Chuts

Chuts /ˈxʊts/ is the name applied to Jews who immigrated to London from the Netherlands in the mid-Victorian era (1850s–1860s). They typically came from the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and brought to London their trades: most notably those of cigar-, cap-, and slipper-making, and as small-time ship chandlers.^[1]

Their settlement began in the area beyond the Spitalfields known as the Tenterground, formerly an enclosed area where Flemish weavers stretched and dried their woven cloth on machines called tenters (hence the expression "on tenterhooks"). By the mid-Victorian era, the weavers began to disperse as the open grounds disappeared beneath housing built by speculative developers and became an enclave for Chut immigrants who established themselves as a distinct community. Demolished and rebuilt piecemeal in sucessive slum-clearance projects in the 1890s, 1930s and most notably after the devastation of The Blitz, the area is now bounded by White's Row, Wentworth Street, Bell Lane and Toynbee Street (formerly Shepherd Street).^[1][2]

Following the assassination of Alexander II of Russia in 1881, many thousands of Jewish refugees, fleeing the consequential pogroms in Eastern Europe, arrived in the East End of London, including the Tenterground, by which time the Chuts had begun to disperse. Significantly, the successful introduction of machinery for the mass production of cigarettes ultimately led to the collapse of the cigar-making economy on which the Chuts community depended. Many Chuts returned to improved conditions in Amsterdam, some emigrated further afield to places such as Australia and the United States, some assimilated into other Jewish families, and some eventually lost their Jewish identity altogether.^[1][2]

There was distinct rivalry between the Chuts and the later Jewish immigrants, not least because the Chuts had arrived as city-dwellers with useful industrial skills and by 1881 had already learned to speak English, whereas the later immigrants were generally impoverished rural workers who had to learn new trades in the notorious sweatshops and, arriving penniless and in great numbers, drew attention to the problem of immigration which resulted in the Aliens Act of 1905.^[1]

Furthermore, the Chuts were treated with suspicion by other Jews because the former had developed specific customs and practices. Many of these families had lived in the Netherlands since the first synagogues were established there in the early 17th century and where, uniquely, Ashkenazim and Sephardim then lived in close proximity for over two hundred years, resulting in a religious-cultural blend not found elsewhere. For example, the Chuts followed the Sephardim tradition by not banning kitniyot at Pesach. Furthermore, the Dutch Jews were well accustomed to the wealth of seafoods available in their cities - foods that were not strictly kosher. This tradition lead to the Chuts becoming famous for the fried fish that began the British fish and chips trade, and also of the East End shellfish stands set up on major throughfares around the pubs near closing time.^{[1] [3]}