Jewish War Heroes of the British Armed Forces

Posted by Ann Rabinowitz

Capt. Sir Alexander Schomberg (1720-1804)
Early British Jewish Military Hero
(National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Fund)

One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that it is always changing and adding new information. Since I previously wrote about “Fighting Back” a new book relating information about Jews in the British Armed Forces, I realized that I did not mention a thirty minute film which was divided into a series of three parts about this selfsame topic.

The film was sponsored by the Pears Foundation in 2008 and produced by AJEX, the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, and can be found online on YouTube.

The links for this three-part series are as follows:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM4nc-AEVPM&feature=related
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT5ZjBBn0YU&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_y5rm6P1Y&feature=related
   

The film will provide a diverse outline of the participation of British Jews in the military since 1759. It is a marvelous and little-known effort according to the film which accounted for 130,000 who served in the British Armed Forces, 3,000 who won awards and distinctions, and 6,000 who perished.

Should you want to learn more about Capt. Sir Alexander Schomberg, an early British Jewish Naval hero, whose family came originally from Wurttemberg, Germany, and who is pictured above, see the description which is found at the National Maritime Museum where his painting is exhibited.

Indeed one can also read a short piece entitled “Some Old Salts of the Jewish Sort” at which provides additional information on Jewish naval participants of around the same time during which Sir Schomberg served. Some mentioned are John Benjamin, Moses Benjamin, James Brandon and Thomas Brandon, Benjamin da Costa, Philip Emanuel, Henri Levi, Joseph Manuel, Nathan Manuel, Joseph Moss, and Benjamin Solomon.