Three Stages of Change, from 1880 to 1939

Three periods of change emerge during the years 1880 to 1939. Each features distinct reactions of Jewish immigrants and their hosts and signals evolving patterns of adjustment among London's Jewish immigrants. From 1880 to 1905, the period of most intensive immigration, migrants from Eastern Europe settled in Stepney and Aldgate, areas where Jews had lived for nearly two hundred years. Anglo-Jewry created and expanded social welfare services to meet immediate needs. The period 1905 to 1918 saw the passage of the Aliens Act, the rate of immigration decrease and Anglo-Jewry develop programmes with an interventionist emphasis. During 1918 to 1939, the period of most extensive change, concerns emerged that acculturation had gone too far.

1880–1905: A Period of Intense Immigration

Poverty characterized the experiences of the majority of first generation immigrants. Assessments of the nature of that poverty, such as Charles Booth's study, provide extensive information and insight into the attitudes of those gathering data. East Enders shared subdivided housing, often came up short on rent day and faced the cold and damp English weather with inadequate food, clothing and shoes. Employment in seasonal trades deepened financial stress. Jews living in dwellings such as the Rothschild Buildings suffered disproportionately higher rates of consumption than Stepney as a whole. Slum clearance in the East End, an effort to stem crime and prostitution, intensified pressure on housing.