Sephardic Jews of Gibraltar
An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain “in perpetuity” under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Under this treaty Spain demanded that Britain disallow Jews and Muslims from settlement in the territory. Britain agreed but promptly ignored this provision. Jewish settlers principally arrived from the Haketia (Judeo-Spanish) speaking communities of northern Morocco.
In 1727, the Spanish unsuccessfully laid siege to the city. In 1729, the British and the Sultan of Morocco reached an agreement whereby the sultan’s Jewish subjects were legally permitted to reside in Gibraltar. Jews were given the right to permanent settlement in 1749, when Isaac Nieto, the first rabbi since the Expulsion arrived from London and established congregation Sha’ar HaShamayim, the oldest synagogue in Gibraltar, otherwise known as the Great Synagogue. At that date there were already 600 Jews in Gibraltar, who constituted one third of the civilian population.
With strong connections with the Sephardic communities of Morocco – especially Tangier and Tetouan – and London, Gibraltar can sometimes provide clues in researching British Jewish families of Moroccan origin.
Jewish Genealogy in Gibraltar
Gibraltarian genealogist Joshua Marrache
- The Gibraltar National Archives
- Gibraltar Genealogy website. There is also a Facebook group.
- Gibraltar Jewish community website.
- There is currently a project to index Jewish Wills in Gibraltar
- It is worth checking British records, including the National Archives and the archives of the S&P Sephardi Community.
- The National Library of Israel has Gibraltarian ketubot in their collection.
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