Moses Mendes da Costa (died 1747), also called Anthony da Costa, was an English banker.
In 1727, Costa brought an action against the
Russia Company
The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...
, which refused to admit him to membership on the ground of his being a
Jew. The
attorney-general decided that he must be admitted, whereupon the company petitioned Parliament to modify the former's charter so as to give it the right of refusal.
Background and family
He was the son of Jacob (Alvarez or Álvaro) da Costa, who is probably the da Costa referred to in the ''
Thurlow Papers Thurlow is a surname and a given name, and may refer to:
Surname:
* Alan Thurlow (born 1946), English organist
* Bryan Thurlow (1936–2002), English professional football player
* Clifford Thurlow (born 1952), British biographer
* Edward Thurlow, ...
''. Jacob da Costa arrived in England with his family in 1655 and in 1675 a member of the family bought
Cromwell House
Cromwell House is a Grade I listed building built in 1638 in Highgate Village, now a suburb of London. It is currently owned by the Republic of Ghana and used as its visa section.
The builder of the house
Cromwell House was commissioned by Si ...
in
Highgate. He married Leonora (Rachel) Mendes, sister of Fernandez (Fernando) Mendes, the
Marrano
Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...
physician of King
John IV of Portugal.
Moses married his cousin
Catherine Mendes in 1698. Catherine had been baptized in
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...
and was named after
Catherine of Braganza, wife of
King Charles II.
Catherine da Costa made the water-colour portrait of her father which now hangs in the vestry of the
Bevis Marks Synagogue.
Their children included Sarah (Simha) Mendes da Costa who married
Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar, 2nd Baron d'Aguilar
Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar (1739 in Vienna – 1802 in London) was the second Baron d'Aguilar, a Barony of the Holy Roman Empire.
Early life
He was a son of Donna Simha da Fonseca, who died 1755, and Baron Diego Pereira d'Aguilar, a ...
.
See also
*
Sampson Gideon
Sampson Gideon (February 1699 – 17 October 1762) was a Sephardi Jews, Sephardic Jewish banker who was active in 18th-century City of London, London. Gideon is most prominently known for his financing of the House of Hanover, Hanoverian-Whigs ( ...
*
Antonio Fernandez Carvajal
Antonio Fernandez Carvajal (c. 1590November 10, 1659)—in pt, António Fernandes Carvalhal—was a Portuguese-Jewish merchant, who became the first endenizened English Jew. Carvajal and Simon de Caceres, together with other prominent members ...
*
Samuel Nunez Samuel Nunez (1668–1744) was a Portuguese physician and among the earliest Jews to settle in North America.
A few months after their February 1733 arrival from England, an epidemic began claiming the lives of the first 114 colonists of the infant ...
References
*
External links
Article from Jewish Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Moses da
Fellows of the Royal Society
People associated with the Bank of England
18th-century English Jews
English people of Portuguese-Jewish descent
18th-century British Sephardi Jews
Year of birth missing
1747 deaths
English bankers
English Sephardi Jews
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
Curiel family