Zangwill , Israel , 1864-1926 , author and philanthropist

Israel Zangwill was born in London on 1 February 1864. He was educated at schools in Bristol and Plymouth. In 1873 his parents returned to London, where they sent Zangwill to the Jews' Free School at Spitalfields, London. He received a BA with triple honours from the University of London. He published his first literary work, a short story in the journal Society. His first novel, The Premier and the Painter, appeared in 1888. From 1888 to 1926 Zangwill wrote many novels and plays including, The Big Bow Mystery, 1891, Children of the Ghetto: A study of a Peculiar People, 1892-1893 and the play We Moderns, 1926. During his lifetime, Zangwill also worked as a teacher, a lawyer and editor of the journal Ariel. Zangwill was involved in the Zionist movement. In 1904 he founded the Jewish Territorial Organisation. He also became the president of several Jewish cultural organisations including the Jewish Historical Society of England and the Jewish Drama League. He wrote pamphlets and addressed meetings in America, Europe and Israel on Jewish life and politics. Zangwill died on 1 August 1926 at his home in Midhurst, Sussex.