List of British Jews

The first Jews arrived in Britain with the Romans but it wasn't until the arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066 that organized Jewish communities first appeared. These existed until 1290 when the Jewish population was expelled by Edward I. (Hence plays such as The Jew of Malta and The Merchant of Venice were written when England was essentially devoid of Jews.) Jews were readmitted in 1656 by Oliver Cromwell, and emancipation took place in 1858. In the late 19th century there was mass Jewish immigration from anti-semitic Russia, and the 1930s saw an influx of refugees from Nazism. The Jewish population peaked at 450,000, but has since declined due to low birth rate, intermarriage and emigration. The current population according to the 2001 Census is around 240,000 (though many experts consider this an underestimate), most of whom live in London. The following is a list of some prominent British Jews.

Sports

Boxing

• Barney Aaron, 19th century boxer (IBHOF)
• Jackie Kid Berg, Junior Welterweight Champion (IBHOF)
• Dutch Sam Elias, 19th century boxer, inventor of the uppercut (IBHOF)
• Ted Kid Lewis, World Welterweight Champion (IBHOF)
• Daniel Mendoza, 18th century Heavyweight Champion (IBHOF)
• Harry Mizler, 1934 British Lightweight Champion
• Al Phillips, 1947 European Featherweight Champion
• Jack Solomons, boxing promoter (IBHOF)

Chess

• Gerald Abrahams, British chess player
• Harry Golombek, British chess player
• Isidor Gunsberg, Hungarian/British chess player
• William Hartston, British chess player
• Bernhard Horwitz, German/British chess player

Other

• Harold Abrahams, sprinter
• David Beckham, football player (Jewish maternal grandfather; raised more Jewish than anything else)
• Angela Buxton, tennis player
• George Cohen, World Cup winning footballer, uncle of Ben Cohen (Jewish paternal grandfather; Ben Cohen is 1/8th Jewish)
• Ludwig Guttmann, founder of the Paralympics
• Ben Helfgott, weightlifter
• Edward Lawrence Levy, first weightlifting World Champion
• Ivor Goldsmid Montagu, co-founder and president of the ITTF
• Sir Stirling Moss, racing driver (Jewish father, original family name Moses)
• Albert Rosenfeld, rugby league player (RFL Hall of Fame)