Goldsmid, Albert Edward Williamson
GOLDSMID, ALBERT EDWARD WILLIAMSON
GOLDSMID, ALBERT EDWARD WILLIAMSON (1846–1904), English soldier. Born at Poona, India, Goldsmid entered the British Army in 1866, reached the rank of colonel in 1894, and served with distinction in the Boer War. Born of a long-assimilated family connected with the illustrious *Goldsmid family by marriage (though he was not descended from it), he became attracted to Judaism in maturity and was henceforth active in the life of Anglo-Jewry. In 1892 he went temporarily to the Argentine to supervise the *Jewish Colonization Association (ica) colonies established there by Baron de *Hirsch. He was one of the founders of the *Maccabeans and of the Jewish Lads Brigade (see *Scouting) in London. A prominent member of the English Ḥovevei Zion (see *Ḥibbat Zion) movement, as early as 1891 he advocated the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, welcomed Herzl's proposals with enthusiasm, became an ardent Zionist, and was a member of the *El-Arish Commission in 1903. Herzl was deeply impressed by him and thought of him as occupying a high office in the Jewish State when it was established. Goldsmid is said to have been the model for George *Eliot's character Daniel Deronda.
bibliography:
Fraenkel, in: Herzl Yearbook, 1 (1958), 145–53; N. Sokolow, History of Zionism (1919); index; T. Herzl, Diaries, ed. by M. Lowenthal (1956), index. add. bibliography: Bermant, The Cousinhood, 242–43.
[Cecil Roth]