Moses Franks

Moses Franks was born into a powerful Jewish merchant family in New York. He moved to London where he represented his family’s business, and became a prominent member of England’s Ashkenazi Jewish community. During the French and Indian War (1754–1763), he made arrangements for his family members to be made government agents and as a result, earned a fortune supplying British forces during the war. He participated in enlarging London’s Great Synagogue, the second such structure in Dukes Place, and in 1766, he donated £250 to the cause.