Victorian Jews Through British Eyes

When QueenVictoria came to the throne in 1837, Britain was home to only 30,000 Jews andthey did not yet have full political rights.

By the end of the century theirnumbers had increased about sevenfold, and practising Jews had taken theirplaces in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Victoria's reigntherefore saw a tremendous change in the profile of Jews within British society. The Victorianperiod was also one of economic transition for British Jews.

While initially ina narrow range of predominantly working-class or marginal occupations with onlya small upper-class elite, Jews became increasingly middle-class during theseyears; they began to enter the professions, and to move from inner London tofashionable suburbs.

Increasingly, Britain's Jews were British-born and ofBritish descent, and proclaimed their loyalty to British ideals.

From 1881 on,however, the position changed dramatically: a mass of Jewish immigrantsarriving from Russia, made conspicuous by their foreign dress, appearance,language, and habits, prompted the emergence of an `Aliens Question' into theBritish political arena.

The image of Jews changed yet again. All these developments were picked up inthe illustrated magazines of the time: the object of a magazine is to interestits readers, and the unfamiliar may be more compelling reading than thecommonplace.

To illustrate the social history of the Jews in Victorian Britain,the authors therefore combed the IllustratedLondon News, Punch, and The Graphic and selected nearly 150illustrations, with commentary, to show how the British image of the Jewdeveloped in this period.

The topics considered include early Victorianattitudes to Jews; the leading Jewish families and other prominent Jews; theJewish way of life; immigrant Jews; Jewish life abroad; and the Jew in art.