Goldsmid , Sir , Isaac Lyon , 1778-1859 , 1st Baronet , Jewish financier and philanthropist

Born in London, 1778; entered his uncles' firm, Mocatta & Goldsmid, bullion brokers to the Bank of England and to the East India Company; a member of the Stock Exchange, where until 1828 only twelve Jewish brokers were admitted; as a financier, rose to eminence and ultimately amassed a large fortune; his most extensive financial operations were connected with Portugal, Brazil, and Turkey; devoted much effort to Jewish emancipation and in working for unsectarian education and social reforms; closely allied with Utilitarian and radical opinion; prominent in the foundation of University College London, then called the University of London, and with John Smith and Benjamin Shaw acquired the desired site in Gower Street, 1825; member of its first Council, 1826; assisted in the establishment of the University College or North London Hospital, 1834; served as its treasurer, 1839-1857; with Elizabeth Fry and Peter Bedford worked for the reform of the penal code and the improvement of prisons; associated with Robert Owen and was interested in Owen's New Lanark; instrumental in the introduction of the Jewish Disabilities Bill by (Sir) Robert Grant, 1830; the bill was thrown out in the House of Commons on its second reading, but was passed by large majorities on its reintroduction in the reformed parliament, 1833; for many subsequent years the bill was rejected in the House of Lords, but Goldsmid's early exertions stimulated the interest of many prominent liberal members of both houses and a few conservatives; Goldsmid's public services and labours for the Disabilities Bill brought him into contact with liberal statesmen, including Henry Richard Vassall Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, who expressed a wish that Goldsmid be given a baronetcy; created a baronet by the outgoing ministry of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the first baronetcy to be conferred on a Jew, 1841; for his services in settling a monetary dispute between Portugal and Brazil, created by the Portuguese government Baron da Palmeira, 1846; died, 1859. See also Memoir of Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid (Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co, London, 1879, revised edition, 1882), including information on the subject's father, Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid.