- Isaac Lyon Goldsmid
Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid,
Baronet , (January 13 1778 –April 27 1859 ), was a financier and one of the leading figures in the Jewish emancipation in theUnited Kingdom .Goldsmid was born in
London , and began in business with a firm of bullion brokers to theBank of England and the East India Company. He amassed a large fortune, and was made "Baron da Palmeira" by the Portuguese government in 1846 for services rendered in settling a monetary dispute between Portugal andBrazil , but he is chiefly known for his efforts to obtain the emancipation of the Jews in England and for his part in foundingUniversity College London . The Jewish Disabilities Bill, first introduced in Parliament by Sir Robert Grant in 1830, owed its final passage through theHouse of Lords in 1858 to Goldsmid's energetic work. He helped to establish theUniversity College Hospital in 1834, serving as its treasurer for eighteen years, and also aided in the efforts to obtain reform in the Englishpenal code . Moreover he assisted by his capital and his enterprise to build part of the English southern railways and also the London docks. In 1841 he became the first Jewish baronet, the honour being conferred upon him by Lord Melbourne. He had married his cousin Isabel and their second son was Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid, Baronet (1808-1878).ee also
*
Goldsmid – article about the Goldsmid family
*History of the Jews in England External links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=322&letter=G#1105 Jewish Encyclopedia]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.