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eddington
BEDDINGTON, English family of businessmen, philanthropists,
and soldiers, originally named Moses. HENRY MOSES
(c. 1791–1875) became a wealthy wholesale clothing merchant
in London, with links to the New Zealand wool trade, and left
£500,000 at his death. In 1868, his children changed their surname
to Beddington, a suburb in south London, giving rise to
much humorous commentary. Henry Moses’ son MAURICE
BEDDINGTON (1821–1898), a London wool broker, left over £1
million. The family also branched out into the tobacco business
and founded the Abdullah cigarette company. ALFRED
HENRY BEDDINGTON (1835–1900) was active in the life of the
London Jewish community. In World War I, 37 members of the
family served in the British forces. They included Lieutenant-
Colonel CLAUDE (1868–1940) who fought in the South African
War and was in command of the Mounted Troops of the 20th
Division in France in World War I. He became an enthusiastic
yachtsman. SIR EDWARD HENRY LIONEL (1884–1966) was
a career officer in the British cavalry and, after having taken
part in World War I, retired from active service in 1920. At
the outbreak of World War II he rejoined the army, became
deputy director of Military Intelligence, and rose to the rank
of brigadier. WILLIAM RICHARD (1893–1975) entered the British
army shortly before World War I, served in France and the
Mediterranean area, and was wounded in action. In 1939 he
became officer commanding the 2nd Royal Dragoon Guards
(The Queen’s Bays). He held various staff appointments in the
Middle East, Italy, and North Africa, and finally joined Supreme
Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF). In
1946 he rose to the rank of major general and retired in 1947.
Henry Moses’ grandson JOHN LOUIS (“JACK”) BEDDINGTON
(1893–1959) became one of the most famous advertising poster
designers of the 20th century.
Bibliography: P.H. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 447,449,
548; J. Ben Hirsh, Jewish General Officers (1967), 76–77. Add. Bibliography:
L.D. Nathan, As Old As Auckland (1984); “John Louis
Beddington,” in: ODNB online.
BEDERSI, ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC (c. 1230–c. 1300), Hebrew
poet in southern France. The designation “Bedersi” indicates
that he originated from Béziers (Heb., שירדב). He may be
identical with the Abraham Mosse de Montepessulano (Montpellier;
otherwise Abram de Sala) mentioned in secular documents.
Abraham settled as a youth in Perpignan where he was
a pupil of Joseph Ezobi. He stayed for some time in Arles and
once took refuge in Narbonne, but apparently lived most of
his life in Perpignan, then under Aragonese sovereignty. The
Jewish community there had been granted a charter of privileges
by James I to protect them from molestation. Abraham
is the conjectured author of a letter from the community to
the Jews of Barcelona, appealing to them to persuade the king
through the medium of the bishop of Huesca to uphold the
rights granted under the charter and reduce the communal tax
obligations. Letters of recommendation written by Abraham
in the name of the Perpignan community on behalf of petitioners
and fund-raising emissaries have also been preserved.
In 1275 Todros b. Joseph ha-Levi *Abulafia, who had accompanied
the Castilian monarchs to France, spent some time
in Perpignan and the two exchanged verses. A well-known
poem of Bedersi on the pen and the sword, inspired by Arabic
verses, was written in his honor and sent to him on the
occasion of this visit. Abraham also composed for Todros a
poem in the style of the Passover Haggadah, the first attempt
to parody it. He gave some financial assistance to the poet
Isaac Gorni, although deriding his literary talents. Abraham
wrote numerous poems and satires, apparently collected by his
son *Jedaiah ha-Penini (mostly still in manuscript; the most
complete manuscript is in the British Museum (Add. Ms. 27,
168); others are in Vienna, Amsterdam, and Leningrad). Despite
his bombastic style, Abraham’s works contain interesting
historical details and provide an insight into the contemporary
cultural scene. Between 1290 and 1295 he wrote Ha-Ḥerev
ha-Mithappekhet (“The Revolving Sword”), a lengthy poem of
210 verses (according to the numerical value of the Hebrew
letters in ḥerev). In it, Abraham mentions his birthplace and
his father, and comments on the Hebrew poets who preceded
him in Provence and Spain. He considered himself their inferior.
He did, however, contend that he was the best poet of his
generation and challenged his contemporaries to a competition
for which he proposed judges. Abraham also composed
Ḥotam Tokhnit, the first dictionary of Hebrew synonyms in
the Bible. Both works were published in 1865, the latter with a
commentary by Samuel David Luzzatto. There is some doubt
whether Abraham or his son Jedaiah composed the prayer
Elef Alfin (so called because its thousand (Heb. elef ) words
all begin with the letter alef; published in Kerem Ḥemed, 4
(1839), 57–65) and Shir ha-Lamedin (Frankfurt on the Oder,
1812), a bakkashah for the Day of Atonement, in which each
word contains the letter lamed, and all subsequent letters of
the alphabet are excluded.
Bibliography: Baer, in: Devir, 2 (1924), 313–6; Baer, Spain, 1
(1961), 119, 142, 162; Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 466–71, 695; idem,
in Sefer… Y. Baer (1961), 154–73; Bergmann, in: MGWJ, 42 (1898),
507–17; I. Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature (1907), 16ff.; Davidson,
Oẓar, 4 (1933), 352; Regné, in: REJ, 62 (1911), 59ff.; Gross, Gal Jud,
S.V. Béziers; Renan, Rabbins, 707–19; Doniach, in: JQR, 23 (1932/33),
63–69, cf. 349–56. Add. Bibliography: M. Thama, Mashkiyot Kesef
(1765), 23b–26a; Schirmann-Fleischer, The History of Hebrew Poetry
in Christian Spain and Southern France (1997), 469–90.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann / Zvi Avneri]
BEDFORD, English county town. In the Middle Ages a small
community existed in Bedford, which housed one of the archae
for registration of Jewish debts. Local Jews suffered from
violence during the Barons’ Wars in 1263 and again in 1274.
Three Jews were hanged for coin clipping in 1278. By the time
of the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290, the community
seems to have been almost extinct. Jews resettled in
Bedford at the end of the 18th century, and a tiny community
existed from 1803 to 1827 and from 1837 to c. 1879. Organized
Jewish life was revived briefly in 1903 and again during the
248 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3