| Abstrakt: |
Prejudice against Jews was customary among nineteenth century European nobles and many commoners. In Great Britain, legal strictures reinforced these social attitudes by barring individual Jews, even those elected mostly by their Christian neighbors, from contributing to national governance. The established Christian Church of England vigorously defended these limitations on Jews, though Dissenting Protestant denominations tended to oppose such exclusions, which had nominally applied to Dissenters as well in the recent past. The central challenge to the unequal treatment of Jews arose after London voters chose Lionel Nathan Rothschild to represent them in 1847. It took eleven years before he would be formally accepted as a member of the House of Commons. |
