Reading Jewish Community

Bibliography, On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Reading Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Notable Jewish Connections with Reading
(courtesy Steven Jaffe)

• Rev. Dr Abraham Cohen (1887-1957), born in Reading, was a communal minister and a leading scholar, whose works included a commentary for the Soncino Chumash. He later became the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (1949-1955).

• Uri Geller (b. 1946) Israeli-born personality, illusionist and psychic, lived in the village of Sonning to the north of Reading.

• Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid QC, 2nd Baronet (1808–1878), a barrister, was MP for Reading from 1860 until his death. The synagogue is located on Goldsmid Road, formerly Westfield Road, re-named because the Goldsmid family donated the land on which the synagogue was built.

• Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid (1778-1859), father of Sir Francis Goldsmid,  financier and advocate for Jewish emancipation, and the first  Jew by faith to be made a Baronet, bought Whiteknights Park at Earley, near Reading, in 1849. This estate remained in the family ownership until 1946 when Whiteknights was sold to the University of Reading and became the site of its main campus.

• Rufus Isaacs KC, MP, 1st Marquess of Reading, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, PC (1860–1935) was a Liberal politician and judge, who served as Lord Chief Justice of England, Ambassador to the United States, Viceroy of India, and Foreign Secretary. He was the first Jew to be Lord Chief Justice, and the first, and as yet only, British Jew to be raised to a marquessate. He was MP for Reading from 1904 until 1913 and there is a Rufus Isaacs Road in Caversham, Reading. A 12 foot statue of Lord Reading was removed from India post independence and since 1971 stands at Eldon Square (King George V Gardens), Reading. He was a founding chairman of the Palestine Electric Corporation (now the Israel Electric Company) and the Reading Power Station in north Tel Aviv was named in his honour.

• Sir Sam Mendes CBE, film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter, was born in Reading in 1965.

• Ian (Mik) Mikardo (1908-1993) was Labour MP for Reading constituencies from 1945 until 1959 and Ian Mikardo Way, Caversham, Reading, is named in his honour.

Community Records