Christian missions to the Jews in London : a forgotten source of welfare provision among Jewish immigrants in the East End, 1809-1900

Jarman, Jemima Mary Susan (2024) Christian missions to the Jews in London : a forgotten source of welfare provision among Jewish immigrants in the East End, 1809-1900. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Abstract

This thesis brings focused attention to the evangelical Christian missionaries who lived and worked among the immigrant Jewish population of the East End throughout the nineteenth century. It examines both the theology of the Christian missionaries, and the practical application of their religious beliefs in the form of charity and the provision of welfare services. Missions offered poor Jews in the East End free medical care, education, employment opportunities, facilitated recreational activities and hosted social groups. However, these welfare services have not been included in nineteenth-century histories of the Jewish immigrant population in London’s East End, nor have the relationships that developed between missionary and Jew through the daily interactions that took place between them, appeared in studies of Jewish-Christian relations in Britain at this time. This thesis examines the history of three missions to the Jews: the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews; the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews; and the Mildmay Mission to the Jews and by conducting a close and extensive reading of their texts, published and archival, reveals both the missionary hopes and expectations in providing charitable aid and welfare services to Jews, and the way in which the Jewish immigrants used the services and showed agency in their choices. The findings of this research evidence that Christian missions were a significant source of charity and aid for the newly arrived Jewish immigrants in the East End. Immigrant Jews used the services provided by Christian missions to meet their needs as they arose, when they could not be met as satisfactorily or as conveniently elsewhere, and that if left unmet may threaten their ability to survive in the new and hostile conditions of the East End.

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