Chuts is the name applied to
Jews who immigrated to London from the
Netherlands during the latter part of the 19th century. They typically came from
Amsterdam and practised trades they had already learned there, most notably
cigar-, cap- and slipper-making.
[''19th Century Dutch Jews in London'' and ''The Rag Man's Children'', published by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain]
They settled mostly in a small system of streets in
Spitalfields known as the
Tenterground
A tenterground, tenter ground or teneter-field was an area used for drying newly manufactured cloth after fulling. The wet cloth was hooked onto frames called " tenters" and stretched taut using "tenter hooks", so that the cloth would dry fl ...
, formerly an enclosed area where
Flemish weavers stretched and dried
cloth on machines called ''tenters'' (hence the expression "on
tenterhook
Tenterhooks or tenter hooks are hooked nails in a device called a ''tenter''. Tenters were wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woollen cloth.
The phrase "''on tenterhooks''" has become a m ...
s"). By the 19th century, the site had been built upon with housing, but remained an enclave where the Dutch immigrants lived as a close-knit and generally separate community. Demolished and rebuilt during the twentieth century, the area is now bounded by
White's Row
White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises on St James's Street in 1778.
Status
White's is the oldes ...
, Wentworth Street,
Bell Lane
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...
and
Toynbee Street (formerly Shepherd Street).
[Office for National Statistics, censuses of England and Wales, 1851 to 1901]
Following the
assassination of Tsar
Alexander II of Russia in 1881, many thousands of
Jewish refugees, fleeing political unrest in
Eastern Europe, arrived in the
East End of London, including the Tenterground, by which time the Chuts had begun to disperse. Significantly, the successful introduction of machinery for the
mass production of
cigarettes ultimately led to the collapse of the cigar-making economy on which the Chuts community depended. Many Chuts returned to improved conditions in Amsterdam, some emigrated further afield to places such as Australia and the United States, some assimilated into other Jewish families, and some eventually lost their
Jewish identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under a broader definition, Jewish identity does not depend on whether a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an exte ...
altogether.
There was distinct rivalry between the Chuts and the later Jewish immigrants, not least because the Chuts had arrived as city-dwellers with useful industrial skills and by 1881 had already learned to speak English, whereas the later immigrants were generally impoverished rural workers who had to learn new trades in the notorious
sweatshops and, arriving penniless and in great numbers, drew attention to the problem of immigration which resulted in the
Aliens Act of 1905.
Furthermore, the Chuts were treated with suspicion by other Jews because the former had developed specific customs and practices, many of their families having lived in Amsterdam since the first
synagogues were established there in the early years of the 17th century. Uniquely in Amsterdam,
Ashkenazim (so-called "German Jews") and
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
m (so-called "Spanish Jews") lived in close proximity for centuries, resulting in a cultural blend not found elsewhere. Most remarkably, the
Dutch Jews were well accustomed to the sea, and ate seafoods considered not
kosher by other Jewish communities.
Etymology
The origin of the name ''Chuts'' is uncertain. A popular assumption is that it derives from the Dutch word ''goed'' (pronounced and meaning "good") and is imitative of the foreign-language chatter that others heard. It is also
Hebrew for "outside" or "in the street" and may have been applied to the Dutch Jews of London either because they were socially isolated or because many were
street vendors. Another possibility is that the Hebrew word would have appeared increasingly in Amsterdam synagogue records as more and more emigrated to London, and others who followed would have "gone chuts" (''i.e.'', emigrated).
The word ''Chut'' is sometimes used as a singular noun but is most likely a
back-formation.
Conditions in the Netherlands prior to immigration
Despite
Napoleonic emancipation in 1793, Jews remained barred from entry into the
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...
s in the Netherlands and were not permitted to be shopkeepers (with few exceptions, e.g. kosher butchers) for fear of the competition they would present to other Dutch. They were also denied entry into the state school system.
[''The Jews of Georgian England'' by Todd M. Endelman]
In spite of the efforts of
William III after the defeat of
Napoleon, the Ashkenazi Dutch concentrated in Amsterdam in
slum conditions and resisted integration. Prejudice against them, although not amounting to religious persecution, continued through the mid-19th century. These factors together with the ongoing decline of the Dutch economy prompted a flow of Jewish emigrants from Amsterdam.
Notably, Jews in the UK benefited from formal emancipation in 1858, after which they could become skilled tradesmen and conduct business freely without taking
Christian oaths.
See also
*
Sandys Row Synagogue
Sandy's Row Synagogue is a historic ''Grade II'' listed synagogue and former Christian church in the East End of London.
After the Great Synagogue of London, the city's first Ashkenazi congregation, was destroyed by German bombing in the London ...
*
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
*
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
*
History of the Jews in the Netherlands
The history of the Jews in the Netherlands began largely in the 16th century when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the J ...
*
Jewish ethnic diversity
References
{{reflist
External links
19th Century London: a primary attraction for Ashkenazi Dutch immigrationby Aubrey Jacobus. JewishGen KehilaLinks, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sandys Row Synagogue history pagesArticle on 19th century Dutch Jews in London with downloadable census data
Dutch-Jewish culture in the United Kingdom
Jewish Dutch history
Jewish English history