A Place Full of Stories - East London's Novo Jewish Cemetery

The Novo Cemetery in Mile End is just a ten-minutes walk from my home. I have lived here for almost twenty years but it is only very recently that I "discovered" the cemetery through the Discovering and Documenting England's Lost Jews project. Established in 1733 and now tucked away within the grounds of Queen Mary University, the cemetery has been the resting place of some very prominent people. Champion boxer Daniel Mendoza was buried here as was Benjamin Disraeli whose grandson of the same name became Britain's first Prime Minister of Jewish heritage, famed comic actor David James (David Belasco) and Diego Pereira who served as financier to the Austrian Empress, Maria Theresa. It is fascinating to think that these illustrious characters were buried just a short walk from where I now sit.

Grave of Orovida Abigail Bensusan

It has also been the final resting place of the less well known, including tailors, rag merchants, quill pen makers and feather makers who lived and worked in the once predominantly Jewish East End and were eventually buried here. I wonder if any of the traders mentioned in my recent post on Sclater Street were laid to rest in the Novo Cemetery.

 

The graveyard itself has quite a story. In 1656, after an absence of almost 400 years, the presence of Jews in England was accepted but not officially recognised. In the same year, a small synagogue was established in Creechurch Lane in the City of London and in 1657 a piece of land was purchased in the then rural Mile End, for use as a burial ground. Over the next several years as this predominantly Sephardi community became more established and expanded in size a larger cemetery was needed and in 1726 an additional piece of land was leased for this purpose. A short distance form the original burial ground it was named the Nuevo (new) Cemetery and the former site became known as the Velho (old) cemetery. The first burials took place in the Novo in 1733.

Nature has begun to take over some of the gravestones

Over the next century London's Jewish population continued to grown and in 1855 it was necessary to purchase a further 1.7 acres of land to accommodate its needs. By 1899 the cemetery held about 9000 graves. At this point, the Sephardi community began to drift away from this part of London and a new cemetery was established in Golders Green. In 1906 the Novo was closed for adult burials and in 1918 for children. Despite this, occasional internments took place into the 1970's.

In 1973 about 7000 bodies were disinterred from the pre 1855 site and reburied in a communal grave in Essex, leaving about 2,000 graves in place. This was because the expanding Queen Mary College, now a University, required additional space and an agreement was reached between the Sephardi community and the College to transfer part of the burial ground to College ownership. Daniel Mendoza was one of those disinterred and this great Jewish and British sporting hero now lies unacknowledged in a shared pit.

Hands signify the grave of a Cohen 

A life cut short

Books may indicate that the deceased was a scholar 

Wandering through the cemetery on a crisp, cold winter's afternoon I was struck by how much cemeteries can tell us about the communities they serve and how many stories are waiting to be unlocked from them with just a little research. As already noted, the Novo Cemetery is a Sephardi burial ground and this is evidenced by the Spanish and Portuguese names marked on almost every one of the gravestones as well as by the tradition of laying the stones flat rather than upright. This is to remind us that regardless of our status in life, in death we are equal. Some gravestones carry visual clues to the lives of the deceased. An image of hands usually denotes that the person is a Cohen, that is, of the priestly caste and that they can claim to be descended from Aaron, brother of the the Biblical prophet Moses. Images of books may indicate that the deceased was a scholar or rabbi, whilst a tree or a tree being cut down means that a life was cut short. Candlesticks are sometimes carved into the headstones of women as a reference to their responsibility for lighting candles on Shabbat. 

Non-Jewish visitors may wonder why there are small stones or pebbles on many of the graves. Various explanations are given for this including the belief that the soul of the deceased remains near the body for a while after death and that rocks will prevent it from leaving too soon. There may also be practical reasons for this tradition. In Biblical times burials would take place under a pile of rocks rather than a heavy slab and so the placing of stones on graves in the modern era may be a reflection of this. Today it indicates that someone has visited the grave.

It is important to note that although all of those buried here are from the Sephardi community, not everyone came from Spanish or Portuguese family backgrounds. A whole row of graves is given over to the illustrious Sassoon family who originated from Baghdad in Iraq and became one of the world's foremost merchant families over several generations with business interests in  Bombay (today Mumbai), Shanghai and Hong Kong. Amongst others, Flora Sassoon, wife of David Sassoon founder of the dynasty and former leader of Bombay's once substantial Jewish community, (nee Farha Hyeem) is buried here.  

Grave of Flora Sassoon (nee Farha Hyeem)

Cemeteries have always been important sources of information for historians but today the little bit of information contained on a headstone can lead us on the most fascinating of virtual journeys via the internet. The stone pictured at the top of this post is that of Orovida Abigail Bensusan who died on 30th July 1912 aged 69. We can learn from it that she was the daughter of Samuel and Esther, that she probably never married (no other family name is given other than that of her parents) and the quote from Proverbs indicates that she was well thought of and did not need praise.

"Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates". 

A little research reveals many interesting details about her and her family. Both parents were born in Gibraltar which remans home to a significant Jewish community today. Although I have not been able to find out when the family came to London, the 1871 census shows Esther, Orovida's mother, living in Lambeth. By 1881 she was living in Penge not far from the site of the Crystal Palace, which perhaps indicates that the family had become more prosperous. 

Although Orovida appears not to have married, according to the Ancestry website, she did have a child with one Abraham Corcos, a merchant born in Oran, Algeria in 1810. He was father to at least nine children, some of them born in Algeria and Morocco, and who had three different family names between them. Orovida and Abraham's daughter, Esther Corcos was born in London in 1873. Details of Orovida's life after the birth of Esther are sketchy until 1911 when it is known that was living in Stamford Brook, Chiswick with her niece Esther (daughter of Orovida's brother Jacob) and her niece's husband...famed French artist Camille Pissarro. Orovida was clearly a much loved aunt as the couple named their only daughter after her. Orovida Camille Pissarro was herself to become a distinguished artist studying with her father and then with Walter Sickert before rejecting their styles in favour of Chinese and other Asian techniques.  Her works can be found in the collections of both the Tate and the Royal Academy.

The Novo Cemetery is full of stories like that of Orovida Abigail Bensusan and whilst not everyone will have had links with world famous artists, discovering their personal histories will be  just as interesting. The website of the Discovering and Documenting England's Lost Jews project includes testimony from Jews with Sephardi heritage, more details about the history of the cemetery and stories of some of those buried there. The cemetery is open to visitors and is a short stroll from either Mile End or Stepney Green Underground stations.  

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Sclater Street - full of history and a hot spot for street photography

Sclater Street runs from Bethnal Green Road near the Shoreditch Overground Station to the junction with Brick Lane. Quiet and almost abandoned during the week it comes alive on Sunday when there is a flea-market on a rough piece of ground normally used as a car park. The street is closed to traffic and stalls of varying degrees of authority sell household goods, second hand clothes, training shoes and bicycle parts. Its also possible to buy a bicycle from one of the several dealers who stand outside the flea-market and who are subject to regular checks by police looking for "lost" bikes. The Sunday crowd fascinates me. In normal times it includes many tourists on their way to Brick Lane or to Spitalfields' covered market as well as local old timers, hipsters, students and occasional film crews who like the "edgy" urban environment. It is also possible to hear many different languages being spoken with Bengali, Arabic, French, Hebrew, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Russian and Turkish, reflecting both the local communities and the tourists. In recent years a handful of restaurants, small cafes and the relocated Brick Lane Gallery have added to the eclectic mix and attract yet more visitors.

The street has an interesting history. On the left hand side of the road when walking from Brick Lane towards Bethnal Green Road, there are three weavers' houses, built from 1718-1720. The original inhabitants would have been Huguenots, French protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution. In London many of them were employed in the textile industry. Numbered 70-74 Sclater Street, each house consists of three storeys and a cellar with a single room on each floor. The houses are in a disgraceful condition, covered in graffiti and seemingly abandoned. They back on to and are part of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard site which I understand is the subject of an office development proposal. Whatever the implications of this for the weavers' houses, they are already at risk due to their condition. The website of Chris Dyson architects contains information about a plan to restore the facades but dates from 2013 with no more recent details.

When researching for this piece I came across Sclater Street's entry for the 1891 Census which includes a full listing of all residents in the three houses. Number 70 was home to the Hall family, the head of which, James, aged 44, is listed as a "bird dealer-dog". Nine people lived there including James' brother Daniel aged 22, also employed as a bird dealer-dog and one Caroline Lambert aged 68, listed as a bird dealer. All the residents of number 70 were born in London, most of them in the East End. 

Number 72 was home to seven people including brothers Domenico and Donatio Puncia, both born in Dorigo, Italy. Domenico aged 31 is listed as a restaurant keeper and his brother, a year older, as a cook. The brothers shared the property with six members of the Waters family. William Waters, 28 worked as a stone mason and his wife Mary Ann, 27, was a needle woman. The youngest member of the household was their daughter Mary, just two weeks old. Like the Halls next door, the Waters family were all born in the East End, most of them in Bethnal Green.

Number 74 was home to nine people, most of them members of the Stanwich family. 30 years old Abraham, a picture framer was listed as head of the household. His wife Rachael was a little older than him at 33 and together they had four small children - Judah, Annie, Amy and Alice. Other residents included Abrahams' younger brothers Hyman and Meyer -  a picture framer and a tailor respectively. The other resident was a 22 year old woman listed as "Cohen Kitty" whose name was almost certainly  mistakenly inverted in the records, "Kitty Cohen" being more likely. She worked in the tailoring industry as a button hole maker. The older members of the family have "Russia-Poland" listed as their birthplaces the others were born locally. Their names indicate that the family was Jewish. 

The records for other buildings in the street show that other residents came from Lancashire, Birmingham, Dorset and Wales as well as from Austria and Poland. Occupations listed include boot makers, hatters, cabinet makers, beer house keeper, fancy bird cage maker, ship foreman and numerous jobs connected with the garment industry. This street must have many stories to tell.

The occupations listed for James, Daniel and Caroline at number 70 give a clue as to why they were living in Sclater Street. From the 1850's onwards people came here to see the Bird Fair. Originally located in nearby Club Row it expanded across Bethnal Green Road as time went on. Birds and dogs were traded and there was widespread belief that some dogs being sold at the Fair were "hot" property. There is even a record of a 1912 court case relating to a stolen dog found there. By the 1920's as well as birds and dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, squirrels, tortoises and various other animals were being sold at the Fair. In 1923 a stampede involving up to 4,000 people resulted in the loss of 2000 birds and the death of at least 100 cats and dogs. You can read more about the Bird Fair and see pictures of Sclater Street from the early 1900's here.

Coming back to today, Sclater Street continues to fascinate and tell stories. It is perhaps my favourite London location for both people watching and street photography. I like to find a sport and watch the comings and goings as the weekend drama plays out over several hours. Its proximity to Brick Lane, Spitalfields Market and what remains of Petticoat Lane means that I can move between these locations quickly and also take advantage of the many coffee and snack stalls. The pictures featured in this post are all recent candid shots taken on Sclater Street. They include at least one candidate for the cat walk, an elderly woman wheeling her goods to her favourite spot before spreading them out for sale, a conversation between a director and an actor during a filming session and of course several mask wearers. Some of the pictures feature a backdrop of colourful posters, some of them scrawled with graffiti. The wall on which those posters are displayed is the facade of the aforementioned weavers houses.

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Whitechapel Library - University of the Ghetto

Twenty two London public libraries and cultural facilities have borne the name of Victorian journalist, philanthropist and politician John Passmore Edwards (1823-1911). His particular interest in funding public libraries may have been due to his reportedly having access to few books as a child. The first London library he funded was the former Whitechapel Library, now absorbed into Whitechapel Art Gallery at 77-82 Whitechapel High Street.

It opened its doors on 9th May 1892, the construction costs of £6454 being fully provided by Passmore Edwards but this was not the first attempt to provide a public library in this part of London. The Public Libraries Act of 1850 had followed a Select Committee report that suggested libraries could be used to steer people towards "temperate and moderate habits". Despite strong opposition to the Act from some MPs, it was eventually passed. The Act allowed for levying a charge on the rates of a half-penny in the £ in order to ensure continued funding. Such proposals had to be put to the vote locally before a free public library could be established and in 1878 the voters of Whitechapel rejected adopting the legislation, opposed to providing a facility "...wherein idle people may enjoy themselves".

Samuel Barnett, social reformer and Vicar of St. Jude's Church and his wife Henrietta, co-founder of Toynbee Hall campaigned for a library in Whitechapel but in 1891 Passmore Edwards came forward with the necessary sum.  A site was identified and architects Potts, Son and Hemmings were engaged to design the building. Initial services included a closed-access lending service, separate reading rooms for boys and girls and a reference library. Closed access meant that readers had to ask a member of staff to check the availability of books for them rather than having direct access to the stock. This was common practice in the early days of public libraries. There was also a museum of the natural history collections of the Reverend Dan Greatorex who had earlier established small collections of books on merchant ships for the use of the seamen.

Impressive hours of service were offered, including Sunday afternoons and late opening until 10pm. A programme of talks and lectures was held and schools were able to borrow items from the museum. Modern technology meant that the building had its own generator so as not be dependant on an external energy supply. Formal opening took place on 25th October 1892 with Lord Roseberry, Foreign Secretary and Chairman of the London County Council as the guest of honour.

By the end of 1892, there were 2,500 members including actors, comedians, diamond cutters, lard refiners, leather merchants, at least three journalists and my favourite, "ladies with no occupation given". This impressive list tells only part of the story of the library's role in its community which by 1914 is said to have included 90% of the total Jewish population of the UK. Evidence of its impact is borne out by the stellar list of writers, artists and future academics who made use of it during their youth. It is known that artist Mark Gertler borrowed art books from the library and practised drawing in the reading room. Fellow Whitechapel Boy David Bomberg was also a user.

Playwright Arnold Wesker used the library as a child and later spoke about borrowing and enjoying The Wind In The Willows. Fellow playwright and novelist Bernard Kops was also a regular user and loved the place so much he wrote a poem in its honour as well as a play set within the building. Child psychologist and author of The Ascent Of Man, Jacob Bronowski studied there and mathematician Selig Brodetsky learned English in the library. Born in Russia and one of thirteen children, Brodetsky had a fine career in academia. He studied at Cambridge, lectured at Bristol University, held a chair in Applied Mathematics at the University of Leeds and for a time was President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. East End chroniclers Simon Blumenfeld and Willy Goldman also studied there.

Perhaps the most famous former user was poet and painter Isaac Rosenberg. The child of poor Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, he was also the author of some of the most famous poetry to emerge from the First World War and was tragically killed in action on 1st April 1918. He is memorialised with a Blue Plaque on the exterior of the building. The achievements of Rosenberg and other writers and artists led to the library being referred to as the university of the ghetto.  Most of the users would have lived in dark, overcrowded and noisy conditions with no space for quiet study, reading or reflection. The library provided this and enabled some of them to go on to great things whilst to others it was a place to find peace and cultural enrichment. Lack of space at home remains one of the main reasons why people come to public libraries today and competition for study space can be fierce.

In 1900 the library came under the auspices of the former Metropolitan Borough of Stepney. Over the next few decades a large collection of Judaica was developed, lending became open access in 1922 and in 1930 a children's library was established in the basement.  Aldgate East Underground Station lies beneath the building and in 1937 a street level entrance to the Tube was inserted into the facade. The East End was severely bombed during the Second World War and damage was sustained to the second floor in 1940. From the late 1940's onwards the neighbourhood began to change with the large Jewish community moving away and being replaced by newcomers, particularly from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh which until 1971 was part of Pakistan.

Levels of use fell in the decades following the War and when I first visited in the early 1990's the building was in a poor state of repair and in need of investment. By this time, Whitechapel was under the control of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, one of the poorest areas in the city and one whose library service was amongst the least used in London. The Council undertook a re-branding exercise, closing some libraries and opening a series of modern, purpose built Idea Stores, combining library services with adult education and expanded access to technology. Whitechapel Library was closed in 2005 and was replaced by the much larger and more strategically located Idea Store, close to Whitechapel Station, a street market and the area's main shopping facilities. On the last day of service, an evening event was held to commemorate the contribution of the library to the local community. It featured performances by Anna Tzelniker, the last active performer of the once great Yiddish theatre and a reading by Bernard Kops of  his poem, Whitechapel Library, Aldgate East.

The building received Grade II listed status in 1990. After closure it was acquired by the neighbouring Whitechapel Art Gallery which also has a long tradition of serving the local community and has exhibited works by the aforementioned Gertler, Bomberg and Rosenberg. On a personal note, most of my career was spent working in and managing public libraries. Researching for this post I realised that at different times I either worked in or was responsible for six of Passmore Edwards' London libraries. Is this a record?

Perhaps the last word should go to Bernard Kops.

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Whitechapel Road - The Working Lads' Institute

It's interesting that we can walk past a building hundreds of times without really noticing it and then one day it catches the eye. I must have walked past the former Working Lads' Institute on Whitechapel Road hundreds, possibly thousands of times but only recently noticed it. It stands next to the main and currently closed entrance to Whitechapel Underground Station, a six storey red brick building, completed in 1885. Designed by Scottish architect George Baines, the facade features Portland and Ancaster stone dressings and a three sided Oriel window flanked by additional bay windows at first floor level. It was formally opened to great fanfare by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 31st October 1885. The Illustrated London News reported that "despite the rain which continued throughout the day, there was an immense assemblage of people along the roadway through which the Royal party had to pass".

The Institute began life as an organisation in 1878, in Mount Place, also in Whitechapel, and was founded by Henry Hill, a successful merchant in the City of London. Hill's objective was "to supply a counter attraction to the low music halls and other east end resorts for the young which are so fatal to their social and moral well-being". To this end a library, lecture hall, classrooms, laundry, kitchen, gymnasium and swimming baths were provided for the area's young working class men. The lecture hall could accommodate up to 600 people and boasted stained glass windows with representations of art, religion and industry as well as nine semi-circular lights with images of the seasons and sports. The main facilities were advertised by the words Lecture Hall, Gymnasium and Swimming Bath carved in stone above the two entrances at street level on Whitechapel Road. It was these signs that finally drew my attention to the building and led me to notice the much larger Working Lads' Institute sign emblazoned across the full width of the building at the upper level. How did I ever miss it? 

The total cost of the project was £12,000, a significant sum for the time. Hill did not manage to raise all of the required capital before construction started and so the works were completed in two phases. He managed to secure additional funds from Reverend Thomas Jackson who ran an Evangelical Mission in Clapton and had a history of working with the poor. Jackson was to have a long association with the Institute and eventually purchased the building in 1896, saving it from the threat of closure due to a constant lack of funds.  He was influential in increasing the organisation's work with young homeless men. From the beginning, accommodation was offered for those in need with an initial 24 beds and space to expand to 60. Additional beds were made available to young men aged 17-21 including some who were referred by the courts with Jackson sometimes acting as probation officer. However, it is important to note that not all of those who made use of the hostel had been involved in criminal activity and that some would have committed what would be considered very minor offences today.

As well as providing education, leisure and refuge to young men, the Institute occasionally hosted other activities, including in 1888 the inquests into the deaths of Mary Ann Nicholls (also known as Polly Nicholls) and Annie Chapman, two victims of the Whitechapel Murderer.  

The Institute no longer operates from Whitechapel Road and has been renamed the Whitechapel Mission. The building now contains a number of flats with retail units at ground floor level. The facade was restored in 2012 as part of a wider improvement project linked to the London Olympics. This online edition of Spitalfields Life includes pictures of some of the lads who attended activities or lived there as well as of one of the stained glass windows. It also makes reference to the Institute being one of the first organisations of its type to admit Black men and includes a photograph of Reverend Jackson with a group of Black soldiers at the time of the First World War. So much history in one building.