Jewish Lives: Britain 1750-1950 presents the life-stories of ten individual Jews who immigrated to Britain between 1750 and 1950, based on actual genealogical research … enriched by a variety of sources, reflect the experiences of all Jewish immigrants as they settled in their adopted land.
Melody Amsel-Arieli does not just piece together the detail of their lives–their work, pastimes, families, economic and historical records. She also explores their background, places of origin, motives for immigration, arrival in the UK and experiences as they adjusted to their new surroundings–placing them in the wider historical context of their adopted community and society.
This collection of revealing life-stories will prove fascinating for family historians and researchers, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, by offering parallels with their own lives and the lives of their ancestors.
Jewish Lives: Britain 1750-1950 will inspire readers to pursue their own quest for information and understanding of their past.
Melody Amsel-Arieli 
Hi Hugh, So glad to hear that my book has touched you, every authors dream. Keep safe. Melody
Hi,
I have bought your book after finding reference to it during my search for my family. I am the grandson of Henry (Hersz) Wolfson, the last son, and I think I am the last descendant named Wolfson(or similar!). I have done a bit more research and have been in touch with Shimon Frais. There are a few bits to add to the story of Samuel Wolfson (he seems to have spelled it several ways, with one or two o, and with or without an h somewhere). I have four Sheffield addresses for him. He seems not to have been a policeman by January1864 (birth certificate of his son Lewis says he is a journeyman glazier), so he may have had no involvement as policeman with the floods of that year. There was an additional child, Rachael, born in1866 and died of whooping cough aged 11 months. There is a curiosity, in that the birth certificates of at least one of his children suggest he could not write or spell his own name even after at least 12 years in England, which seems odd for a policeman, so I wonder if he was maybe an interpreter for the force when required, speaking presumably Russian, Yiddish and German. [1869 “+The Mark of Samuel Wolfshon” 1872 “+The mark of Samuel Woolfson” – earlier certificates which should have his signature have his name written in obviously the same hand as the rest of the certificate – the Registrar’s Clerk’s hand?]
Hugh Wolfson