David, Meyer Michel

Hanoverian court banker and agent of the board of finance; born in Hanover in the middle of the eighteenth century. He was a son of Michel David of Hanover, the friend of Moses Mendelssohn. Michel David made a gift to his native city of the synagogue which he and Solomon Getschlick had purchased. Meyer, his son, left (c. 1798) one hundred thousand thalers to found a school in Hanover in which sons of the Jewish poor might obtain free instruction in the sciences, in Hebrew, and in certain modern languages, and might receive besides a monthly allowance. This school, called the "Meyer Michel Davidsche Freischule," was reorganized in 1835; J. M. Frensdorff was inspector until 1861, and S. Kayserling from Frensdorff's death until 1898. It has produced rabbis, teachers, bankers, mechanics, and merchants, and still continues its beneficent work.

E. C.M. K.