Joseph Jacobs, was born, to a Jewish family, in New South Wales in 1854. His father, a publican, had emigrated from London in about 1837. He was a writer about British folk-lore, and published collections which included and popularized some of the best known British fairy tales. He was also a historian and writer on Anglo-Jewry and other Jewish subjects. After his early education in Sydney, he left for England at the age of 18 and studied at St. John’s College, Cambridge, gaining a BA in 1876.
He was concerned by the anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia and in January 1882 wrote letters on the subject to The Times newspaper.. This helped to raise public attention to the issue, resulting in the formation of the Mansion House Fund and Committee of which he was secretary from 1882 to 1900. He was the honorary secretary of the literature and art committee of the 1887 Anglo-Jewish Exhibition. He then emigrated to the United States to become the Revising Editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia. He died in 1916.
Joseph Jacob’s essay on the medieval Jews of London, who were expelled from England in 1290, is remarkable for its research and detail – all carried out before the modern age of databases.
Jewish Miscellanies 