Francis Goldsmid

Who was Francis Goldsmid?

Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid, 2nd Baronet was an Anglo-Jewish barrister and politician.

The son of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and a member of the Goldsmid banking family, Francis was born in London, and privately educated. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1833, becoming the first Jew to become an English barrister, and was made Queen's Counsel in 1858. In 1859 he succeeded to his father's honors. After the passing of the Jewish Disabilities Bill, in which he had aided his father with a number of pamphlets that attracted great attention, he entered Parliament in 1860 as member for the Reading constituency, and represented that constituency until his death.

Francis Goldsmid was strenuous on behalf of the Jewish religion, and the founder of the great Jews Free School. He was a munificent contributor to charities and especially to the endowment of University College London. He, like his father, married a cousin, and, dying without issue, was succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew Sir Julian Goldsmid, son of Frederick Goldsmid.

Goldsmid Road in the town of Reading is named after Francis Goldsmid, and is the location of the town's orthodox synagogue.