The London Jews Database (pre-1850)

Name List · London

This is a database of names, addresses and some other information about Jews who lived in London in the first half of the nineteenth century. It has been compiled principally from London trade directories of the period, with a few other sources such as subscription lists and some printed obituaries.

During this period, many smaller tradesmen literally “lived above the shop” or worked from their homes. Thus a majority — but not all — of the business addresses given in directories were also residential addresses.

This database of over 9,000 entries was collected over a period of some years, and there is still additional material which was collected in notebooks before the advent of the personal computer and has yet to be entered. It is intended that updates will be forthcoming.

The names were culled from many publications just by recognising Jewish names. Obviously, there were Jews with non-Jewish sounding names and non-Jews with Jewish sounding names, so there is some room for error.

Many of the directories employed agents to gather information. However, most agents were reluctant to canvass for names in the slums of Victorian cities. Directories rarely listed all families in multi-occupied houses. They tended to emphasise the craftsmen, traders and professional inhabitants; few labourers or domestic servants were included. The directories tend to be more complete in their coverage of business and commercial activities and are often the only reliable source available.

This database can be searched via the All-UK Database or the JewishGen Unified Search.

These records are provided in partnership with JCR-UK, a joint project of JewishGen and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. For more information, visit the JCR-UK website.