the world of private banking
the world of private banking
the world of private banking
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PRIVAtE BANKERS AND PHILANtHROpy 251<br />
Jewish Philanthropy<br />
The great diaspora <strong>of</strong> Jews fleeing persecution in <strong>the</strong> Russian Empire occurred just<br />
as British Jews were experiencing <strong>the</strong> formal symbols <strong>of</strong> social acceptance. Only<br />
from 1866 could observant Jews take <strong>the</strong> oath which would enable <strong>the</strong>m to sit as<br />
members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> House <strong>of</strong> Commons and only from 1871 could <strong>the</strong>y enter Oxford<br />
and Cambridge Universities. The wealthy sections <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> established Jewish<br />
population greatly, and with good reason, feared that <strong>the</strong>ir new and fragile social<br />
acceptance would be destabilized by <strong>the</strong> inflow <strong>of</strong> impoverished immigrants.<br />
Jews who fled to Britain congregated in a small number <strong>of</strong> urban centres.<br />
The largest number settled in East London where <strong>the</strong>, previously small, Jewish<br />
population probably stood at 120–140,000 by 1914. 18 The established Jewish<br />
population felt not only fear but compassion for <strong>the</strong> misery <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir co-religionists.<br />
In consequence, Jewish financiers and o<strong>the</strong>rs devoted a great deal <strong>of</strong> time and<br />
effort to philanthropic activities designed to provide for <strong>the</strong> material needs <strong>of</strong> poor<br />
Jews, and to prevent <strong>the</strong>ir becoming a burden on <strong>the</strong> British taxpayer; also to<br />
socialize <strong>the</strong>m into modes <strong>of</strong> behaviour which would make <strong>the</strong>m acceptable to<br />
<strong>the</strong> British – hard-working, law-abiding and English-speaking – whilst retaining a<br />
Jewish identity. 19 They also encouraged and financed <strong>the</strong> onward movement <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
migrants to <strong>the</strong> United States or to less-crowded countries such as South Africa or<br />
Argentina. 20<br />
Jewish financiers, lawyers and businessmen funded and ran <strong>the</strong> Jewish Board<br />
<strong>of</strong> Guardians, an alternative for impoverished Jews to <strong>the</strong> publicly funded Boards<br />
<strong>of</strong> Poor Law Guardians. They financed and administered schools such as <strong>the</strong> Jews<br />
Free School in East London, which provided an English Jewish education and to<br />
which N.M. Rothschild, among o<strong>the</strong>rs, was a generous benefactor. Ano<strong>the</strong>r major<br />
problem was housing. The Jews were accused <strong>of</strong> causing public health hazards as<br />
<strong>the</strong>y crammed into <strong>the</strong> already miserable housing <strong>of</strong> East London and Manchester,<br />
unable to afford better. Rothschild again took <strong>the</strong> lead in setting up a semiphilanthropic<br />
company to provide tenement housing for <strong>the</strong> poor. Perhaps in part he<br />
was responding to <strong>the</strong> reported plea <strong>of</strong> his mo<strong>the</strong>r, Charlotte de Rothschild, on her<br />
deathbed in 1884, that he should devote his energies to improving <strong>the</strong> housing <strong>of</strong><br />
Jewish workers. 21 At a meeting at <strong>the</strong> Rothschild <strong>banking</strong> house in 1885 Rothschild<br />
planned with Samuel Montagu, F.D. Mocatta and o<strong>the</strong>r prominent members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Jewish community <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings<br />
Company. This was to raise capital for <strong>the</strong> building <strong>of</strong> homes for poor Jews.<br />
18<br />
D. Feldman, Englishmen and Jews: Social Relations and Political Culture, 1840–<br />
1914 (Yale, 1994), p. 172.<br />
19<br />
V.D. Lipman, A Century <strong>of</strong> Social Service, 1859–1959: The Jewish Board <strong>of</strong><br />
Guardians (London, 1959).<br />
20<br />
Feldman, Englishmen, pp. 299–306.<br />
21<br />
J. White, Rothschild Buildings: Life in an East End Tenement Block, 1887–1920<br />
(London, 1980), p. 19.