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 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, who became the first British Jew to receive a hereditary title.

Biography

Birth

Isaac Goldsmid was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 13 January 1778.

Career

He began in business with a firm of bullion brokers, Mocatta & Goldsmid (estab. 1684), to the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

. 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 Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

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

Philanthropy

He is chiefly known for his efforts to obtain the

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...

of the Jews in England and for his part in founding

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. The Jewish Disabilities Bill, first introduced in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

by Sir Robert Grant in 1830, owed its final passage through the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

in 1858 to Goldsmid's energetic work. He helped to establish the

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lon ...

in 1834, serving as its treasurer for eighteen years, and also aided in the efforts to obtain reform in the English

penal code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...

. In 1841, he became the first (unconverted to Christianity) Jewish baronet, the honour being conferred upon him by

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pr ...

. He was a made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828, presumably for his part in the foundation of UCL.

Personal life and death

He married his cousin Isabel and their second son was

Sir Francis Goldsmid, 2nd Baronet Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid, 2nd Baronet (1 May 1808 – 2 May 1878) was an Anglo-Jewish barrister and politician. Early life The son of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and a member of the Goldsmid banking family, Francis was born in London, and privat ...

(1808–1878). In 1849, he bought Somerhill House near

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. He died on 27 April 1859. Upon his death, it passed to his son Frederick.

References

Sources

External links

''Jewish Encyclopedia''
1778 births 1859 deaths English philanthropists English Jews English people of Dutch-Jewish descent Fellows of the Royal Society Businesspeople from London People associated with University College London Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was ...

Burials at Balls Pond Road Cemetery Jewish British philanthropists Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge {{Judaism-bio-stub