Jewish history in Britain since 1880

Two million Jews left Eastern Europe between 1881 and 1914, fleeing persecution and economic hardship. Although most headed to the United States, some 150,000 settled in England, with large numbers settling in London's East End, near the docks where they had arrived.

By 1910, there were 125,000 Jews in less than two square miles around Whitechapel and Spitalfields, often living in conditions of extreme overcrowding. The immigrants maintained cultural traditions brought from Eastern Europe, and involvement in political movements such as socialism and Zionism.

The mother tongue was Yiddish, and there was a vibrant Yiddish theatre tradition. The great majority worked in trades such as tailoring, boot and shoe making, cigarette making, hat making and cabinet making. Community institutions such as Jews' Free School, the Jews' Temporary Shelter, and the Federation of Synagogues developed to serve the new immigrant community.

London Jewish life was not confined to the East End. Immigrants also settled in the West End, around Soho and Fitzrovia, becoming an integral part of this multicultural and often bohemian district. The West End became home to some of the finest synagogues in London, and well loved institutions like the West Central Jewish Club.

Second and third generations of immigrants moved beyond the traditional Jewish areas, populating the new suburbs of London that grew up as the Underground railway developed. Slowly, the centres of Jewish life moved from the East End, through to Hackney, Tottenham, and Ilford, and now Golders Green, Edgware, Finchley and beyond.

The 1905 Aliens Act restricted the number of Jewish immigrants to Britain, and World War I brought immigration almost to a halt. However, in the 1930s, large numbers of German Jews emigrated, fearing for their lives under the Nazi regime. Some 60,000 Jewish refugees came to Britain, with 10,000 children arriving unaccompanied on the Kindertransport (children's trains), most of whom never saw their families again. In common with many British Jews, the refugees served in the British armed forces, fighting to protect the country that had taken them in, and to defeat an enemy that had tried to destroy them.

Since World War II, Britain has continued to receive new Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution and seeking new lives. In 1946, 'the Boys', a group of 732 young concentration camp survivors found refuge. The 1950s and 1960s saw continuing migration from Jews in the Middle and Far East, as the political situation worsened for Jews in many Arab countries. The 1970s and 1980s saw campaigns on behalf of the rights of Jews in Soviet Russia. Today, Jewish people in Britain are part of a rich cultural mix.