I. ZangwillI. Zangwill was a British novelist and close friend of Theodor Herzl who lived from 21 January 1864 to 1 August 1926. He was a pioneer of cultural Zionism throughout the 19th century. Later, he abandoned the idea of seeking a Jewish homeland in Palestine and emerged as the movement's leading theorist. Zangwill was born in a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire on January 21, 1864, in London. His mother, Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill, was from Poland, while his father, Moses Zangwill, was from what is now Latvia. He dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of those he saw as downtrodden, becoming involved in issues like women's suffrage, territorialism, Zionism, and Jewish emancipation. Louis Zangwill, a novelist, was his brother. Zangwill attended schools in Plymouth and Bristol for his early education. Zangwill entered the Jews' Free School in Spitalfields, east London when he was nine years old; it was a school for children of Jewish immigrants. The school provided its students with a rigorous curriculum that included secular and theological studies as well as clothing, food, and medical care; currently, one of its four houses is called Zangwill in his honor. Read More Read Less