David Lindo Alexander (5 October 1842 in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
– 1922) was an English barrister and
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish community leader.
[Sharman Kadish]
‘Alexander, David Lindo (1842–1922)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 1 December 2006
Early life and family
David Lindo Alexander was born in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
on 5 October to solicitor Joshua Alexander and his wife Jemima (b. 1809 – d.?), daughter of Sara de Abraham Mocatta (1777–1852) and David Abarbanel Lindo (1772 -1852). His brother
Lionel Lindo Alexander would become a prominent communal worker. His aunt
Abigail Lindo had compiled an early English-Hebrew dictionary. Alexander was educated at
City of London School
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Boys' independent day school
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Alan Bird
, chair_label = Chair of Governors
, chair = Ian Seaton
, founder = John Carpenter
, special ...
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, where he graduated in mathematics in 1864.
In 1886 David Lindo Alexander married Hester (1845–1913), daughter of stock broker
Simeon Joseph. The couple had two sons and one daughter.
British Jewry
In 1877 David Lindo Alexander became representative on the
Board of Deputies of British Jews for the Ashkenazi Central Synagogue in Great Portland Street, rising to become president of the organization between 1903 and 1917. He served as vice-president of the
Anglo-Jewish Association and on the council of
Jews' College
The London School of Jewish Studies (commonly known as LSJS, originally founded as Jews' College) is a London-based organisation providing adult educational courses and training to the wider Jewish community. Since 2012 LSJS also offers rabbinic ...
. He also served as President of the Jewish Workingmen's Club and Vice-President of the Home and Hospital for the Jewish Incurables. Alexander was a member of the committees of the Jewish Infants Schools, the Stepney Jewish Schools and the Jews' Hospital and Orphan Asylum.
24 May 1917 letter in ''The Times''
Alexander is remembered as co-signatory, along with
Claude Montefiore
Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore, also Goldsmid–Montefiore or just Goldsmid Montefiore (1858–1938) was the intellectual founder of Anglo- Liberal Judaism and the founding president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, a schola ...
, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, of a letter to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' on 24 May 1917, which declared "grave objections" to two claims in the "published statements of the
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
leaders": "The first is a claim that the Jewish settlements in
Palestine shall be recognized as possessing a national character in the political sense... the second... is the proposal to invest the Jewish settlers in Palestine with certain special rights in excess of those enjoyed by the rest of the population".
On behalf of the Association and the Board of Deputies the two presidents rejected what they saw as the conflation of nationality and religion:
Emanicipated Jews in this country regard themselves primarily as a religious community... They hold Judaism to be a religious system, with which their political status has no concern, and they maintain that, as citizens of the countries in which they live, they are fully and sincerely identified with the national spirit and interests of those countries. It follows that the establishment of a Jewish nationality in Palestine, founded on this theory of Jewish homelessness, must have the effect throughout the world of stamping the Jews as strangers in their native lands.
They also rejected the notion of a charter of rights administered by a Jewish Chartered Company: ".. it is very undesirable that Jews should solicit or accept such a concession, on a basis of political privileges and economic preferences. Any such action would prove a veritable calamity for the whole Jewish people."
On 28 May ''The Times'' published critical responses from
Lord Rothschild
Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first Jewish mem ...
, the
Chief Rabbi,
Joseph H. Hertz and from
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( he, חיים עזריאל ויצמן ', russian: Хаим Евзорович Вейцман, ''Khaim Evzorovich Veytsman''; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israe ...
, president of the
British Zionist Federation.
Following the correspondence in ''The Times'' Alexander's presidency of the Board of Deputies was denounced and on 17 June the letter was condemned by 56 votes to 51 in a vote of censure. As a result of the vote Alexander was forced to resign and he subsequently co-founded the anti-Zionist
League of British Jews The League of British Jews was an Anglo-Jewish anti-Zionist organization that opposed the Balfour Declaration giving British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The League was founded in November 1917 by a group of p ...
, an organization dedicated to resisting the allegation that Jewish people constituted a separate political entity. Montefiore also joined the League.
Death
Alexander died on 29 April 1922, aged 79, and was buried next to his wife at
Willesden Jewish Cemetery
The Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery, usually known as Willesden Jewish Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery at Beaconsfield Road, Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent, England. It opened in 1873 on a site. It has been described as the ...
on 2 May.
See also
*
List of Old Citizens
Notes
References
*Geoffrey Alderman, ‘Montefiore, Claude Joseph Goldsmid- (1858–1938)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 1 December 2006*'The Future Of The Jews. Palestine And Zionism., Views Of Anglo-Jewry', ''The Times'', Thursday, May 24, 1917; pg. 5; Issue 41486; col A.
*'The Future Of The Jews. Zionist Projects., Ideals In Palestine,' ''The Times'', Monday, May 28, 1917; pg. 5; Issue 41489; col A.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, David Lindo
1842 births
1922 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery
English barristers
English Jews
English people of Portuguese-Jewish descent
Members of Lincoln's Inn
People educated at the City of London School
People from the City of London
Presidents of the Board of Deputies of British Jews