Henry Poper
German clergyman of the Church of England and a missionary among the Jews
Henry Poper (1813–1870) was a German-born Jewish convert to Christianity, a clergyman of the Church of England, and a missionary to Jews.
Early life
Heinrich "Henry" Poper was born on 11 April 1813 of Jewish parentage at Breitenbach, in Electoral Hesse, Germany. At Hildesheim, the native place of his mother, he received his early education at the famous school which flourished under the superintendence of the Jewish rabbi Wolfsohn. He also received private instruction to prepare himself for the office of a teacher. About the age of eighteen (May 1831), Poper received an appointment as Jewish teacher and reader in the synagogue, having also occasionally to lecture in the synagogue.
Conversion
During the period of eight years he filled this office in two places in the Kingdom of Hanover. Through reading the New Testament and discussions with Christians, he decided to convert to Christianity. On 15 July 1839, he received Christian baptism. When, the following year, the London Society for Propagating Christianity Among the Jews opened the Hebrew College for the purpose of training missionaries to Jews, Poper was enrolled as one of the first students.
Ministry
In June 1842, Poper was appointed by the committee as a missionary to Frankfort-on-the-Main, and was subsequently ordained to the ministry of the Church of England.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Henry Poper” is german clergyman of the Church of England and a missionary among the Jews. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Henry, Poper and German, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “german clergyman of the Church of England and a missionary among the Jews” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q113499397. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1813, 1870, 1831 and 1839.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Henry Poper”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Henry Poper primary sources, Henry Poper archive and Henry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Henry Poper”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Henry Poper” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.