The Jewish Presence in Early British Records, 1650-1850

This sourcebook attempts to identify some of the Jewish references hidden in British records from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. In some 17th-century records there are specific references to people identified as being Jewish. In later records Hebrew forenames coupled with surnames sometimes in conjunction with an occupation or place of birth were used to identify people of Jewish origin. Dr. Dobson has exercised caution in selecting individuals via this latter method, lest non-Jewish persons who possessed Biblical forenames be chosen by mistake. Each of the roughly 2,000 entries in the volume identifies a Jewish man or women by name, date, location, and record source. In some cases we also learn about an individual's vocation, education, relatives, place of origin, or more. The author extracted his findings from scores of primary sources (the Jewish Burial Ground in Edinburgh, the office of the Lord Mayor of London Depositions, etc.) whose references to Jewish persons would otherwise have remained buried for additional years to come.