Frederick David Mocatta (1828–1905), also known as Frederic David Mocatta, was an English financier and philanthropist from a notable

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 ...

family.

Life

Mocatta was a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

of the London

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from t ...

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

Mocatta & Goldsmid ScotiaMocatta, originally founded as Mocatta Bullion in 1684, was a precious metal and base metal trading company that operated as the metals trading division of the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) from 1997 until January 2019. Business Scoti ...

(estab. 1684) and directed it from 1857 to 1874. After he had retired from the business in 1874 he devoted himself to works of public and private benevolence, especially in the deprived

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Besides this he was a patron of learning and himself an author of historical works, the chief of which was ''The Jews of Spain & Portugal and the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

''. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he was presented with a testimonial from more than 200 philanthropic and literary institutions. The Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition (1887) owed its inception to Mocatta. He bequeathed his fine library to the

Jewish Historical Society of England The Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) was founded in 1893 by several Anglo-Jewish scholars, including Lucien Wolf, who became the society's first president. Early presidents of the JHSE included Hermann Adler, Michael Adler, Joseph Jacobs ...

, of which he was at one time president. This library formed the basis of the collections which are now included in th
Mocatta Library
founded in his memory, and located at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

( University College, Gower Street). A fountain was erected to his memory by the people of East

, outside St Botolph's Church in Aldgate. A man of letters, Mocatta had vast correspondences with the great and the good of his era. In matters of religion, he was observant and belonged not only to two

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 A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

s but also to the

West London Synagogue The West London Synagogue of British Jews, abbreviated WLS ( he, ק"ק שער ציון, ''Kahal Kadosh Sha'ar Tziyon'', "Holy Congregation Gate of Zion"), is a synagogue and congregation, affiliated to Reform Judaism, near Marble Arch in centr ...

, a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

congregation that his family had played a prominent part in founding in London.

Death

He died on 16 January 1905 and is buried at

Balls Pond Road Cemetery Balls Pond Road Cemetery, also known as Jewish (West London Reform) Cemetery, Kingsbury Road Cemetery, Balls Pond Burial Ground and The Jewish Burial Ground, is a Jewish cemetery on Kingsbury Road, Dalston, London N1. It was founded in 1843 an ...

References

Source

External links

Hebrew and Jewish Collections
at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Mocatta Manuscripts
at