[Parliamentary Act]. An Act to Permit Persons Professing the Jewish Religion, to be Naturalized by Parliament.

(ANGLO-JUDAICA).

Thomas Baskett

London

1753

Seal of King George II. Initial letter within historiated woodcut borders.

Hyamson, Bibliography no. 4

In the year 1609 the naturalization of any foreigner settled in England was made contingent on their acceptance of the Sacrament. Although this act was deliberately directed against Catholics, incidentally it would later affect Jews, following their Re-Admission in 1653. This disability was lifted by the Whig Government of Henry Pelham in the Act of 1753 which permitted persons professing the Jewish religion to be naturalized by Parliament. The Bill was, at best, of limited advantage to the Jews, because only the wealthy could have set in motion the machinery necessary to obtain naturalization. See J. Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History (1956) pp. 75-86; and A. Hyamson, The Sephardim of England (1951) pp. 127-8.