Aldermann Emanuel

http://www.british-jewry.org.uk/emanuel.php

Memorial Inscription IN MEMORY OF EMANUEL EMANUEL, ALDERMAN, J.P. WHO WAS MAYOR OF PORTSMOUTH 1866-67 THIS FOUNTAIN WAS GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF PORTSMOUTH BY HIS SON AND DAUGHTER BARROW EMANUEL AND LADY MAGNUS

Aubrey Weinberg, in “Portsmouth Jewry” (Portsmouth City Council, Paper no. 41, 1985) writes that when Emanuel Emanuel was first elected a councillor in 1841 he refused to take the oath on ‘the faith of a Christian’ and became liable to a fine of £500 for every vote he subsequently gave.

But as “there was no one in Portsmouth mean enough to proceed against this valiant Jew” his position remained unchallenged and he was to become the first Jewish mayor of Portsmouth in 1866.

"A man of obvious strong principle, Emanuel Emanuel did not shrink from combining his Jewish and secular roles. In 1873 he objected to the impropriety of prayers and hymns being introduced into the town’s School Board schools, citing the latent anti-semitism in some of the verses”, for example

'Lord I ascribe it to thy grace

And not to chance as others do

That I was born of Christian race

And not a heathen or a Jew.'