Glass making is a traditional Jewish craft. Lazarus Jacobs, who came to England from Frankfurt-am-Maim in around 1760, began his career as an itinerant glasscutter. He sold his wares, along with secondhand goods, at Temple Fair. In 1774 he set up his glass manufacturing business at 108 Temple Street with his son Isaac. Isaac designed Bristol Blue glass, and the company was greatly successful, becoming a nationally famous brand in its own time. In 1786, Lazarus helped fund a new synagogue. The Jewish community was slowly being accepted into Bristol society. 

By the early nineteenth century, Jews were moving from ‘the Jew Quarter’ at Temple, to St James’s and Brunswick Square. Isaac was a leading member of the Jewish community while also adopting Gentility, reflecting the increasing balance of both worlds. Between 1809 and 1814, Isaac was made a freeman of the city of Bristol, moved to a large house he had commissioned in Weston-super-Mare, was granted a coat of arms, and became a member of the Bristol Commercial Rooms. He was making between £15,000 and £20,000 a year. But the demand for glass declined, and Isaac borrowed money to try and prop up his business. When a loan he made to a friend for £2,000 was not repaid, Isaac coud not repay his own debts. In 1820 he was declared bankrupt, and accused of fraud. The charges were dropped, but too late: he had sunk to being a peddler, returning to the trade of his father. He died in 1835, and was buried in the cemetery he had bought for the Jewish community at St Phillip’s twenty years earlier.