1.        Gibraltar becomes British 1704

In May 1704, the combined Anglo-Dutch fleet
sailed from Lisbon for the Mediterranean. Britain,
Holland, Portugal, and Austria were at war against
France and Spain in support of the candidature of the
Archduke Charles (the son of the Emperor of Austria)
to the Spanish throne, in opposition to Philip V,
grandson of Louis XIV of France. The fleet was com-
manded by Sir George Rooke, with the Dutch
Admiral van der Dussen second in command, and was
under instructions to co-operate with the Duke of
Savoy, engage the French fleet if possible, and alarm
the Spanish coast. The fleet appeared off Barcelona but
did not have the friendly reception anticipated and
was unable to capture the town, so it continued its
cruise along the coast of Spain with a view to attacking
Cadiz again, but on 28July at a Council of War held in
the bay of Tetuan it was decided that in view of the
difficulty expected in capturing Cadiz (as had been
demonstrated during the attempt made in 1702)
Gibraltar, the subsidiary target, which was strongly
fortified but weakly garrisoned, should be attacked
instead. After being invested by sea and land and
subjected to bombardment by the fleet, the fortress
capitulated; not to the allied admirals, but to a Marshal
of the Austrian Empire, Prince George of Hesse-
Darmstadt, who was the pretender Charles's represen-
tative aboard the fleet, with the title of Viceroy of the
Kingdom of Aragon.1

Under the terms of capitulation most of the inhabi-
tants left the town, and the allies occupied a city in
which there were at most 70 civilians left, and which
was cut off from the interior. Prince George was in
command and he was faced with two problems: one
was to prepare the fortress for the attack which he
knew would soon come from the Spanish and French,
and the other to find ways and means of keeping the
town supplied. He had ten weeks to prepare to deal
with the first problem, and he spent the time in build-
ing additional fortifications and batteries along the
northern side of the Rock to guard the approaches
from the Spanish mainland, but the difficulty in
obtaining supplies was to be a perennial problem and

*        Mr. Benady delivered a paper to the Jewish Historical
Society of England, on the Jews in eighteenth-century
Gibraltar, on 7 June 1978, and he has combined material from
it with some of the contents of a lecture also on Gibraltar
which he gave to the Society in 1958, to form this published
Version

an important factor in the shaping of the history of
Gibraltar from then on.

Knox, the British Commissary of Supplies,
reported on October 23: 'The whole of this garrison is
about 2,600 souls including inhabitants which I vic-
tuall and have no more left than will last above 10
week at short allowance from this time.'2

The fleet landed what supplies it could and Prince
George encouraged ships from all countries to call at
Gibraltar by declaring it a free port. John Methuen,
the British Ambassador in Lisbon, was very conscious
of the importance to British trade of retaining Gibral-
tar and keeping Prince George provided with supplies
and money from Lisbon, but it was obvious that for
fresh provisions and building materials Morocco was
the nearest and best source. Prince George did his best
to maintain a friendly correspondence with the
Emperor Mulay Ismael, who at this juncture was in
Tangier, and the Alcaide Aly Benandola, who com-
manded the Moroccan forces besieging Ceuta. Hints
were dropped that when Charles III ruled Spain, that
fortress would be returned to the Moroccans. The best
intermediaries were priests and Jews. The newly
appointed Proveedor for Charles Ill's forces, Joseph
Cortizos, a Dutch Jew of Marrano (New Christian)
origin, who still had relatives in Spain, including his
uncle, the Viscount de Valdefuentes, was sent to Mor-
occo, to purchase grain and horses. In December a
special British emissary also arrived in Tangier, the
shadowy figure of'the Jew Israel Jones'.3

Right through the ensuing siege, which lasted from
October 1704 until May 1705, Gibraltar was kept
supplied from Britain, Portugal, and Morocco.

In August 1705, the combined fleets sailed from
Gibraltar with the Archduke Charles, Prince George,
and the bulk of the available forces, under the Earl of
Peterborough, to carry the war to the coasts of Cata-
lonia and Valencia. Gibraltar was henceforth
neglected. 'We want all most every thing but sault
provisions; my Lord Peterborough has not left men
enough to do the daily duty of the garrison', lamented
the Governor on August 19.4

A few days after Gibraltar had been captured Prince
George had appointed his lieutenant, Henry Nugent,
Count of Val de Soto, an Irish Catholic who had
served with him in Hungary and Spain, to be Gover-
nor of the fortress, but this was not received very
kindly by Brigadier-General Fox, of the Marines, who
was the senior British officer at Gibraltar. Methuen

87 

commented, 'the consequence of the place to England
seems to require an English garrison . . . I could wish
that with regards the Government of that Place in
Particular had been put in the hands of an Englishman
and which I think ought yet to be in a handsom
manner endeavoured'.5

When Nugent was mortally wounded by a shell in
November,6 Prince George, after consultation with
the Earl of Galway in Portugal, appointed an English
officer, Brigadier-General John Shrimpton, the Major
of the 1st Guards, to be Governor of Gibraltar on
behalf of the Pretender Charles III with the rank of
major-general in the Spanish army. Shrimpton's
appointment was confirmed by Charles and he was
left in command of Gibraltar when the fleet sailed in
August 1705; but he was away from his duties for long
periods and the charge of the place reverted to the
senior British officer, Colonel Roger Elliott, although
there was a Dutch brigadier-general in the garrison.
When Shrimpton died in England in December 1707,
Elliott was promptly gazetted Governor of Gibraltar
by Queen Anne.7

Prince George had been killed in the fighting at
Barcelona the previous year and there was nobody in
Charles's entourage to take an interest in the place.
The fortress was only kept going by supplies and
reinforcements sent by the British Government from
England and Portugal. Gibraltar was now a de facto
British colony, although it did not become so de jure
until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

II.        Jews in Gibraltar before Utrecht, 1705-1712

Colonel Joseph Bennett, who was the chief military
engineer at Gibraltar from 1704 to 1713, in his report
to the Inspectors of the Army in 1712, made this
comment: 'That in a short time after the place was
declared an open port, many people came from all
parts to reside in it, and gave any money for houses,
both in large fines and heavy monthly rents.'

It is not clear whether Bennett was referring to the
declaration of Gibraltar as a free port by Prince
George of Hesse in 1704, or the subsequent reaffirma-
tion by Queen Anne in an Order in Council of Febru-
ary 1706, which confirmed that the port of Gibraltar
was open to ships of all nations and all goods could be
imported, regardless of their place of origin. Cer-
tainly, by 1707 there were in Gibraltar a few English
merchants; a number of Genoese, a people who had
been seasonal workers along this coast for centuries;
and a large number ofjews, mostly from Barbary, but
some from elsewhere.8

The Spanish Lieutenant Francisco Perez de Padilla
reported to the Inspectors of the Army: 'any person

that kept a Shop, Tavern, or sold any Goods openly
they were obliged to pay to Major Bucknall [the
Town Major], if they were Spaniard 1 Pistole per
month; if Genoese a Moeda of Gold per month, and if
Jews 2 Moedas of Gold per month; and when thought
fitt to raise a large sum from the Jews, there was an
order on the church door with the names of about 4 or
5 at a time, ordering them immediately to leave the
Towne; which they not being willing to do, were
obliged to raise two or three Moedas of Gold each
man for leave to stay, which was paid to Major Buck-
nall'.9

Brigadier-General Roger Elliott's10 peremptory
behaviour was objected to by the Emperor of Mor-
occo, Mulay Ismael, who cut off essential supplies to
the garrison. Presumably, the Emperor's interest in
these proceedings was aroused by his treasurer and
man of business, Moses ben Hattar, who had suc-
ceeded his father as Nagid, or leader, of the Jewish
community of Salé in 1701. He never settled in Gibral-
tar himself, but had inportant business interests there,
and conducted much of his master's purchases from
abroad through his agents at Gibraltar.

Finding himself short of supplies, Bennett had to go
to Morocco to negotiate a resumption of trade. He
reported: 'the true reason that Gibraltar was made a
free port was the Emperor of Morocco having
received complaints of the Moorish Jews in Gibraltar,
would not allow timber, lime and bricks, etc., for the
fortifications, until the Queen made it a free port as
well for Moors as for Jews. The Emperor of Morocco
said this in a letter to me when I went to Barbary with
the Queen's letter to procure these materials.'11

The Jewish traders and workmen from Morocco
settled in some numbers and in a few years they
formed half of the civilian population.

The list of rents collected by the Governor from
immigrants in 1712 (a number of Spaniards owned
freeholds, and of course did not pay rents) attributed
him with a revenue of 886 dollars, of which over half
came from Jews who are listed as follows: 'Señor
Nieto 6; Señor Amaro 4; Señor Mattias 10; Señor
Benamore 8; 2 young merchant Jews in the Great
Street (called Cardozo) 12; Moses Nementon 6; 2Jews
near the Great Church 12; Benjamin the Jew 4; The
Jews Taylor at the Corner of the Parade 4; 28 Jews
Shops in the Great Street 118; All other Jews cannot be
known but supposed to pay 300: 484.'

It will be seen that apart from Jews from Morocco
there were some from Leghorn (Nieto), Portugal
(Cardozo), and there were even Marranos from
Spain.12

In his deposition to the Military Inspectors in 1713,

the Franciscan friar, Father Balbuena, complained that 

he had been expelled from Gibraltar: 'more for want
of money than on the cause of religion . . . And to
confirm this opinion is, that coming a Physician from
Spain a Jew very able and utile for the good of the
garrison, was likewise turned out of the Town with
me, under the pretence of his having circumcized and
married in the Town, and they demanded off him
eighty Moidores of gold for to remain in the Town
and he would give but thirty. And he not complying
with their demand he was turned out and went to
Amsterdam.'

Unfortunately he does not give the name of the
'utile physician' but he does mention that in the nego-
tiations with the Governor to try to lift the order of
expulsion against him he had employed 'a Jew called
Ximenes', who acted as intermediary.13 There were a
Francisco and a Diego Ximenes among the Spaniards
who remained in 1704; was one of these the man
referred to, or was Ximenes another early Marrano
settler in Gibraltar? We do not know, as he cannot be
otherwise identified, but the interesting thing is that
relations between Jews and Roman Catholics in
Gibraltar in the eighteenth century were on the whole
good. There were no inter-communal incidents, nor
the acrimonious exchanges between the Roman Cath-
olic clergy and Jews that were a common picture of
life in Minorca during the same period.

Nevertheless, there were those who objected. Col-
onel Bennett wrote: 'The Jews come daily in great
numbers from Barbary, Leghorn and Portugal to
inquire into every particular circumstance of the place,
they have their correspondents abroad; those from
Barbary have raised the price of provisions to a very
great degree; and indulged by their paying high fines
and rents, so that they have some of the best houses in
the town.'14

In the following year the officers of the 5th and 13th
Regiments of Foot complained. 'That the Jews,
Genoese and Greeks [sic], get the best homes because
they can afford to pay a high premium',15 and several
British widows and 'other poor people who were
inhabitants of Gibraltar' complained that as well as
being deprived of the 'best houses' they were not
allowed to go out to the Market till 9 o'clock but 'the
Genoese, Spaniards and Jews had leave to go ... as
soon as the Gates were open by which method such
Jews and Genoese engrossed the whole trade and the
poor English were in a starving circumstance'.16

III.        The treaty of Utrecht and the Expulsion of
the Jews, 1713-1718

The War of the Spanish Succession was drawing to 

a close; all the Spaniards, apart from the Catalans, had
rallied behind Philip V, who in spite of his foreign
habits and psychology had managed to establish him-
self in their minds as a defender of national unity and
dignity. France was exhausted by the physical and
financial pressures of maintaining a war against vir-
tually the whole of Europe, and in October 1710 there
were general elections in Britain in which the Whigs,
who had prosecuted the war with great vigour, lost
their majority to the Tories, who were all for making
peace. The new Ministry's hand was strengthened
when in December the British forces in the Peninsula
were defeated at Brihuega and Lieutenant-General
James Stanhope was taken prisoner. On17April1711,
the Emperor Joseph of Austria died and was succeeded
by his brother the Archduke Charles, the pretender to
the Spanish throne; and after Philip V had been per-
suaded to renounce his claims to the crown of France
in November, thus avoiding the possible danger of the
union of France and Spain, the way was open for a
general peace. The British forces were withdrawn
from the Peninsula and a peace congress opened at
Utrecht in January 1712. The British delegates to the
Congress were instructed 'to have the Asiento and to
keep Port Mahon and Gibraltar . . . from these three
points no extremity shall oblige her to depart'; and
with the withdrawl of the Dutch troops from Gibral-
tar in March, the way was open for the formal cession
ofthat fortress to Britain.17

The Treaty of Utrecht, after long and protracted
negotiations, was concluded in April 1713, although it
was not signed until the following August. Article X
provided for the cession 'to the crown of Great Britain
the full and entire propriety of the Town and Castle of
Gibraltar, together wim the port, fortifications, and
forts thereunto belonging,' but not the extensive 'tér-
minos' which covered large areas of the surrounding
countryside that now form the municipalities of Alge-
ciras, San Roque, Los Barrios, and La Linea. There was
reference to the Jews: 'and her Britannic Majesty at the
request of the Catholic King does consent and agree
that no leave shall be given under any pretence what-
soever either to Jews or Moors to reside or have their
dwellings in the said town of Gibraltar', although
Dartmouth, the Secretary of State, had tried to avoid
having this condition inserted in the treaty: 'His Cath-
olic Majesty, has no right to intermeddle in the Affairs
of Religion or any other matter whatsoever relating to
the Government of those places' he had written; but
the Spaniards were adamant, 'about the Jews and
Moors they put to know their care for religion'.18

On 28 November 1713, the British Ambassador in
Madrid, Lord Lexington, wrote to Lieutenant-
Governor Congreve at Gibraltar, informing him that

the Queen wanted Article X of the Treaty to be
'scrupulously observed' and Congreve reported to the
Secretary of State that he had had discussions with
Lieutenant-Colonel Perez, who commanded the
Spanish troops at the frontier about 'how we were to
have Provisions from the Country, and Conserning
the Moors and Jews. . . that they should all be gon
Immeadiately, and upon this subject, I begg leave to
give yr Lrdship this short Account of them, of the
Moors, seldom, or ever any have bin here, and then,
only just come, and goe, and of the Jews there are
about one hundred and fifty, two thirds of which are
Natives of Barbary and the rest some from England,
and Holland, but most from Italy, and as they have
dealings in all parts, yor Lordship will soon judge the
Loss their Correspondents must have, if they are sent
away without settleing their Accounts, and paying
what they owe, for want of a reasonable time, allow'd
them for this purpose'.19

Bolingbroke replied: 'It is. . . the Queen's pleasure
that you do not suffer under any pretence whatsoever,
any Jews or Moors to inhabit at Gibraltar, and that
you take care, that such as are at present settled there,
do within the space of a Month, from the receipt of
these Orders, make up their accounts, remove or
otherwise dispose of their Effects & Transport their
Persons and Familys from thence. They will have no
reason to complain that the Term limitted for their
removal is too short, when it shall be considered that
they have had for several Months already knowledge
of what is stipulated relating to them.'20

On 13 May 1714, Congreve reported that all Jews
had been removed 'except six principalle Jews of
Barbary kept as hostages upon petition of English
merchants to James Wishart',21 but they either
returned or others took their place, for the truth was
that the Jewish merchants in Gibraltar were too im-
portant to the garrison for them to be dispensed with
altogether.

Supplies were a big problem. Provisions were sent
from England, but never enough, for as Commissary
of Stores John Conduit explained in 1714: 'The three
months supply sent from England only lasted 9 weeks
because it was for 1500 men only but 2000 persons are
victualled, the officers receiving provisions for their
wives, children and servants mat are on the spot and
the Spaniards for themselves and their families.'

And if any of the supply ships were wrecked or
delayed, as happened in July 1715, when the ship John
and Ann did not arrive, the garrison had to be put on
short rations, for supplies were not available from
Spain. In 1715 several peasants from the Camp area
were shot for selling provisions to the fortress, so
Morocco was therefore an important standby.22

What was more, the Jews conducted an important
entrepôt trade with that country which added to the
affluence of the small garrison town and the Gover-
nor's revenue. Matters stood still while relations
between Britain and Spain were distant, but these
began to improve.

Colonel Stanhope Cotton took over as Lieutenant-
Governor in 1716 and for the next couple of years the
relations between the two countries were excellent.
Cotton travelled out to Gibraltar via Madrid, where
he spent some weeks. During his time there he dis-
cussed the question of supplies from Spain being
allowed freely across the border and he was enjoined
to enforce the requirements of the Treaty of Utrecht.
But Cotton did not act precipitately.23

In 1717 Francisco Garcia Caballero was appointed
Spanish Consul at Gibraltar and the Bishop of Cadiz,
Don Lorenzo Armengual de la Mota, visited the for-
tress with a large retinue, which included his secretary
and his steward. Although Don Lorenzo declined
Cotton's invitation to stay at the Convent, some of his
retinue did stay there, and he himself dined daily with
the Lieutenant-Governor 'and with many English
gentlemen and officers who treated him most cour-
teously and with their usual tact and urbanity', he later
reported.

The Consul had revealed that, contrary to the pro-
visions of the Treaty of Utrecht, there was a substan-
tial Jewish community in Gibraltar; which he put at
300, with a synagogue in the Calle de Juan de Sierra
(Engineer Lane), perhaps near the site of the present
synagogue of Shahar Hashamayim, and the situation
was highlighted by the Bishop's visit. The Spanish
Ambassador in London lodged a formal complaint.24

The commander of the Straits Squadron, Vice-
Admiral Cornwall, now took a hand. He objected to
Cotton sheltering the Jews and accused him of taking
bribes. In fact, the Jewish merchants had several times
offered sweeteners to the Lieutenant-Governor and
the Town Major, Major Thomas Fowke. Both made
depositions before the Deputy Judge Advocate at
Gibraltar that they had not accepted presents from the
European and African Jews, and in support of this, in
October 1717, got the leading Jewish merchants to
swear on oath that no presents had been received.
These last depositions were made in two sections, one
in English by the European merchants and signed by
Manuel Diaz Arias, Moses Mocatta, Isaac Cardozo
Nunez, Imanuel Seneor, Isaac Netto; and another in
Spanish, by the Moroccan Jews, signed by Saml.
Alevy ben Suffat, Solomon ben Amor, Joseph Bibas,
Abraham ben Amara, Reuben Curióse, Ehuda
Azuelos, Saml. Faxima, Saml. Shananes.25

Cotton also sent to the Secretary of State 'The 

Humble Memorial' he had received from 'Manuel
Diaz Arias, an English Jew Marc't.' which asks for an
extension of time, as his affairs were in such a state that
a hurried departure would lead to his and some Lon-
don merchants' financial undoing. He points out he
had been resident in Gibraltar since 1713 and had
settled here 'Upon the Incouragment that her Latte
Majesty Queen Ann Pleased to Grantt to all Marchtts.
and Traders Thatt would come to Satle in Gibraltar'.
He goes on to ask that 'yr. Honr. will be Pleased To
Take Intto Consideration My Circumstancys, and
Distinguís' me from all The Restt Being an English
Man and freeman of London. That I doe and have
supplyd Mr. Vere, Agent Victualer, Mr. Win. Sherer,
and John Conduit esq. and Mr. Robt. Hill, Paymrs.
with The money they wanted towards The Subsis-
tence of the Garrison. As it apear By ye Certificats
Anexed And Humbly Begg ye Favour of yr. Honour,
to grant me Three Months Longer in This Place while
I have an answer from my English Marchtts. In order
to Dispose of Their Effects and Receive Their Moneys
Due to Them.'26

The petition was accompanied by affidavits from
Sherer and Hill testifying to the truth of Arias's state-
ments, but the British Government was determined to
stand by its Treaty obligations and gave Cotton in-
structions that there were to be no further extensions.
Cotton still procrastinated and Cornwall reported on
31 January 1718: '1 concluded that all the Jews had
been remov'd as I wrote you in my Letter of ye 15 of
November; but to my great surprise I am inform'd,
that there are not only some remain yet within the
Town, but many yt only lye on board a vessell in the
Mold, who are allow'd to Trade notwithstanding His
Majtys express commds to ye contrary.'

With Cornwall checking on his every action, Cot-
ton was forced reluctantly and at some considerable
personal financial loss to comply with his instructions.
Writing hastily to Addison two days after Cornwall's
letter, he reported:

'I flatter myself that my conduct in relation to the
Jews will meet with the same success, having strictly
complyd with what is stipulated in the 10th Article of
the Treaty of Utrecht, By removing both from the
Towne and Bay the Jews of all Nations one only
excepted, whom at the request of some English Mer-
chants his Creditors, is still detained as a prisoner for a
few day's longer he expecting by one of our Men of
War goods sufficient to discharge his debts as this Ship
is hourly expected he shall on her arrival instantly
depart.'

The Jews had been finally expelled and when Cot-
ton left for London via Madrid in February, in his
written instructions to Lieutenant-Colonel Peter

Godbey, who was left in charge of the garrison, he
admonished: 'I must recommend to you, that upon no
account whatsoever you suffer Jews of any Nation to
reside here.'27

Admiral Cornwall improved the shining hour by
committing 'Hostilities... on that [Moroccan]
Coast, his interrupting Brimstone and other Contra-
band Goods belonging to Jews who were concern'd as
Agents for Persons of the greatest Interest at the Court
of the Emperor of Morocco.' These Agents were
presumably Ben Hattar's and the cargoes must have
been intended for the Emperor, who reacted sharply at
this threat to his interests. He declared he was at war
with Britain and put a stop to trade with Gibraltar and
England. Nevertheless, the Moroccan Court main-
tained a friendly correspondence with those British
merchants who were acting as factors in Moroccan
ports.

Moses Mocatta, now back in London, petitioned to
be allowed to resume the large trade with Morocco he
had conducted hitherto:

'To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty, the hum-
ble petition of Moses Mocatta of London, Mercht.
SHOWETH

That having carried on a correspondence with some
Merchants settled at Gibraltar for Conveniency of
the Trade with Barbary, Did for several years send
great quantities of British Cloath and other British
Manufactures and those being bartered with the
Moors for the Commodities of the Growth of
Barbary had Communicated and Enlarged a con-
siderable Trade with the Bay of Tetuan a Port
belonging to the Emperor of Morocco within the
Streights of Gibraltar.

That your Petitioner by his Agents had Con-
tracted last year for Great Parcells of British Cloath
and other British Manufactures with severall Moor-
ish Merchants and also with the Bashaw of Tetuan
for the use of the Emperor of Morocco to a very
great Vallue and have sent the British Goods Most
of which were Transported to Tetuan and the
Remainder are now at Gibraltar, your Petitioners
said Agents, not being permitted to fetch them: nor
bring over from Tetuan to Gibraltar the Barbary
Goods so Bartered, there being a strict Prohibition
of Trade and Communication between these Ports,
No Letters permitted to pass, By which Interrup-
tion Your Petitioner, cannot be informed of the
Circumstances of his Concensus and by such long
Detention is rendered uncapable of giving Satisfac-
tion to his Credit and for large sums Contracted.

Therefore your Petitioner humbly prays Your
Majesties Most Gracious Letter to the Commander

of your Fortress of Gibraltar and of your Ships of
Warr employed in that Prohibition, to permitt
your Petitioner and his Agents the Liberty of Car-
rying from Gibraltar such British goods as have
long been lying there for the above mentioned, and
also to bring over from Tetuan to Gibraltar Your
Petitioners Returns without Molestation.

And Your Petitioner as in Duty bound shall ever
pray &c.'

Mocatta was the 'very rich Jew broker' whom the
Gentleman's Magazine recorded as having died in Lon-
don in 1737. Although he had returned to London he
continued to have interests in Gibraltar, as is shown by
his presenting 'a scheme for the establishing of the
Trade at Gibraltar and Diminishing the Charge to the
Crown' to the Lords Commissioners for Trade in
December 1728.28

The blockade was not one-sided, and the Moroc-
cans also imposed sanctions on trade with Gibraltar
and Britain. In July 1718 sundry British merchants
petitioned the Lords Commissioners of Trade to help
them improve relations with Morocco, though they
could not 'give account how the late Treaty came to
break off, they suspected it was occasioned by the Jews
who had the management of it . . . at present there
were about 164 English Slaves, and that they feared
their factors and others would likewise be condemned
to Slavery, if some Composition were not soon
made'.29

Some of the Jewish merchants from Gibraltar went
to England, as Moses Mocatta did, but most of them
moved to Tetuan, from where they hoped to re-estab-
lish their trade with the fortress and with Britain. Isaac
Netto and his brother Phineas, Emanuel Senior, and
Jacob (Manuel?) Dias Arias were resident in Tetuan in
1720, and are recorded as having made gifts to a local
synagogue.30

IV. The Resettlement, 1719 -1721 

That would have been the end of Jewish settlement
in Gibraltar if relations between Britain and Spain had
remained cordial, but they deteriorated rapidly. Eliza-
beth Farnese, the second wife of Philip V, desired to
carve a kingdom for her son Charles in Italy and she
was supported in this by the Spanish chief Minister,
Alberoni. In July 1717, a Spanish expedition had sailed
from Barcelona to occupy Sardinia and Sicily. The
British Government protested, but, not being able to
obtain the withdrawal of the Spanish forces by diplo-
matic means, dispatched a fleet to the Mediterranean
in the summer of 1718, commanded by Admiral
Byng. The fleet sailed from Gibraltar accompanied by

the Straits Squadron and cruised off the coast of Italy.
When they came across the Spanish fleet off the coast
of Sicily in November they attacked it, although war
had not been declared, and destroyed or captured most
of the ships at the Battle of Cape Passaro.31 This
high-handed action by Byng led, of course, to war.
The Spaniards threatened to invade Britain in the
Jacobite interest and the British attacked and captured
Vigo the following year. The war did not last long, for
the French attacked the Spaniards across the Pyrenees
and peace was concluded in January 1720;32 but the
good relations between the British authorities and the
Spanish were interrupted. Gibraltar was not attacked,
for the Spanish Army was engaged elsewhere, but
communications with Spain were cut, and once again
it was dependent on Morocco for supplies and
required the services of Jewish merchants. Many of
those expelled in 1718 had settled in Morocco, and
some returned. The driving force in the readmission of
the Jews was Moses ben Hattar, the Nagid in Salé
mentioned above, and treasurer to the King of
Morocco, Mulay Ismael. Ben Hattar seems to have
had great interest in Gibraltar, where Samuel Alevy
ben Zephat acted as his agent, and he maintained good
relations with the British authorities. This led to the
negotiation of a new treaty between Britain and Mor-
occo in 1720.

In September ofthat year Captain Charles Stewart,
R.N., was sent out in command of a squadron to cruise
against the Barbary pirates and, at the same time, was
nominated Minister Plenipotentiary to Morocco with
instructions to negotiate a treaty and secure the release
of British captives. On arrival at Gibraltar he found a
large Spanish army encamped in the Bay, which was
being embarked to reinforce the garrison at Ceuta,
and considering this a good opportunity wrote to the
Basha of Tetuan asking him to appoint an ambassador
on behalf of the Emperor to discuss a treaty. The Basha
sent Cardenash, who had been several times in London
as Ambassador, but Stewart learned that present in
Tetuan was Moses ben Hattar, 'A Jewish Merchant,
who had been often employed in the former treaties,
and was a person more artful and interested than any
other in the country, and chiefly to be considered, in
regard, he had it more in his power to make the
negotiations successful, or defeat it as he had done that
of others. Upon which consideration the ambassador
sailed with his squadron to Tetuan Bay, December
22nd, and there with the said Moses Ben Hattar (who
took upon him to be jointly empowered with the
basha) agreed to the articles of peace, which were
signed and exchanged the 17th January, 1720-1721.'33

Cavendish, the previous Ambassador, had offered
the Moroccans 12,000 barrels of gunpowder, 12,000

gunlocks, and 160 pieces of cloth for the release of 175
British captives, and a further 8,500 dollars to Ben
Hattar for having fed and looked after the ship cap-
tains, some £40,000 in all, but since then the number
of captives had increased to 290 and Stewart had to
increase his offer by a quarter. The Treaty was signed
by the Basha on 13January 1721 and by Stewart on the
17th. Not having the £50,000 or so required to pay
the indemnity, Stewart sailed to Lisbon to raise the
money, leaving Ben Hattar and Cardenash at Gibral-
tar.34

John Windhus, who formed part of Stewart's
entourage, described in his book what happened when
Stewart landed at Tetuan the following May in order
to proceed on his embassy to the Emperor at
Mequinez:

'On Wednesday 3rd May we embarked at
Gibraltar, Ben Hattar going on board the ambassa-
dor's ship, he having after the signing of the treaty
come over with him, and continued there, that he
might accompany him at his landing in Barbary.
We arrived in the bay of Tetuan, Saturday the 6th,
and landed about nine of the clock in the morning,
which being sooner than the basha expected, he was
not come to the water-side to receive the ambassa-
dor, but we found a sufficient number of tents
pitched for our conveniency, and among them a
fine large one that the Emperor had sent from
Mequinez, which the ambassador made choice of to
eat in on his journey . . .

'Sunday the 7th, the ambassador went to visit the
basha in his tent, who renewed his kind expressions
towards the English and his desire that the ambassa-
dor should find everything agreeable to him. After
that, as we were walking about to see the camp, we
had an instance of Ben Hattar's unlimited power
over the Jews; for he having employed one Ben
Saphat, as his Agent or Factor in Gibraltar, found,
upon going thither himself that he had wronged
him considerably, reported things falsely, and dealt
unfaithfully in his commission; wherefore as Ben
Saphat was now coming down to meet him, before
he could get within hearing, Ben Hattar ordered
him to be strangled, upon which the Jews and some
blacks belonging to the Emperor, immediately ran
to him, pulled him off his mule, and in an instant
stript off his clothes, and whipt a rope about his
neck, which they began to draw; and in that man-
ner bringing him nearer to us, pale and gasping, he
cried out to the ambassador to intercede for him.
The surprise of the thing kept everybody silent, and
in suspense what would be the event; but after Ben
Hattar had reviled and threatened him, he ordered

that he should be carried to prison, where (as we
afterwards heard) he was daily bastonaded, as well
for the fault he had committed, as to make him
discover all his effects, which Ben Hattar seized on
for his own use.'35

The Ambassador set off for Mequinez accompanied
by Ben Hattar, with whom he seemed to have got on
very well. 'I have, I think bought Ben Hattar to be
entirely in my interest', he wrote to the Secretary of
State. When they arrived at the outskirts of Mequinez
Ben Hattar hurried on ahead and returned with the
news that the Emperor would be pleased to receive
him and when the Ambassador entered the city he was
lodged, not in the Basha of Tetuan's house, as he had
anticipated, but on the Emperor's express instructions
in 'a house of Ben Hattar that he had lately built and
was one of the best in Mequinez'.

While they were there, some Spanish and other
Christian slaves who had the Emperor's ear tried to
stop the liberation of so many English captives, and,
afraid that the negotiations might miscarry, Ben Hat-
tar arranged for Stewart to engage the interest of one
of the Queens. Stewart wrote to this lady as requested
and she replied, 'I will speak to my Master (whom
God Preserve) to the end that he may renew the
agreement entirely, and do Every Thing you desire,
for in His Majesty there is much goodness and genero-
sity.' Ben Hattar's intrigue was successful and on 23
July the Ambassador was called to the Emperor's
presence, the captives were assembled, and 'He bade
them go home along with the Ambassador into their
own country'; the liberated men set out for Tetuan the
following day.36

While they were in Mequinez they heard that a
Portuguese ship had been taken by Salé rovers with
three Englishmen on board and at Ben Hattar's inter-
cession the Englishmen and Portuguese were all
released.37

The 1721 Treaty is not to be found among the State
Papers at the Public Record Office, although its text is
well known, as it is quoted in full in Windhus's Journey
to Mequinez and James's History of the Herculean Straits.
However, I did discover the original signed document
among the Gibraltar papers.38 Like all treaties
between Britain and Morocco in the eighteenth cen-
tury, it is in Spanish, and though it must have been
signed in both English and Arabic translations also,
these have not been preserved. The preamble reads:

'ARTICLES of Peace and Commerce between the
Most High and Most Renowned Prince George, by
the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith Etc., and the High
and Glorious, Mighty and Right Noble Prince

Albumazer Muley Ishmael, Ben Muley Xeriph Ben
Muley Ally, King and Emperor of the Kingdoms of
Fez and Morocco, Taffilet, Suz, and all the Algarbe
and its Territories in Africa etc., concluded, agreed
and adjusted by the Honourable Charles Stewart
Esquire, on the Behalf of His Britannic Majesty, and
by His Excellency Basha Hamet Ben Ally Ben
Abdallah, and His Imperial Majesty's Treasurer,
Mr. Moses Ben Hattar, a Jew, on behalf of the said
King of Fez and Morocco.'

and is followed by 14 Articles. 

Generally, it established peace between both coun-
tries and provided for the appointing of consuls and
the maintaining of peaceful trade. Article 7 gives
English merchants the right to settle and work in
Morocco and ends with the words 'and that the sub-
jects of the Emperor of Fez and Morocco, whether
Moors or Jews, residing in the dominions of the King
of Great Britain, shall entirely enjoy the same privi-
leges that are granted to the English residing in Barb-
ary'.

Article 9 provided for captiulation rights for all
disputes between British subjects in Morocco to be
judged by the British Consul, and similarly, Moroc-
can subjects in British possessions would have their
domestic disputes judged by one of their number. 'A
Moor for the Moors and a Jew for the Jews.'

The position of Gibraltar was clarified in Article 13: 

And as it has pleased Almighty God, that by His
Majesty's arms, the island of Minorca, and city of
Gibraltar, Are now in His Majesty's possession and
are become part of His Britannic Majesty's
dominions; it is therefore agreed, that every person
sailing in ships or vessels, whether Spaniard, English
or otherwise, fishing in boats or vessels, living or
residing there, shall be esteemed as his natural-born
subjects, upon producing proper passes, from the
governors or commanders in chief of those places.'

All this was of great importance, as it gave the Jews
residing in Gibraltar legal standing before British law,
despite Article 13 of the Treaty of Utrecht.39

V. The Community is Established, 1721-1749 

The Governor of Gibraltar, from 1713 till his death
in 1730, was David Colyear, Earl of Portmore. He did
not spend much time on the Rock, but delegated his
authority to a succession of Lieutenant-Governors.
Colonel Congreve was succeeded by Colonel Cotton
in 1716, but Cotton left Gibraltar in 1719, never to
return, and in turn delegated his authority to a succes-

sion of other officers. In March 1721, the command
devolved on Colonel William Hargrave.

It was during these years that the Jewish com
munity of Gibraltar became firmly established. In
1721 Hargrave confirmed the first property grants to
Abraham Acris, Abraham Benider (who had acted as
interpreter to Captain Stewart in his Embassy).40 and
Moses Cansino, and in 1723 he also approved the
purchase of a property by Isaack Netto. On 1 July
1724 he not only granted 'A ruined house which was a
heap of Rubbish . . . on which he hath built a house' to
Memon Toledano, but also granted to Isaack Netto 'A
piece of wast ground, on which he hath built a large
room, which the Jews made a synagogue of.'41

A study of the Louis Bravo's map of Gibraltar of
1627 shows that the only 'wast ground' was on the
west side of the town towards the Rock, and this fits in
well with the original site of the Shahar Hashamayim
Synagogue, which was behind the buildings on the
west side of Engineer Lane, and whose original
entrance was in what was known in the eighteenth
century as Synagogue Lane; it is now known as Ser-
faty's Passage. It is significant that Netto gave it the
same Hebrew name as the Spanish and Portuguese
Jews' Congregation in London, of which his father
was Haham (Chief Rabbi) at the time. The 1877
Report of the Anglo-Jewish Association quotes the
members of the local branch as reporting that 'The
first Synagogue founded in Gibraltar is that situated in
Engineer's Lane, and styled "Shaar Ashamayim". The
ground, it is believed, was ceded to the Community as
a place of worship some years previous to 5528 (1768)
by Pinhas Nieto.'42

Netto's original building was probably seriously
damaged in the great storm of January 1766, when the
weight of water descending from the Rock caused a
landslide. Many houses caved in and more than fifty
people died, and it was rebuilt completely in 1768 on a
more lavish scale.43 The entrance in Engineer Lane
dates from this reconstruction.

In 1725 there was a rapprochement between Spain
and Austria and four treaties were signed at Vienna
between Philip V and his erstwhile opponent Charles
VI, now Emperor of Austria, in which Charles offered
his good offices if required to assist Philip in having
fortress and the port of Gibraltar restored to his
Dominions.'44

The British Government, concerned that the affairs
of the garrison under the absentee Lieutenant-Gover-
nor Colonel Stanhope Cotton were rather neglected,
appointed Colonel Richard Kane to the post in
August. Kane had earned a reputation as an energetic
organiser and constructor of military defences at
Minorca, as Lieutenant-Governor.45 From the mili-

tary point of view his appointment was a good deci-
sion, but he was a particularly bigoted man, who
mistrusted all foreigners and spent much time and
ingenuity in trying to get the better of them.

Kane engaged in a dispute with the Roman Catho-
lic parish priest who had excommunicated one of his
flock, which ended in Father Peñas's expulsion.46 He
also turned his attention to the Jews, who he pointed
out to the British Government were there in contra-
vention of the Treaty of Utrecht. Kane was aware that
the Jews of Gibraltar, being mainly Moroccans,
pleaded the protection of the Treaty with Morocco of
1721 and he suggested that the Treaty did not really
apply because Gibraltar was only mentioned in the
thirteenth Article; he then advanced the novel and
ingenious argument that the terms of the early articles
of the Treaty could not apply to the territories men-
tioned in the later articles, although they were of
course presumed to apply to all of His Majesty's terri-
tories that were not specified in the Treaty at all.47

On 20 August 1725, he took a census of the civilian
inhabitants and found that out of a total of 1,113, 137
were Jews: 26 women and 111 males, who had the
following provenance: England 4, Holland 3, Leg-
horn 17, Barbary 86, Turkey (Algeria?) I.48

It is probable that Kane prepared a full list giving
the names of all the people involved but unfortunately
this has not survived.

In addition to those who had received property
grants, a study of the 1777 Census list produces the
names of 13 other families that were resident in
Gibraltar at the time, with places of origin in some
cases, Aboab (Tetuan), Abudarham (S. Barbary),
Anahory (Tetuan), Anraleck, Bensusan, Budy (Salé),
Conquy (Holland), Dañinos (Leghorn), Diaz Car-
valho (Portugal), Massias (Barbary), Moreno, Nunez
Cardozo (Portugal), Sananes (Tetuan).

Kane reported with horror that 'they have been
allowed a Synagogue', and he further complained
three months later that every vessel that was arriving
in Gibraltar from Tetuan had brought some Jews and
there were now 160 males and females in Gibraltar,
but he was determined to put a stop to it: 'I shall order
the Jews that are here to give Notice to their Corre-
spondence in all Parts not to come hither with a view
to inhabiting here; and shall acquaint all Jews who
have familys that they are to prepare to retier from
hence with their familys, and that none are to be
admitted here but as travellers.'

The British Government, concerned about Spanish
designs on Gibraltar, and aware that if the Spanish
frontier was closed again the garrison would have to
rely on Morocco for supplies, did not wish to offend
the Basha of Tetuan or the Emperor of Morocco and

court a repetition of the 1711 and 1718 fiascos, and
Kane was instructed that, although all this was in
contravention of Utrecht, 'considering the present
circumstances of our Affairs . . . those Jews at Gibral-
tar may for the present be conived at, and will accord-
ingly have you suspend the execution of any orders
that may have been formally sent for removing them
from thence'.

In the meantime, Colonel Jasper Clayton had been
appointed Lieutenant-Governor in September 1726,
and Kane was evidently out of favour. When he heard
that he was being replaced Kane wrote an insulting
letter to the Secretary of State, 'I shall have due regard
to the King's Command for coniving at the Jews
staying here.'49

When Clayton arrived in February 1727 he found a
large Spanish army encamped before the Rock and
called a Council of War of all the senior officers in the
garrison, but Kane was not invited to attend and he
left Gibraltar three weeks later.50

The Spaniards, encouraged by their pact with Aus-
tria, were now determined to recapture Gibraltar and
the thirteenth Siege ensued. It lasted for only four
months, from 11 February to 12 June, but the garrison
was deprived of its supplies, which during the last five
or six years had been coming from Spain. The Basha
of Tetuan wrote to the Lieutenant-Governor offering
supplies and provisions.51 Colonel Clayton appointed
Isaac Netto as sole contractor for importing food from
Morocco; and Netto held this appointment until the
following year, when on the death of his father,
Haham David Nieto, he went to London and became
Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue at
Bevis Marks.52 Following protests in Parliament, the
monopoly was abolished in 1729.53

But not all Jews were affluent merchants. A con-
siderable number of the Moroccans were labourers,
porters, and craftsmen, and when the cannon started
to roar a diarist of the Siege recorded on 16 February:
'A body of the Jews desire leave to retire to Barbary,
because commanded to work for the common Preser-
vation, but answered by the Governor that as they
enjoy'd ease and plenty during Peace, if they will not
assist for their own safety, they shall be turned out to
the Spaniard,'54 and in the event, Daniel Defoe
recorded, in his printed An impartial Account of the Late
Famous Siege of Gibraltar 'The Jews were not a little
serviceable, they wrought in the most indefatigable
manner, and spared no pains when they could be of
any advantage, either in the siege or after it,'55 but
their hard work and self-sacrifice was to be of no avail,
for on 22 October, after the Siege, the diarist recorded,
'Six and twenty poor Jews were turn'd out & sent to
Barbary for certain reasons of State.' That the reasons

of state were their poverty and not because they were
Jews is shown by the next entry, on the 24th: 'Came in
a Recruit of 24Jews, Mony'd men from Leghorn.'56

The negotiations after the end of the siege con-
tinued for almost a year, but in March 1728 peace was
finally established, and Clayton was instructed by
Newcastle, the Secretary of State, that the Treaty of
Utrecht be fully complied with, as there were reports
that there were 300 Jews at Gibraltar 'with a publick
synagogue'.57However, the Spaniards had in the
meantime built a blockade line across the isthmus (La
Linea) and the land blockade was to continue unabated
for 25 years (with two short intermissions in 1730 and
3 750); Gibraltar still needed her Jews, and nothing
more was heard of their expulsion, although when
Sabine was appointed Governor in April 1730 he was
given the routine instructions to make Utrecht 'the
constant Rule' to stand by.58

Many Spaniards had left Gibraltar when the siege
appeared imminent and the interruption of normal
communications with the Spanish hinterland led to a
reduction in the Spanish element of the population of
Gibraltar. In 1725, the Spaniards numbered 400 out of
a total civil population of 1,113 (36%); 28 years later,
in 1753, the civilian population had grown to 1,793,
but the number of Spaniards was reduced to 185
(about 10%). The difference had been made up largely
by Jews, who had increased in number from 137 in
1725 (12% of the civilian population) to 572 in 1753
(32%).59 A study of the 1777 Census list shows that
the great influx of Jews came in the period 1727 to
1739. The census shows that at the time there were no
fewer than 67 Jews, of both sexes, alive who had
settled in the garrison during that period as compared
with 41 who entered in the period 1740 to 1752. The
difference was even greater if we bear in mind that,
because immigrants during the first period were on
average 12 years older than the immigrants during the
second period, their rate of mortality must have been
greater, and it is reasonable to assume that the rate of
immigration by Jews into Gibraltar during the period
1727 to 1739 was three times what it was in subsequent
years. Among the families known to have first arrived
during the years 1728 to 1739 were, from Tetuan:
Almosnino, Azulay, Benady, Benaim, Benamara,
Benaros, Bensadon, Bensur, Benyunes, Cohen,
Gabay, Halfon, Hassan, Israel, and Taurel; from Salé:
Abenatar (or Benatar), Azuelos, Benbunan, Botibol,
Lealtad, Levy, Maimaran, Megueres, and Uziel; there
were also Abecasis from Tangier, Gozal from Alcazar,
and Cohen from South Barbary, which probably
denotes Mogador. Anedgiar, Bensamero, Salama, and
Serfaty were just described as being from Barbary.
The number of immigrants from Europe was small,

Ferrares and Leuche from Leghorn, De Matos from
Portugal, and Lara from London.

The comparatively large number of immigrants
from Sale at this stage was probably due to the period
of political unrest which followed the death of Mulay
Ismael in 1727, and which made the position of the
leading inhabitants ofthat city particularly difficult, as
it became a centre of political intrigue.

The Jewish community in Gibraltar had as before a
nucleus of well-off merchants, who were basically
engaged in obtaining provisions from Morocco, and
among the importers of cattle to Gibraltar in 1750
were Moses Bensusan, Abraham Cohen, Jonas Assiol,
Mr. Carvalho, Mordecai Bellilo, Judah Aboab;60 but
Jews were also engaged in the export of British manu-
factured goods to Morocco, as the petition of Moses
Mocatta illustrated.

There was a considerable number of small traders
and shopkeepers and in 1754 there were two licensed
Jewish bakers, Abraham Nahon and Moses Belilo
(sometimes spelt Berero), and many labourers,
boatmen, tailors, shoemakers, and hawkers and ped-
lars; the last-named particularly multiplied consider-
ably during the Governership of Lieutenant-General
William Hargrave (1740-1749), who when pre-
viously left in command had insisted that all fish and
vegetables brought into the garrison should be taken
to him, after which they had to be given to licensed
hawkers to sell; the reason for this may have been that
he wanted the number of hawkers to increase so that
he would have the benefit of the fees they paid for a
licence.61 The élite of the labour force were the
porters, who were organised into two companies, one
of Genoese and the other of Jews; and the list of
licensed Jew porters in 1751 consisted of: Masahod
Benbunan, Chief; Haym Oziel, Moluf Benbunan,
Moses Massias, Joseph Cohen, Samuel Nahon, Joseph
Ben Hezra, Joseph Azancot, Jacob Cohen, Abraham
(Ben) Sahdon, Mesahod Soto, Joshua Seruya, Solo-
mon Ben Naym, Jacob Bensusan, Joseph Bensusan.62

George Borrow, when he was staying in Gibraltar
in 1838 at the Griffiths Hotel in the Parade, described
the Jewish porters, 'On either side outside the door,
squatting on the ground, or leaning indolently against
the walls, were some half dozen men of very singular
appearance. Their principal garment was a kind of
blue gown, something resembling the blouse worn by
the peasants of the north of France, but not so long; it
was compressed around their waists by a leathern
girdle and descended about halfway down their
thighs. Their legs were bare, so that I had an oppor-
tunity of observing the calves, which appeared
unnaturally large. Upon the head they wore small
skull-caps of black wool. I asked the most athletic of

these men, a dark-visaged fellow of forty, who they
were. He answered "Hamalos". This word I knew to
be Arabic, in which tongue it signifies a porter; and
indeed the next moment, I saw a similar fellow stag-
gering across the square under an immense burden,
almost sufficient to have broken the back of a camel,
On again addressing my swarthy friend, and inquiring
whence he came, he replied that he was born at Moga-
dor in Barbary, but had passed the greatest part of his
life at Gibraltar. He added that he was the "capitaz" or
head man of the "Hamalos" near the door.'63This
was 80 years later, but they had not changed in charac-
ter or dress during the intervening period.

Additional Articles of Peace and Commerce had
been concluded with Morocco in July 1729, in which
the British emissary, John Rüssel, like Stewart before
him, was assisted by Abraham Benider, who acted as
interpreter.64

Article 1 read: 

'That all Moors and Jews subject to the Emperor of
Morocco, shall be allowed a free Traffick to buy or
sell for Thirty days, in the City of Gibraltar or
Island of Minorca, but not to reside in either Place,
to depart with their Effects without let or hindrance
to any part of the said Emperor of Morocco's
Dominions.'65

But the limitations as to residence were tacitly
ignored, as the case of Isaac Sarfaty and Moses
Mageres, 'Both Barbary Jews residing in this town and
garrison, and subjects belonging to Basha Hammat of
Tangier', vs. the Dutchman Dirk Labee, captain of the
ship Vrouw Francisca, illustrates. In February 1739 both
plaintiffs had contracted independently with Labee
that he would bring from Hamburg a quantity of
crockery, glasses, gin, and sugar, for which he would
charge them a commission of 15%, and either party
bound themselves to a penalty of 100 dollars should
they breach the contract. When Labee arrived later in
the year he said that he had not brought the goods
because war being imminent he had not expected to
find any Barbary Jews in Gibraltar, but, by coinci-
dence, he had similar goods on board which he was
prepared to sell at the market price, Sarfaty and
Mageres sued Labee for breach of contract, and the
Judge Advocate, Streynsham Master, found in their
favour. Labee had pleaded that the contract was not
valid because there were no witnesses but the plaintiffs
were able to submit a witnessed document to the
Court. Labee, on the advice of the Dutch Consul, then
appealed to the Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant-
General Columbine, who upheld the decision of Mas-
ter (who was his father-in-law); and Butler, the Dutch
Consul, accused him of condoning the Court's

exceeding its authority. The case was then submitted
to the Privy Council, who confirmed the jurisdiction
of the newly formed Vice-Admiralty Court in Gibral-
tar, and, what was of great consequence to the Jews
there, tacitly admitted their right at law to settle in
Gibraltar, and this gave their position a legal status that
was never to be challenged again.66

Not all were so lucky. An anonymous pamphleteer
recorded in 1747, 'You have heard of the Jew who was
kidnapped by one Governor and sent to Barbary with
this message from his British Excellency, to the Moor-
ish Bashaw [of Tangier], that he had sent him a fat
goose to pluck. The poor Jew was released by Captain
[Thomas] Smith [of H.M.S. Dursley Galley], and pro-
tected by him from the malice and avarice of the
Governor with a spirit that became a British officer,
and the well known character of that worthy man,
who not only possesses all the qualities to form a brave
and gallant officer, but adorns and beautifies them
with all those amiable virtues that flow from an
exalted benevolence'.

The man concerned, Faquannar (Fachima or Fax-
ima), took his complaint against General Sabine to the
Privy Council in December 1738:67 'But, what is
surprising, and a great reproach to our nation, the
poor Jew never obtained any satisfaction, at least that I
have heard of, Tho' he complained to the privy coun-
cil, and the thing was too notorious and flagrant to be
denied.'68

VI. Bland's Regulations, 1750 

Lieutenant-General William Hargrave, who as a
colonel had acted as Commander-in-Chief from 1721
to 1725, was appointed Governor in 1740. He was not
popular with the British merchants living in Gibraltar,
who, with the officers of the garrison, objected very
strongly to his system of appointing monopoly con-
tractors for the supply of cattle, and for insisting that
all fish and vegetables should be retailed by licensed
hawkers; and they complained about the despotic way
that he exercised his authority.69 In 1749 Hargrave
was superseded by a new Governor, Lieutenant-
General Humphrey Bland, a great favourite of the
Duke of Cumberland, then Commander-in-Chief of
the British Army, who greatly admired his Treatise of
Military Discipline, which was the standard training
manual of the army during that period.70

Another complaint against Hargrave had been that
he had illegally taken over houses from their pro-
prietors, as the Secretary of State, the Duke of Bed-
ford, said in his instructions to Bland: 'Fourthly, as
many disputes have arose in Gibraltar about the pro-
perty of the houses, and complaints being frequently

made that the Governor by his sole authority has taken
them from the proprietors, and let them out to others
to his own advantage, it is the King's pleasure that you
have full authority to make a strict inquiry into the
truth of such complaints and to oblige the com-
plainants to produce the rights they had to the said
houses; and when their titles are found just the houses
should be restored to them, and a writing, signed and
sealed under the Governor's hand, should be given to
them to ascertain their property, upon their paying a
moderate Ground rate annually to the King as all the
ground is His Majesty's; all the other houses which
have no particular proprietor, but are let out to the
inhabitants by the Governor, at a monthly or yearly
rent, you may let at an easy rent to encourage His
Majesty's Protestant subjects to settle there, which will
be a strengthening to the place; whereas at present
those houses are cheaply inhabited by Jews, Moors and
Papists, of different nations, which may prove dan-
gerous to the town. All those Ground Rents, and rents
of houses, are to be collected for the King, and not for
the Governors as heretofore, and that an exact account
of them kept in a book and transmitted yearly to the
Treasury for His Majesty's use.'71

Bland arrived in Gibraltar in June and set about
reorganising the place with great vigour. All property
in Gibraltar, apart from a few cases of freehold
emanating from before the British occupation, was
granted by the Governors on long-term leases. Bland
had his instructions about favouring Protestants, but
he was a man with a high sense of justice and he
endeavoured to establish what the correct position was
in each case. He examined all the existing Deeds of
Title and confirmed them regardless of religious per-
suasion; and he endorsed the grant of land for the
Synagogue Shahar Hashamayim in Engineer Lane,
which at the time was in the name of Isaac Aboab, the
leader of the Jewish community.

The original shed building, built by Isaac Netto,
appears to have been seriously damaged in the rain-
storm of 1766, and it was rebuilt in 1768 on a bigger
plan, additional land was bought, and a new entrance
was made through this directly to Engineer Lane. This
building was damaged during the Great Siege and was
subsequently repaired. The present building dates
from the last reconstruction in 1812, probably after a
serious fire.72

The small Yeshiba of Es Hayim by the Zoco (meat
market) was turned into a synagogue in 1759, and
became known appropriately as the Little Synagogue,
Esnoga Chica; but Shahar Hashamayim still remained
the official synagogue and acquired the nickname by
which it is still known of Esnoga Grande or Great
Synagogue.73

Bland established the terms under which all pro-
perty was held, he arranged for the payment of a
monthly ground rent to the King's Revenue, and
pursuant to his instructions he put in a provision that
'they must be sold to none but His Majesty's natural
born Protestant subjects: The laying of this Restriction
is to get by Degrees the Property out of the Hands of
Foreigners and Papists, that the money arising from
the Rent of these Houses may return to our Mother
Country and not to Genoa and other places, as it does
now, by the property being in Foreigners' hands,
through the inadvertancy of former Governors in not
encouraging His Majesty's Natural Born Subjects to
get the Property of the Houses, by laying proper
Restrictions against Papists and Foreigners purchasing
them, as I have now done.'74

Bland's Regulations, carefully written out, and con-
firmed 'by the Royal Sign Manual dated at St. James'
the 12th March 1752, strictly charges all future Gover-
nors ... to follow' what was laid down therein,75but
many Governors tended to ignore the provision re-
stricting the sale of property to Protestants, and the
amount of property in Jewish and Catholic hands
increased over the years, particularly that owned by
Isaac Aboab, who in 1749 was already the largest
property-owner in Gibraltar, and he increased his
holdings very considerably over the next 20 years.
However, in order to get round the problem posed by
Bland's Regulations the legal fiction was invented of
putting the property in the name of a Protestant, after
which it was mortgaged in perpetuity, and the mort-
gagor acquired all rights and obligations of an original
owner. This artifice may have been employed pre-
viously by Jews in order to avoid the ambiguities
created by the Treaty of Utrecht; after Bland's time it
became general in all cases of properties acquired by
Jews, and in some instances by Roman Catholics.

The full list of Jewish property-owners appearing in
Bland's rent book consisted of: Aboab & Azulai; Acris
David; Benider Abraham; Benatar Judah; Cansino
Joshua; Cohen & Taurel; Daninos Jacob; Ferrares
Joseph; Gosal David; Namias Abram; Netto Phineas
& Isaac; Pacifico David; Vouga Abraham; Ward and
Tedesco;76 Saml. Bensusan; Judah Bentash; Isaac
Espinosa; Solomon Conquy; Isaac Aboab.77

Bland had been shocked when he arrived to find a
number of soldiers lying in the streets in a drunken
stupor; and he was determined to put a stop to this
threat to military discipline and the morale of the
army, so he increased the duty on wine to 10 dollars
per butt of 117 gallons in order to be able to regulate
the supply of this commodity. He also increased the
duty on spirits to 2 reals (a quarter of a dollar) a gallon
and 'entirely prohibited the sale of it in publick houses

and shops. But as Punch is the liquor which those
belonging to the Sea generally deal in, I permitted
some of the Taverns to buy Rum for the use of the Sea
Gentry, and the better sort of inhabitants who might
have business to transact with them; Which Tavern
Keepers are forbid to entertain Soldiers, or to sell them
Rum or Drams.'78

For the Jews he made special regulations: 'As the
African Jews inhabiting Gibraltar do not drink any
Wine or Spirits, but what they make themselves from
Raisins and Figgs, I gave by a writing under my hand,
to three Jews, the sole liberty of making their Wine
and Spirits, for the use of the Jews only, they paying a
Duty to the King of ten Dollars per Butt for all the
Wine so made, and a Quarter Dollar per Gallon for all
the Spirits; Which Duty is collected by the Revenue
Officers for His Majesty. They are not allowed to sell
any of that wine or Spirits to any but Jews; tho' it is
such horrid Stuff that I believe none but Jews will
drink it.'79

Anybody who has tried the fig mahya (me-hayim
or aquavit) can only wonder how even an 'African
Jew' can stomach the 'horrid stuff. The licence to run
the Jews' distillery was given to Menaham Boobdy
and on his death it passed to his son-in-law, Jacob
Matana, who died at the beginning of the Great Siege,
after which his wife ran the distillery until the Spanish
bombardment forced her to take ship to England with
her three children.80 Bland took a lot of time and
trouble in improving relations with Spain and met
with such success that when communications with
Morocco were cut off in the spring of 1750, because
the plague was raging there, and the bad weather
stopped the provision boats coming from Spain, the
Spanish Commander at San Roque, General Josef
San-Just, agreed to allow cattle from Spain to be
driven across the frontier.

Bland also studied the relationship with Morocco
very carefully, and when Latton, the British Consul
General, was imprisoned in Tetuan in 1749 Bland cut
off all communication with that town, having first
assured himself of supplies from Tangier, until the
Tetuanis gave in and released the Consul. Bland
explained that he was able to take this action because
of his intimate knowledge of Moroccan affairs, 'which
I acquired by a private correspondence I carried on
with some of the most intelligent Jews of that
Empire'.81 At the time, Isaac Diaz Carvalho was
British Vice-Consul in Tangier and he was succeeded
in this post by Jacob Benider (son of Abraham, who
had been secretary to Stewart and Rüssel). When
Benider moved to Mogador and was appointed Vice-
Consul there, he was succeeded at Tangier by Meshod
Megueres.82

The Jewish hawkers and labourers tended to con-
gregate in the centre of the town around the Parade
(now John Mackintosh Square) when they were not
working, and behaved in a noisy, quarrelsome, and
aggressive fashion, which was a threat to public order
and an embarrassment to the better-off members of
the community. Bland tackled this in his usual fashion,
establishing regulations in great detail:

'WHEREAS I have been receiving reported
Complaints of Quarrels, Disturbances, and Dis-
orderly Behaviour of the Jews inhabiting this Garri-
son, And the Attending to and examining of such
Complaints being very tedious and troublesome,
and interfering with my more material concerns, I
ordered some of the Principal Jews to consider of
some method for preventing such inconvenience
for the future, who have reported to me that in their
opinion the following rules and regulations will
answer the intended purpose Viz:

1        THAT the Jews do not assemble in the Street in a
tumultuous manner or commit any Riot or Dis-
order, And that on their Sabbath they behave
themselves so worthy and conformable to the
Rules and Orders of their Religion and Rabbi:

2        THAT no Jew presume on any account to strike
or lift up his hand against any person what-
soever:

3        THAT they shall not assemble at their Neigh-
bour's Shop door, so as to incommode him in his
Business.

4        THAT they shall not buy up Fish to sell again,
But each one for the use of himself and family
only; Except that they may buy fish to pickle or
salt.

5        THAT they shall not buy fruit or other provi-
sions to retail within 24 hours after their arrival.

6        THAT no Jew profess to receive or entertain any
Stranger, till he is certain of such Strangers hav-
ing the Governor's permission for coming into
town.

7        THAT all Offences against these Regulations be
examined and enquired into by those of the
Principal Jews, to be chosen and appointed, for
that purpose every six months, out of the Body
of the Jews; And whosoever shall be by them
after an impartial Enquiry, found Guilty of a
Breach of any of the foregoing Regulations, shall
be banished from the Garrison, and never per-
mitted to return hither again.

AND the said Rules and Regulations appearing to
me to be just and reasonable, and such as will answer
the intended Purpose, I do approve of and confirm
the same; And do order all Jews to observe and obey

them strictly; But this is not to extend to empower
any Jews to determine or judge of any matter of
Debt, Account or Contract; Except the contending
parties shall voluntarily submit the same to their
Arbitration or Award: All such matters and disputes
remaining cognizable before the Civil Court only.

GIVEN AT GIBRALTAR this 23 Day of July
1750 H.B.'83

The importance of these regulations lies in that they
gave legal approval to the established practice of the
community of regulating its own affairs, even to the
extent of collecting from among their numbers certain
special taxes for the Goverment. This meant that the
Jews were self-governing in domestic matters and
served to instil a strong spirit of solidarity and even
discipline, which was very necessary, in view of the
number of immigrants from central Morocco (known
as 'forasteros' and an unruly lot) who continued to
arrive in later years. Bland's regulations for the Jews
were confirmed by successive Governors; Lord
Home, Cornwallis, Irwin, Boyd, and Eliott.84

VII. Interlude 1755-1777 

Gibraltar now entered a period of quiet prosperity,
for though Minorca fell to the French at the outbreak
of the Seven Years War, Gibraltar remained at peace.
Lord Tyrawly was Governor at this time, and he was
engaged in overhauling the fortifications in expec-
tation of a French attack. One of his measures was to
break up the large batteries and place the guns in small
groups along the whole length of the walls, for which
antiquated thinkng he was subsequently criticised by
the Board of Ordnance, though many officers con-
sidered the emplacements he constructed were judi-
ciously chosen.85 The guns were moved to their new
positions with the help of Jewish and Genoese
labourers and Tyrawly recorded that 'the Jews to shew
their Zeal for the King's Service would take no
money'.86

Many merchants in Gibraltar fitted out privateers,
and between the profit from this and the benefits
derived from the trade in the prizes they brought in a
lot of money circulated, and many of the merchants
became rich. There was also considerable trade with
Morocco, for not only were European manufactured
goods sent there, but Morocco exported beeswax,
which was re-exported either raw or after being made
into candles at Gibraltar; and also much of that
country's exports of raw hides passed through the
colony as well as mules for the West Indies. At certain
times of the year, whalers were based at Gibraltar to
hunt whales in the Strait. In the next century the

supply of tobacco for the illicit trade with Spain
became a major industry, but during the eighteenth
century all the Governors from Bland onwards did
their best to aid the Spaniards in eliminating smug-
gling. Lord Home went so far as to allow Spanish
Customs officials to station themselves on the wharf at
Gibraltar in order to supervise the activities of possible
smugglers. Very few Jews were involved in the
tobacco trade at any time, and then only in a small
way.87

Jews from Gibraltar even traded with Spain. The
records of the Inquisition show that in 1759 a Jew
came to Valencia with merchandise from Gibraltar, a
familiar of the Inquisition never left his side until he
had sold his goods and departed, and his books were
carefully scrutinized in order to ascertain that there
was nothing prejudicial in them. Others followed in
1761 and 1762. Some were able to go across the
frontier on the strength of a passport issued by the
Governor of Gibraltar. A Fortress Order of August
1766 reads: 'Genoese and Jews having permits for
Spain, enjoin'd to send them in, on pain of being
expell'd the Garrison.' Presumably the permits were
recalled for checking, and others were issued later.88

The civilian population almost doubled between
1753 and 1777, increasing from 1,793 to 3,201; but the
increase of the Jews from 572 to 863 was modest
compared with that of the Roman Catholics, from 807
to 1,819. (The British Protestants were fewer in
numbers, and increased more slowly from 414 to 519.)
The Jews were therefore older established than the rest
of the population, as is demonstrated by 72% of the
community being native-born in 1777, as compared
to 49% of the Roman Catholics; this gave them im-
portant economic advantages over the more recent
immigrants, and while in 1756 they formed 33% of
the population and owned 20% of the property, in
1777 they formed 27% of the population and owned
25% of the houses. This was a considerable advance in
their standard of living.89

Ignacio Lopez de Ayala, a well-known Spanish
writer of the period, who was anything but pro-
British, writing in 1778, could not but compliment the
British Authorities on the way Gibraltar was gov-
erned: 'One would expect the same quarrels and acts
of violence in Gibraltar, because of the diversity of
religious interests and customs, as one gets in the other
cities of the Province [of Andalucía]. The strictness of
the military government has, however, prevented
them; because everybody knows the punishment they
will receive if they commit a crime, as the officials
cannot be bribed nor the judges coerced, everyone's
security is based on not encroaching on the rights of
others; and as a result of the well-established and

observed system of law and order, many years pass
without the murders and violent deaths that occur in
other towns, which are smaller and have inhabitants
who are all of the same religion and way of life.'90

The policing of the civilian population was in the
hands of local 'Serjeants'. During the early years of the
British occupation it had been found that British sol-
diers on detached frontier duty were prone to desert,
so a local Genoese Guard was raised for this duty, from
men who had their families and homes on the Rock, as
these were not likely to make an unauthorised exit.
They were commanded by a Serjeant, a Spanish
officer called Pedro de Salas, who had come to Gibral-
tar to support the cause of the Archduke Charles. In
addition to his frontier duties, he also assisted the
Town Major in dealing with the Spanish and Genoese
inhabitants. After the Siege of 1727, when a strict
blockade line was established by the Spaniards, it
became impossible for soldiers to desert easily, and the
Genoese Guard was disbanded, but Pedro de Salas
retained his police duties. The 1777 Census shows that
he had been succeeded by Matias Adan, a native of the
Canaries and a merchant, and there was also a Jews'
Serjeant, Judah Serfaty, who had the duty of policing
the Jews, and in particular to make sure that none
slipped ashore from the boats that went to and from
Morocco. That this was a problem is shown by a
Garrison Order of February 1777 that forbade 'Inhabi-
tants . . . to harbour foreign Jews on pain of being
order'd out of Town'.91

The protection provided by British rule was not
limited to the confines of the colony. In July 1755 one
of the town boats, La Concepción, cleared Tetuan har-
bour bound for Gibraltar, on charter to a Moorish
merchant, with a cargo of cattle, oranges, and fruit for
Gibraltar. On board were the patron, Bartholome
Berro, his clerk, two sailors (all Genoese who had
settled in Gibraltar), and three passengers, Abzeram
Mandil, the supercargo, another Moor, and a Moroc-
can Jew, Meshod Benadi, who had been living in
Gibraltar for 17 years. The following morning they
were stopped by two large French xebecs, of 24 and 18
guns, who reluctantly agreed to let the ship continue,
as it was flying the British flag, and Britain and France
were at peace, but ordered the patron 'to bring some
of his Cattle on Board, and to deliver him the Two
Moors & The Jew Passengers, for he wanted to carry
them to Marseilles to Row on Board the Galleys
there'. The Patron answered. 'He would not nor could
deliver the Moors and Jew, but as to the cattle, if they
wanted any they should pay for the same to the Moors
the Owners'; the wind and sea being very high the
patron was ordered to follow the xebecs and was made
to anchor in a quiet Spanish cove some 18 miles from

Gibraltar; then the patron was ordered to pull down
his colours and replied 'that he would rather Chose to
Sink than to consent in the doing such an Affront to
the King of Great Britain his Master, which answer
enraged the French Captn. to such a degree that he
ordered nine of his men with firearms to come on
Board of this Vessel, to take possession of the same,
and put the Moors & Jew in some large heavy Chains'.

The vessel was taken by the French to Malaga, and
there the British Consul intervened; after two days of
arguing, the boat, crew, and passengers were released,
but the cattle were dead, and the fruit spoilt. The
liberated men made their depositions before the judge
on reaching Gibraltar and claimed damages for the
losses they had suffered. General Fowke forwarded the
details to the British Government, and volunteered
the opinion 'they confide in the protection of our
Colours, and that if that Protection is violated the
English Nation ought to make good the damages to
them, and seek satisfaction from the aggressors'.92

Meshod Benady settled permanently in Gibraltar
and lived to a ripe old age; his daughter Gimol's
Ketuba (marriage contract), on her marriage to Isaac
Ferrares in 1786, is in the British Museum.93

Ayala, who detested Jews and accused them of
being cheats and rascals, says that in Gibraltar they
were mostly shopkeepers or brokers. He goes on:
'They are governed by the Jew of most importance
among them who they call King. He is the one who
deals with the Governor, who gives him his instruc-
tions and gets him to collect the taxes that all pay, for
he (the Governor) is a tyrant and sovereign despot
over the town, and more of a King in Gibraltar than
the King of England.'94

Serfaty considered that the use of the word Rei =
King was probably a corruption of Resh (Aramaic for
chief/head), but it is likely that this was a term used
half jocularly by the English for the leader of the
Jewish community. Mrs. Middleton, for example,
when she visited the Jewish Synagogue on Simchat
Torah in 1806, referred to Aaron Cardozo: 'We went
a large party, and the King of the Jews, who is quite a
gentleman, made them pray for us all by name.'95
There are similar references in the contemporary
British press to the Chief Rabbi as the King of the
Jews.

Ayala is referring to Isaac Aboab, born in Tetuan in
1712 and resident in Gibraltar from 1720. As he was
only eight years old at that time, one can assume that
his father was one of the few merchants rich enough to
be able to afford to bring his family to live in Gibraltar,
where accommodation was scarce and expensive and
the cost of living much higher than in Morocco. The
1749 list of rents shows him to be the largest property-

owner on the Rock, and when the 1777 property
census was drawn up he is shown to have 15 properties
and an interest in another. Next among the property-
owners was an English merchant, William Davies,
with nine properties, and after came Abraham Cohen
and John De La Rosa (a descendant of a Spanish family
that had stayed on in Gibraltar in 1704), who had eight
properties each. Aboab was also an important mer-
chant and when the pink Fortune was arrested by
Spanish coastguards at Almería in 1767, he owned half
of the cargo of greenhides and corn carried on board.
In 1755 he discounted a draft of £980 to William
Petticrew, the British Consul General in Morocco,
who needed the money to redeem some British cap-
tives. Petticrew died shortly after and the draft was
never honoured. In 1768 Aboab was still petitioning
the Governor to have the money repaid, as he had
made the transaction at the request of General Fowke,
who was then Governor. In forwarding this petition
to England, Cornwallis described Aboab as 'a princi-
ple Jew Merchant of this place he has resided here
many years with a fair character and I dare say what he
sets forth is true and as such I recommend it to Your
Lordship's Consideration'.96

Ayala was scandalized that 'The Queen of the Jews'
was received in good society in Gibraltar and he said of
her, 'She was notorious for her great beauty, her lack
of hair which makes her have to wear a wig, and her
husband's bigamy.' Isaac had a wife, Hannah, born in
Gibraltar in 1727, and he said in his will that because
his wife was barren, Jewish law permitted him to take
a second wife. When he was 50 he married a 13-year-
old girl, Simha, from Tetuan, who must be the lady
referred to by Ayala. We must take Ayala's word for
her beauty, as no portraits have survived, but we
should assume that her reasons for wearing a wig were
religious rather than incipient baldness. Isaac does not
seem to have been more successful in producing
children by the beautiful Simha than with his first
wife.97 Isaac and his wives were one of the families
that went to London at the time of the Siege in 1781
and Isaac never returned to Gibraltar. He died in
London and was buried in the Beth Haim Novo in
Mile End Road in 1786. Next to his grave there are
two empty plots which he had reserved for his two
widows but neither was taken up.98 It would appear
that both ladies had had enough of their Lord and
Master by then and presumably made off at a great
rate of knots with the substantial wealth he
bequeathed at his death. Isaac Aboab had acted as
leader of the Jewish community for many years and
when Eliott arrived in Gibraltar in May 1777, his first
official act was to confirm to him Bland's Regulations
for the Jews.

The other leading Jewish merchants were Moses
Espinosa, who was Dutch Vice-Consul, a shipowner
and 'an old-established house of business and in credit
here'; his father Isaac probably came to Gibraltar from

Amsterdam. The Dutch Consul was Francis Butler,
son or nephew of the Butler who was Consul in 1739.
Abraham de Jona Pariente, another young mer-
chant, may have had an interesting personal life. It is
understandable that all non-Christians should be
lumped with the Jews, and we find that in the 1777
Census, 'Bumper, a negroe from Guinea' is included
under the Bs, but why was Jane, a 30-year 'Negroe
servant from America,' with two young daughters,
Nancy and Betty, bracketed to the name of the bache-
lor Pariente Ab. de Jona?

Other merchants of note were the brothers Abra-
ham and David Diaz Carvalho, the Nunez Cardozos,
and Judah Israel, from Tetuan, who had three sons:
Moses, who lived in England, Abraham, who was a
junior partner and local agent of his brother's firm,
Moses Israel & Co., and Solomon. Abraham married
Sarah Montefiore in 1777. He wrote a book of poetry
in Spanish, Un viaje de Gibraltar a Londres en el año
1777, the manuscript of which is in the Biblioteca
Nacional in Madrid.99 Others listed among the princi-
pal Jewish inhabitants were David Leuche from Leg-
horn and 'Mr. Abraham and Saml. Cohen, Mr. Abur-
darham, Taurel and Cansino'.100

The Chief Rabbi of Gibraltar during this time was
Isaac Almosnino, son of a Chief Rabbi of Tetuan, who
had settled in Gibraltar in 1737, at the age of 25; he
went to London in 1781, during the Siege, and died
there in 1785.101 Also living in Gibraltar from 1766
onwards was Rabbi Abraham Coriat, who had been
Dayan in Tetuan (where he was born in 1717) and
Mogador; during the Siege he went to Leghorn,
where he was given a communal appointment, and he
died there in 1806.102

The licences registered by the Governor's secretary
in 1774 showed Solomon Azuelos as a tobacconist.
The number of licensed porters had now grown to 26;
Meshod Benbunan was still overseer: 'I do hereby
appoint the several Jews hereunder to be porters in this
garrison, to carry goods for merchants & others, and
to do all other kinds of porters work, they giving due
attendance, and demanding only the limited prices for
their labour agreeable to the established regulations
and in every respect conforming themselves to the
Rules and Orders of the Garrison.

And at the request of the said porters I do hereby
nominate and appoint Meshod Benbunan to be their
Chief or overseer and Somon Oziel their Clerk. This
to continue in force a twelve month. Given at Gibral-
tar the 1st day of January 1774.

Robert Boyd.'103

Of the 38 licensed town boats and lighters, four
were owned and manned by Jews:

and other registered Jewish Boatmen were: Abaccuc
Barosi, Moses Hassan, and Moses Heluz.104

VIII. The Great Siege. 1779-1783 

Spain was determined to make another attempt to
recover Gibraltar, although the last two, in 1704 and
1727, had been unsuccessful. The fortress was geared
up to what was to be the most determined and pro-
longed attack it had every undergone. The Lieu-
tenant-Governor, Robert Boyd, and Colonel Green,
of the Engineers, had redesigned and rebuilt the
defences over a number of years; the garrison was
strengthened, and the experienced and austere, but
much admired, General George Eliott was made Gov-
ernor in 1776.

On 9 April 1778 a proclamation was issued by the
Governor's Secretary requiring 'Inhabitants of the age
of 12 years and upwards to inrol their names in this
Office within ten days from this date and hold them-
selves in readiness to render assistance to His Majesty's
Arms, and for all Inhabitants to provide themselves
with and keep up a sufficient stock of flour and Biscuit

to serve each Person three months,' and on November
11 they were further warned that such 'inhabitants
upon examination found unprovided with the supply
required by order of April 9 last; will not be allowed to
remain in the garrison'. Additional regiments had
arrived in July, and 60 officers were quartered propor-
tionately among the civilian inhabitants, 15 being
allocated to the Jews, who owned a quarter of all the
registered houses.105

Communications with Spain were cut on 21 June
1779, and many of the inhabitants started to leave for
Britain, Morocco, Minorca, and Italy; some who had
families there even went to Spain. The Spaniards
started fortifying the isthmus, and 300 Jews and
Genoese labourers were employed in clearing some
mounds of sand from in front of the fortifications, so
that the Garrison could secure a clear field of fire. On
12 September, Eliott went to the northern batteries
and, exclaiming 'Britons, strike home', started a can-
nonade of the advanced Spanish positions. The inhabi-
tants, fearing Spanish retaliation, fled from the town
to the open ground to the south, but their fears were
premature; the Spaniards did not reply for the next 18
months; they were busy building up their forces and
batteries for the great attack. Food began to run short.
The occasional small ship would slip in from Mor-
occo, Minorca, or even from Spain, but their cargoes
were not adequate for the requirements of the town
and were sold at a premium. Privateers from the
garrison brought in a number of enemy prizes and also
forced some neutral ships to come in and sell their
cargoes.106

The Hare, one of the open boats owned by Jews,
was fitted out as a privateer and scored a notable
success on 11 September, when it 'brought in a Dutch
Dogger laden with Wheat; a very valuable supply'.
The wheat was sold and the boatmen received
£50.107 Moses Toledano, who owned several boats,
later described how on one trip to Tangier for provi-
sions 'he was pursued by the Spaniards.. . and to save
himself from being seized by them threw himself over
board and swam ashore to Tangier tho' two miles
distance, and his Boat was taken'.108 David Hassan,
who was taken in another boat in 1779, was less lucky;
he spent the whole war as a prisoner in the Spanish
penal colony at Oran.109

Most of the able-bodied young men were
employed by the military, either in constructing and
repairing the fortifications or as porters; a few joined
the Company of Artificers. Abraham Hassan joined
the 38th Foot (South Staffordshire) as a volunteer and
served as a private soldier during the whole of the
Siege. When peace came he was given an honourable
discharge and Eliott granted him a property in South-

port Street for 21 years. In 1796 it was required by the
Army and it was exchanged for another piece of
ground to be held in perpetuity. Eliott explained in the
grant that it had been made because 'he having offered
himself to do the duty of a private soldier in which
character he behaved in a very spirited and exemplary
manner.' Abraham Hassan was also made a King's
Messenger and Marshal of the Superior Court.110

By the end of 1779 the bakers had to ration strictly
the amount they baked, and sentries were placed at
their doors to prevent confusion and riot among those
queuing for bread. 'The strongest, nevertheless, had
the advantage, so that numbers of women and infirm
persons, returned to their miserable habitations, fre-
quently without tasting bread.'111 But relief was at
hand: Rodney arrived with the British Fleet in January
1780, and for a time supplies were easier. When the
fleet left the following month, more of the inhabitants
took this opportunity to leave the garrison.112

For a time the supply of food was adequate but it
began to run short again as the months passed. Hunger
and the threat of enemy bombardment were not the
only dangers that the people of Gibraltar were sub-
jected to. In November of the previous year some
Jewish children had contracted smallpox and had been
isolated in a deserted house in Irish Town. All others
who contracted the disease were also taken there and
the spread of the disease was contained, but in the
spring it appeared again; unaccountably Eliott refused
to allow vaccination and by the end of the summer
over 500 had died.113 The inhabitants began to build
huts for themselves south of the town, out of range of
the Spanish guns, and this became known as Black
Town, or Hardy Town after the Town Adjutant.

As the year 1780 drew to a close, food was again in
short supply. The winter rains allowed those who had
secured a piece of ground, mainly the officers and a
few of the rich inhabitants, to grow vegetables, but the
poor, both civil and military, were not so lucky, and
scurvy made its appearance among them. Eliott wrote
in October: 'We have numbers ill of scurvy and many
die ... We are in the greatest distress for fuel, clothing
for the 72nd and 73rd Regiments, strong liquors, and
potatoes.'114

The supply position became more serious at the end
of the year, as the Spaniards had farmed the Moroccan
ports for £7,500,000 and the garrison was now
deprived of the possibility of supplies from that
source.115 In January 1781 the British Consul-General
Logie and those Gibraltarians who had taken refuge in
Tangier, including some Jews, were expelled and sent
back to Gibraltar.116 In February, 40 more Jews left
for Minorca; things were looking black, but relief was
on its way again.117 On 12 April 1781, the first ships of

Admiral Darby's fleet were seen in the Strait. Drink-
water recorded, 'The ecstasies of the inhabitants at this
grand and exhilarating sight were not to be described.
Their expressions of joy, far exceeded their former
exhilaration. But alas! They little dreamed of the
tremendous blow that impended which was to annihi-
late their property and reduced many of them to
indigence and beggary.'118 At 11 o'clock the van of
the convoy came to anchor off the New Mole and this
was the signal for the enemy to open a tremendous
fire, for the first time, with the large number of guns
they had emplaced during the previous 18 months.
The terrified inhabitants, who, unlike the troops, did
not have bombproofs to retire to, fled to the south-
ward, abandoning their property to enemy shells and
marauding soldiers.

Abraham Israel, whose wife had died at the begin-
ning of the Siege, wrote in Spanish to his brother
Moses in London, 'the 12 instant at 5 o'clock in the
morning a small King's Sloop appeared with the news
that the Convoy and our Grand Fleet were behind, at
8 in the morning all the convoy and fleet was in sight,
which was a glorious sight and having a fine wind at
10 they were all very near Rosia Bay. 20 Spanish Gun
Boats appeared with one Gun each of Eighteen and
Twenty-four pounders and began to fire upon all the
convoy but as our frigates went to them bravely they
all fled, after this the Spaniards opened all their Land
Batteries upon the Town and at least 50 Mortars and
begun to throw such fire as was incredible for a human
person to believe such destruction and confusion.
Consider the state we were in, some dying some
wounded, my first care was to get out and abandon all
that we had in the Houses and warehouses, and carry-
ing out a Handkerchief of Cakes119 not to die with
hunger. Thank God we saved our lives and we are
now here with such Miseries and Heartache to see
ourselves ruined without knowing how to help our-
selves . . . our Houses and Warehouses are thrown
down and this not our only misfortune but Thieves
robbed all they could from our Warehouses that were
Shot . . . I applied immediately at the risk of my life to
see if by Dint of Money I could save anything . . . of
all my Goods, House, furniture, wearing apparel,
provisions, and everything, all the wearing apparel of
our father and mother and so on, of nine chests of
Cloath of my dear Sarah nothing can be found.'

A week later he wrote again: 'Almost all the inhabi-
tants go away, some to England, others to Mahon.
The Perils are great and for as much as I find myself
obliged to embark my Dear Father, Mother and
Brother Solomon with my dear Juda for your
place . . . Look after these poor old people as they go
at their age, upon the Seas, and neither of them can

move, and to add, I always had money enough in
Cash, and now I wanted it I have it not. The Town is
already destroyed and Burnt . . .' On 27 April he
added: 'I did not save you may reckon nothing out of
my house.'120 His house and goods were reported to
have been worth £10,000.121

The soldiers rummaged through the ruins looking
for drink, food, and valuables (in that order); Eliott
was determined to stop the increasing demoralisation
of the garrison, and a number were hanged publicly,
to discourage the others.

On the first day the bombardment eased between 1
and 2 o'clock and many of the inhabitants took this
opportunity to return for what they could salvage, but
later in the afternoon it was restarted with renewed
vigour and became a constant feature of life in Gibral-
tar: it was computed that during the next seven weeks
over 70,000 cannon balls and shells were fired by the
besieging Spaniards at the town and fortifications. The
whole of the town from the Parade to the Casemates
was in ruins; on 17 May the new Synagogue was burnt
down. Those who had taken refuge in the south,
because they thought they would be out of range of
the enemy guns, were soon to be undeceived. At the
end of April, Spanish gunboats and mortar boats
started coming up to the town wall at night and
shelling the south district and Hardy Town. Many
were killed; on the night of 23 May a shell fell on a
Jewish house.122

Mrs. Upton, in her printed diary, described the
scene graphically: 'I will now endeavour to describe
that dreadful night, which made me determined to
leave Gibraltar; but language will convey but a faint
idea of the horrid scene! About one o'clock in the
morning, our disturbers the gun-boats began to fire
upon us. I wrapped a blanket about myself and
children, and ran to the side of a rock; but they
directed their fire in a different manner from what
they had ever done before. They had the temerity to
advance so near, that the people in our ships could hear
them say, Guarda Angloise! which is, Take care, Eng-
lish! Mrs. Tourale, a handsome and agreeable lady was
blown almost to atoms! Nothing was found of her but
one arm. Her brother, who sat by her, and his clerk,
both shared the same fate . . . Many other people were
sent to their eternal homes, but I do not know their
names. After what I had seen and suffered, I was of
opinion it was not courage but madness to stay.'123

Mrs. Taurel's brother was Abraham Israel,
although Drinkwater and the other diarists mistake
the name of his firm with his, and refer to him as
Moses, who was alive and well, living in London at
the time. His clerk was Abraham Benider, whose
father, Jacob, was at this time in London; and among

the other people killed that night was a butcher,
MeshodBelilo.124

Conditions were unbearable and many shared Mrs.
Upton's views and embarked with the fleet when it
returned to England. On 27 May, ordnance-ships and
transports, which carried a number of civilian refu-
gees, sailed under the protection of the frigate Enter-
prise. Two of the ships were captured by Spanish and
American privateers, and 141 captured civilians, in-
cluding 36 Jews, were returned to Gibraltar on 15
June. The rest landed, some in Portsmouth and some
in Ireland, and other ports, but they all made their way
to London, where they were succoured by the Spanish
and Portuguese Jews' Congregation there. Among the
refugees were Rabbi Isaac Almosnino and the two
wives of the leader of the community, Isaac Aboab,
who himself followed later; both Almosnino and
Aboab did not return to Gibraltar and died in Lon-
don.125 The arrival of so many people in London,
many of them in exotic Eastern dress, caused some
sensation; some of the poorer refugees eked out a
living there by peddling spices and 'Turkey' or 'Rus-
sian' rhubarb, a medicinal root.126

However, all the civilians did not leave Gibraltar,
some were determined to support whatever privations
they might suffer in their native town and try to
preserve what little property they had left rather than
venture into unknown lands. Others would have gone
but did not have the money to pay for their passage.

The Siege was to last another 20 months and during
this time conditions were worse than ever before, for
in addition to the blockade and shortage of food, they
were under constant bombardment. During the
period April 1781 to February 1783, the Spanish guns
fired over 250,000 rounds at the Rock. The whole of
the Town area was completely devastated, not a single
building was left intact, and only a few basements
survived. On the night of 26 November 1781, the
Garrison made a sortie and spiked the guns the enemy
had placed in their front lines. This was a tremendous
morale-booster for the defenders, but did not have
much practical value. The Spanish preparations finally
came to a head in September 1782, and on the 13th
their specially prepared floating batteries anchored
close to the Town's walls to batter it into submission;
but they were defeated by the steady sustained fire of
the defenders, whose constant barriage of 'hot pota-
toes', or heated shot, set the Spanish batteries alight.
The following month, the Town was relieved again
by a convoy under Admiral Lord Howe, and more of
the inhabitants took the opportunity to sail to Eng-
land. On 31 October, the frigate Tisiphone sailed,
escorting five or six ordnance ships to England with
160 Jews on board.127

But by now the British Government had acknow-
ledged the independence of the United States; and the
Spaniards, that they were incapable of capturing
Gibraltar against a determined defence with the wea-
pons of the day. On 2 February 1783, a complete
cease-fire was established. The following month the
first boat with bullocks arrived from Morocco;128 the
Sultan professed undying friendship for the English.

The inhabitants began to return to the devastated
town to try to pick up the threads of their old lives. On
8 May, a Venetian ship brought the first Jewish refu-
gees to return from London.129 Others could not raise
the fare back and applied to the British Government
for relief:

Mayr Abicasis, 80 years of age, 50 years an inhabi-
tant of Gibraltar, with a wife and two daughters
actually starving.

Joseph Abitbol. 

Judah Benetas, 73 years of age, 45 years an inhabi-
tant.

Abraham Benady, one of the more distressed in-
habitants, with a family of five helpless children.

Menahem Nahon, with a family of six children, all
natives.

Rahma Botibol, an unfortunate widow. 

Zimol, widow of Juda Sananes, whose husband
died, leaving her with two helpless girls to support and
a boy.

Moses Nahon, an inhabitant of Gibraltar, where he
was married and kept a shop.

Jacob Henriques Cardozo, native and inhabitant,
with a wife and two small children.

Abraham Pariente, jun. (or Jonah) [referred to
above as a bachelor merchant].

Luna, widow ofjoseph Attia, with a helpless family
of four girls, all natives and inhabitants.

Jacob Levy, a native and inhabitant with a wife and
five helpless children.

Isaac Serfaty, an inhabitant, who formerly attended
at the Jews' Brandy Warehouse.

David Nabarro and family. 

Abraham Anijar, a butcher, with a wife and three
young children.

Moses Toledano, with an old mother and three
sisters, all natives. [He had evaded a chase at sea by the
Spaniards, as described above]

Abraham Señor, with a wife and six children, all
natives.

Moses Hassan. 

Aron Levy, an inhabitant. 

Mary, widow of Phineas Toledano.

Isaac Levy Bensusan, native.

Isaac Dasa, a very old inhabitant, with wife and
family.

Joshua Levy, a native, with wife and five children. 

Solomon Beniso, native, with a wife and six
children.

Donah, widow ofjacob Benshannan, an inhabitant
for many years.

Mordecay Molenguy.
Ruben Melul, inhabitant.
David Benady, native.

Meriam, widow of Abraham Hassan, with five
children.

Joseph Wanano, inhabitant upwards of 20 years,
kept a grocer's shop.

Reyna Toledano, native and orphan.

Isaac Taurel, formerly broker to H.M. Forces. 

Jacob Shannan, native. 

Abraham Massias, inhabitant upwards of 40 years,
with a wife and six children.

Isaac Ambram, inhabitant. 

Isaac Lara, former vice-consul at Tangier and
Arçila.

Saml. Cardozo Nuñes, silversmith [a younger
brother of Aaron Cardozo].

The distressed widow of Jacob Matana, three
orphans [she was the lady who had held the licence for
the Jews' distillery referred to above].130

The petitions were obviously organised by Isaac
Aboab, who countersigned all of them except Abra-
ham Pariente's, and he got other Gibraltar merchants
to sign also, including Juda Israel, John Turnbull, and
John Ward, jun.; but none of these petitioners appears
to have received aid from the British Government,
and some of them remained in London.

Another of the petitioners was Jacob Benider, who
had been Vice-Consul in Tangier and Mogador, and
who claimed money that the Government had owed
him for many years, and his request must have been
met, for in 1785 he and his family returned to Gibral-
tar with a 3-year-old child, another Abraham, 'for the
comfort of his Advanced Age', but Jacob died a few
years later.131

IX. The refugees in London 

Dr. Richard Barnett has very kindly made available
to me the notes he has prepared from the minute-
books of the Mahamad (management committee) and
the Elders of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Con-
gregation, of Bevis Marks in London, which throw
light on the position of the Jews from Gibraltar who
took refuge there during the Great Siege.

On 1 June, 1781, a letter was received from Yesiel
Tedesquino reporting his arrival with other families at
Portsmouth; the party included Rabbi Almosnino.
They were all being housed and fed by the Jewish

community of Portsmouth but needed 18 guineas to
clear their debts with the captain of the ship that had
brought them over. Others arrived at other ports in
England and Ireland, Judah Israel and his family
landed at Maryport, in Cumberland; but all the refu-
gees gravitated to London, where they expected suc-
cour from the Bevis Marks Congregation, with
whom Gibraltar had had close links from the time of
Isaac Netto.

The arrival of some 250 Jews from Gibraltar, most
of them destitute, imposed a heavy burden on the
resources of that small congregation, which did not
number more than 600, and had its own poor to look
after. Nevertheless, the members rose to the occasion,
a Gibraltar Committee was formed to help the refu-
gees, and by the end of the Siege over £122 had been
collected for them, in addition to amounts granted
from congregational funds, like the £15 given by the
Society Achnasat Horehim in November 1781, and
£30 granted from the funds of the Beth Holim, the
congregation's hospital.

There are a number of entries in the minute-books
listing sums granted by the Board of Elders to those in
need. In July 1782, the case of 13 persons who had
arrived in what was described as a wretched state, via
Italy and Hamburg, was referred to the Elders by the
Gibraltar Committee, as the members were of the
opinion that they did not come under their terms of
reference, as they had not arrived directly from
Gibraltar. They were probably Gibraltarians who had
taken refuge in Minorca but had been expelled after its
capture by the Spaniards. The Spaniards tried to
return the Gibraltarians found in Minorca to their
home town, but Eliott, in view of the great shortages
in supplies and accommodation faced by the besieged
garrison, had perforce to refuse them admittance. The
Elders granted one guinea each to Moses Naory,
David Nabarro, Is. Lahmi, Jacob Benaim, Miriam,
widow of Ph. Toledano, and four daughters, Joshua
Gabay, his wife, and two sons.

In 1783 a number were assisted with 'despachos',
sums of money to help them to pay their passages out
of England. Jacob Levy and David Nabarro were
given assistance to return to Gibraltar in March, but
others went elsewhere. Jos. Hadida was given one
guinea to assist him to go to America in January, and
some weeks later Simha Abenatar was helped to go to
Hamburg. After the petitions presented to the
Government had met with no success, Menahem
Nahon, one of the petitioners, was given five guineas
for a despacho for Gibraltar for his family and himself;
others also asked for help. Shortage of money kept a
number of Gibraltarians in London; on 21 January
1784, Isaac Benaim was granted one guinea as a despa-

cho for Gibraltar, and on 17 May, Ben. Nunes Lara,
one of the officials of the Bevis Marks Congregation,
presented a list of families that wished to return to
Gibraltar, all of whom appeared before the Mahamad
to promise that they would go if they were given the
opportunity. Among them were some of the peti-
tioners of the previous year: Ruben Melul (6 in
family), Zimol Sananes (4), Moseh Toledano (3), and
Meriam de Abm. Hassan (5). There were also other
names, Haim Levy (3 in family), Moseh Benjamin (4),
Jos. Benaim (l),Jos. Matana (5), Abm. Benamor (1),
Sel. andjac. Masias (2), and Moses Nahon (4).

A problem which achieved a more satisfactory con-
clusion was that of Moses Espinosa, merchant and
Dutch Vice-Consul at Gibraltar, who expected help
from that country. In September 1783 he wrote
thanking the Mahamad for the loan of £20 which
they had made him to enable him to return to Gibral-
tar via Holland, and a few days later, on the 23rd of the
month, he was able to repay the money, as he had
established his claim for compensation with the Dutch
Government.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

I am indebted to Dr. Richard Barnett for much advice and
encouragement, to the Gibraltar Government for permission
to consult their Archives, and to Mr. Bill Cumming, the
Archivist, for advice and assistance in selecting the docu-
ments I have quoted. Unfortunately, the Archives are not at
present normally available for historical research.

I should not have been able to do justice to my subject
without the pioneer work of Mr. A. B. M. Serfaty, and Sir
Joshua Hassan's study of the political and diplomatic corre-
spondence relating to the events of 1713 to 1728.

NOTES 

1        For an account of the capture of Gibraltar and sub-
sequent events, see A. D. Francis, The First Peninsular War
1702-1713 (Benn, London, 1975), and for the negotiations
with Morocco, Francis, The Methnens and Portugal (Cam-
bridge University Press, 1966).

2        Heinrich Kuenzel, Leben una Briefwechsel des Landgrafen
Ceorg von Hessen-Darmstadt (London and Friedberg, 1859).

3        Ibid., p. 440. Charles Rubens. Joseph Cortissos and the
War of the Spanish Succession', Transactions of the Jewish
Historical Society of England (hereafter Trans.JHSE), Vol.
XXIV (1975).

4        Public Record Office (hereafter PRO), C0.91:l.

5        PRO, SP.89:18, fo.153.

6        An Exact Journal of the taking of Gibraltar by the Prince of
Hesse with the Confederate Fleet in the year 1704, By an Officer
then in the Service of the Allies (London, 1710?), Nov. 8.

7        Charles Dalton, George the First's Army 1714-27, Vol. 3,
p.237.

8        British Museum (hereafter BM) Add.MS. 10034. His-
torical Manuscripts Commission (hereafter HMC), House of
Lords, Vol. 9, p.65.

9        BM, Add.MS. 38329, fo.169.

10        Not to be confused with the austere and high-minded
General George Eliott, who commanded during the Great
Siege 1779-1783.

11        BM, Add.MS. 10034. Encyclopedia Judaica (hereafter
Enc.Jnd.) (Keter, Jerusalem, 1971) Vol. 3, p.812b.

12        PRO, C0.91:1.

13        Ibid.

14        BM, Add.MS. 10034.

15        BM, Add.MS. 38853. 85-87.

16        Ibid.

17        George Hills, (Rock of Contention (Hale, 1974), p.218.
The Asiento was the right to transport and sell African slaves
to the Spanish colonies in America.

18        PRO, C0.95:3. Dartmouth to Lexington, 7 Nov.
1712, Lexington to Dartmouth, 20 Oct. For a full account of
the subsequent correspondence between the British Govern-
ment and the Governors of Gibraltar see Sir Joshua Hassan,
The Treaty of Utrecht 1713 and the Jews of Gibraltar (JHSE,
1970).

19        Hassan, op. cit., p.2b.

20        Ibid., p.3a.

21        PRO, CO,9:15. Lieutenant-Governor Congreve to
Bolingbroke, 13 May 1714. Bolingbrokc was Secretary of
State for the Southern Department; Gibraltar came under
this department until it was abolished in 1782. Admiral Sir
James Wishart was Commander-in-Chief in the Mediter-
ranean in 1714.

22        PRO, C0.91:5.

23        Hills, op. cit., p.243.

24        Antonio de Bethencourt Massieu, El Catolicismo en
Gibraltar durante el siglo XVIII (Universidad de Valladolid,
1967), pp.19, 39, 41. Hassan, op. cit., p.3b.

25        Copies of the affidavits in PRO, C0.91:l, 12 Oct.
1717.

26        PRO, C0.91:l, 2 Nov. 1717.

27        Hassan, op. cit., p.4b. PRO, C0.91:l, 8 Feb. 1718.

28        PRO, C0.91:2. HMC, Commissioners for Trade
1722-3 to 1728, p.447.

29        PRO, C0.391:22, f.358.

30        Israel Solomons, 'David Nieto and some of his Con-
temporaries', Trans.JHSE, Vol. XII (1928-31), p.6.

31        John CHarnock Biographia Novalis, or, Impartial
Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Officers of the Navy of
Great Britain from the Year 1660 to the Present Time (London,
1795), p.207.

32        Sir Charles Pétrie, King Charles III of Spain (London,
1971), p.8.

33        Enc.Jnd. Vol. 3, p.812b. John Windhus, 'A Journey to
Mequinez', in Vol. 15 of A General Collection of the best and
most interesting Voyages and Travels in all parts of the World, by
J. Pinkerton (London 1814) p.446.

34        PRO, C0.91:5, Stewart to Craggs, 11 Nov. 1720, 20
Dec. 1720, 20 Jan. 1721.

35        Windhus, op. cit., p.446.

36        Ibid., pp.459, 464, 479. PRO, CO.91:5.

37        PRO, CO.91:5, Stewart to Craggs, 22Jun. 1721.

38        PRO, CO.91:7.

39        PRO, CO.91:7. Lieut.-Col. Thomas James, The His-
tory of the Herculean Straits (London, 1771), Vol. 2, p.393.

40        PRO, CO.91:8, Hargrave to Bedford, 4 Dec. 1748.

41        BM, Add.MS.3617, fos.139-155.

42        Anglo-Jewish Association Annual Report (hereafter
AJA) 1877,p.ll9.

43        The similar rainstorm of 1834 particularly affected the
area round the synagogue (Gibraltar Chronicle, 20 Nov.
1834).

44        Hills, op. cit., p.258.

45        Dalton, op. cit. PRO, CO.91:l, letter from Kane, 18
Aug. 1725. Dictionary of National Biography (hereafter DNB)
(Oxford University Press).

46        BM, Add.MS. 23637.

47        The second article of the Treaty concluded by Admiral
Baker in 1716 with the Bey of Algiers was unequivocal:
'That as the island of Minorca, in the Mediterranean sea, and
the City of Gibraltar in Spain, have been yielded and annexed
to the crown of Great Britain, as well as by the King of Spain,
as also by the several powers of Europe engaged in the late
war, it is now hereby agreed, and fully concluded from this
time forwards for ever, the said island of Minorca and City of
Gibraltar shall be esteemed in every respect by the govern-
ment and people of Algiers, to be part of his Britannic
Majesty's dominions, and the inhabitants thereof to be
looked upon as his Majesty's natural subjects.' The treaty
with Tripoli read similarly. James, Vol. 2, p. 387.

48        Hassan, op. cit., p.6b. PRO, CO.91:l.

49        Hassan, op. cit., p.8b.

50        BM, King's MS. 231.

51        Hassan, op. cit., p.9a.

52        Edgar R. Samuel, 'Anglo-Jewish Notaries and Scri-
veners', Trans. JHSE, Vol. XVII, 1953. p.123. BM, Add. Ms.
23643.

53        In 1729, Lieutenant-Governor Clayton wrote to the
Secretary of State, 'There is a person in the City whose name
is Netto, a Jew, very well known there, he was the person I
engaged to furnish the Garrison with fresh provisions from
Barbary, whether I had any profit from him in any kind, but
for my own table paid the same as every officer in the
Garrison for my consumption. I beg sir if you doubt me you
will enquire or whether, since his leaving this place (as he
now resides in London) he hears I have since.'

54        Journal of the Siege of Gibraltar, by S. H., 16 Feb. 1727,
Gibraltar Museum 328. This MS. diary of the 1727 siege was
given to the museum by Sirjohn Fortescuc. S.H. was ajunior
officer on the staff of Colonel Henry Desney, of the 29th
Regiment of Foot (Cameronians).

55        P.4 (London 1728). This book was published anony-
mously and appears to have been commissioned by Colonel
(later General) John Guise, the Major of the First Guards.

56        S.H., op cit.

57        PRO, CO.91:5, Newcastle to Clayton, 16 Apr. 1728.

58        PRO, CO.91:5, letter to Sabine, 4 Apr. 1730.

59        PRO, CO.91:1. James, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 320.

60        Gibraltar Government Archives, Governors Orders
Book? (hereafter Orders Book), 1750.

61        Reasons for giving up Gibraltar (hereafter Reasons)
(Anon., London, 1749).

62        Orders Book, 1 July 1751.

63        George Borrow, The Bible in Spain, cap.52.

64        PRO, SP.108:24. 1777 Census (Gib. Govt. Archives).

65        PRO, SP.108:24.

66        PRO, C0.91:8.

67        Information supplied by Mr. Edgar R. Samuel from
The London Evening Post. Charnock, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 210.

Three Letters relating to the Navy (Anon., London,
1757).

69        Reasons.

70        DNB.

71        Abraham B. M. Serfaty, The Jews of Gibraltar under
British Rule (Gibraltar, 1933, 2nd edn., 1958), p. 12.

72        ¡bid., p. 14. AJA, 1877, p.119.

73        Serfaty, op. cit., p.14.

74        BM, Lansdowne MS. 1234, fo.94.

75        PRO, C0.91:14, Irwin to Seymour, 16 Dec. 1765.

76        John Ward married Rebecca, one of the three

daughters of Raffaele Tedesco. They had a number of
children. George (b. Gibraltar, 1752) was one of the pro-
moters of the Regent Street Canal, and acquired large hold-
ings in land in the Isle of Wight, where he became known as
'King George'; his son William (1787-1849) was a Director
of the Bank of England, M.P. for the City of London, and the
leading cricketer of his time; in 1820 he scored 278 runs at
Lords' for the M.C.C. against Norfolk, a record for that
ground that stood for over a century; 5 years later he bought
Lords' to save it from speculative builders. (Information
from Mr. Wilfred Ward, DNB, Vol. 20, p.801, and John
Drinkwater's manuscript Commonplace Book in the Gibraltar
Garrison Library. See DNB, Vol. 20, for other descendants of
John and Rebecca: Sir Henry George Ward (p.773), Robert
Plumer Ward (p.788), and William George Ward (p.801).

77        PRO, CO.91:ll, Bland to Bedford, No.1749.

78        BM, Lansdowne MS., fo.95.

79        ¡bid., (0.98.

80        PRO, CO.91:3. Petition of widow of Jacob Matana, 10
July 1783.

81        ¡bid., ((. 110-111. Ignacio Lopez de Ayala, Historia de
Gibraltar (Madrid, 1782), p. 364.

82        PRO, C0.91:l 1,19 May 1750. CO.91.-18. Cecil Roth,
'Jacob Benider', Miscellanies U (JHSE, 1935), p. 88.

83        Orders Book, 23 July 1750.

84        Ibid. Notes in the margin.

85        PRO, CO.91:24. Eliott's letter, 10 April 1778.

86        BM, Add.MS. 23647, diary for 13 Aug. 1756.

87        Ayala, op. cit., p.374 sea. An Accurate Description of
Gibraltar interspersed with a Pathetic Account of the Progress of the
Siege By a Gentleman just arrived from, and many years resident
in, that Garrison (Anon., London 1782), p.22. Governor's
Secretary's Diary (hereafter See's Diary), 1778 (Gib. Govt.
Archives). PRO, CO.91:15, May 1767, cargo of pink For-
tune. PRO. CO.9:13, Home to Pitt, 30 May, 1760.

88        Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain
(New York, 1906-1908), Vol. 3, p. 313. PRO, C0.9L32.

89        James, op. cit., Vol. 2, p.230. 1777 Census (Gib. Govt.
Archives).

90        Avala, op. cit., p.373.

91        BM, Add. MS. 36137, fos.139-155. PRO, CO.91:32.
1777 Census (Gib. Govt. Achives).

92        PRO, CO.91:ll, Depositions before Judge at Gibral-
tar, 18July, 1755.

93        Misc. JHSE, Vol. 2, p.80, Anglo-Judaica in the Cata-
logue of the British Museum, Hebrew Manuscripts.

94        Ayala, op. cit., p. 373.

95        Mrs. Middleton's Letters 1805-1807 (typescript,
Gibraltar Garrison Library), 28 Mar. 1807; see also reports in
British press on Rabbi Solomon Hirschell in 1802.

96        PRO, C0.91:15, Cornwallis to Shellburne, 30 May
1768, Report on detention of pink Fortune, May 1767. 1777
Census (Gib. Govt. Archives).

97        Ayala, op. cit., p. 383. 1777 Census (Gib. Govt.
Archive).

98        Information supplied by Dr. Richard D. Barnett.

99        1777 Census, and L. D. Barnett, Bevis Marks Records,
Part II (London, 1949), p. 103.

100        ¡bid. An Accurate Description.

101        1777 Census. Enc.Jud., Vol. 2. p.669.

102        Ibid. and Vol. 5, p.973.

103        Orders Book.

104        Ibid.

105        See's Diary, 1778.

106        John Drinkwatcr, A History of the Siege of Gibraltar
1779-1783 (London 1905). There are a number of editions of
this work, but I prefer to use this one, as it is indexed, op. cit.,

p.53 seq. S. Ancell, A journal of the Blockade and Siege of
Gibraltar (Dublin, 1802), p.6. sea.

107        Drinkwatcr op. cit., p.68. Captain John Spilsbury, A
Journal of the Siege of Gibraltar (Gibraltar, 1908), Spilsbury,
p.5. An Authentic and Accurate Journal of the Siege of Gibraltar
(London, 1785), p.7.

108        PRO, C0.91:31. Petition of Moses Toledano.

109        PRO, C0.91:28. Report of Patron Caneppa.

110        Serfaty, op. cit., p.16. 1777 Census. CO.91:42,
Memorial of Hannah Hassan mother of Abraham Hassan
deceased, February 10, 1802.

111        Drinkwater, op. cit., p.143.

112        Ancell, op. cit., p.31.

113        Mrs. Green, 'A Lady's Experience in the Great Siege
of Gibraltar' (Royal Engineers Journal, Jan.-July 1912) p.116
(Feb.),p.255 (April), p.309 (May).

114        HMC, Commissioner's 10th Report. Section 6, p.39.

115        Pétrie, op. cit., p.192.

116        Drinkwater, op. cit., pp. 133-138. Mrs. Green, op. cit.,
p.33 (July)'

117        Spilsbury op. cit., p.27.

118        Drinkwater, op. cit., p. 147.

119        Matzot, as this was during the middle days of Pass-
over.

120        PRO, C.12:1538 (16); also Serfaty op. cit., p.40. Abra-
ham's letters to his brother Moses in Spanish were translated
into English for the purpose of a court case between the two
grandfathers, when Moses Montefiore sought an injunction
to stop Judah Israel from taking Abraham's son, young
Judah, back to Gibraltar.

121        Drinkwater, op. cit., p.167.

122        Ibid., p.167.

123        Upton, op. cit., 20 May.

124        Drinkwater op. cit., p.167. Spilsbury, op. cit., p.32. An
Accurate Description, p.8 (where there is another error: the
name of the clerk is given as Benady, but all that family are
accounted for at the end of the Siege, so it must have been
mistaken for Benider, see Roth, op. cit., p.89).

125        Drinkwater op. cit., pp.167, 173. R. D. Barnett 'The
Correspondence of the Mahamad of the Spanish and Portu-
guese, Congregation of London' (Trans JHSE, XX, 1964),
p.15. PRO, C0.91:27, Sotomayor to Eliott, 15 June 1781.
Authentic Journal, p.88.

126        Alfred Rubens, 'Portrait of Anglo-Jewry, 1656-
1836', Trans JHSE, XIX, 1960, p. 18.

127        Drinkwater, op. cit., p.335.

128        Ibid.

129        Ibid.

130        PRO, CO.91:30. CO.9:13.

131        During the time he was in Morocco, Benider had seen
relations between Britain and that country deteriorating. In
1758 the frigate Syren in a moment of ill-timed officiousness
had caused the Emperor of Morocco's new cruiser to run
aground and become a total loss. The Emperor was furious
and asked for heavy compensation, the British Government
demurred, and James Read, the Consul-General, was impri-
soned and ill-treated, and, afraid that he might give in to this
pressure and commit the British Government to large finan-
cial indemnities, he committed suicide. Eventually the matter
was resolved by the embassy of Captain Milbanke, R.N., and
a new Consul, Sampson, was sent out. Benider got involved
in a quarrel with George Adams, a British merchant at
Mogador who would not accept his jurisdiction, as he was
trying to obtain for himself the position of Vice-Consul. The
Emperor asked Sampson, who was at Tetuan, to visit him at
Mequinez. Sampson, fearful of Read's fate, timidly
demurred. The Emperor repeated his demands and Sampson

excused himself and in January 1772, Sumbal, the Emperor's
Secretary, wrote him a letter: 'The King my Master says you
have no sense. You have no Manners. You have no breeding.
Our servant Sumbal, the Jew is appointed to transact all
affairs with Christians. One Adams of Mogador behaved ill
and was guilty of breaking the peace with us, by threatening
that the Englishmen will kill the Moors; and applyed to Us
about matters that belong to English subjects for you to
Judge of, contrary to his duty. We wanted to see you and you
will not come. You were sent here to act between two Kings,
and you should not say anything of breaking peace. Now
you shall not ever see us, and for your sake no Consul of any
Nation in this Country shall ever see us again, and you are no
Consul. You may live in our Country as a Gentleman, and go
all over the Country wherever you like. I am a King and you
are a Consul, But you are no Consul.' The Spaniards were at
this time engaged, through a process of diplomacy and
substantial gifts, in weaning Morocco from the British

alliance, as they wanted to close the ports to Britain during
the coming attack on Gibraltar, and in 1765 they signed a
treaty of alliance. They achieved their aim, as we have seen,
in January 1781, when they farmed the ports of northern
Morocco. Bcnidcr, in view of the worsening relations,
decided he would be well out of it, and got himself sent to
England in 1772 on a special mission by the Emperor. His
wife and two children stayed on in Gibraltar. During the
siege his son, Abraham, who worked as a clerk for Abraham
Israel, was killed in the cannonade, as related above. A few
days later, his wife, Esther, and daughter, Sarah, embarked
for England, but their ship was taken by an American priva-
teer, and they were carried into Spain. They thus lost the last
few remaining possessions they had saved when their house
in George's Lane was destroyed. Eventually they were
reunited in London and they had since kept themselves by
taking in a 'few writings and his Wife Needle Work.' Roth,
op. cit., and correspondence in PRO, CO.91:12, 13, 17, 18.