Board of Deputies: Defence committee papers

Representatives from the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities in London originally met to present a loyal address to George III on his accession to the throne, but soon decided to continue joint meetings. The organisation blossomed in the Victorian period under the leadership of Sir Moses Montefiore and is now one of international standing.

The main archive of the Board is held at the London Metropolitan Archives under reference ACC/3121, but the Defence Archive has always been held separately and is only now being made available for general use.

The Board's Jewish defence work dates back to 1918 when Lord Rothschild established a Press Committee, initially to rebut false press allegations that Jews had not joined the armed services in the First World War. This was enlarged in 1921 to include representatives of other Anglo Jewish organisations, and renamed the Joint Press Committee.

In 1938 the Press Committee was merged with a sub-committee of the Board's Joint Foreign Affairs Committee in order to better confront the rise of fascism in continental Europe, but renamed itself the Jewish Defence Committee in 1938, and re-focused its efforts to the domestic threat.

Thereafter the Board, together with the Association of Jewish Ex Servicemen, established monitoring systems which thoroughly penetrated the pre War fascist and Nazi organisations.