Albert Augustus Isaacs

Rev. Albert Augustus Isaacs (1828 – 15 November 1903) was a British clergyman, historian and anthropologist, specialising in the history of the Jews and Arabs in the Middle East. Of major note is his biography of the Reverend Henry Aaron Stern (1820–1885), published in 1886, who for more than forty years was a missionary amongst the Jews. The book contains an account of his labors and travels in Mesopotamia, Persia, Arabia, Turkey, Abyssinia, and England.

He was born in Berry Hill, Jamaica, to Isaac and Henrietta Isaacs. He was baptised into the Church of England in Manchester, Jamaica. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, earning his BA in 1851 and MA in 1854, followed by admission ad eundem to Christ Church, Oxford, where he taught. He was worked as a priest in Peterborough, 1850-66, and was the vicar of Christ Church, Leicester, 1866-91.

In the 1850s, Isaacs made an extensive journey to Palestine and published a book about The Dead Sea and his notes and observations made during a journey in 1857. In 1863 he published a book entitled, A Pictorial Tour in the Holy Land in which he illustrates the book with an abundance of photographs taken during another recent visit. In this book he documents nomadic Arab tribes such as the Qedarites and their way of living.

Later in 1900 he published a sketchy biography related to the missionary labors of Emma Herdman.

He died in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1903.

Bibliography

• Isaacs, Albert Augustus (1862), A pictorial tour in the Holy Land, W. Macintosh