Judaism in Nineteenth-Century England: A Chronology (original) (raw)

[This chronology is based chiefly upon the timeline in the exhibition catalogue described in "References" below. George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art, Brown University.]

1800 Jewish population 15,000, concentrated in London
1810 Minute books of three major Ashenazi synagogues first written in English.
1819 The first anti-Jewish riot in nineteenth-century Europe
1819 Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe introduces positive Jew characters
1820s Earliest aesthetic reforms in synagogues
1831 T. B. Macaulay supports removal of Jewish disabilities
1835 Jews receive right to vote
1835 Government recognizes Board of Deputies of British Jews as representing Jews
1837 Moses Montefiore knighted
1837 Dickens's Oliver Twist includes Fagin, typical antisemitic Jewish caricature
1847 Disputes over seating Lionel de Rothschild in Parliament
1850s Jewish population about 35,000
1857 Sir David Salomons elected Lord Mayor of London
1858 Lionel de Rothschild seated in Parliament
1858 W. Holman Hunt publishes pamphlet attacking attempts to convert Jews in Palestine
1864 Dickens's Our Mutual Friend presents positive Jewish character
1868 Benjamin Disraeli, a convert to Anglicanism, becomes Prime Minister
1871 Eight Jews in Parliament
1871 Jews eligible for Oxford and Cambridge fellowships
1883 Nathaniel de Rothschild elevated to peerage
1890s Jewish Historical Society founded
1892 Israel Zangwill publishes Children of the Ghetto
1900s Jewish population around 180,000
1902 Claude Montefiore establishes Jewish Reform Union
1905 Aliens Act restricts Jewish immigration
1909 Herbert Samuel becomes cabinet minister

References

The Emergence of Jewish Artists in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Exhibition Catalogue. Ed. Susan Tumarkin Goodman. London: Merrell; New York: Jewish Museum, 2001.

Last modified 8 September January 2005