Samuel Moses Lipsey
Obituary for Samuel Moses Lipsey, who fought with Jabotinsky in the Jewish Legion and became a leading Glasgow Zionist and Freemason.[2]
Obituary
- MR. SAMUEL M. LIPSEY
- With the death last Friday of Mr. Semuel Moses Lipsey the Glasgow community lost not only one of its leading figures but a colourful personality and a warm-hearted Jew, writes our local correspondent. During his long and busy communal career, which spanned a period of 60 years, Mr. Lipsey had been prominently identified with every aspect of Jewish life in the city - relgious, charitable, educational, social welfare, and Zionist.
- He began his communal service at the age of 17, in 1902, when he was appointed President of the Jewish Institute. By a coincidence, 50 years later, in 1952, he was again elected President of the club, and occupied that office at the time of his death. He was a forceful speaker, and he frequently addressed meetings in Glasgow and elsewhere in support of the Zionist cause, of which he was a lifelong adherent. Mr. Lipsey was associated with the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council for 42 years, and two years ago, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, the Council made him a presentation in recognition of his services to the community. He was Hon. Vice-President of the Council and also of the local Jewish Board of Guardians. In the First World War Mr. Lipsey took a prominent part in the recruitment of men for the Jewish Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. After serving in France he was appointed Adjutant of the First Jewish Battalion (38th Royal Fusiliers), in 1917, and later became Chief Recruiting Officer for Palestine and Egypt with headquarters in Jerusalem. Among the men he enlisted were Mr. Ben-Gurion and Mr. Moshe Sharett. In the last war Mr Lipsey was Recruiting Officer in Scotland for the Jewish Brigade. A native of Glasgow, Mr Lipsey was an auctioneer. He was unmarried.[3]
Affiliations
- Jewish Legion | Glasgow Jewish Representative Council | Lodge Montefiore - No. 753 | Glasgow Jewish Institute | Glasgow Committee of the Joint Palestine Appeal
Timeline
- 1952-3 - Glasgow J.P.A. Committee Hon. Presidents-Sir Maurice Bloch, A. Links, Fred Nettler, J.P., S. M. Lipsey Hyman Woolfson[4]
- 1946-9 - President of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council
- 1929 - Master of Lodge Montefiore - No. 753
- 1919 - Despite the constant Zionist activity in Glasgow and the presence of the Scottish Zionist Council as an umbrella organisation as well as the Jewish National Institute as a cultural and organisational centre there was no single powerful society to speak for Zionism within the community. The activities of the Bnei Zion had lapsed during the War and the attempts to revive it with Samuel Grasse as Chairman in January 1919 did not prove successful. Accordingly, a further meeting was held in the Jewish National Institute building in Elgin Street in November 1919.4 On this occasion the Glasgow Zionist Association was founded with Sam Lipsey as Chairman, Joe Sachs as Vice-Chairman and a committee of 30 members. Despite this weakness in the Zionist Association the functioning of the Institute as a communal centre continued to flourish.[5]