Isaac Goldsmid
Baronet
Tenure1841–1859
Known forFinancier and one of the leading figures in the Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom
Born(1778-01-13)13 January 1778
London
Died27 April 1859(1859-04-27) (aged 81)
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)Isabel
Issue2

Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, 1st Baronet (13 January 1778 – 27 April 1859) was a financier and one of the leading figures in the Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom, who became the first British Jew to receive a hereditary title.[1]

Biography

Birth

Isaac Goldsmid was born in London on 13 January 1778.

Career

He began in business with a firm of bullion brokers, Mocatta & Goldsmid (estab. 1684), to the Bank of England and the East India Company. He became a partner in Mocatta & Goldsmid and amassed a large fortune. Isaac Goldsmid was made Baron da Palmeira by the Portuguese government in 1846 for services rendered in settling a monetary dispute between Portugal and Brazil.[2]

Moreover, he assisted by his capital and his enterprise to build some of the railways in southern England and also the London docks.[2]

Philanthropy

He is chiefly known for his efforts to obtain the emancipation of the Jews in England and for his part in founding University College London. The Jewish Disabilities Bill, first introduced in Parliament by Sir Robert Grant in 1830, owed its final passage through the House of Lords in 1858 to Goldsmid's energetic work.[2]

He helped to establish the University College Hospital in 1834, serving as its treasurer for eighteen years, and also aided in the efforts to obtain reform in the English penal code.[2]

In 1841, he became the first (unconverted to Christianity) Jewish baronet, the honour being conferred upon him by Lord Melbourne.[2] He was a made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828,[3][4][5] presumably for his part in the foundation of UCL.[6]

Personal life and death

He married his cousin Isabel and their second son was Sir Francis Goldsmid, 2nd Baronet (1808–1878).[2] In 1849, he bought Somerhill House near Tonbridge, Kent. He died on 27 April 1859. Upon his death, it passed to his son Frederick.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wallis Simons, Jake (22 September 2022). "Welcome to our celebration of 180 years of Anglo-Jewry". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chisholm 1911.
  3. ↑ Hyamson, Albert M. (1942). "The Jewish Obituaries in the "Gentleman's Magazine"". Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England). 4: 33–60. ISSN 2047-234X. JSTOR 29777107.
  4. ↑ "Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660-2015". Archived from the original on 15 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "List of Fellows of the Royal Society 1660 - 2019" (PDF). February 2020.
  6. ↑ Salaman, Redcliffe N. (1948). "The Jewish Fellows of the Royal Society: Paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England, 15th December, 1947". Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England). 5: 146–175. ISSN 2047-234X. JSTOR 29777119.
  7. ↑ Huntingford, Diane (February 2009). "SOMERHILL HISTORY" (PDF). The Schools at Somerhill. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2010.

Sources


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