Collection GB 0074 LMA/4290 - JEWS' FREE SCHOOL

0.08 linear metres

GB 0074 LMA/4290 1872-1901 Collection 0.08 linear metres Hymen Morris , pupil at the Jews' Free School

The Jews' Free School (now JFS Comprehensive) is the largest Jewish school in Britain. It was founded by Moses Hart, who paid for the restoration of the Great Synagogue where the school opened as a Talmud Torah for 15 boys in 1732. It was originally a charity school for orphaned boys with priority given to those of German parentage. By 1788 the school had moved to Houndsditch and in the late 1790s moved again to Gun Square where the number of pupils increased in 21. In the nineteenth century Dr. Joshua Van Oven found a permanent site for the school in Bell Lane.

Between 1880 and 1900, one third of all London's Jewish children passed through its doors - by 1900 it had some 4,000 pupils and was the largest school in Europe. The School provided these children with a refuge from poverty, a religious and secular education and in the spirit of the times anglicised them. Famous pupils from this time include Barney Barnato, Bud Flanagan, Alfred Marks and the novelist Israel Zangwill. The school enjoyed the patronage of the Rothschilds and had for 51 years a headmaster called Moses Angel. Angel was probably the most influential figure in Jewish education in the nineteenth century and a great advocate of "anglicising" his pupils. They were, he said "ignorant even of the elements of sound; until they had been Anglicised."

The school remained there until 1939 when it was evacuated to Ely. The Bell Lane building was destroyed during enemy action and after the Second World War the school remained closed untilk a new site was found on the Camden Road. In 1958 the school reopened as JFS Comprehensive.

Presented to the Archive as a gift in June 2001.

Hand written news letters and correspondence to Hymen Morris, a pupil at Jews' Free School until 1874. The letters are from Jacob Moses, a fellow pupil and then teacher at the school.

Records arranged in one series: LMA/4290/01: Hymen Morris.

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.

English

Fit.

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

For the Jews Free School see LMA/4046.

For further information please consult the LMA Information Leaflet: "Records of the Anglo-Jewish Community at London Metropolitan Archives"; available to download here: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/Visitor_information/free_information_leaflets.htm (URL correct Feb 2010).

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Description prepared in March 2010. Charity schools Educational institutions Schools Denominational schools Students Schoolchildren Religious groups Jews Social science education Religious education Jewish Cultural identity Judaism Ancient religions Religions Jews' Free School x JFS Comprehensive London England UK Western Europe Europe

Presented to the Archive as a gift in June 2001.

Hand written news letters and correspondence to Hymen Morris, a pupil at Jews' Free School until 1874. The letters are from Jacob Moses, a fellow pupil and then teacher at the school.

Records arranged in one series: LMA/4290/01: Hymen Morris.

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.

• anglais

• latin

English

For the Jews Free School see LMA/4046.

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• anglais