8 - To be an Englishman and a Jew: Basil Henriques and the Bernhard Baron Oxford and St George’s Settlement House

Summary

The English Jew is a fortunate being.… because … he is a citizen of England and of the British Empire. To this country he can give his love, his strength, his life. …

A citizen of England, and a Jew by religion! This is a real and workable combination. (Montefiore and Henriques, 1918: 5)

In late Edwardian England, what would motivate a young Jewish gentleman, Basil Henriques, to abandon his life of wealth and privilege to live in London's impoverished East End? This question is explored in the context both of social change in Great Britain and the dilemma of being Jewish in a non-Jewish society. The Oxford and St George's Jewish Settlement, founded as a Boys’ Club in 1914, arose not only as a response to the poverty and disenfranchisement of London's East End but as a particular response to the perceived threat to the East End's Jewish population and as a demonstration of applied Jewish theology. The settlement did not exist to evangelise but simply to protect and enhance a growing, impoverished Jewish community. The fear that young Jews would convert to Christianity through the Christianbased clubs and settlements was real – despite the excellent work that these clubs performed and the inspiration they provided. It was to this threat and to his own convictions to an active Judaism that the young Henriques responded.

Family background and influences

Basil Henriques was born on 17 October, 1890 in Bayswater, West London, the youngest of five children of David and Agnes Henriques. The family was descended from Sephardic Jews originally from Portugal but who, in the mid-17th century, escaped Portugal during the Inquisition, eventually settling in Jamaica. His grandfather, Jacob Henriques, emigrated to England from Jamaica in the mid-19th century where he re-established the family's trading company in London. The firm prospered and continued to do so under his son, David. At the same time the family became increasingly Anglified and integrated into England's upper-middle class (Loewe, 1976: 1).

Raised in Reform Judaism, Henriques’ family was among the founding members of the West London Synagogue. While secular in daily life, they attended synagogue regularly and observed the major Jewish holidays. His mother was a dutiful Jew and, based on the significant correspondence between them, appeared to have had a significant impact on the importance of Judaism in his life.