Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid, 2nd Baronet (1 May 1808 – 2 May 1878)
was an
Anglo-Jewish
British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who identify as Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021.
History
...
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
and politician.
Early life
The son of
Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and a member of the
Goldsmid banking family, Francis was born in London,
[ and privately educated.
]
Career
Goldsmid was called to the bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
at Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in 1833, becoming the first Jew to become an English barrister,[ and was made ]Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...
in 1858. In 1859 he succeeded to his father's honors. After the passing of the Jewish Disabilities Bill, in which he had aided his father with a number of pamphlets that attracted great attention, he entered Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in 1860 as member for the Reading constituency, and represented that constituency until his death.
Goldsmid was strenuous on behalf of the Jewish religion, and the founder of the great Jews Free School
JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School and later Jewish Free School) is a Jewish mixed comprehensive school in Kenton, North London, England and was founded in 1732. Amongst its early supporters was the writer and philanthropist Charlot ...
.[ He was a munificent contributor to charities and especially to the endowment of ]University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
.[ He married ]Louisa Goldsmid
Lady Louisa Sophia Goldsmid (2 September 1819 – 12 June 1908) was a British philanthropist and education activist who targeted her life at improving education provision for British women. She took a leading role in persuading Cambridge Universi ...
who was his cousin. His wife was a campaigner for women's education. He employed the author and translator Frederica Maclean Rowan as his secretary for some years.[F. T. Marzials, 'Rowan, Frederica Maclean (1814–1882)’, rev. Susanne Stark, ]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, 200
accessed 15 Nov 2015
/ref>
Marriage
He married his first cousin Louisa Sophia Goldsmid on 10 October 1839 at London, England. His nephew was Sir Julian Goldsmid.
Death and legacy
Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid 2nd Bt., died ''dsp'' on 2 May 1878 in St. Thomas's Hospital London following an accident that day when he fell between the platform and a carriage from which he was alighting at Waterloo Station.
He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew Sir Julian Goldsmid,[ son of ]Frederick Goldsmid
Frederick David Goldsmid (31 January 1812 – 18 March 1866), son of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and his wife Isabel, was an English politician.
He was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) for Honiton on 12 July 1865.
Goldsmid married, on 23 July ...
.[ ''Goldsmid Road'' in the town of ]Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
is named after Francis Goldsmid, and is the location of the town's Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
synagogue.
References
External links
*
Jewish Encyclopedia entry for Francis Henry Goldsmid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsmid, Francis Henry
1808 births
1878 deaths
English philanthropists
English Jews
English people of Dutch-Jewish descent
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Reading
People from Reading, Berkshire
UK MPs 1859–1865
UK MPs 1865–1868
UK MPs 1868–1874
UK MPs 1874–1880
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
19th-century King's Counsel
Members of Lincoln's Inn
Jewish British politicians
Francis
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People
*Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome
*Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Francis (surname)
Places
* Rural M ...
Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge