| AdminHistory | Born in London, elder son of Abraham Mocatta, a banker and member of the movement for Reform of Jewish worship, and his wife Miriam, daughter of Gabriel Israel Brandon, 1828; educated at home by private tutors, among them the Hebrew scholar Albert Lwy, and by his father; entered the family firm of Mocatta and Goldsmid, bullion brokers, c1843; married Mary Ada Goldsmid, daughter of Frederick David Goldsmid, MP for Honiton, 1856; no children; retired from Mocatta and Goldsmid, 1874; FSA, 1889; Chairman of the council of West London Synagogue, 1896-1904, but as well as being a member of this reform congregation he was an observant Jew and member of two Orthodox synagogues; opposed large-scale Russian Jewish settlement, the growth of socialism among East End Jewry, and nascent Zionism. After his retirement he devoted himself to numerous and wide-ranging charitable causes, mostly Jewish charities: active in organizing the Board of Guardians for the Relief of the Jewish Poor, founded 1859; helped to form the Jews' Deaf and Dumb Home, 1865; Chairman of the Jewish Workhouse, founded 1871, later the Home for Aged Jews, of which he was President; member of the Romanian committee founded in 1872 to watch over the affairs of the Romanian Jews; Chairman, Mansion House Fund on behalf of Russian Jewry, 1882; Vice-President of the Anglo-Jewish Association; member of the Alliance Isralite in Paris; enthusiastically promoted education, especially that of the Jewish poor; encouraged Jewish literature and research, defraying some or all of the expenses of many important publications. A keen historian and antiquary, he lectured on contemporary Jewish communities; President of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887; helped to found the Jewish Historical Society of England, and served as its President in 1900. He also supported general causes, including better housing for the working classes, the administration of charity in such a way as not to demoralize the poor, and hospital and nursing work;active promoter and Vice-President from its formation in 1869 of the Charity Organization Society; Chairman, Charity Voting Reform Association, 1901-; leading supporter of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Died 1905. Publications include: 'The Jews and the Inquisition' (1877); 'The Jews at the Present Time in their Various Habitations' (1888). The Mocatta Library of University College London was founded from his personal library, which he bequeathed to the Jewish Historical Society of England. |