Stepney Folk

Cromwell, in need of money, allowed the Jews to enter England and they bought an acre of land which was to become a Sephardic Jewish graveyard (for Spanish and Portuguese Jews) along the Mile End Rd beyond Stepney Green. The first burial taking place in 1657.

Many of the inscriptions on the 17th and 18th century graves are in Portuguese and Spanish. Benjamin Disraeli, the grandfather of Prime Minister Disraeli lies buried there.

Technically, the word Sepharadim means Spaniards. It comes from Sepharad, the Hebrew word for Spain. In practice however, the term Sepharadim refers to Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin, whose ancestors were expelled from Spain in 1492. For the most part these exiles settled in the countries along the Mediterranean Sea, in the sprawling Turkish Empire, in the Balkans, and in the lands of North Africa, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Subsequently these communities were reinforced by refugees from Portugal. Large groups later settled in the Netherlands, the West Indies, and North America. Others found new homes in Holland and the New World.

It was the Sepahradim who established the Jewish communities of Curacao in the Caribbean Islands in 1651 and in the Dutch colony of Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, and New Amsterdam (New York City) three years later.