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The Jews of Bath

Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel

<plain_text><page sequence="1">The Jews of Bath* MALCOLM BROWN AND JUDITH SAMUEL Bath attracted many Jewish visitors from early in the eighteenth century, but the disappearance of all save a handful of communal records puts an exact analysis of the subsequent settlement there beyond the bounds of possibility.1 Apart from municipal archives and directories the major sources of information are two newspapers, the Bath Journal from 1744 onwards and the Bath Chronicle from 1755. Both, from their earliest issues, printed at the head of the local news, week by week, 'persons of distinction that arrived'. Certain customs accompanied the arrival at Bath. 'If a broker or statesman, a gamester or peer,/A naturalized Jew or a bishop comes here', wrote Anstey in his light-hearted verse Guide to the city, 'With horns and with trumpets, with fiddles and drums,/They'll strive to divert him as soon as he comes.'2 Half a guinea or a crown would pay off the waits, and the Master of Ceremonies might then call to collect subscriptons for the varied diary of events. Most Jewish visitors would have followed a routine along the lines indicated by the entries Jacob Franks made in a cash book in 1777, when he took a house for eight weeks in Milsom Street for himself, his wife Priscilla, and his sister Abigail.3 Bathing, drinking or tasting the waters preceded a morning concert or a public breakfast; then came the shops and promenades, the Upper or Lower Rooms, dances and card parties, and another concert or the theatre. A few weeks of this exhausting regimen sufficed for many, although the more socially ambitious would stay longer, and return more frequently. Not everybody found a trip to Bath entirely pleasurable. The serious business of the city, often obscured by its role as a leisure centre, was always health. Circumstantial evidence and obituary notices-those for instance of Isaac Franks, Hyman Hart, David Michaels and several of the Adolphuses4-suggest that at least some visitors must have been chronic invalids in search of a cure. The first identifiable Jewish visitor, Catharine de Costa, was with her children at the Bath recovering her strength in 1731.5 Eight years earlier, Mr Dias, Marcus Moses and Joseph Musaphia appear in the first list of subscribers to the Bath General Hospital.6 The second list (opened in 1737) includes Messrs Salvador, Capadose, Moses Pereira and Mrs Pereira, and Aaron Franks.7 Contributions to the hospital were usually collected in the churches after charity sermons, but Jewish contributors preferred to make their payments, as did Mr Mendez and Mr Lindo in 1748, and Mrs Levy and Mr Franco in 1759, via Mr Nash.8 They would have been well advised to do so, in view of Philip Thicknesse's story of Ralph Sch?mberg helping himself out of the church plate.9 * An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Society in the form of two lectures on 14 February 1985, and an unillustrated edition appeared in Bath History, vol. 1,1986. 135</page><page sequence="2">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel The visitors' lists, compiled by lodging-house keepers who usually omitted first names, offer much material for speculation. It is unprofitable, if tempting, to correlate the dates of arrivals with the incidence of festivals, to show that Bath may have played something of the same role in the eighteenth century as for instance Bournemouth does for some today. No doubt the motives for a visit were as varied as the visitors themselves. Mr and Mrs Lara, Mr Lopez, Mrs Barnet and Miss Capadose all arrived in the last week of December 1782; and in the first week of January 1792 came Mr and Mrs Bemal, Mr and Mrs Mendes, Mr A. Mendes, Mr Hart and Mr Franco. A few of these could have travelled together, but there is no means of telling. Allowing for an imbalance due to the occasional difficulty of identifying Ashkenazi surnames, it is possible to say only that Sephardim seem to preponderate until some point in the 1780s, and that the proportion of Jewish visitors to the overall estimates declines very gradually from about 1765.10 By then, Bath was beginning to lose its primacy, as the novelty value of other resorts became more compelling. But this is to look too far ahead. While Bath maintained its appeal, everyone with aspirations to sociability-that quality so dearly prized in the eighteenth century-visited the town. Nash's achievement, for which so many well-to-do visitors would have been thankful, was to impose a code of conduct that in effect tempered differences sufficiently to make introductions and conversation far less burdensome than in London. The consequences of this were satirized by Smollett in one of the classic passages in the literature of Bath.11 Many features of Matthew Bramble's unflattering picture would have been recognizable to contemporaries, but the fashionable world had long since come to terms with reality. At the higher reaches of status, Sarah, Baroness d'Aguilar, twice, on successive Tuesdays in May 1760, opened the ball.12 In particularly select company Mr Prado (Abraham or Samuel), arrayed in Spanish costume, attended the Millers' dance on Twelfth Night, 1779, at Batheaston.13 Joseph Salvador, whose family are numbered among the earliest and most regular names on the visitors' lists, was one of the original shareholders in the New Assembly Rooms,14 and despite reverses, continued to visit twice yearly. Nor did Bath alone claim Jewish visitors. Bristol Hot Wells and Cheltenham drew some; two Miss Harts spent a season at Scarborough in 173 3,15 a Mrs Isaac was at Wey mouth in 17 73,16 and when the Naphtali Franks spent four months on the Continent in 1754? many of their letters were addressed from Aix or Spa. The watering places provided unrivalled opportunities for improving the acquaintance of those who might have kept their distance elsewhere. Writing to his father-in-law Moses Hart in June 1754, Franks was able to tell him that 'Lord Chesterfield (whom I have the honr. of conversing with dayly) kindly Enquir'd how his good old Friend Mr Hart did, and is sorry to hear you have any Indisposition.'17 Supporting the visitors, and dependent on their favours, were the trades and services, principally the medical. Several of the Sch?mbergs removed to Bath, as did Lacour and for a short time Luzzatto.18 Two corncutters, Mr Joseph and 136</page><page sequence="3">The Jews of Bath Mr Solomon,19 advertised their availability. Mr Joseph 'from Holland' recalled his 'long and successful employment in the cities of York, Lincoln and Worcester' and furnished two testimonials, one from the steward of Lord Monson's household. Dentists practising in Bath included Benjamin and Abraham Levis and their wives,20 Mr H. Hart and Joseph Sigmond, who settled in the West Country in 1783.21 The endpapers of Sigmond's Short Essay on the Teeth, published at Exeter in 1790, show that his Quintessence of Pearl, dentifrice and brushes were retailed through more than a dozen outlets in the market towns of the West, as well as at Bath, Bristol and London. In 1791 and 1792 he rented rooms in Bath for six weeks, attracting sufficient patients to transfer his main surgery there in 1793.22 Mention should also be made in this context, as a medical adjunct, of Abraham Buzaglo's patent warming mach? ines. These were advertised in the local press during the cold spring of 1773, when Buzaglo sent his nephew down to Bath to demonstrate them.23 As with the professions, so with the performing arts. Charles Galindo took a part in Cumberland's play The Jew, soon after advertising as a fencing master.24 Thomas Pinto advertised Venetian eye-salve in the intervals of taking his violin on to the concert platform;25 another violinist, Nicolas Ximenes, appeared with the Linleys on several occasions.26 Emanuel Siprutini, the much-travelled cello virtuoso, embarked on a second career at Bath as a wine merchant.27 The fine arts proper were represented by Abraham and Joseph Daniel28 and by the previously little-known engraver Benazech, who in 1789 advertised his return to Bath 'after an absence of eleven years', at 8 John Street, where he taught drawing and etching and sold proofs of his engravings after contemporary landscape painters.29 Several others also set up at Bath before venturing on, or returning to, the metropolis. Among these should be included Messrs A. Polack and Polack junior, from The Hague.30 A. Polack sold stencils, that could be used to mark linen with names, crests or cyphers, and more decorative plates for painting sprigs or borders on silk. Polack junior (not to be confused with another identically described member of the family) charged two guineas for miniature portraits that could be set in bracelets or rings. Turning to other company, Bath had its own second-hand clothier in 1775, Alexander Solomon.31 For new clothes or materials, Figgins' and Moses' warehouse offered muslins, printed calicoes, dimity and Irish cloth.32 Ostrich feathers, the purveyance of which was for long a Jewish speciality, might be had of Mr Morris, of 4 Lower Church Street.33 J. Isaacs the furrier, of Lilliput Alley, tempted those attracted by reasonable if not reduced prices.34 And Joseph Moses, who was to die in extreme old age at Bath in 1812, might have been found as a street trader there from 1762, selling his home-made and rather curiously named caravan boxes.35 Occasionally a darker tone breaks through the newspaper reports, as when in 1764 Hart Jacob, an itinerant jeweller, was robbed of his stock while lodging at the White Hart in Avon Street. Jacob obviously knew the thief; 'Joseph Manuel, about 17 years of age, with black hair, had on a light-coloured coat, 137</page><page sequence="4">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel patched with many colours, a very old hat and speaks very bad English.'36 Manuel was never apprehended. In another case Benjamin Noah lost a quantity of diamonds: a suspect was brought to trial, but was not convicted.37 More cheerful is the record of a Bath thief who melted down some stolen plate and tried to sell it to a Jewish dealer.38 The thief was asked to return in an hour, by which time the dealer, 'much to his credit' as it was reported, had summoned a constable. The fullest documentation relating to any one Jewish resident in Georgian Bath concerns a teacher of languages, Paul Guedelle, whose lessons, whatever else they were, must have been far from tedious. Guedelle arrived at Bath in 1762 and first appeared before the public in 1766, when a few lines in the press informed readers that he was 'now established... in Orchard Street... where he continues to teach the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew languages, in their greatest purity.39 Two years later his lessons succeeded well enough for him to announce a sale of the 'perfume, soap, writing paper, prints, pictures, pencils, pens, quills...tea boards, china and coffee pots' which had hitherto filled the shop on his premises in Borough Walls, although he would continue 'to make and sell all sorts of Dutch and English sealing-wax, wholesale and retail'.40 By 1770 he had moved to Alfred's Buildings, where his terms were a guinea for twelve lessons per month and a guinea entrance, and 'at the schools, according to the terms of the school, except the Hebrew language, at twelve lessons per month, two guineas per month and a guinea entrance'.41 We can no longer determine whatever competitiveness existed between the language teachers of Bath, but it seems plain that by 1775 Guedelle had a serious rival. In January that year he announced from Lilliput Alley42 a money-back guarantee: 'if any of his scholars do not make greater progress in a month than those taught by any other master in this city in one year, he expects no gratuity... the public are grossly imposed on at the expense of their credulity, nay by the meanest and most insignificant fellows... witness a letter Mr Guedelle received from one De Fitzgerald... Mr Guedelle will think himself very happy in convincing the public of his capacity before he undertakes any pupil, notwithstanding his being well known in this city, where he has the honour of being constantly employed by... Dutchesses, Lords, Bishops, &amp;c. (whom he can show by his register)... and is still mostly employed by like personages.' The challenge provoked an immediate reply in the next issue of the Bath Journal 'The many illiberal attacks made by Guedelle on Mr. Fitzgerald... are convincing how much he has been reduced in the estimation of the public since Mr. Fitzgerald's arrival in this city. He says, that he has had the honour of being employed by Dutchesses, Lords and Bishops-I suppose he means, in making band-boxes at his shop; or he might have taught them his mother and natural languages, Hebrew and Savoyard... [Mr. Fitzgerald] would advise him to take up his old trade again, of crying boxes, sealing-wax, &amp;c. to sell, and not permit in teaching his barbarous French, which nobody can understand but such as 138</page><page sequence="5">The Jews of Bath himself.'43 A truce was observed until 1779, when stung by 'some wicked wretches who have spread a false report that Mr. Guedelle had quitted Bath, he most respectfully informs the nobility and gentry that he has been at Bristol during the summer, teaching... languages with great success, and is now returned to his former establishment... where he continues teaching by his own new method, to be published in about a fortnight.'44 A New Idiomatical Guide to the French and English Languages, the fruit of eighteen years' experience, was indeed published in January 1780.45 The subscription list, a cross-section of Bath society headed by the Prime Minister's father Lord Guilford (then President of the Mineral Water Hospital), shows to what lengths Guedelle went to gather local support. Fitzgerald slated the book in the Bath Chronicle, emphasizing rather unfairly that the least qualification for such a work was a university education, and Guedelle returned to the columns of the press. Brushing criticism aside, he assured readers that the grammar was 'so far warmly and universally approved of that he is almost ready for a second edition'. Fitzgerald rejoined by inviting Guedelle to submit the dispute to arbitration by several of the leading teachers of French at Bath and Bristol. 'Mr. Fitzgerald', wrote Guedelle, 'has invited me...to settle a dispute I know nothing of. I am fully convinced he is an Irishman who ran away from being a common soldier in the French service and was last war at Exeter prison, from whence he made his escape, passes now for a Frenchman, and brags of a liberal education under the instruction of Louis le Grand, Preceptor of the University of Paris...'. On this still acrimonious note the correspondence ends.46 By way of postscript it should be added that however justified were the comments made on the competence of Paul Guedelle as a linguist, the works of his presumably collateral descendant and one of our many distinguished Presidents, Philip Guedalla, still repay attention. It seems not to have been until the later years of the century that a number of the more conscientious settled as a potential community in the city. Jewish visitors, certainly, continued to come: John Braham, the tenor, came to sing in 1794 (he returned frequently later);47 Samuel Solomon of Liverpool, whose Balm of Gilead and other public medicines were widely puffed in the local press and who had his portrait painted at Bath;48 and in 1799 (although by this date he had left the fold) David Ricardo. It was at one of the circulating libraries that Ricardo came across a copy of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, the book that inspired his study of political economy.49 But more generally, residents at Bath were becoming increasingly a company of the retired and elderly,50 usually unwilling to forgo traditional comforts. If occasional services were held privately, one venue might have been the Repository on the Walks, previously Mr Wiltshire's Long Room, where from 1787 to 1794 J. Levin Newman, jeweller and silversmith, was reputed to be in a very extensive line of business.51 Also to be considered is the pull the city must have exerted as a distributional centre on neighbouring areas and towns, for instance Frome, where Isaac de Paiba circumcised Samuel Nathan in 1750.52 Abraham Moses, silversmith and 139</page><page sequence="6">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel pawnbroker of Frome, who was reported bankrupt in 1790, recovered sufficiently to be recorded as a silversmith and watchmaker there in 1822.53 Another silversmith at Frome in the 1790s was Aaron Joseph of Cheap Street, one of whose family was probably the J. Joseph, watch and clockmaker, whose watchpaper gives his address as 'On the Bridge, Frome'.54 There are traces, too, of isolated settlement at Shepton Mallet and Wells during this period.55 But the majority of any congregation in Bath would have been Bathonians, and probably of a rather different stamp to most of those so far encountered. Sir Archy MacSarcasm, the stage Scotsman in Macklin's Love ? la Mode (1759) apostrophized Beau Mordecai as a 'cursed impudent fellow', who 'because he is suffered to speak till a man of fashion at Bath and Tunbridge and other public places... always obtrudes himseP upon ye'. Twelve years later, Moses Franks was writing from Bath to Edmund Burke, declining an invitation to Beaconsfield as he was 'travelling like the patriarchs of old, with all my family, and have a visit or two to make on the way.56 The Jewish gentry could hold their own, then, and continue the process which in time would lead to fuller emancipation. Fostering a sense of community was a task left, as so often, to the stalwart, observant few. The year 1800 marks the arrival of one of these-Jacob Abraham, optician and precision instrument maker, who came to 12 Kingsmead Street from Fore Street Hill, Exeter.57 A subscriber to the Levi Machsor of 1807, he later opened a branch surgery next to the Montpellier Rotunda at Cheltenham; the Duke of Wellington used to call in occasionally and tap a barometer.58 His Bath practice in 1808 was at Bartlett Street, where he claimed the Duke of Gloucester's patronage. By this date Joseph Sigmond had been established at Bath for fifteen years. His was the only Jewish name in a list of contributors in 1799 to the local patriotic fund.59 Samuel Pratt, a popular poetaster of the day, dedicated in Fig. 1 Ordance Survey map of central Bath. The numbers refer to the following locations: 1 Church Street, Abbey Green 243 Walcot Street: home of Solomon Wolfe 312 Kingsmead Street: home of J. Abraham, optician (1800) 4 7 Bartlett Street: home of J. Abraham, optician (1808) 5 2 Union Street: home of Solomon Abraham Durlacher (1808) 6 3 York Street: home of Solomon Abraham Durlacher (1813-18) 7 6 George Street: home of George Braham 8 20 Stall Street: home of Alexander Solomon 42 St James' Square is just off the map, northwest of the The Circus. Duke Street is also just off the map, parallel to Pierrepont Street. For details A and B see Figs 2 and 3. 140</page><page sequence="7"></page><page sequence="8">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel 1803 six stanzas 'To Mr. Sigmond (a celebrated Dentist at Bath) on drawing one of the Author's Teeth'.60 In December 1808 Sigmond asked the Duke of Gloucester to supper.61 The sense of disbelief was general. In the event the Duke sent one of the gentlemen of his suite to take his place, but this brave effort to follow the Goldsmids' example in entertaining royalty may have been all of a piece with Sigmond's position as a Life Governor of the Neveh Zedek, the Jewish hospital in Mile End. Another dentist prominent in Bath was Solomon Abraham Durlacher.62 Born at Durlach near Karlsruhe in 1757, he came to England in the 1780s and married Betsy Harris of Birmingham, where their son Lewis was born in 1792. From 1808 Durlacher had a surgery at 2 Union Street, Bath, and a branch at Cheltenham, practising also as a corncutter (his wife practised the same skills 'for the ladies'). They moved to 3 York Street in 1813, staying until 1818.63 Successful practice and Lewis' career (he was to be chiropodist to George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria) took the Durlachers to London. Sigmond, on the other hand, stayed in Bath, although his son, too, moved to London.64 Three teachers of Hebrew advertised their presence in the early years of the century. The local press first printed Hebrew type in 1810,65 when Nahum Joseph offered lessons in dikduk lashon hakodesh, later adding that he was assisting with the revision of Robertson's Compendious Hebrew Dictionary (1814), evidently the only work of Hebrew scholarship ever published at Bath. Sigmond and his son George Gabriel were among the subscribers. Sigmond subscribed as well to a Theological Grammar and Lexicon published at Liverpool in 1815, whose author, Solomon Lyon, also advertised for a while in Bath as a teacher of Hebrew.66 Although Durlacher's name is absent from these subscription lists, when yet another Hebrew teacher, H. Bernstein, made himself known in Bath in 1814, he stated that he was to be found at Mr Durlacher's house.67 Bernstein also described himself as minister to the Hebrew Congregation. At least two Jewish greengrocers came to the city for a while in the 1810s: Emanuel and Levy of Oxford Street, London, who opened an orange and lemon warehouse at 6 Stall Street; and H. Israel, who kept a foreign and British fruit warehouse at 17 Union Street.68 Mr Samuel, an umbrella maker, might have been located either at the bottom of the Market Place or at his umbrella and fur warehouse in 11 York Street. There was even a milkman, Mr M. Moses, at 1 Juda Place, Snow Hill.69 This nucleus from the professions and trades, together with a number of the retired, lacked only an obvious leader. Cecil Roth stated that a constant visitor during the Napoleonic Wars was Moses Samuel, warden of the Great Synagogue, who retired to Bath and for whom life without a synagogue was impossible (see Plate i).70 Rate books confirm that Moses Samuel was indeed at 42 St James Square from 1812, although his last years were spent in London. Born Moses ben Samuel Pulvermacher at Krotoschin in 1742, he came early to England, worked in Rag Fair and prospered. Several of his children and 142</page><page sequence="9">The Jews of Bath Plate i St James* Square: the home of Moses Samuel was number 42, the centre house on the south side of the square. Plate 2 4 Church Street, Abbey Green: the home of Lyon Joseph, S. Solomon and Solomon Wolfe. 143</page><page sequence="10">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel grandchildren occupied important communal positions.71 At Bath, in 1815, he subscribed to two copies of S. I. Cohen's Elements of Faith for the use of Jewish Youth. 1815 was also the year when the first mention occurs of the cemetery on Combe Down: the Bath Chronicle reported the theft of furniture from its adjacent prayer room.72 Earlier burials would have been at Bristol, where a cemetery was in existence by 1759.73 Plainly services were held somewhere in Bath and the house could have been Samuel's own. Another address with long-term Jewish associations was 4 Lower Church Street, Abbey Green, where Lyon Joseph lived from 1815.74 Joseph started as one of Zender Falmouth's pedlars, later becoming a shipper in the Peninsular trade, but when he fell upon hard times he retired to Bath as a pawnbroker.75 Two later occupants of 4 Lower Church Street were S. Solomon and the Rev. Solomon Wolfe. Solomon practised as an optician in Cheltenham and Clifton as well as Bath, commuting between the three from 1829 to 1833.76 Most references to Jews in the local press at this time concern the activities of the missionary societies. There were in fact few local conversions. One took place in 1816: the baptism of George Gerson, described as a respectable Jew of middle years.77 The Jewish community are said to have made strenuous efforts to prevent his conversion: within a month of the event he died. The same year, by way of contrast, Alexander Sch?mberg (a member of an otherwise assimilated family, two of whom had been Doctors at the Mineral Water Hospital) wrote to Solomon Hirschell of the Great Synagogue on a similar topic.78 He explained that he had taken to his house a non-Jewess who was carrying his child. She had given birth to a daughter and Sch?mberg, naming referees, now asked for the mother to be converted in order that they might marry. Hirschell's answer to this appeal has not survived, but a ketuba (never entered in the marriage register) shows that the lady in question was duly proselytized and married in the Western Synagogue. Since Alexander Sch?m? berg does not appear in the Bath directories after 1816 it seems that the girl was no longer accepted by her family, and that they moved to London. Certainly Sch?mberg and his sons were buried in the Brompton cemetery of the Western Synagogue. The names given to Hirschell as referees offer almost our only leads to the identity of the early congregation. (A register of later communal officers appears in Appendix II of this paper.) Abraham Rees, a tailor, long established in the Strand, retired to his brother Daniel's house at 20 Bath wick Street in 1830. Both brothers were later buried at Combe Down. Henry Moore, jeweller and warden of the Bath synagogue, remained there until 1826. Mr Cohen was gabbai tzedekah in Bath but is otherwise unknown.79 The last reference Sch?mberg named, the Rev. Solomon Wolfe, is the most significant. Wolfe, a native of Prussia, arrived in Bath about 1815.80 He was to serve as Reader, schochet and probably mohel to the congregation for many years. It is on previous record that in 1782 the chazzan came from Bristol for a brit, and in 1783 his son-in-law, the mohel of the Western Synagogue , came for a similar 144</page><page sequence="11">The Jews of Bath Fig. 2 'A' marks the site of the New Theatre 1723-1750 and the Kingsmead Street synagogue 1826-1840. 145</page><page sequence="12">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel purpose.81 From 1842 Wolfe was also the Secretary for Marriages, celebrating in all some nine. They are listed in Appendix IV. Both a man of the people and the cornerstone of the community, he eked out his salary by working part of the week at his general dealer's shop, helped by his wife Phoebe and their two daughters.82 This however is to anticipate. The clue to the whereabouts of the first synagogue lies in the history of the Bath theatres.83 The first was demolished to make way for the Mineral Water Hospital, which still stands. The second, erected in Kingsmead Street in 1723 and known as the New Theatre, measured 50 feet long and 25 feet wide, with a gallery at the end facing the stage. The New Theatre was superseded by one in Orchard Street (now the site of the Freemasons' Hall) and the present theatre in Beaufort Square opened in 1805. In that year the former New Theatre, at 19 Kingsmead Street, was occupied by a girls' school, and Miss Sharland, a clearstarcher. In 1812 the school moved out and in 1821 Miss Sharland died. Shortly afterwards, the building re-opened as the first synagogue known in Bath.84 The Reader, as we have seen, was Solomon Wolfe, and the congregation (apart from those named in 1816) could have included such as Samuel Lazarus, a pawnbroker, and the only Bath subscriber to the Phillips-Levi machsor of 1824; E. Levey, a wholesale importer of foreign goods;85 Moses Abraham, in his own words 'importer and dealer in Italian and Flemish pictures, drawings, antique china and shells', at the Repository of Fine Arts, 17 Milsom Street; and Harris Bamberger and Isaac Mainzer, partners in a small firm of Jewellers.86 Despite the relatively humble status of a general dealer, Solomon Wolfe, the head of this small body, must have been a well-known figure in the world outside the synagogue. In 1821 he was made a mason in the Royal Sussex Lodge, and in 1824 was installed as Worshipful Master, an office he occupied again in 1825 and 1828.87 As late as 1890 many brethren remembered him as a frequent attender at Lodge. Samuel (Mark) Lazarus was installed as Master of Royal Sussex in 1827. He too was a general dealer, with a large house at 6 Abbey Street from 1827 to 1839. In 1836 his granddaughter Phoebe, who had recently moved with her mother Mrs Lyon from Plymouth to Bath, married Solomon Wolfe.88 Into this perhaps over-respectable atmosphere an account that appeared under the name of Juan de Vega in 1830 brings a welcome breath of relief.89 Charles Cochrane, a young man about town eager for adventure, adopted the unusual disguise of a Spanish minstrel, purchasing a cloak for the purpose from one of the Leveys of Monmouth Street before starting his journey around the country. Arriving at Bath one December evening in 1828, he came upon a foot-travellers' lodging house. 'The landlord spoke a little Portuguese and begged me to sit down for a while. Many of his lodgers were in the room; they were chiefly Jew pedlars occupied in relating the various successes of the day. Some of them were Poles...'. Returning the next afternoon, Cochrane struck up conversation with one of the pedlars. 'Mr. L?, for that was the Jew's name, 146</page><page sequence="13">The Jews of Bath was asked by the landlord what success he had. 'Excellent,' said he, 'I have sold all my watches on the road', and then recounted the various places where he had disposed of them. The landlord and his wife congratulated him on the occasion, with countenances brightening, as if they expected the sale of all their stock in consequence.' Cochrane returned again to the inn, fascinated by the picaresque qualities that matched his own, but declined a subsequent offer to join a troupe of travelling showmen. There would have been a world of difference between this scene and that a year earlier in the Guildhall, when the first of many annual meetings of the Bath Auxiliary of the London Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge amongst the Jews was held.90 In 1829 the London Society complained that its operations in Bath had failed completely, due to the great influence of the rabbi, who would not suffer any tracts to be accepted by his people.91 The conversionists were not always so unsuccessful. Three children of Bernard Klamborowski, a recent immigrant from Poland who settled for a short time as a greengrocer at 33 Morford Street, were baptized in 1842.92 The case of a certain Mr Abraham 'of Bedfort' is interesting in this connection. Accused of apostacy by the Bath congregation on account of his over-familiarity with chukkas goyim (alien ways), he twice wrote in self-defence to Solomon Hirschell. In a letter addressed to the leaders of the congregation, Hirschell stated that Abraham had never 'had "the waters of pride" [Psalm 24:5] on his head', but recommended that he should make public confession of his errors before being readmitted to communal privileges. If the man in question was the optician Abraham (see page 141) Hirschell's recommendation proved effective: Jacob Abraham served as warden of the congregation from 1829 to 1842. The complete text of this letter appears as Appendix I to this paper. Equally prone to the pressures of assimilation, or at best a benevolent neutrality, were some of the wealthy Sephardim who chose a life of genteel retirement in Bath. The Gentleman's Magazine, recording the death of Francis Salvador's widow Sarah (whose last years were spent at 5 Belmont) spoke of the 'strict and uniform observance of all religious, moral and social duties [by which she] conciliated the regard of a numerous acquaintance.93 The career of Simon Barrow is another case in point. Warden of the Beth Holim in 1808 and Treasurer in 1827, he moved from London to a large mansion, Lansdown Grove (now a hotel of that name), in 1817. Each of his five sons contributed to the Mekhaseh Evyonim Society in 1822. Shortly after his wife's death in 1828 all of the family, himself excepted, were baptized at Walcot parish church. Some such drastic step must have been considered necessary for Barrow to gratify his civic ambitions. He was elected alderman of Bath in 1836 and mayor in 1837, during a period of much unrest in local politics. Long experience in Sephardi charities would have served him well when administering the new Poor Law; it was indeed for his liberal open-handedness that he was popularly chosen as guardian. The local congregation itself supported three paupers at this time, but no member ever put himself forward as a candidate for civic office.94 147</page><page sequence="14">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel Several newcomers of note arrived in the 1830s. Two probable seat-holders were Elijah Solomon, silversmith and subscriber to the Levi-Phillips machsor of 1830, and My er Fishel, a silversmith of 6 New Bond Street. George Braham moved from Bristol to Pulteney Street, first advertising in 1833 as an optician. In 1842 a paragraph recorded his marriage, at his brother's house in Bristol, to Amelia, eldest daughter of Mr P. Bright of Doncaster.95 The alliance was an illustrious one, for Philip Bright was the younger brother of one of the earliest Jews to settle in Sheffield, and was himself the leading Doncaster watchmaker and jeweller.96 Braham was one of the mainstays of the Bath congregation, the only local subscriber to the volume of essays published by the Jewish Chronicle in 1852,97 and his early death in 1865 was a considerable loss. Another newcomer in the 1830s was a furrier, David Nyman of 10 Bath Street. After the forced sale of his stock in 1840 he moved to Bristol as a hat and cap manufacturer. He served also as president of the Bath congregation from 1851 to 1859.98 The two major losses of the decade were the deaths of Moses Samuel and his wife. In the year before his wife's death Moses Samuel made the first of several capital contributions towards the cost of a new synagogue. Bank of England records show that a sum was deposited in the name of Solomon Wolfe in July 1832, and further deposits were made subsequently.99 On Samuel's death in 1839 a final deposit was paid into this account. His funding of the Bath synagogue amounted in all to ?300, the sum encashed a month after the consecration of the building he did not live to see completed. 'It was at first in contemplation, as there were many wealthy and influential families in the city', reported the Jewish Chronicle on 6 May 1842, 'to build an edifice on a larger and grander scale, but owing to some misunderstanding the design was frustrated'. The community had reached a turning point in its fortunes. For over a quarter of a century it had been able to look for support to one of the patriarchs of Anglo-Jewry, the bulk of whose charitable bequests however went to the Great Synagogue. On current and prospective member? ship, a large new building at Bath could hardly be justified. Improved road transport and the railway link with London (authorized in 1835 and opened in 1841) bound the energetic ever less firmly to a city increasingly isolated from either industrialization or the tide of fashion. These considerations, together with the size of Samuel's donation, may have deterred some who might otherwise have contributed more generously to a rebuilding programme. A tablet commemorating Moses Samuel's gift was to be placed in the new synagogue. Little more money was forthcoming and (of far greater conse? quence) little thought can have been given to the choice of site. Corn Street, a depressed neighbourhood of low ground rents, had been badly flooded twenty years earlier. The architect, however, H. E. Goodridge, had Cleveland Place and Bridge in his favour.100 Jacob Abraham and Benjamin Samuel, the two wardens, laid the foundation stone in 1841, and the Voice of Jacob, quoting the local press, commented on the loyal fervour with which Solomon Wolfe read the additional prayers, it being the birthday of Prince 148</page><page sequence="15">The Jews of Bath Plate 3 Corn Street, looking towards Avon Street just before demolition. The synagogue is the building with the arched window on the bend in the road. Only the building at the end in Avon Street still exists. Albert.101 At the opening ceremony in 1842 Benjamin Samuel was given most credit for fundraising, and the list of donations included further large sums from Moses Samuel's family, ?20 from the Bristol congregation and ?5 from their president.102 So began the history of a building which was t? be the centre of the community for the next sixty years. (Some surviving deeds are listed in Appendix III.) It was smaller in size than Kingsmead Street, having a frontage of 32 feet and a depth of 30 feet. The only description of it known is a statement in the consecration report, which reported that it was 'on a very limited scale', although the interior was 'very tastefully fitted up and embellished'.103 There was 'as yet' no charitable institution. The congregation never had sufficient funds to buy the site outright. An answer to the Chief Rabbi's questionnaire of 1845 shows that Bath had four householders, five paying seat-holders, a chazzan and schocket.1041 Indi? vidual members numbered 15 male, 12 female and 23 children. Mention was 149</page><page sequence="16">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel Fig. 3 'B' marks the site of the Corn Street synagogue 1842-1903. 150</page><page sequence="17">The Jews of Bath made of an advantage apparently not shared by any other Anglo-Jewish community, a natural mikveh, but there was still no philanthropic society. Shortage of funds was indeed to be a constant concern. Scarcely less so must have been the problem of security; in 1846 the synagogue was broken into, with the loss of most of its brasswork and the contents of its two poor boxes.105 No doubt at least part of the damage was made good before the visit in January 1848 of Sir Moses Monteflore, who characteristically gave generously both to the synagogue and the Reader.106 Solomon Wolfe was by now fast ageing. In April 1855 the Bath Journal reported that the confused state of affairs of the congregation was to be looked into and a new schochet found.107 In May, nine men, seven with London addresses and one each in Birmingham and Plymouth, appealed in the Jewish Chronicle for subscriptions on Wolfe's behalf.108 Wolfe himself wrote to explain why such steps had been taken. The Chief Rabbi had summoned him, in view of his age, for re-examination of schechita. Before attending on Adler he had been refused further maintenance by the Bath congregation. When Adler withdrew his authorization he was left with no means apart from a weekly salary of 12/6 as chazzan sheni. As a comparison, the rabbi at Bristol in 1844 was living rent free at a weekly salary of 27/6,109 but the newly elected wardens at Bath had a chazzan and schochet to support, and numbers being very limited could allow Wolfe no higher salary. This unhappy episode ended, it was reported, in an amicable settlement made by the Chief Rabbi when visiting Bath three months later.110 Solomon Wolfe died aged 81 in 1866. His headstone records that he was Reader to the congregation for fifty years. After his retirement as chazzan and schochet the first rabbi had been appointed. Soon after Wolfe's death services were no longer regularly held. Twelve men served as minister at Bath up to 1900, none remaining for more than five years. In a valiant effort to make its voice heard, the community sent a Deputy to the Board from 1853 unt^ x859, when the secretary of the synagogue that year stated their inability to pay off arrears amounting to less than JE13.111 The overall prospect of survival must have seemed sombre. In 1870 the Bath Auxiliary of the London Society met as usual, and again the local papers gave extensive coverage to the speeches. Michael J. Goldsmid of Birmingham wrote to the Bath Herald, asking whether it was just to call a body 'fallen and degraded' some of whose members sat in 'the most important deliberative assembly in the world'. Significantly, no such reply came from Bath itself.112 Decay was briefly halted in 1872 when Nathan Jacobs, formerly rabbi of East Terrace, Cardiff, retired to Bath with his wife and those of his eight children not yet married. He did all that he could to help reorganize the community, and in 1876 the synagogue, closed for several years, reopened under the presidency of Alfred J. Goldsmid (probably brother of Michael), who bought out Abraham Abraham's boot-and-shoe business in Union Street.113 A few particulars of this late period are given in a minute book in the 151</page><page sequence="18">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel Plate 5 The Bath cemetery today, looking towards the entrance and the Prayer House. 152</page><page sequence="19">The Jews of Bath archives of the Board of Deputies.114 In 1880 the congregation agreed to grant 5/- a month for minyan men on shabbat and holidays. Only a year later a letter appeared in the Jewish Chronicle under the name of 'An Occasional Visitor to Bath'.115 He had found the synagogue closed on Friday night and returned twice on Saturday morning, the second time to find a child playing with a rope for a swing in the doorway. Nathan Jacobs, acting president, replied that had the 'Occasional Visitor' contacted a member of the congregation he would have learned that they numbered only five, of whom two were always absent and one was blind. They did however send to Bristol and paid men to make minyan. 'An Occasional Visitor' pointed out that in Penzance, with only three members, the synagogue was open every shabbat and frequently made minyan from visitors like himself. So demoralized was the handful in Bath that when the synagogue was flooded in 1882 no entry appeared in the minutes. Twelve years later floods caused even more severe damage. Water rose some four feet within the building, submerging the reading desk and forcing the seats from their fixtures. Fortunately a dozen prominent Londoners defrayed most of the cost of repair.116 The Board of Deputies was well aware of the local situation. Their report for 1893 noted that the Bath cemetery would soon need help from outside. (A register of surviving headstones appears in Appendix V.) The Chief Rabbi came down in 1894 and was shocked at the want of religious education of the children.117 Nathan Jacobs had died; his daughter Rosa later kept a boarding house and kosher restaurant with her husband, Michael Franks, the second Secretary for Marriages.118 The last Jewish marriage to be celebrated in Bath took place in the Assembly Rooms in 1901.119 , Decline was now irreversible. The final entry in the minute book, dated January 1901, appoints new trustees to look after the cemetery. One of them, Reuben Somers, a master tailor who had come to Bath in the 1880s and remained until 1929, conducted occasional services in the Assembly Rooms.120 The synagogue itself ceased to function after the turn of the century. In 1909 St Paul's Church appealed for funds to convert the building (used since 1903 as a marine store) into a reading room for their men's club.121 Two years later the freeholders made the premises over to St Paul's, who became the lessees until in 1938 the City Council requisitioned most of the property in the area for an extension to the Mineral Water Hospital. In the event the hospital was not rebuilt and the Corn Street site is now occupied by part of Bath Technical College. To date the only revival of communal life in the city this century is itself historical. From 1927 to 1946 Nathan Kerstein kept a kosher hotel at 10 Duke Street, and again services were held regularly.122 The author of a recent history of religion in Bath describes how a German refugee schoolboy was barmitzvah there one Saturday in 1941.123 Some RAF men from Colerne had prepared him for the ceremony. She notes that they met in a front room and she watched as the scrolls were taken from a curtained cupboard recess near the fireside and read before the assembled company. 153</page><page sequence="20">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel Addressing the Bath Institution 'On English Topography9 in 1831, Joseph Hunter spoke of the subject as 'multifarious and abundant... If it is asked what good purpose is served by these minute enquiries? I answer that...there may not be an immediate result in anything which touches the gross interests of the present age but there is that which fills and satisfies and delights the mind'.124 A century and a half later, local historians are rarely satisfied. Too little is known about general economic patterns in Victorian Bath to draw any clear deductions, but it seems likely that conditions were seldom such as to hold the more ambitious and industrious for long. Even in the earlier period, those who prospered often left, usually for London, or to take a previously unmentioned example, Jacob Abraham's son, Liverpool and Manchester.125 An ageing population of the well-to-do in a place where businesses and practices were already long established limited the range of opportunities too narrowly. In communal terms, an excess of female over male children of marriageable age, and occasional attrition through intermarriage, continuously worsened the situation. Bristol, secure in its greater numbers, was only twelve miles distant.126 In the days of Moses Samuel and Solomon Wolfe there may have been little doubt of the survival of communal independence at Bath. After? wards, and in face of the recurrent threat of floodwater and ever-decreasing membership, decline, however long drawn out, was certain. 154</page><page sequence="21">The Jews of Bath 174 BRADFORD ROAD &lt; O P ? O fx* Q B 1 2 C 3 4 5 12 13 14 18 D Bush 21 26 37 I 27 K 30 L 33 M 36 7 8 9 10 15 16 11 17 19 E 20 Plaque-i&gt;| 22 23 24 25 Tree 28 29 31 32 34 35 GREENDOWN PLACE The 40ft Forester's Arms Fig. 4 Plan of the Bath cemetery. 155</page><page sequence="22">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel NOTES 1 C. Roth, The Rise of Provincial Jewry (London 1950) 27-9; Board of Deputies arch? ives C7/2/3/WV and D2/5/i-iv, calendered in the RCHM Report no. 76/28 (London 1976) 88 and 194. 2 C. Anstey, The New Bath Guide (Bath 1766) Letter V; for Jews at the gaming tables Letter VIII and M. Chandler, The Description of Bath (London 1736) 14. 3 Greater London Record Office (hereafter GLRO) Acc. 775/71. For Franks genealogy see M. H. Stern, First American Jewish Families (Cincinnati and Waltham 1978). 4 A. M. Hyamson, The Jewish Obituaries in the Gentleman's Magazine, Misc.JHSE IV (1942) 33-60, and those in the London Maga? zine, in Anglo-Jewish Notabilities (London 1949) 226-33. 5 C. Roth, Anglo-Jewish Letters (London 1938) 104-5. Earlier still Ned Ward noticed Jews in the fashionable Cross Bath: A Step to the Bath (London 1700) 13. 6 J. Wood, A Description of Bath... (Lon? don 1765) 277. 7 W. Warburton, A Sermon preached at... Bath... (London 1742) 34-7. 8 Bath Journal (Hereafter BJ) 31 Oct. 1748 and 10 Dec. 1759. 9 Quoted in E. R. Samuel, 'Dr Meyer Schomberg's attack on the Jews of London, 1746', Trans JHSE XX (1964) 89 n. 2. 10 S. Mclntyre, 'Bath: the Rise of a Resort Town, 1660-1800' in P. Clark (ed.) Country Towns in Pre-Industrial England (Leicester 1981) 208 gives these numbers taken from BJ: 510 visitors in 1746; 2525 in 1760; 5281 in 1800. The respective ratios for Jewish visitors are 1:170,1:211 and 1:221. 11 Humphrey Clinker (Everyman edition) 3 5. 12 BJ 5 and 12 May 1760. 13 Bath Chronicle (hereafter BC) 14 Jan 1779. Ralph Sch?mberg and his son Alexander contributed to the Vase, for which see A. Sutro, The Batheaston Parnassus Fairs (San Francisco 1936). 14 Bath Reference Library, typescript list of shareholders in 1769. 15 A Journey from London to Scarborough (London 1734) and the satirical reference to Jews in 'Scarborough Wells', The Bath, Bristol, Tunbridge and Epsom Miscellany (London 1735) 30. 16 BJ 28 June 1773. 17 PRO, Prob. 18/71/52. The letter quoted is dated Spa, 2 June 1754. Chesterfield occu pied lodgings next door to the Franks (letter dated Spa, 2 July 1754). 18 For the Sch?mbergs, E. R. Samuel (see n.9) 89 n.2 and 10; for Lacour, see R. D. Barnett, 'Dr Jacob de Castro Sarmento...', Trans JHSE XXVII (1982) 92-3 and 111. In 1780 Lacour was paying tax on four male servants kept at his house in Princes Buildings (Cf. GLRO, MDR 1777/4/195 and rate books 1772-9). Jacob Franks (see n. 3) paid Lacour a guinea a week for attendance on his wife and himself during the first four weeks of their stay. For Luzzatto, see H. A. Savitz, A Jewish Physician's Harvest (New York 1979) 57-66 (with bibl.) and BJ1 Jan 1787. 19 BJ 20 Sept. 1779 and 23 April 1781 (Joseph); BJ 10 and 17 Dec. 1787 (Solomon). W. Seelig, 'Studies in the History of Chiropody', The Chiropodist 8 (1953) 384, states that the author of the first textbook on the subject published in this country (1785) was a certain D. Low and quotes (ibid. 395, n. 24) a series of records in the Frankfurt a.M. Stadtarchiv deal? ing with repeated and unsuccessful applications of Jacob Hirsch, a chiropodist from Saxony, for a licence to practise dentistry. 20 P. S. Brown, 'Dentists advertising in 18th century Bath newspapers', Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset XXX (1977) 278-82 and for the Abraham Levises-B. Little, 'The Gloucestershire spas: an 18th century parallel' in P. McGrath and J. Cannon (eds) Essays in Bristol and Gloucestershire History (Bristol 1976) 170-80. 21 See his Domestic Treatise on the Teeth (Bath 1825) 60. His last surviving brother died in Posnania (Posen/Poznan) in 1823. 22 BC 8 Feb. 1791; BJ 28 Feb. 1791; Bath Register 7 April 1792 and 16 Feb. 1793. 23 BJ 24 and 31 May, 6 June 1773. For Buzaglo and his stoves, see the entry (with ill. and bibl.) in M. Snodin (ed.) Rococo. Art and Design in Hogarth's England (London 1984) 151. 24 BJ 11 April and 13 June 1796 and P. H. Highfill, A Biographical Dictionary of Actors... 6 (Carbondale 1978) 283. 25 Bath Advertiser 20 Dec. i755;B/i4 May 1759; BC 29 March 1764. For Roth's doubts as to the religious identity of this family, see N. Temperley, 'G. F. Pinto', Musical Times 106 (1965)265. 26 BJ 7 and 14 Dec. 1772, 26 April, 10 May and 29 Nov. 1773. Ximenes' solo perform? ance at Drury Lane in an evening that included 156</page><page sequence="23">The Jews of Bath 'Judas Maccabeus' was described as 'very spirit? ed and very chaste' (Theatrical Review, 13 March 1.772). See also British Union-Cat. of Early Music (1957) 1092. 27 Compare his entry in Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem 19 71) were 'Belgium' app? ears to be a misprint for 'Bath'. Siprutini supp? lied wine to Jacob Franks (see n. 3) in 1777, having dedicated his opus 7 to Jacob's uncle Moses a few years earlier. 28 A. Rubens, 'The Daniel Family', Trans JHSE XVIII (1958) 105-8. 29 BJ 21 June and 19 Oct. 1789. See the entries in Thieme-Becker and Benezit, and for his apprenticeship Trans JHSE XXII (1970) 148. 30 BJ 1 Nov. 1779 and 13 March 1780 and A. Rubens, 'Early Anglo-Jewish Artists', Trans JHSE XIV (1940) 108-12. Polack's trade -bill in the British Library (hereafter BL) 1881. c.3(2i) is misdated 1776; the ratebooks show that he did not take up residence in Charles Street until 1779. 31 BJ 20 March 1775; Solomon left before Christmas 1776 (ratebooks). 32 BJ 26 Dec. 1791 and frequently there? after until 24 June 1793. 33 B/29 Oct. 1792. 34 BJ 1 Dec. 1788, 31 Oct. and 5 Dec. I79I 35 The Gleaner, 27 August 1823, reported that he had 'obtained some celebrity as a chiropodist... particularly at Cheltenham, where he [was] well known by the title of Dr. Mosley'. 36 BC 21 and 28 Feb. 1764. 37 B/29 Aug. 1768 and 3 April 1769. 38 BC 20 Jan. 1780. 39 BJ 20 Oct. 1766. 40 BJ 4 April and 2 May 1768. 41 BJ 5 Nov. 1770. 42 BJ 16 Jan 1775. Ratebooks show him in Lilliput Alley at the corner with Abbey Green from 1772 but he kept on the premises in Alfred's Buildings and advertised both as lodg? ing houses. 43 BJ 23 Jan. 1775. In 1777 his second marriage was recorded in the register of Bath Abbey, for which see Harleian Society Register 27 (London 1900) 171. 44 BJ 8 Nov. 1779; he had advertised a 7-year lease of the house in Lilliput Alley in BJ 29 March 1779. 45 Cambridge and Yale University Libraries each have copies, preface dated 13 Jan. 1780. No copy is known of Guedelle's table of French verbs, 'printed on the best thick royal paper as a map, and preserved in a neat case, fit to carry in the pocket': BJ 15 March 1779. 46 BC27 Jan. 1780. BJ 31 Jan. 1780, BC 3 Feb. 1780, BJ 7 Feb. 1780. 47 M. Sands, 'John Braham, singer', Trans JHSE XX (1964) 206. 48 A. Rubens, Anglo-Jewish Portraits (Lon? don 1935) 113. Solomon died at 11 York Street, Bath, in 1819; the family kept on the house until 1823, BL, Egerton MS. 3656. 49 P. Sraffa (ed.) The Works and Correspond? ence of David Ricardo X (Cambridge 1955) 35-6. 50 Abraham Mendes da Costa and his family were at Kingsmead Street 1775-82; Raphael Franco's widow Leah was at 17 Bel mont from 1797 to 1808; Mr and Mrs Levy at Camden Place from 1799 to 1801. Aliens' certificates of 1798 in Bath City Arch? ives include one in the name of Moses Cohn, quill dealer. 51 BL, Egerton MSS. 3527, f. 127 and 3648, ff.84 and 16 iv. Newman also dealt in piano? fortes, harpsichords and sheet music (BJ 25 Nov. 1793). For his later trade card at 40 Milsom Street, see R. D. Barnett (ed.) Catalogue of the Jewish Museum (London 1974) 164, no. 1074. 52 Roth (seen. 1) 17. 53 BC 12 August 1790 and Pigott's Direc? tory, 1822. The clock in Kilmersdon parish church is signed and dated by Moses Abraham of Frome, 1822 (information from Mrs H. M. Massey). 54 Aaron is listed in the Universal British Directory (London 1793-8); for the watch paper, R. D. Barnett (see n. 51) 163, no. 1056. 55 For Shepton Mallet, BJ 25 July 1791. The New Synagogue register of births shows that the father of Mordecai Isaacs (born 1796) was known from his place of residence as Eleazer Wells (information from Mrs J. Salmon). 56 Sheffield Central Library, Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments, Bk. 1/366 dated 2 Dec. 1771, quoted by permission of the Director of the City Libraries and the Trustees of the Fitzwilliam Estates. 57 BJ 17 March 1800. 58 We are grateful to Mr A. Schischa for much advice about subscription lists. For Abra? ham see A. Rubens in Trans JHSE XIX (i960) 19 and plates 11 and 12. 59 BL, Add.MS. 34990, f. 77. 60 S. J. Pratt, Harvest Home III (London 1805) 434-6, for which as a possible puff, see the biography by J. Grieder in Bulletin of Research in the Humanities 81 (1978) 464-84. 61 Sir G. Jackson, The Bath Archives. A Further Selection... I (London 18 73) 32-3. 62 W. Seelig, 'Durlacher: Four Generations 157</page><page sequence="24">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel of a Family in English Chiropody', The Chiropod? ist XI (1956) 76-83. 63 BL, Egerton MSS. 3649, f.275 v. 64 J. A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses (Part II) V (Cambridge 1953) 508. Joseph Sigmond's tombstone (1832) is the earliest still decipher? able at Combe Down. 65 BC 25 Jan. 1810. 66 BC 21 Jan. 1818. 67 BC 17 Feb. 1814. 68 BC7jani8i3andB/2jani8i5. 69 Bath Directory, 1819 (Samuel and Moses). 70 C. Roth (see n. 1) 27. 71 C. Roth, The Great Synagogue (London 1950) 194-5 and ill. 72 BC 14 Dec. 1815. Pierce Egan noticed this 'small enclosed spot... used as a burying ground for the Jews' in his Walks through Bath (Bath 1819) 203. 73 Information from Dr N. de Lange. 74 The house, at the south-east corner of a block still standing, is shown in Morris' view of c. 1785, illustrated in B. Mitchell and H. Penrose (eds) Letters from Bath... (Gloucester 1983) 30. 75 A. M. Jacob, 'The Jews of Falmouth', Trans JHSE XVII (1953) 68-9; B. S?sser, An Account of the Old Jewish Cemetery on Plymouth Hoe Qohannesburg 1972) 8 no. A13; A. P. Joseph, 'Jewry of South-West England...' Trans JHSE XXIV (1975) 35. 76 BC 5 Feb. 1829 and 15 April 1830. 77 BC 12 Sept. 1816. 78 A. Barnett, The Western Synagogue through Two Centuries (London 1961) 109-11. 79 Unless he was the Jacob Cohen of Bath, gentleman, who died in 1830, (PRO, Prob. 11/1675). 80 Inferred from his tombstone (see p. 154). 81 C. Roth (see n. 1) 27. In 1771 Benjamim Levi of Bath took his six-week-old son Elijah to R. Leib Aleph of Portsmouth for the brit; see E. Newman in Trans JHSE XVII (1953) 264, no. 24. 82 Phoebe described herself as a shopkeeper in the 1851 census; Wolfe is described as a salesman in 1842 (Directory). 83 B. S. Penley, The Bath Stage (Bath 1892) 21. We owe this reference to Miss J. Knight, curator of the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. 84 The earliest Bath directory that refers to it was published in 1826. 85 At 43 Milsom Street in 1826 (Directory). 86 For Abraham, see 1826 Directory (end? paper) and for Bamberger's will in 1826 PRO, Prob. 11/1711, which names his nephew Sam? uel Cohen of Bath, dealer, as a legatee. The three witnesses to the will were Solomon Wolfe, Lyon Davis (optician) and George Goldsmid (jeweller and general salesman). 87 R. E. M. Peach, Craft Masonry in the City of Bath (Bath 1894) 21. 88 BL, Egerton MSS. 3656, BC 13 Sept. 1832 and 5 May 1836. 89 J. de Vega [Charles Cochrane] Journal of a Tour... I (London 1830) 370-84, noted by J. Rumney in Trans JHSE XIII (1936) 324-36. 90 BC 25 Oct. 1827. 91 BC 15 Jan. 1829. 92 BC 10 March 1842. 9 3 Gentleman's Magazine (1812)592. See also H. F. Finberg in Trans JHSE XVI (1952) 132. 94 Mocatta Library, Colyer-Fergusson gene? alogy (for baptisms) and Hyamson papers B8/ Supp. 4 (typescript family history); BC 16 Nov. 1837 and 29 Nov. 1838; S. Williams, 'Bath and the New Poor Law' in J. Wroughton (ed.) Bath in the Age of Reform (Bath 1972) 32-46. 95 BC 2 June 1842. 96 E. Lipson, 'The Brights of Market Place', Trans, of the Hunter Archeological Society VI (i947)ii7-25 97 [Anon.] Two Prize Essays on the Post Biblical History of the Jews (London 1852). Braham's sons played no part in the commun? ity. 98 Nyman (d. Bristol 1876) bequeathed a sum sufficient to defray the rent of the Bath Synagogue until 1890. 99 We owe this information to the Chief Registrar of the Bank of England. 100 H. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects (London 1978) 351-2. 101 Voice of Jacob, 16 Sept. 1841. 102 Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, 3 May 1842, names Uriah Lewis 'of this city' as the builder. 103 Bath Herald (hereafter BH) 30 April 1842. 104 B. S?sser (ed.) 'The Questionnaire of 1845' in A. Newman (ed.) Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain (London 1975). 105 BC 16 April 1846. 106 BC 13 Jan. 1848. In 1851 the local press mentioned an intended visit (which seems not to have materialized) from Lionel de Roths? child (BC 11 Sept. 1851). 107 BJ 7 April 1855. 108 Jewish Chronicle (hereafter JC) 4 May 1855. 109 A. M. Jacob, 'Aaron Levy Green', Trans JHSE XXV (1977) 92-3. 110 JC 7 Sept. 1855, which reports that Adler occupied the same apartments reserved 158</page><page sequence="25">The Jews of Bath for Montefiore in 1848. in Board of Deputies annual report for 1859. 112 BH 4 June 1870. See Z. Josephs (ed.) Birmingham Jewry II (Birmingham 1982) 24. 113 Directory 1874. 114 Board of Deputies archives D2/5/L 115 JC 25 Nov., 2 and 9 Dec. 1881. 116 Board of Deputies archives D2/5/ii. 117 BH 11 May 1894. 118 Directory 1898. 119 BH 21 August 1901. 120 Jewish Year Book, 1923. 121 RIBA (Portland Place) Library, copy of printed appeal. 122 Jewish Year Books, 192 7-1946. 123 Barbara G. Stone, Bath Millenium (Bath 1971)86-7. 124 BL, Add.MS. 24616, f.15. 125 B. Williams, The Making of Manchester Jewry (Manchester 1975) 33 and 123. 126 See A. Newman (see n. 106) where Board of Deputies returns 1852 to 1900 are given for both cities. 159</page><page sequence="26">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel APPENDICES Appendix I A letter from Solomon Hirscheil to Bath (Source: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Mic 3618 (formerly Adler MS 4160) f. 166 a) TRANSCRIPTION Vparnassim cTk'k Bath Ich bin gezwungen mcCalas'chem matriach zu sein da ich habe zwei mahl schon Briv [sie] gehalt von Mr Abraham von bedfort [sie] welcher inhalt er klagt das b'ney hcfkeh?oh cTschomeh ihm vorwerfen das er hat memir das gewesen. Welches be'emes nicht wahr ist das er mayim ha'sedeunim auf sein k?pf gehat. Zwar hat er b'phiv u'leshonoh sehr viel mechalel ha'Shem gewesen wie es aber scheint hat er darauf charotoh. Mit hie reecomandire ich ihm mekarev zu sein und nit marchik zu sein, und mehr wenn er shool Vyom ha'kneseth miswade ist al ho'omud al chilul ha'Shem she'ossoh b'phiv u'leshonoh und sich weiter marchik zu sein mVchevras ha'goyim, so kann man ihm zulassen laleuth VTeuroh ifshe'ar mitzwoth ha'Shem. Ersuche ihm rufem zu lassen und ihm zeigen den briv zwahr er hat geschrieben ich soll ihm antworten welches biz jetzt sich nit tuhn, v'ha'Zeman yagid le'towah. TRANSLATION To the Officers of the Kahal Kadosh of Bath I am obliged to trouble you as I have already twice received a letter from Mr Abraham of Bedfort [? Bedford] wherein he complains that members of your congregation accuse him of having been an apostate, which in reality is not true, [namely] that he has been baptized [lit. had 'the waters of pride' (Psalm 124:5) on his head]. Admittedly he has often, with his mouth and his tongue, profaned the Name but he does seem to feel remorse on that account. I hereby recommend that he be drawn nearer [to the community] and not be put off. If, moreover, when he is in synagogue on a day of assembly [i.e. when the Torah is read on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays] he confesses on the dais that he has committed [the sin of] profaning the Name with his mouth and his tongue, and furthermore undertakes to keep away from the companionship of the Gentiles, then he may be permitted to be called up to the Reading of the Torah and the performance of other mitzvoth. I would ask you to send for him and to show him this letter, even though he has asked me to reply to him myself, which I have not yet done. May this matter have a happy outcome. [We are most grateful to Mr Adolph Schischa for the transcription and translation and to Rabbi Dr J. D. Rayner for the biblical allusion.] C. Duschinsky, Rabbinate of the Great Synagogue (Oxford 1921) 124, described the manuscript as a volume of copies of letters of Hirschell dating from 1826 to 1842. 'Mr Abraham' may be Jacob Abraham (see p. 147 above), warden of Bath synagogue from 1829 to 1842, but nothing is known of the circumstances of the case. 160</page><page sequence="27">The Jews of Bath Appendix II Officers of the Bath Synagogue The set of Bath Street Directories in the possession of Bath Reference Library is the source of the following names, which were the inspiration of the story from 1826 to 1901. At Kingsmead Street 1826 1833 1841 At Corn Street 1846 1856 1862 1864 1868 1872 1878 1882 1886 1890 1894 1895 1898 1900 1901 Reader Solomon Wolfe Solomon Wolfe Solomon Wolfe Solomon Wolfe Minister Samuel Hermon Lewis Harfleid Simon Greenbaum Barnett Lichtenstein Rev. Israel Greenberg Rev. Jacob Wittenberg Rev. Simon (J.) Fine Rev. H. Dainmow Rev. J. Rensohn Rev. J. Burman Rev. J. Burman Lewis Horfleld Rev. J. Kandelchain Wardens J. Abraham Lewis Lazarus and Benjamin Samuel Benjamin Samuel Benjamin Samuel Second Reader Solomon Wolfe Solomon Wolfe Solomon Wolfe Clerk I. W. Jacobs J. W. Jacobs A. Leon President Arthur J. Goldsmid Mr Bertish from Swindon Simon Sperber Reuben Somers Treasurer Reuben Somers Reuben Somers Appendix III St John's Hospital, Bath The Archives of St John's Hospital, the landlord of the Synagogue, show the following: 1 Lease dated 14 September 1869 to run from Midsummer 1869 for 21 years to Midsummer 1890 at a rent of ?10.00 per annum, signed by David Nyman of Enville House, Clifton, Somerset (gentleman), and Abraham Abrahams of Union Street, Bath (shoemaker). (Abraham Abrahams left Bath in 1872. David Nyman died February 1879 leaving in his will ?10.00 per annum to Bath synagogue to pay the rent until 1890.) 2 Draft Lease (undated) to run from 24 June 1890 for 21 years to 24 June 1911 at a rent of ?15.00 per annum signed by Abraham Leon of Lime Lodge, Oldfield Park, in the city of Bath (steel manufacturer), and Reuben Somers of 15 Kingston Road in the city of Bath (tailor). (Abraham Leon died on 28 August 1897.) 3 List of dilapidations which the remaining Trustee was unable to meet, having temporarily moved his business to London. 4 Draft Lease to Thomas Cooper, marine-store dealer, to run from 8 July 1903 to 2 5 March 1904 and then for 14 years. (From 1909 the building was taken over by St Paul's Church as a Reading Room for their parishioners.) 161</page><page sequence="28">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel B I'S b a 2 a g tx CQ 00 X5 o 2 3 ESS It O t3 DC W C -t-&gt; I-i ? L u S a frill PQ fi S CO C? C? C? t, o ?-8 c o w S B w a o o u co 13 d ?3 3-3 &lt; s? I ? 3 ? 2 G 2 C? """2 ^ R m * %3 &gt;i &lt; T: ?2 CO s -o ? s 3 a ^ II 1 3 i 11 is &lt;u ?? be oc co co tL&gt; .P. .P. ?tj o o cn rn ro ^ s ? u 8 &gt;* 2 J? I o o X3 llJl* P ?3 S cT&gt; ? oo h O N O N &lt;N 162</page><page sequence="29">The Jews of Bath Appendix V The Jews' Cemetery, Bradford Road, Combe Down, Bath The site is high on a hill to the south of Bath, next to 174 Bradford Road at one end, with Greendown Place separating it from The Forester's Arms public house at the other. It is a little over 100 feet at its longest and about 40 feet at its widest. Its age is unknown as all record books state that the Deeds were lost many years ago and more recent enquiries only confirm that this is so. According to a letter in the possession of the Board of Deputies of British Jews in London, written by Mr J. Bunford Samuel on 21 September 1908, Mr Samuel noticed on the cemetery wall a stone tablet with the name of his father's relative, Samuel Samuel, and of Baron Rothschild, who no doubt were interested in the cemetery. In a later letter, dated 17 February 1911, Mr Samuel stated that the cemetery was founded by his great-grandfather and one of the Rothschilds. The tablet giving this information no longer exists, but one can see where it must have been. The Prayer House has a leaking roof and suggestions have been made to demolish it. A second door was bricked up many years ago. Many of the gravestones are in very poor condition. Those marked on the plan with letters A to L are standing stones without lettering on them. Stone M is a box-shaped grave which has also lost its lettering. The gravestones numbered 1 to 3 7 are standing stones unless otherwise stated. Many bear Hebrew epitaphs. The inscriptions in English contain all the material information, and are noted below. 1 Sacred to the memory of Jesse Fishel, died January 13th, 1870, aged 74: May her soul rest in peace. 2 Sacred to the memory of Myer Fishel, died October 5th, 1861, aged 83. 3 (Sac)red to the memo(ry of Elizabeth Simmon(s die)d November 22nd (.... 4 In loving memory of Joseph Jacobson, dearly beloved husband of Antonia Jacobson, who passed peacefully away February nth, 1920, aged 73. Rest in peace. 5 [Hebrew inscription] Solomon Keseff, died September 6th, 1921. 6 Lewis Cohn Silverstone, died 24th October 18 (..). 7 [This and the following three stones are identical in shape and very close together, being for members of the same family.] In memory of Samuel Jacobs, who departed this life February 4th, 1866, in his 65th year, Shebat 19th, 5626. 'The Lord called Samuel and he answered "Here am F". 1 Samuel, Chapter III, verse 4. 8 [Inscription eroded, but due to shape and position it must be the grave of Phoebe Jacobs, wife of Samuel, who died 19 February 1867, in the 69th year of her age (Bath Journal).] 9 In affectionate remembrance of Harriet Jacobs, daughter of Samuel and Phoebe Jacobs, who departed this life December 22nd 1885, aged 63, Tebeth 14th 5646. 10 In affectionate remembrance of Rachael Jacobs, daughter of Samuel and Phoebe Jacobs, who departed this life January 15th 1888, aged 62 years, Shebat ist 5648. 'And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave that is the pillar of Rachael's grave unto this day'. Genesis, Chapter 35, verse 20. 11 [A flat stone] Sacred to the memory of George Braham, a devoted husband and affectionate father (who) departed this life December 21st 5626, aged 55 years. May his soul rest in peace. 12 [The name on this stone was still legible in 1979 but now is not.] Sacred to the mem(ory of Frances Ullman), the pious prieste(ss). 13 [This and the next stone are for brothers, each surmounted with an urn.] Abraham Rees, Esq., died January 17th, 1845, aged 85, 5605. (See Plate 6.) 14 D. Rees, died 21st of January, 5602, aged 84. (See Plate 7.) 15 In sacred memory of Morris Abrahams, who departed this life July the 27th, 5638, and was interred on the 29th, 1877, aged 77 years. 'Truly my soul waited upon God, from him cometh my salvation'. 16 [Related to Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10, but of a different design.] Sacred to the memory of Julia, beloved daughter of Samuel and Phoebe Jacobs, who died January 13th, 1897 (5657), aged 71, deeply lamented. May her soul rest in peace. 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away'. 17 A flat stone, sacred to the memory of Matilda Samuel, second daughter of the late Samuel Samuel, Esq. (of London). Born the 13th April, 1786, died the 8th January, 1867, Shvat 3rd, 5627. 163</page><page sequence="30">Malcolm Brown and Judith Samuel 18 In memory of Revd. Solomon Wolf, died on the first day of Shvat, year 5626, Jamiry 17th, 1866, aged 87 years. Reader to the Hebrew Bath Congregation for fifty years. May his soul rest in peace. 19 In affectionate remembrance of Leah, the beloved wife of Alfred Brooks, who departed this life August the 30th, 5643 (1883), aged 31 years. Deeply lamented by her sorrowing husband, by her beloved children and relatives. May her soul rest in peace. 20 In sacred memory of Maria Michael, who departed this life October the 5th, 5639, and was interred on the 6th, 1878, aged 78 years. 'Truly my soul waiteth upon God, from him cometh my salvation'. 21 In memory of Isaac Goldhill. [From his will recorded by Colyer Fergusson in the Mocatta Library we learn he died in May 1835.] 22 [These two standing stones are joined by a stone surround.] In memory of Hannah Jacobs, wife of Nathan Jacobs, who died on the 10th and was buried on the 12th March, 1899, aged 75 years. 23 In loving memory of the Rev. Nathan Jacobs, died May 12th, 1890(5650), aged 64 years. 24 (Sacred to the) memory of Hyman, (...) son of Reuben Somers, (Born) December 29th, 1877, (Died...) 9th, 1883. 25 In memory of Herentz Leon, who departed this life December 12th, 5645, aged 78. May his soul rest in peace. 26 In memory of Sarah Moses, who departed this life (...) Kislev 5573. 27 Sacred to the memory of Aaron Morris, who departed this life 18th December, A.M. 5583, aged 48 years. 28 Henriette Leon, born at Hildesheim, July 26th, 5583, A.M., died at Bath, September 22nd, 5654, aged 71. 'Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other'. Psalm LXXXV, verse 10. 29 In memory of Harry Cohen, who departed this life, March 5th, 5649, (1889), aged 14. 30 Elizabeth Daniel, Born in Austria, Died in Bath, April 12th, 1831. 31 Abraham Leon, born at Hagenow on 2 3rd August, 1818, died at Bath on 2 3rd June, 1897. 32 In loving memory of Evelina, the dearly beloved wife of Saunders Sloman, of Weston, Bath, and beloved daughter of the late Leman and Elizabeth Levi of London, who departed this life ist April, 1896, ist Nisan, 5656, in her 47th year. A faithful wife and a loving mother. God rest her dear soul. 33 [A box-shaped gravestone.] Joseph Sigmo(nd) died 24th O(ctober) i8(..) [But from the Bath Chronicle we learn that in the week ending ist November, 1832, 'died Joseph Sigmond of 16 Pulteney Street, beloved and respected by all who knew him'.] 34 In loving memory of Kate Aaron, wife of Samuel Aaron, died October 9th, 1901, Thisri [sic]26th, 5662, aged 75. Deeply mourned. 35 B. Bar(nett), died Apr(il...) aged (...). [His will furnishes the information that Barnett Barnett died on 14 April 1901.] 3 6 Deborah (beloved wife of) Moses Solomon (died) May 20th, 5593. 37 [A small flat stone beside the path.] In loving memory of Minnie, beloved child of Simon and Freda Tyler, who died 28th March 1898, aged 2 years. May her dear soul rest in peace. In addition there are at least three graves which never received headstones. In September 1885 the minutes tell us that Mr Harris, a non-subscribing member, was buried in the cemetery. A donation of ? 10 was received from his friends. In 1942 Mr Reuben Somers was buried in the cemetery, and sometime earlier his wife, Mrs Annie Crowsley. Information from Mrs Denise Chantry, Mr Somers' great-grandaughter. 164</page></plain_text>

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