddlesexMichael Robbins — Phillimore — 2003
- 42citationWill In The World: How Shakespeare Became ShakespeareS. Greenblatt — W.W. Norton — 2004
- 43journalA Seventeenth Century Bill of 'Rights' for JewsJohn Bowman — University of Pennsylvania Press — April 1949
- 44bookThe Jews in the history of England, 1485-1850David S. Katz — Clarendon Press — 1996
- 45bookHebrew in the Church: The Foundations of Jewish-Christian DialoguePinchas E. Lapide — William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company — 1984
- 46journalJews in Elizabethan EnglandLucien Wolf — 1924
- 47journalThe Exceptions to the Rule: Jews in Shakespeare's EnglandCynthia Seton-Rogers — 2018
- 48journalJews and crypto-Jews in sixteenth and seventeenth century EnglandAriel Hessayon — March 2011
- 49bookThe Jews of PlymouthHalsgrove — 2015
- 50journalChristian and Jew in Early Modern English PerspectiveDavid S. Katz — 1994
- 53webThe Jews of the United KingdomThe Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
- 54bookCassell's Chronology of World HistoryHywel Williams — Weidenfeld & Nicolson — 2005
- 55bookThe Fighting Jew: The Life and Times of Daniel Mendoza, Champion BoxerAmberley Publishing — 2019
- 56bookThe International Jewish Sports Hall of FameJoseph M. Siegman — S.P.I. Books — 1992
- 57bookThe Jewish Boxers Hall of FameShapolsky Publishers — 1988
- 62journalBirmingham Anglo-Jewry c. 1780 to c. 1880: Origins, Experiences and Representations2011
- 64journalWork in progress: Indirect passage from Europe Transmigration via the UK, 1836–1914Nicholas J. Evans — 2001
- 65bookWorld of our FathersIrving Howe — New York University Press — 1976
- 66journalThe Jews in Hull, between 1766 and 1880Israel Finestein — 1996
- 67bookMapping Society: The Spatial Dimensions of Social CartographyUniversity College London Press — 2018
- 68journalunknown titleDecember 1963
- 69bookThe Marconi ScandalBloomsbury Publishing — 2011
- 70bookThe Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000University of California Press — 2002
- 71journalThe Jewish response to G.K. Chesterton's antisemitism, 1911–331990
- 73journalUnmasking the 'muscle Jew': the Jewish soldier in British war service, 1899–1945Schaffer, Gavin — 2012
- 74journalJewish Fighters in Britain in Historical Context: Repugnance, Requiem, Reconsideration2011
- 75journal'The Hefty Hebrew': Boxing and British-Jewish Identity, 1890–19602012
- 76journal'The Sunshine of Manly Sports and Pastimes': Sport and the Integration of Jewish Refugees in Britain, 1895–19142012
- 77journal'Too Semitic' or 'Thoroughly Anglicised'? The Life and Career of Harold Abrahams2012
- 78newsHolocaust memorials remember Channel Islands' victims2020-01-27
- 79newsArmy was Polish, soldiers were Jews11 September 2006