HERSCHELL, RIDLEY HAIM:

Missionary to the Jews; born at Strzelno, Prussian Poland, April 7, 1807; died at Brighton, England, April 14, 1864. The son of Jewish parents, he was educated at Berlin University (1822), and was baptized in England by the Bishop of London in 1830. He became a missionary among the Jews, and was in charge of schools and missionary work at Leigh, Essex, and Brampton, Suffolk, from 1835 to 1838. In the last-named year he opened an unsectarian chapel in London, and in 1846 removed to Trinity Chapel, Edgeware road. He was a founder of the British Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Jews and of the Evangelical Alliance (1845).

Herschell was the author of: "A Brief Sketch of the State and Expectations of the Jews," 1834; "Plain Reasons Why I, a Jew, Have Become a Catholic and Not a Roman Catholic," 1842; and "A Visit to My Fatherland: Notes of a Journey to Syria and Palestine, 1844."

He also edited "The Voice of Israel," a conversionist journal (vols. i., ii., 1845-47), and produced other works.

Bibliography:
  • Boase, Modern English Biography, 1892;
  • J. Dunlop, Memories of Gospel Triumphs Among the Jews, 1894.
J. G. L.
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