Viscountess Erleigh Follows Her Brother’s Example As Convert to Judaism

Viscountess Erleigh, daughter-in-law of the Marquess of Reading, today followed the example of her brother, Lord Melchett, and entered the Jewish faith. The ceremony was privately performed in the Liberal Synagogue in North London, where, on July 16, Lord Melchett accepted the faith of his fathers.

Lady Erleigh, the former Hon. Eva Violet Mond, daughter of Sir Alfred Mond, the first Lord Melchett, was brought up in a convent. Her marriage to Viscount Erleigh, only son and heir of the Marquess of Reading, was performed in a church, although Viscount Erleigh never gave up his Judaism.

The first Lord Melchett, father of the present bearer of the title, spent the latter part of his life in ardent advocacy of Zionism and was buried according to the rites of the Jewish faith, a clump of Palestinian soil being put in his coffin. Tel Mond in Palestine is the physical symbol of the family’s interest in the Jewish national home.

Both the second Lord Melchett and his sister maintained their father’s keen interest in things Jewish, participating as Gentiles in many Palestine activities. Lord Melchett was instrumental in organizing the anti-Nazi boycott and in allying strong support for it in Great Britain. Lord Melchett and Vicountess Erleigh both attended the Maccabbiade, Jewish sports festival, held recently at Prague, and were guests at the Eighteenth World Zionist Congress. Lord Melchett is honorary president of the World Maccabbee organization.