No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel

<plain_text><page sequence="1">No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel* ALEX JACOB The Jewish Chronicle of 14 July 1899 reported the death of Solomon Abraham Green (1830-99) of 46 Mile End Road, affectionately known in the Jewish East End of London as 'Sholey'. He was a fishmonger1 and for some years also the keeper of the Freemasons' Arms, a beer-house in Goulston Street, Whitechapel;2 in this he was following in the footsteps of an older brother, Judah Green (1819 88) who was licensee of the Blue Anchor Tavern at the corner of Middlesex Street and Aldgate High Street for thirty-six years (1852-88).3 In an obituary notice of Sholey Green, the Revd J. F. Stern (1865-1934), minister (1887-1927) of the East London Synagogue, wrote in the formal, con? descending manner of the period: 'The late Mr. Green, though an ordinary East End tradesman, was quite a public character, and was widely known throughout the East End for his zeal in any public cause or private case in which he was interested .... If his father was unable to provide him with what is termed a liberal education, he certainly set before him an example by which he could see that the untutored and unlettered man need not be excluded from the charitable workers of the community if only he is possessed of the heart and will to be of service.' Although written of one individual, these words are equally true of others of his family and his generation who, despite modest circumstances, devoted time, energy and thought to improving the lot of their fellows. Sholey's grandfather, Ephraim Gruen (d. 1821),4 was an immigrant who reached London from Amsterdam in about 1792, accompanied by his wife and two sons, the one aged seven or eight and the other under two.5 According to a tradition in the family they travelled on a Dutch herring-boat. On arrival Ephraim adopted the surname by which his descendants are still known. Nearly a century and a half after their resettlement in England the vast majority of the Jews of London were still living in the Whitechapel area, and it was there, in 1793, that Sholey's father, Abraham Green (1793-1852), was born. With few exceptions the family continued to live in East London throughout the 19th cen? tury. At the time of the 1851 census there were, within 350 yards of the Great Synagogue, at least nine households comprising forty-seven of Ephraim's des? cendants and their spouses. * Paper presented to the Society on 19 May 1994. 163</page><page sequence="2">Alex Jacob Ephraim's eldest son, Levi Ephraim Green (i784-1858), became a tailor and later described himself also as a piece-goods broker and dealer in trimmings.6 In July 1805, at the age of 21, he married Amelia (1779-1854), daughter of Aaron Hyams, whose family is said to have been associated with the Great Synagogue for several generations, and they had four sons and four daughters. Levi played a prominent part in the grandiloquendy-styled 'Institution for the Relief of the Distressed Sick of the Jewish Persuasion' (Meshanat Lecholim) which was founded in 1824.7 It was supported by voluntary subscriptions of id a week or 4s 4d a year and grants were made by the Visiting Committee after consideration of a doctor's certificate.8 For many years Levi was its Treasurer and one of the three Trustees, the others being Zadok Aaron Jessel (1793-1864), father of the future Master of the Rolls, and David Salomons (1797-1873) later to become the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London. In 1835 Levi was one of the signatories to a manifesto calling for a Jewish hospital. Five years later Salomons persuaded his colleagues to agree to a scheme by which the London Hospital in Whitechapel Road set aside four of its wards for the exclusive use of Jewish patients, providing the necessary amenities including a separate kitchen. As Treasurer, Levi was present at the meeting in April 1842 which set up a trust fund with a capital of ?1800, the interest on which was to be paid half-yearly to the hospital. In order to supervise arrangements there, a Visitation Committee was formed of which Levi became a member. Levi Green's eight children all attended the Jews' Free School.9 Its buildings in Bell Lane were consecrated and formally opened in 1820 by Chief Rabbi Solomon Herschell (1761-1842),10 who took particular interest in it and in its most promising students, among whom were two of Levi's sons. Long before his Barmitzvah, Michael Levy Green (1811-76), the second son, was receiving instruction from the Chief Rabbi in reading from the Scroll of the Law,11 and in 1839 Dr Herschell appointed him Minister and Secretary at Exeter, which at that time boasted a thriving congregation of some 120 souls.12 The result was far from happy. The congregation objected to some of the letters written by him in his official capacity and he was instructed that in future these were to be written only at meetings of the committee and to be posted in the presence of one of its members. In 1840, wishing to marry and to supplement his income of ?64 a year, he opened a clothier's shop in the city. To this, not surprisingly, the congregation also objected and gave him three months to choose between the shop and the synagogue. His reply, which was duly entered in the congregation's minute-book, read: 'I have no intention of giving up my shop'.13 He remained in Exeter to mind the shop, and in July 1841 married Rosetta Davis, the daughter of a local jewel? ler.14 Within four years he had returned to London where he opened a wholesale clothier's business at 10 Houndsditch, living on the premises with his family. The venture proved highly successful. At a time when most of his circle were living in rented accommodation, he was able after ten years of trading to buy the property.15 164</page><page sequence="3">No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel Finding, as the father of fifteen, that he needed more accommodation, he moved into the house previously occupied by his brother, the Revd A. L. Green, in the more fashionable Bloomsbury area;16 and on his death in 1876 he left an estate in the region of ?17,000 which, according to the Government's Central Statistical Office, is equivalent to over ?700,000 at 1992 values.17 After Michael's departure the Houndsditch premises were occupied for some years by his sister Leah (1816-1912) and her husband - who was also her cousin - Asher Green (1826-91), who represented the clothing firm as a commercial trav? eller. Their only son, Aaron Asher Green (1860-1933), who was born while they were living there, is still remembered as Minister of Hampstead Synagogue from 1892 until 1930. Levi Green's youngest son, Aaron Levy Green (1821-83), was another of Solomon HerschelPs proteges.18 An infant prodigy who had been allowed to con? duct a service in the Great Synagogue at the age of thirteen, he was three months short of his seventeenth birthday when he arrived at Bristol in May 1838 as Minister of the local congregation. Relations with his congregation were more cordial than his brother's were to be, although his suggestion that a sermon should be a regular feature of the Sabbath morning service was not at first approved. Between the two brothers a special affinity existed and Michael urged Aaron to press his case. The result was a compromise. A weekly sermon was preached - at the afternoon service.19 On the matter of salary the Bristol congregation proved more sympathetic (or perhaps they were more affluent) than that of Exeter. When at the age of twenty-two Aaron Green was about to marry, he applied for an increase in salary and was granted a rise from ?1 7s 6d to ?1 10s per week.20 A. L. Green's subsequent career in London has been described elsewhere; both as Minister of the Central Synagogue and as a prolific correspondent to the Jewish Chronicle under the name 'Nemo', he played an important part in influencing public opinion during a formative period in the community's development. Ephraim Green (1809-74), Levi Green's eldest son, served the community in a very different capacity. In about 1835 ne opened a shop at 33 Petticoat Lane, and under the name of L. Green &amp; Co. traded as a cheese factor and grocer.21 Ten years later, in Vallentine's Almanac for 1846, the company thanked 'a discern? ing public for the patronage so liberally awarded them', and gave an assurance that goods for Passover would be supplied at the same prices as during the rest of the year. In 1840 there occurs the first mention of an oven for baking matzoth22 at the premises which were now officially known as 33 Middlesex Street. The bakery soon became Ephraim's main business interest and a well-known institu? tion in the district. In the Jewish World of 5 February 1874 (two months before Ephraim's death) there appeared a two-column report headed 'Green's Motso Factory'. (Is it, one wonders, no more than a coincidence that Ephraim's son, Solomon [1853-1923] was on the staff of the Jewish World?) By that time the factory was producing over a ton of matzoth a week and was employing twenty 165</page><page sequence="4">Alex Jacob bakers who worked from 4 am to 6 pm, with a break of two hours for meals. For this they were paid the relatively high wages of 14s a day (equivalent to ?170 a week at current values);23 but this was only for slightly over half the year, as the factory was closed from Passover until immediately after New Year. The article refers to a machine used in the factory to knead dough, and adds that although in Continental countries other processes were also performed mechanically, the Chief Rabbi refused to sanction them in England for fear of causing unemploy? ment. The correspondent had a poor opinion of the bakers whom he considered improvident, as despite their high wages they made no effort to save during the working months and often asked their employer for loans of as much as ?100 during the close season. The reporter wrote that he 'could assure Dr. Adler that the motso workers are scarcely worthy of his consideration .. . there can be no doubt that were machinery introduced, the bakers would find some means of obtaining a livelihood ... tell me the Jew who would not?' While Ephraim was concerned with the matzo factory, his uncle, Abraham Green, was also supplying food to the community. In 1884, over thirty years after Abraham's death, Charles Dickens jnr (1837-96), the eldest son of the novelist, thought it suf? ficiently noteworthy to record in his Dictionary of London that 'the poorer Jews of London eat Spanish olives and Dutch cucumbers pickled in salt and water as food rather than as a relish'.24 Abraham catered for this taste as a street seller of cucum? bers, no doubt making use of his Dutch connections for his supplies. The great cholera epidemic which ravaged the East End of London in 1830 created an urgent need for additional accommodation for Jewish orphans. A com? mittee of fourteen residents of the district was set up and Abraham proved to be one of its most enthusiastic and energetic members.25 Abraham had a reputation for generosity and impulsiveness,26 and his son relates27 how one day his father 'left home contrary to his usual custom, with an empty dish, and instead of his usual merry talk .. . substituted a tale of woe, deserving pity and help. Upon that day his collection was ?20.' Until sufficient funds had been collected, his efforts continued. On his daily rounds, anyone buying a 'ha'porth' of cucumbers was asked to contribute as much again to the cause, and we learn from another source that 'they lost little by the bargain as they were sure to get the better and larger slice for their money'.25 Efforts such as these, together with support from the Chief Rabbi,28 resulted in the opening of the Jews' Orphan Asylum (to which Queen Adelaide gave her patronage) in St Mark Street, Goodman's Fields, in 1831. The Asylum moved to nearby Tenter Street in 1846, and in 1876 merged with the Orphans' section of the Jewish Hospital (founded in 1807) to form the Norwood Jewish Orphanage.29 Abraham was prominent in other charitable organizations. He was the first President of the Widows' Home in Duke Street (founded in 1843), anu&lt; his other interests included the Widows' Pension Fund (1832), the Lying-in Charity (founded in 1845 t0 supply bread, meat, coals and groceries to poor married 166</page><page sequence="5">No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel Ashkenazi females during their confinement) and the Hand-In-Hand Asylum founded in 1840 to accommodate 'aged and decayed tradesmen of respectable character'.30 Until he moved out of the district, Michael Green regularly con? ducted services at the Asylum's premises in Wellclose Square;31 here too the youthful A. A. Green, with the precocity so characteristic of his family, is said to have read the Haphtarah at the age of eight. Even before his own Barmitzvah, he was teaching other boys their portions.32 In 1838 Abraham's fourteen-year-old son, Lewis Abraham Green (1824-44), left the Jews' Free School with a strong urge to travel. His parents made consider? able sacrifices to pay his fare to Philadelphia where he received a warm welcome from the local Jewish community.33 Funds were found to enable him to continue his studies, and for a time he served as Secretary of Mikueh Israel, the city's oldest congregation.34 Although in North America, like in England, the first Jewish settlers had been Sephardim, by the time congregations were being formally estab? lished - from about 1740 onwards - there was a majority of Ashkenazim in the colonies. Nevertheless the Sephardi ceremonial tradition was adopted throughout the region, even in towns like Philadelphia which had an entirely Ashkenazi mem? bership.35 It is, therefore, not surprising that in 1844, despite his Ashkenazi ori? gins, Lewis should have been appointed headmaster of the Sephardi Free School in Jamaica (Beth Limmud), and three months later Minister of the Montego Bay Congregation - another Sephardi institution. Sadly his career proved very short, for in November of the same year, while still under twenty-one and after only five months on the island, he died of yellow fever.33 Abraham's son Solomon, or Sholey as he was more generally known, inherited both his father's commitment to communal service and his impulsive nature; in the younger man's case this resulted in periodic outbursts against those who disagreed with him. On more than one occasion the Jewish Chronicle wrote that it could print only a small portion of Sholey's remarks because of personal refer? ences which it found 'neither necessary nor amusing'.36 Sholey's outstanding interest was the establishment of a Jewish workhouse. At this period, parish work? houses operated a regime euphemistically styled 'Less Eligibility', which sought to discourage pauperism by harsh and depressing conditions; particularly demor? alizing was the segregation of the sexes, with the resultant break-up of family life.37 Jewish inmates suffered the additional hardships of an unaccustomed envir? onment and well-nigh insuperable obstacles to religious observance. In 1869 David Salomons, as Member of Parliament for Greenwich, succeeded in obtaining Parliamentary authority for Jews to be congregated in particular work? houses thus facilitating the provision of special facilities.38 This met with opposi? tion, however, from those parishes where the institutions were to be located, as they were anxious that paupers from outside their borders should not become a charge on their rates. A deputation to the President of the Poor Law Board, seeking authority for parishes to contribute towards the upkeep of paupers trans 167</page><page sequence="6">Alex Jacob ferred from their districts, received a sympathetic hearing but, it appears, little else.39 Early in 1871 Sholey launched his campaign for the formation of a Jewish workhouse.40 Stressing that it was intended not for the able-bodied but for the sick and disabled, he drew attention to the number of Jews in public workhouses who would be left to die without a fellow-Jew being present. (Later in the year, during a visit to Manchester, he found from the records of the city's workhouses that eight such cases had occurred during the previous two years.)41 On Thursday 4 April 1871 the Jewish Workhouse opened at 123 Wentworth Street, with accom? modation for twenty and, initially housing fourteen inmates of whom twelve were from Whitechapel and the neighbouring districts of Homerton and Bow, and one each from Windsor and Sheerness.42 In the nine preceding weeks Sholey had gained the support of 1400 contributors, and in the following six of a further 500, all, in the words of his obituarist, 'belonging to the poorer classes of the East End'. The first day of Passover fell two days after the opening, and during that week the workhouse attracted 3000 visitors. One of these was Benjamin Artom (1835-79), the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation, who was much impressed, and through whom a donation of ?10 was received from Elias Sassoon (1819-80).43 During four successive weeks, in April and May, lists of contributions to the Workhouse appeared in the Jewish Chronicle.44 Sassoon's was the largest, and only two others exceeded one guinea; indeed, of the 101 contributions listed 78 were under ?1 and the many hundreds not individually listed were under 5s. Other charities at the same period published lists of their supporters, from which one may ascertain that the Jews' Infant School reported 153 donations, and the West Metropolitan Jewish Schools 243, each, in marked contrast to the Workhouse, receiving only 10 amounts under ?1. The lack of support from the wealthier sections of the community was due to the controversy then raging between them and men like Sholey. The view of what is now commonly referred to as the Establishment was that separate residential institutions for Jews had become unnecessary; the Board of Guardians Annual Report for 1870 asserted that 'the general course of legislation in this country has been for some time to eliminate from the regulation of social questions anything giving a preponderance to one religious class ... [so that] to found separate workhouses or separate hospitals ... seems an unnecessary and unjustified step'.45 Sholey was particularly incensed when, in one of his 'Nemo' letters to the Jewish Chronicle^ his cousin the Revd A. L. Green questioned the need for a Jewish workhouse.46 At a public meeting two weeks after the letter appeared Sholey argued the need for the Workhouse and claimed to know (as no doubt he and many of his audience did) the identity of that preacher 'who appears now in a different character, [that] of an anonymous writer styling himself "Nemo".'47 (This was one of the occasions when the Jewish Chronicle refused to report his 168</page><page sequence="7">No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel words in full.) Faced with such opposition the Workhouse survived for only three years. The Jewish Directory for 1874 shows its annual expenditure as ?592 and income (provided by 1400 subscribers) as ?56o.48 In that year it was reconstituted as the Jewish Home, and in new premises at Stepney Green it operated as a residential home for the aged. Twenty years later the Hand-In-Hand Asylum and the Widows' Home (in both of which Sholey's father had been prominent) amalgamated with the Jewish Home to form the Home for Aged Jews. Sholey remained Chairman of the House Committee and continued his close personal concern for the welfare of the residents until his death.49 Another of Sholey's particular interests was the friendly-society movement. For social and economic reasons Jews did not normally join the ordinary societies, but in 1820 a Jewish Court of the Ancient Order of Foresters was formed, and by 1853 there were reckoned to be twenty societies with 2000 members. By the end of the century there were 176 societies in London alone, with 22,000 mem? bers and annual subscriptions totalling ?38,500. One of the main objects of the societies was to make grants to members during their week of confined mourn? ing.50 Sholey is said to have reached high office in the movement and to have been responsible for forming several courts, including one in Amsterdam where his family had originated. Ephraim Green's daughter Sarah (1800-85), who ran a provision store from her home at 23 Stoney Lane,51 was married to another well-known East End personality. Isaac Vallentine (1793-1868) had been born in Belgium - then under Austrian rule - and brought to London as an infant when his father, Rabbi Nathan Isaac Vallentine of Breslau, was appointed to the Hambro Synagogue. Isaac Val? lentine had an eventful youth.52 He was apprenticed to a watchmaker on the Isle of Sheppey who became insane; pressganged into the Royal Navy and released through the efforts of the Jews of Canterbury;53 knocked to the ground and concussed for failing, during a visit to Belgium, to kneel while the Host was being carried in procession through the streets; and involved in the bizarre smuggling of a coffin hidden in a piano-case, containing the body of a Mrs Joseph, an English Jewess who had died during a visit to Brussels, and for whom it was feared that a Jewish burial might not otherwise have been possible. When eventually he decided to make London his permanent home, he opened a printing works in Duke Street and became the founder of the Jewish Chronicle and of the Almanac bearing his name, which first appeared in 1837 and continued annually for over a century. Isaac is said to have served on the governing bodies of eighteen charities and to have been the co-founder of five literary and scientific institutions. In 1868, shortly after his death, the Jewish Chronicle published a lengthy memoir by his nephew, Samuel Vallentine, claiming him as the founder of virtually every Jewish charity then in existence. The correspondence columns in subsequent weeks contained a succession of letters praising his many virtues yet disputing the 169</page><page sequence="8">Alex Jacob nephew's many claims. If not an innovator, he was certainly deeply committed to many communal causes. It is on record that he was the first Hebrew teacher (unpaid) at Sussex Hall, the short-lived (1844-59) adult educational institution for Jewish working men.54 During the last fifteen years of his life (1868-83) the Revd A. L. Green contrib? uted, as 'Nemo', over 150 letters, many running to 5000 words, to the Jewish Chronicle. At times he indulged in academic speculation, on one occasion dis? cussing the relative ages of the sons of Noah,55 and on another references to lightning conductors in the Talmud.56 But for the most part he dealt with contem? porary issues, the activities of the London Jewish charities being a recurrent theme. In 1859, when the Board of Guardians was founded, it was reckoned that half the Jewish population of London was in receipt of charity.57 The individual sums distributed were enough to alleviate acute distress; but apart from the very successful promotion of apprenticeship by the Free School and the Orphanages,58 little was done to tackle the causes of poverty or to improve living conditions. The system, Green complained, 'kept some on the verge of starvation, enervated others and pauperised the many',59 so that London rivalled Amsterdam as a 'man? ufactory of schnorrers'.60 For this state of affairs he blamed the indiscriminate giving of alms with little or no investigation, the multiplicity of small charities competing with each other for funds and duplicating grants to applicants, and the lack of occupational training. It was because he was determined that the Board of Guardians should deal with these problems that he gave it such enthusiastic support. In its early days he was responsible for the formation of two of its important committees; and as the result of a sermon at the Central Synagogue suggesting that 'some of the young Jewish gentlemen living in the West End' should regularly visit the Jewish poor in the East End, the Board appointed a sub-committee which, after consultation with him, recommended the establish? ment of a Visiting Committee.61 Its members' experience formed the basis of the system developed by the Board for assessing the needs of its clients. The reports of the visitors also brought greater awareness of housing conditions in the East End and resulted in very effective steps to improve sanitation. In this sphere the Board was far ahead of the general community.62 The other committee which owed its existence to a suggestion of Green's was the Work Committee (later the Industrial Committee) with its strong emphasis on training and apprenticeship.63 Although twenty years after the Board's formation he was still expressing impa? tience at the slow pace of amalgamation,64 many mergers had already taken place and many more were to follow by the end of the century. Had it not been for the rationalization of the community's welfare system, it is difficult to see how it could have coped with the mass immigration of the 1880s and onwards. It was no doubt inevitable that a more sophisticated system would come; but it is impossible not to regret the passing of a simpler age when men of modest circumstances, often immigrants or the sons of immigrants, were guided in the main by compassion and sympathy. 170</page><page sequence="9">No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel S3 \C 00 C 00 3 7 C 00 ^ CO ^ ?' ? 6 as OO ? co 5? on</page><page sequence="10">Alex Jacob Acknowledgements I am very greatly indebted to Mr George Rigal for copies of entries in the records of Sun Insurance deposited by the company in the Library of the London Guildhall. I am also most grateful to Mr Peter Lobbenberg for information from the papers of his wife's grandfather, Mark L. Green (i 889-1980) son of Solomon Green (1853-1923). NOTES 1 Death Certificate. 2 Post Office Directory; Census 1871. 3 Records of Sun Insurance, Guildhall Library; Census 1871; Death Certificate. 4 Herbert Green jnr of Park Avenue, New York, a great-grandson of the Revd A. L. Green told me the family's original name. 5 This supersedes the account in A. M. Jacob, 'A. L. Green, 1821-1883', Trans JHSE XXV (1977) 88 of the family's arrival in England. The 1851 Census shows Levi Green aged 67 and Aaron 60, both born in Holland, and Abraham, 57, born in Whitechapel. Abraham died 1 Sept, 1852; the Death Certificate gives his age as 59. As the 1851 Census was taken on 30 March Abraham must have been born in 1793 on a date after 30 March. 6 Records of Sun Insurance, Guildhall Library. 7 For this and the next paragraph see A. M. Jacob (see n. 5) 88, n. 11. 8 Revd J. Mills, The British Jews (1854) 281. 9 Jewish Chronicle, 2 March 1883, speech by Revd A. L. Green. 10 Mills (see n. 8) 300. 11 Hyman A. Simons, Forty Years a Chief Rabbi (1980) 39. 12 Bernard S?sser, The Jews of South-West England (Exeter 1993) 42. 13 Jacob (see n. 5) 89, n. 16; S?sser (see n. 12) 151, 156. 14 Marriage Certificate. 15 Records of Sun Insurance, Guildhall Library. 16 Post Office Directory. 17 In reply to a telephone enquiry, the Central Statistical Office advised me that the value of ?1 in 1875 was ?44.54 on 15 Sept. 1992. 18 Simons (see n. 11) where he is incorrectly named as Aaron Lazarus (sic) Green. 19 Jacob (see n. 5) 91. 20 Ibid. 92. 21 Although the trading name was L. Green &amp; Co., it is clear from the records of Sun Insurance that the venture was Ephraim Green's. 22 Records of Sun Insurance, Guildhall Library. 23 Assuming a 5^-day week (Sunday Thursday and Friday morning) 14s (70p) per day = ?3.85 per week equivalent (n. 15 above) to ?171.50. 24 Charles Dickens jnr, Dickens's Dictionary of London (1884) 140. 25 Letter signed 'A Jew', Jewish Chronicle, 23 Oct. 1868. The letter makes clear that it was not Abraham who was involved in the incident with the Orphans (Jacob [see n. 5] 88, n. 11). 26 'Tatler' (pseudonym of A. A. Green), 'From The Communal Armchair', Jewish Chronicle, 25 Dec. 1908. 27 Letter Solomon A. Green, Jewish Chronicle, 30 Oct. 1868. 28 Simons (see n. 11) 32. 29 V. D. Lipman, Social History of the Jews in England, 1850-1950 (1954) 49, n. 3. 30 Mills (see n. 8) 283. 31 Jewish Chronicle, 25 March 1910; Lecture, A. A. Green, 'Dead Communities of the West Country'. 32 Henrietta Adler (ed.) Sermons by the Rev. A. A. Green (1935) n. 33 Jewish Chronicle, 5 Feb. 1845. 34 H. S. Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia (Philadelphia 1894) 86. 3 5 A. Newman (ed.) Migration and Settlement (JHSE 1971) 119. 36 Jewish Chronicle, 3 Feb. 1871, 10 March 1871. 37 V. D. Lipman, A Century of Social Service; the Jewish Board of Guardians, 1859-1959 (i959) 11. 38 I. Finestein, 'Anglo-Jewish Opinion .. .', Trans JHSE XX (1964) 132, n. 1. 39 Jewish Chronicle, 5 May 1871. 172</page><page sequence="11">No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel 40 Ibid. 3 Feb. 1871. 41 Ibid. 26 May 1871. 42 Ibid. 14 April 1871. 43 Ibid. 21 April 1871. 44 Ibid. 21, 28 April; 5, 12 May 1871. 45 Quoted by I. Finestein (see n. 38). 46 Jewish Chronicle, 24 Feb. 1871. 47 Ibid. 10 March 1871. 48 Lipman (see n. 37) 52, n. 2 49 Jewish Chronicle, 14 July 1899, Obituary S. A. Green. 50 Lipman (see n. 29) 54, 119-20. 51 Jewish Chronicle, 20 May 1904. 'Jubilee of Mr. P. Vallentine' (as Beadle of the Great Portland Street Synagogue). Signed article by A. A. Green. 52 The account that follows is based on 'Memoirs of the late Mr. Isaac Vallentine', by his nephew, Samuel Vallentine, Jewish Chronicle, 18 Sept. 1868. 53 It has been suggested (C. Roth, 'Jews in the Defence of Britain', Trans JHSE XV [1946] 9; and V. D. Lipman, Encyclopedia Judaica [Jerusalem 1971] XI, 1552) that Vallentine went to sea with the Royal Navy. The nephew's statement about his having been ransomed from service, being contemporary, must surely be preferred. 54 Revd Arthur Barnett, 'Sussex Hall . . .', Trans JHSE XIX (i960) 69, 79. 55 Jewish Chronicle, 5 Jan. 1872. 56 Ibid. 24 Dec. 1869, quoting Tosephta, Shabbat, Chap. 2. 57 Lipman (see n. 37) 20. 58 Lipman (see n. 29) 30-1. 59 Jewish Chronicle, 6 Aug. 1869. 60 Ibid. 2 Dec. 1870. 61 Lipman (see n. 37) 70. 62 Ibid. 63, 66. 63 Ibid. 70. 64 Jewish Chronicle, 3 Jan. 1879. 173</page></plain_text>