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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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

Biography

Birth

Isaac Goldsmid was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

and the

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

. He became a partner in Mocatta & Goldsmid and amassed a large fortune. 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, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

of the Jews in England and for his part in founding

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. 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: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

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

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

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 Lo ...

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 Crime, offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that ...

. In 1841, he became the first (unconverted to Christianity) Jewish baronet, the honour being conferred upon him by Lord Melbourne. He was a made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828, presumably for his part in the foundation of UCL. He was made ''Baron da Palmeira'' by the Portuguese government in 1846 for services rendered in settling a monetary dispute between Portugal and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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 English lawyer and politician. Early life The son of Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and a member of the Goldsmid family, Goldsmid banking family, Francis w ...

(1808–1878). In 1849, he bought

Somerhill House Somerhill House ( ) is a listed building, Grade I listed Jacobean architecture, Jacobean mansion situated near Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. It was built for Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, The 4th Earl of Clanricarde in 1611–13. T ...

near

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') 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 Mall ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. 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 ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

Burials at Balls Pond Road Cemetery Jewish British philanthropists Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge {{UK-business-bio-1770s-stub