Adm. at TRINITY HALL, 1895. S. of Elim H., Esq., C.E., of 35, Lancaster Gate, London. School, Harrow. Matric. Michs. 1895; B.A. and LL.B. 1898, as d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, O.E.; M.A. 1903. Grandson of Count Henri d'Avigdor, one of Napoleon III's Dukes. Added the name and arms of Goldsmid to his own on the death of his cousin, The Rt. Hon. Sir Julian Goldsmid, whose estates he inherited in 1896. Devoted himself to a life of public service in Kent and in London. High Sheriff of Kent, 1912. Served in the Great War, 1914-19 (Lieut., R.A.S.C.; retired as Lieut.-Col. 1919; twice mentioned in despatches). Alderman of Kent C.C., 1916. J.P. and D.L. Closely associated with the Kent Territorial Force Association; Chairman, 1929. Gave much time to the service of the Jewish community and had a long connexion [p.247] with the Council of the Anglo-Jewish Association. Created Baronet, 1934, the baronetcy of his ancestor, Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, the first to be conferred on a Jew, being revived in his favour. Married and had issue. Of Somerhill, Tonbridge, Kent, and of 47, Hans Place, S.W., where he died Apr. 14, 1940, aged 62. (Harrow Sch. Reg.; Univ. War List; The Times, Apr. 15, 1940.)

Post war: He remained in business until 1938 and was very active in both local and general affairs. He devoted his life to public service in Kent as a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Masons. He was also very active in Jewish affairs and was President of the Anglo-Jewish Association, President of the British Board of Deputies, Chairman of the Jewish Colonization Association and Treasurer of the Jewish Removal Council.

Further information: He inherited the Baronetcy and estates from Sir Julian Goldsmid in 1896 as Sir Julian had eight daughters and no sons, and this point, Osmond added ‘Goldsmid’ to his surname. Osmond also inherited estates in Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex which included houses in Palmeira Square. He lent one of his houses (24 Palmeira Square) to Lady Nevill to use as the ‘neurological section of the Second Eastern General hospital’ for ‘nerve afflicted soldiers’ during the war.
The streets of Hove include Osmond Road, Davigdor Road and Goldsmid Road.
Research Challenges: For a prominent man there is little mention of him or his family in local newspapers. Also whilst his army record is good it has been difficult to find his service number and full military record. I have been unable to find where he is buried.
Sourced used include: Ancestry, Census, My Brighton and Hove, Google Books, The Times, H.M. Walbrook, Hove and the Great War: a Record and A review together with the Roll of Honour and List of Distinctions (Hove: The Cliftonville Press, 1920), p

D'AVIGDOR (later d'Avigdor-Goldsmid ), family that settled in England about the middle of the nineteenth century and became united with the prominent Jewish family Goldsmid. Among its members were elim d'avigdor (1841–1895), engineer and author. He was the eldest son of count Salomon Henri d'Avigdor (whom Napoleon iii created duke of Acquaviva) and grandson of Isaac Samuel d'Avigdor, member of the Great Sanhedrin. His mother rachel (1816–1896), noted for her charitable activities, was the daughter of Isaac Lyon *Goldsmid. D'Avigdor worked as an engineer in various parts of the world on construction projects, including railways in Syria and Transylvania. He wrote hunting stories under the pseudonym "Wanderer" and was publisher of the Examiner and Yachting Gazette. D'Avigdor was active in the Ḥovevei Zion (see *Ḥibbat Zion). As a member of the executive of the
*Anglo-Jewish Association, he was responsible for the transference to its control of the Evelina de Rothschild school in Jerusalem, previously controlled by the Rothschild family. His son, sir osmond d'avigdor goldsmid (1877–1940), added the name Goldsmid on inheriting the estates of his cousin Sir Julian *Goldsmid. He devoted his life to public service. He received recognition for these services in 1934 when the hereditary baronetcy of Isaac Lyon Goldsmid was revived and awarded to him. In 1912 he was high sheriff of the county of Kent. Within the Jewish community, he served as president of the Anglo-Jewish Association (1921–26), president of the British *Board of Deputies (1926–33), chairman of the Jewish Colonization Association, and treasurer of the Jewish Memorial Council. Although not a Zionist, he was for many years chairman of the council of the British section of the Jewish Agency. His elder son, sir henry joseph d'avigdor goldsmid (1909–1976), the 2nd baronet, was a Conservative member of parliament from 1955 and parliamentary private secretary to the minister of housing and local government (1955–56). He was president of the Jewish Colonization Association, and chairman of the Anglo-Israel Bank. Another son, Brigadier General sir james arthur d'avigdor-goldsmid (1912–1987) headed the British Territorial Army. He later became major general and was a Conservative member of Parliament from 1970 to 1974.

Research by Vivian David Lipman

Sir O. D’Avigdor- Goldsmid
Former President of Deputies
Great Serivices to Jewry and to Kent
We regret to announce the death, in London, on Sunday of Sir Osmund Elim D’Avigdor Goldsmid, at the age of sixty-two. Sir Osmond devoted many years of his life to serving the Jewish Community, including seven years as President of the Board of Deputies, and he also took an active share in the public life of Kent, of which county he was a JP and D.L., and High Sheriff for one year.
Sir Osmond was the son of Mr Elim H. D’Avigdor and grandson of Count Henri d’Avigdor, one of Napoleon IIIs dukes. A Goldsmid on his mother’s side, he added that name and the arms of the family to his own in 1896 on the death of his cousin, the Rt. Hon. Sir Julian Goldsmid, whose estates he inherited. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and took the degrees of M.A. and LL.B.
Among the offices Sir Osmond held in the community at one time or another were: Vice President of the Jews’ Free School, Treasurer of the Jewish Memorial Council, President of the Victoria Jewish Working Boys’ Club, and Treasurer of the Palestine Emergency Fund. He took a great interest in the work of the Jewish Board of Guardians, retiring in 1933 after thirty-five years’ membership. He was President of the Jewish Religious Education Board’s special Appeal Committee in 1929 and played a prominent part in the establishment of the Jewish Communal Centre, which opened in 1932.
Capacity for Composing Feuds
After serving on the Executive and the Council of the Anglo-Jewish Association, Sir Osmond became its President in 1921 in succession to Dr. Claude Montefiore, and held the office until Mr. Leonard Montefiore succeeded him in 1926. Perhaps his greatest claim to communal gratitude was the manner of his presiding over the Jewish Board of Deputies. The period of his Presidency – from 1926, when he succeeded the late Mr. H.S.Q. Henriques K.C., until the endf of 1932 – was not comparable for its Jewish troubles and dangers to that of Mr. Laski, who followed him. Yet many important matters arose affecting the welfare of the Commumity, and Sir Osmand’s handling of them was conspicuous for the courtesy and tact. His dealing with the problems of Shechita were tupical of this, particularly in the lengthy disputes over the Weinberg Casting Pen.
The Jewish Chronicle at the time of his resignation from the Presidency of the Board wrote of him:
Mr Goldsmid has piloted the Community through the shoals and the quicksands with endless patience, unchallengable ability, never-failing tact and tireless devotion. He has shown adaptability to new ideas and situations, an idealism tempered by a sense of realities, a capacity for (illegible) feuds – not an insignificant desideratum in such a Community as ours – which have been above all praise. He has been a worthy representative of our people in their relations with the national powers ( the rest of column 1 is illegible)
Column 2
Sir Osmond was a member of the West London (Reform) Congregation, in the establishment of which the Goldsmid family played a large part.
A year after his retirement from the Presidency of the Deputies, Sir Osmond succeeded the late Sir Leonard Cohen as President of the Jewish Colonisation Association (of which he had been a member since 1919). In this capacity he accompanied Mr Louis O(Illegible) the general manager, on a visit to America with a view to securing agreement on questions of policy arising out of the situation of the Jews in Germany. He paid another visit to the USA to discuss Palestine problems with the leaders of American Jewry.
Althouh not a member ofthe Zionist Organisation the last Sir Ormond was at one time closely associated with the work of the upbuilding of the Jewish National Home. When the extended Jewish Agency was formed in 1929, he played an important part in associating Anglo-Jewry with the Agency, and was for many years Chairman of the Council of the British Section of the Jewish Agency.
Revival of the Goldsmid Baronetcy
One of the most valuable services which he performed for the Community in recent years was his Chairmanship of the Allocations Committee of the Central British Fund for German Jewry
The baronetcy, conferred in 1934, was in recognition of “political and public services in the County of Kent,” the baronetcy of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, the first to be conferred on a Jew, being revived in Mr Goldsmid’s favour. His services to Kent included membership of the Kent County Council, of which he was elected an Alderman in 1916, Chairmanship of the Tonbridge Conservative Association, and of the Kent Territorial Force Association, and of the Smallholdings Committee. He was President of the Tonbridge Cricket Club and Chairman of the Tunbridge Wells and District Employment Committee.
Sir Osmond served throughout the last was in the Royal Army Service Corps, retiring with the rank of Lieut.-Colonel, after having been mentioned twice in dispatches. He married, in 1907, Alice, daughter of the late Joseph Landau of Warsaw, and is survived by her and two sons. He is succeeded by the elder, Henry Joseph, who was born in 1909 and is now attached to the B.E.F. as an Intelligence Officer.