David Moses ben Meir Dyte (–1830) was an English Jewish quill merchant who distinguished himself by preventing the assassination attempt on George III by James Hadfield on 15 May 1800.[1]
Dyte was attending Colley Cibber's play She Would and She Would Not at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane when Hadfield fired a horsepistol at the King. Dyte, seated directly behind the shooter, struck the assailant and deflected the shot.[2] [3] It is said that Dyte asked as his sole reward the right to sell opera tickets, then a monopoly at the royal disposal. In 1802 he was appointed 'Purveyor of Pens and Quills to the Royal Household'.[4] The incident was immortalised in the play Jew Dyte by Harold Rubinstein.
Dyte was the father of Henry Dyte, who served as Honorary Secretary to the Blind Society; and the grandfather of D. H. Dyte, Surgeon to the Jewish Board of Guardians, and Charles Dyte, a parliamentarian in the colony of Victoria.[5]