They were not allowed to return until 1656, when Oliver Cromwell authorized their entry over the objections of British merchants.

Legal protection for the Jews increased gradually; even the "Act for the More Effectual Suppressing of Blasphemy and Profaneness" (1698) recognized the practice of Judaism as legal, but there were probably only a few hundred Jews in the entire country.

The British Jewish community grew gradually, and efforts to emancipate the Jews were included in various "Reform Acts" in the first half of the 19th century, although many failed to become law.

Gradually Jews were admitted to the bar and other professions.

Full citizenship and rights, including the right to sit in Parliament, were granted in 1858--only seven years before Trollope began writing _Nina Balatka_.