Jacob Moser (28 November 1839 – 1922) was a businessman, philanthropist and, later, councillor, who made his home in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

and became a leading participant in the civic life of the city.

Life

Moser was of

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

descent and was born at

Kappeln Kappeln ( da, Kappel) is a town in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the north bank of the Schlei, approx. northeast of Schleswig, and southeast of Flensburg. For the eastern Angeln and the n ...

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...

, which was then part of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. As a young man he spent some years in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and came to

in 1863. During his first nine years there, he worked for firms such as W. Herels, Jonas Simonson and Co., and Hirsch, Pinner and Co. In 1872 he became a partner, and eventually the main figure, in the firm of Edelstein, Moser and Co., which developed into one of the great Bradford textile export houses. Jacob Moser was a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and it is estimated that throughout his life he gave £750,000 to various causes and charities. Alongside his work in his textile export business, Jacob was a founder of the Bradford Charity Organisation Society and the City Guild of Help. He was involved in founding Bradford Technical School in 1882. He served on the board of the Infirmary from 1883 and gave £5000 to a fund to build a new hospital. In 1898 he provided £10,000 as a benevolent fund for the old and infirm of the city. He supported the local Children's Hospital and gave 12,000 books to Bradford Central Library. He joined Bradford Council as an independent member for Manningham in 1896. He served Heaton from 1901 to 1904 and in 1909 was elected unopposed in the

Little Horton Little Horton (population 17,368 - 2001 UK census) is a ward in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in the county of West Yorkshire, England, named after the de Horton family, who were once Lords of the Manor. The population at ...

ward. In 1910 Jacob Moser was Lord Mayor of Bradford and Chief Magistrate. Moser was a founder of the

Bradford Reform Synagogue Bradford Synagogue is a synagogue at 7 Bowland Street in Bradford, West Yorkshire, affiliated with the Movement for Reform Judaism. It adopted its present name in 2018. The synagogue is still used for Shabbat and major festivals although the co ...

. He was also an advocate of the formation of the Jewish State of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The following tribute was paid by a Bradford newspaper to the memory of Jacob Moser, "He was a foreigner, but he made himself one of ourselves, he was of the Jewish persuasion, but his heart was big beyond all religion in the common cause of humanity".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moser, Jacob 1839 births 1922 deaths People from Schleswig-Flensburg People from the Duchy of Schleswig Danish emigrants to the United Kingdom Danish Jews Mayors of Bradford