Isaac Diamond & Family [ 36 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

3. ISAAC DIAMOND in LONDON of his father-in-lawh; it seems unlikely they were previously living at the same house at 95 Back Church Lane, St George-in-the East; Jane's father (see Chap 5) came from Poland, so Jane and Isaac Isaac was born on 8th October 1861 according to his were both Ashkenazi and could easily have met in the East End. 13b naturalisation petition which he made in 1886, but his Isaac presumably had been living in marriage registration in 1881 gives his age then as 23 (not 20), The witnesses are Shoreditch with his father, who I believe to be which means he would be born within 8th June 1857-58. unknown: the “I. then (see p 20) in S.Africa. Isaac is not indexed Curiously he five years later devised a precise but different date. Mendoza” is surprising, as present in London or Middlesex at the From his age (32) given in the 1891 census he was born in April presumably of census in April 1881. He stated that he had no 1858-59. He was born in Warsaw according to his 1886 petition, Sephardic origin; there brothers30 (his 2 sisters are known). but as with Zyman not found in the Warsaw records. Victor and were Mendoza leather- Marriage took place at the Great Synagogue Claude believed he was brought to England as a baby with his sellers in Bethnal Green [see mention re Zyman‘s marriage in Chap 2 immigrant parents (Zyman and his first wife Miriam). His in the 1881-2 and picture Fig 2-D], Isaac then a member, the marriage authorisation Fig 3-A and tombstone 4-F give his directories45. “B. most popular venue, on a Wednesday (the Hebrew name as Yitzchak or Yitzak. Cohen” is too common fashionable day for weddings, Sunday being Isaac married Jane Goldstein (see Chapter 6) on 8th June to try to identify.

Figure 3-B: Marriage registration of Isaac & Jane ,1881

h As was common [though illegal] for Jewish marriages then, the 1881; the marriage registration Fig 3-B states he was aged 23 and a turner (he then followed his father's occupation usually given as reason is unknown but it is said it was convenient or cheaper in wood turner). At the time of the marriage he gave his address as registration fees (G.H. Whitehill, Bevis Marks Records, III, 1973, page 3) Isaac Diamond & Family [ 37 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London regarded as non- Jewish)44, 13./11/.81. The marriage was conducted by the Reader, Marcus Hast, Fig 3-C), who was also chazan, teacher and composer at the Synagogue from 1872 to 1911. Since Figure 3-D: Church St, Goad Plan ca the institution of the 1890, shows No 87 [Laundry] Chief Rabbi in 1802 there was no separate Minister for Figure 3-C: Marcus Hast, Reader the Great Figure 3-F: Burial Synagogue. The Authorisation of narrow, a reminder of the Chief Rabbi would Arthur Diamond cramped confines of this area officiate to marry in the 19th cent., still has a even a humble ragged appearance. couple such as Suchar Goldstein The street, renamed Redchurch Street in 1937, and Leah in 1857 Figure 3-E: Church St, pub and adjacent Fig. 3-A: Marriage Author’n by Chief Rabbi: runs between Shoreditch High Street and Bethnal (see Chap 5); but No 87, in 2006 Green Road, see area map 2-M. The house was since 1879 the Chief at the south edge of the Old Nichol, and so it was Rabbi had been unwell and delegated some of his duties to his son demolished ca 1895; and see Chap 2 re Zyman in that area. It is Herman. outside the main areas of settlement by the Jews, although by 1899 Residences of Isaac & Jane there were 5-25% Jews along most of Bethnal Green Road but less After their marriage in June 1881 their first home was at 87 than 5% nearby except on the north side of Church Street, along 136 Church Street, Bethnal Green (north side) next to the Dolphin pub Brick Lane and Bacon Street . The street was in the cabinet- and very near Zyman's business premises. Here their first child making area of Bethnal Green, where Jewish settlement really Leopold was born in 1882. This is now a narrow 3-storey house; see began later in the 1890s, influenced by the clearance of the Old plan & photograph of the house, Figs 3-D &-E. In April 1881 the Nichol. The nearest synagogue of those which formed the United house was unoccupied11, but at 85 was a licensed victualler, and Synagogue in 1870 was the Great Synagogue, Duke's Place, where at 89 an umbrella maker. Pevsner commented that the street is they were married; but there were numerous small Chevras - Isaac Diamond & Family [ 38 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London benefit clubs85 p314 and burial societies - for the 12-15,000 poorest The article in The Builder referred to in Chap 2 included the foreign Jews; 35-40% of working Spitalfields men were members in passage: 1864-72 (& see pp21-22). The streets on each side of Old Bethnal-green-road we found in an abominably dirty The western end of Church Street was Club Row [see p 24 & Figs condition. Minerva-street, - sludge, heaps of filth and ashes unremoved; Hope-street, 2-N-R]. In 1898 the police reported: 3 & 4-storey houses, shops Treadery-street, Temple-street, Charles-street, - all miserable, and here wretched below, centre for birds & rabbits in cages; no prostitutes, all thieves attempts at repairs had been a-making, with an odd barrow of stones flung into the ruts. or receivers of stolen goods; Jews beginning to come in; Jews have We went through some long passages or lanes leading off Old Bethnal-green-road, unbroken windows28a p159 [Arkell ‘s map136 shows 5-25% of Jews]. where rows of houses with little gardens before them may be seen. The roadway was Just to the south of this street was Sclater Street (home of the deep with sludge, and the gardens in some instances but receptacles for all sorts of refuse ... the summer aspect might be different. The lanes parallel to this, and at right Rubens), where a famous bird fair (Fig 7-B) was held, see Chap 7. angles, are filthy, and heaps of un-removed dirt are in abundance. An enquiry in 1887 into the sanitary conditions in Bethnal Green heard52 from witnesses of conditions of the poorest being a scandal, lack of water to toilets, water percolating into buildings, need to demolish houses, which had happened to some of the Nicholl type being replaced by warehouses and railway extensions. Blacker remembered77 p14 the area as having narrow cobbled streets, terraced houses, gas-lit cabinet-making workshops, tiny synagogues, public baths in Cheshire Street [Isaac owned No’s 5&7, see Jane’s Will, p59], delicatessen in Virginia Road and visits to Victoria Park. Various industries spewed noxious fumes into the atmosphere, damaging property, plants and the health of the inhabitants143 p88. Booth79,II , 1902, describes the East End: Bethnal Green being hard working especially in boot and cabinet making, and surprisingly healthy, rents in 1898 for a typical 4-storey 4-6 room house 10-13 shillings/wk. See description in Ch 1. The 15 births are shown in the page from the Family Bible, 6-D and the deaths as 3-G; within three days in August 1884 their two-month old twin Figure 3-G: Isaac & Jane's family’s deaths Isaac Diamond & Family [ 39 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London boys died, one death of diarrhoea (one of chief causes of infant high for E. End workers) at West Ham cemetery (10 acres, deaths especially in hot summers, although less prevalent in Jews) opened 1857 for the New & Great Synagogues); even the & exhaustion, the first of the 8 childhood deaths, the next being in indigent would be buried but gravestones not allowed unless their next home in 1887 of Frederick of intestinal gland wasting. burial fees paid; few memorials are now visible in the area where Next were Arthur of measles at 2 yrs in 1890 and Esther of diphtheria they are buried. aged 5, Rose at 18 mths of a neck abscess and asphyxia) in 1892, In first 2 years of the Federation's burials from 1890, 117 of the [see JC announcements of the death of Rose in 1892 and the 199 interments were of infants under one year (incl 43 stillbirths)71 tombstone consecration at West p71. Up to 1885 Isaac was designated for burial authorisations31 a Ham of Esther in 1890 above,], "Stranger", presumably unaffiliated; thereafter as "of German finally in 1893 Henry of pertussis & Syn”, which was located half a mile from Isaac’s home at No 139. bronchitis at 21 mths and Lillian aged 7 mths of bronchitis (1890 & The “German“ congregation was founded in 1858105 p74, moved 1893 were particularly bad years to Spital Square (a building holding 200 men and 120 women, see per an official report in 1895; rates photos 3-H, J), was erected in 1885. This were highest for the poorest class; synagogue in Spital Square was built in 1886, to such causes of infant deaths are replace the German Synagogue in Old Street. It mentioned by Marks114, e.g.pp52-60). is named after a town in Ukraine, reflecting the Children comprised a very high origins of the congregation [J.C. 8 Jan 1886] proportion of deaths in the E End although membership in 1897 was only 120; it immigrant population; immigrants was a benefit had early weddings, a high birth society, rate and enjoyed a low rate of contributions infant mortality which declined being 7d a from 1895, believed to be due Fig 3-K: 139 Bethnal Green week, a Shiva Figure 3-L: :Rear of amongst Jews to extended breast Road in 2006; & the coalhole benefit of 21s cover and basement grating No.139 feeding and good infant diet and was paid after care114 Ch2. These effects made the impact of immigration more intense. The deaths were certified by different local doctors but Rose by one from Kings College, presumably a consultant (they attended local hospitals). The burials were all arranged via the United Synagogue Figure 3-J: Spital Square with (annual fees of £6-7 were too Figure 3-H: German Synagogue, Spital Synagogue at right rear Square, in 1925 Isaac Diamond & Family [ 40 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

Figure 3-P : Census return 1891: No139 Bethnal Green Road a funeral, but this chevra did not have cemetery although the owners changed. Sale prices were facilities until after it joined the Federation founded recorded of Nos. 120, 122, 124 & 126 and a house 1887, its Burial Society founded in 1889105 pp120,122. The in George Street in1886 64 May for £810 for their 70 congregation was amongst the wealthier of the year leases, GR being & 65/yr; so the lease of No Federation; it paid £8 6/- to the Board of Guardians 139 could have been bought for under £200 [for in 1889, the poorest paid only 10/-85 p315 . 2002 values multiply by ca y ca 7 in terms of real earnings, by ca 63 for the consumer price index]. Bethnal Green Road was formed by an Act of 1756 In 1898 the police reported "Spital Square, 4-storey on the line of a bridleway. The eastern part was houses, all Jews [cf Arkell136 75-95%], well-to-do"28a 99. widened in 1877 to improve the route to Victoria German bombing in 1940 destroyed the synagogue Park; houses were purchased and demolished by Figure 3-M: Bethnal Green Rd from 64, 21 July building. Brick Lane, 1905 the Board of Works, e.g. Nos. 112-114 . In 1912 the LCC Improvement Committee insured No After July 1885, with two young children and a third 141 for the value of £700 19a. expected they moved to 139 Bethnal Green Road, Isaac was registered as a Parliamentary elector three stories plus attic, 18 x 60' plus a yard with privy, there by 189027 (The Reform Bill of 1867 had half a mile from Spital Square. Fig 3-K is a recent photo extended the parliamentary franchise to working of the house showing it had a basement, part of men in towns). The number of living children (cf which was a coal store. Fig 3L is a rear view, 3-M is a deaths, above) was four to six from 1886 to 1895 photo of the road from Brick Lane Corner in 1905, when their ages were 0 to 11. Oscar's birth in 1890 with shoppers around market stalls). In my 1998 was announced briefly in the J.C. The 1891 photo 3-N from the same corner, the frontages are census return - see Fig 3-P - lists Isaac, Jane and substantially the same, the lights and other street their younger children Oscar, Sidney and Rose (3 furniture have all changed; shop fronts remained Figure 3-N as -M, in 2005 months old) and three English-born servants - a Isaac Diamond & Family [ 41 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London general domestic, a nurse (both married women) and a nurse girl was an area of recent Jewish settlement, part of a [Leo & Miriam were absent - not found in searches]. No other northern Jewish suburbia including , & Finsbury family was in No 139. The vast number of servants in England in this Park, in 1870-1914 a middle and lower middle class area par period was largely explained by their cheapness169 p51. The keeping excellence106 p158, 108 pp86-8. The growth of Dalston was assisted by of at least one servant was a criterion of middle-class status, the building of the railway north from Shoreditch and then the minimum income £100 per year, three or more of the upper middle arrival of trams and buses. By 1897 Dalston had grown into an class108 79; Booth78 I, p60 considered the highest of his eight income area of city clerks, shopkeepers and small business people in the classes to correspond to the "servant keeping class". In that year neat rows of modest houses; Graham Road was completed to Isaac is named as a Donor to the Society for Relieving the Aged extend east to Mare Street, Graham House became the German Needy of the Jewish Faith [which gave a pension of 5 sh./week hospital, and a police station was opened in Dalston Lane. to over 60s, nominated by a subscriber] and during at least eight Jews in Hackney: from the Victoria County History: years from 1894-1909at his addresses in Bethnal Green , Dalston & Manor Rd.44 + 68a.. claimed eminent Jewish residents from the time of the Italian-born Moses Vita Montefiore (d. 1789), who was there by 1763; his Dalston. In 1894/5 they moved again, part of a grandson Abraham Montefiore (d. 1824) married Henrietta, move of many Shoreditch residents and businesses whose father the financier Nathan Meyer Rothschild (d. 1836) at the end of the century, to "Holly House", 6 Graham lived from 1818 to 1835 near the later Colberg Place. With Road, Dalston, Hackney, see map 3-S. Jews moved the spread of building, such distinguished families moved to suburbs from 1880s, as shown by Jewish marriages away: in 1842 there were few of the wealthy Jews who had in the City36; addresses outside the East End were 5% once settled in Hackney. in 1880s, 10% in '90s and 15% in 1905. Increasing immigration from London had by c. 1880 brought The growth of Hackney had begun in the 1850's; the perhaps 5,000 Jews to Hackney, Dalston, and neighbouring North London railway line then arrived and parts of Islington. Thence the more prosperous tended to stimulated development although a horse omnibus Figure 3-Qa: A Horse-drawn tram & move farther north, while southern Hackney received an link with Central London dates from the 1840's. The passengers, 1875 overspill from Stepney and Bethnal Green [as Isaac]. In main roads were developed with villas and terraces 1895 Hackney synagogue served a district 'thickly populated for the middle classes, with side roads for the poorer. by the better class of Jewish working man', and in 1902 Building was speculative, by separate small builders; settlement in Dalston or Canonbury was 'among the first steps upwards of the Whitechapel Jew' per Booth etc. early houses had large gardens99; Leases in the Attendances on the first day in Passover week, 1903, totalled road were sold in 1885, Nos. 102 & 105, 78 & 76 yrs for 1,274. The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Co £440 & 355: in 1887 of No 61, 72 yrs for £515; and in encouraged moving from London to Dalston and Stoke 1892 for 64 yrs for just £380. GRs were a mere £5-8 /yr, Newington. a rental £40. I assume that Isaac had a lease of Bolstered by arrivals from Russia and Poland, from central similar length. The JC has the notice of the Birth on Fig. 3-Qb: Horse tram in Graham Road, 1898 evening of 14th Dec 1895 to”the wife of I, Diamond, a Europe, from parts of London cleared for rehousing, North son;. Bris Milah on Sun 22nd” [Walter, v Ch 8]. Isaac Diamond & Family [ 42 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

London's Jewry may have reached 40,000 by 1929. A recognition that the area was building in Mildmay Road, and in 1885 to Poet's Road off , retaining seen as likely to become more important than London's East End was the transfer of the name Dalston synagogue, and was admitted to the United Synagogue. (fn. 55) the New Synagogue to Stamford Hill in 1915. Membership rose from 268 in 1886 to 365 in 1913. Attendance on the first day of Passover 1903 was 774.) The congregation from the North London synagogue joined The earliest public Jewish services were those of Dalston synagogue (see below), it in 1958, but in 1967 Dalston synagogue was amalgamated with Stoke Newington which later moved west, in 1874. synagogue, Shacklewell Lane, Hackney, and the building closed. A few Jews had settled in Canonbury by the early 19th century, and the widespread building in Barnsbury brought a large number of middle-class Jews from the City from South Hackney synagogue c. 1840. Regular religious services were not started until the 1860s, however, by which moved to Mildmay Road in 1885, time there were nearly 1,000 Jews in the area. The first Dalston Ashkenazim had organized services at Barnsbury hall by 1864, and in 1868 opened synagogue was opened the North London synagogue, John Street (later Lofting Road), Barnsbury, a two- storeyed rectangular building with a long ornate front, built with aid from the Great in 1874; it moved west Synagogue. It was admitted to the United Synagogue in 1878. In 1872 it had 126 and in 1885 with a new seatholders, but migration northward, especially to Highbury, and the opening of £8,000 building at Poets Dalston synagogue, caused its membership to decline before rising again to 271 in Road, Canonbury it was 1883. It fell again to 163 in 1890, and rose to 267 in 1913. It was amalgamated with admitted, still called the Dalston (see next col.) in 1958, and the building in Lofting Road was closed. From Dalston, to the United the late 1860s many Jews moved into Highbury and Mildmay Park, and by 1878 most Synagogue (the members of the North London synagogue lived in Highbury or Canonbury. In 1874 eleventh constituent) Fig. 3-Ra; Graham Road in 1909, postcard there were said to be 700 Jewish families living within half an hour's walk of Dalston Junction but farther from the synagogue, whereupon a synagogue was established for Dalston and Ball's Pond Road. Services were held in Ridley Road, Hackney, and a synagogue opened in Birkbeck Road, Hackney; in 1876 it moved to a leased Figure 3-R: 6 Graham Road, with Claude & Lynette Figure3-S: Graham Road, OS map; labels show No’s 2-6 and Parkholme Road below Isaac Diamond & Family [ 43 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

108 pp 46-51 with 268 male members; by 1900 there were 365, and 368 in 1910 a middle class area of piety and respectability par excellence ; Jewish 140 II,32 (then almost as many as the Great Synagogue which had 410107 bourgeois, well groomed and prosperous . By 1900 part of Hackney "was p96). In 1909 there were several seat-holders in an island of gentility in a general sea 144 p121 Graham Road. There were estimated to be 5000 of decline" . Jews in 1880 in the Dalston, Canonbury, Highbury A tram could take Isaac to his and Hackney areas105 p169. business in Bethnal Green. North Booth78 said Dalston and Canonbury "to be Metropolitan Tramways ran to among the first steps upward of the Whitechapel Bishopsgate from 1879143 p8; the Jew"; both were marked on his map as middle horse trams (see eg Figs 3-Q,). class suburbs, Graham Road was among the to Aldersgate ran 137 return most prosperous streets in this comfortable area. journeys per Zangwill in 1893 referred in a story to Dalston as day91c along Graham Road, "Villadom", of dingy perspectives limiting their ambitions also to Aldgate. Trams were slow 146, cited107 p 87 even after escape from Whitechapel , but it but cheap and frequent and 92 was "a very posh area" to Lew Grade of Brick Lane in suited many of the workers144 1912. By 1880 Dalston and Hackney attracted Jews from p116-7; later they were electrified. the congested East End, moving up the Kingsland Road, to Figure 3-U: Stoke Newington Syn., Shacklewell Lane, ca 1903 From the VCH: re Dalston Dalston village had spread very little by 1796, when 1901 Census: Isaac, aged 42 [i.e. born March 1858-59, cf birth Oct 1861 per his most of it belonged to the Grahams. Dalston in 1849 was described as naturalization in 1886, but June 1857-58 per marriage registration]; "Warsaw" as in a recently increased suburban village, with some handsome old his Naturalisation petition13b], Timber Merchant, on own a/c (i e self employed) houses. Most of the streets c. 1890 contained a mixture of people who Jane 42 (no occupation) Hounsditch were well-to-do or fairly comfortable. The most solidly prosperous areas [Age correctly stated, she was born December 1859 were Queen's Road, Parkholme Road, parts of Richmond, Forest, and Leopold 18 Shop Assistant. Bethnal Green Graham roads and Kingsland High Street, the east end of Dalston Miriam 17 Clerk " "[Miriam was a tailor in 1905; Leo was said to be Lane…. An outward movement from London by the better off was said to have been partially checked at Dalston, which possessed few public a clerk in his father's business.] houses 142 V10 pp28-33. Oscar 13, Sydney 11, Flora 6, Walter 4, Claude 3 Ada Runlind 25 General Servant Oxfordshire A coach house (for a doctor) and Nos. 2, 4 & 6 were built in 1857 by a Mr. Barlow; Nos. 8-54 by other [This must be the maid or housekeeper Ada, remembered by Claude (in 1980), builders in 1860, drainage was altered to a new she was with the family for years, Jane would call "Ada, be quick.”, which phrase sewer in the road in 186227 . Graham Road had the parrot learnt I did not find her in other censuses.] 142d 30 Amelia Long 23 Nursemaid Plaistow, Essex been planned by 1853 and named in 1864 from Baron Graham, a landowner9 9 p51, houses were See comments at p39 re the keeping of servants. numbered in 1860. Isaac Diamond & Family [ 44 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

The houses Nos. 2, 4 & 6 were substantial, double fronted and lived from 1900 after moving from nearby Parkholme Road, see with a full basement and No 6 had a rear garden 100 ft long; GV Ch. 7; Jane was the owner in 1900-191027. £55, RV £46, more than the usual values in the area27. A public house is still across the road from No 6. Previous resident was a Mr. At 6 Graham Road the eldest son Walter was Barmitzvah at Cohen. The 1895-1900 valuations name Isaac as occupier and Spital Sq (see p 33), in 1895, reception at home for relatives and Jane (of 250 Brick Lane in 1905) as owner27. Fig. 3-R is a photo of friends on the Sunday evening44; the J.C. was used by the middle Nos. 6 and 4 Graham Road; note the classes from the 1870s. The youngest child numerous chimneys and the Italianate Claude was born in 1897; the older door-case and cornice brackets, but no children then were Ernest, Flora (Florrie), bay windows or portico; the ceilings inside Sydney, Oscar (10), Miriam (14) and have moulded plasterwork, a feature of Leopold (15); see Chap. 8; a large house the Victorian middle class home99 p37. The was needed! No more infant deaths house has no attic, servants presumably occurred here. A pony and trap were slept in the basement; (with wine & coal); kept; seaside holidays taken at Goulston, the iron railings and gate would have been near Yarmouth01. Isaac was a Figure 3-Ua: JC advert in 1910 taken for scrap for the War in 1940. In 1910 Parliamentary elector there by 189727. A the house was advertised: for sale44:, see group studio photo of the 7 children is the copy here:. shown in Chap 8. The electric light featured in this advert Fig The return 3-Uawas evidently still unusual; Joseph 1901 census transcription & notes Swan invented the electric light bulb in are shown on the previous page. 1878. However it was expensive and it took a long time to replace gas in After the Spital Synagogue he was a people's homes. The reference to a large member presumably of the New Dalston front garden is wrong (see Figs 3-R & S). Synagogue, built 1884, originally For the address at No 161 see pages 45- Federation50, affiliated to the U.S. in 1898, 46, and for the Lumber Company p 47. where his son Sidney (see e.g. in records Figs.3-G & 3-P) was Barmitzvah in 1903 In No 2 (RV 48 GV 4027, due to smaller (Jan J.C. notice,; reception on the garden than No 6) Morris Ruben (married Sunday from 4-8); in 1900 the New Dalston to Sarah Diamond, Isaac's sister, in 1892) synagogue elected “I. Diamond” on its lived from 1900 after moving from nearby Committee. Then he was a member of its Parkholme Road, see Ch. 7; Jane was the Fig 3-V: Isaac's kiddush cup, a candlestick (frompair). successor the Stoke Newington owner in 1900-191027 . In No 2 (RV 48 GV havdalah spicebox& siddur Synagogue, Fig 3-U, seating 750, which 4027, due to smaller garden than No 6) was opened in 1903 (U.S.) when it had 221 seat-holders rising to 434 Morris Ruben (married to Sarah Diamond, Isaac's sister, in 1892) in 1910120 p216 it was in Shacklewell Lane, just north of Graham Isaac Diamond & Family [ 45 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

Road1554104. Architecturally quite distinguished ("most beautiful I Isaac applied to be naturalized at the relatively young age have known", Michael Freedland)i. (as he then stated it) of 25 in June 1886, five years after his marriage; the grant was made in Membership (seat rental) in 1903 was £1 September13b. The fee was previously £5 (which to £7.50 per year. Isaac's Hebrew was said with "incidentals" [agent's fee] totalled £8 - too to be poor01; he remained a member at much for a poor man [J.C. Aug 1885] and was least until 190932. (The Stoke Newington reduced to £1 in Spring 1886 by the Home Secretary and Dalston Synagogues combined in Samuel Montagu in the new Government; and 1966 and closed in 1972.) Isaac took advantage (the fee reverted to £5 in Fig. 3-Xa: Isaac's advert in the Timber Trades 1887)132 p67. Isaac's referees (British citizens) were The family spice box and kiddush Journal, 1890, shows his addresses and goods business people14: cups are hall-marked 1906 and - John Jennings sawmill proprietor, presumably were bought that year. Hackney Road An ivory-fronted prayer book in - William Jennings, also sawmill English & Hebrew “according to proprietor, Hackney Road the custom of the German and - Mark Workman, tailor, Mile End Road Polish Jews” was published in (who had in 1884 married Isaac's wife's Frankfort in1893. A pair of silver sister Annie, see p 57: & candlesticks is marked Birmingham - Henry Nobel, 39 Church Street, 1897; one is shown in Fig 3-V. Bethnal Green, engineer (he was there Isaac became a member of the from 1877-1900). Lodge of Israel (freemasons) then meeting in the East End, in 1896 The sawmill proprietors (brothers?) (aged about 37), until his death. had presumably sold wood to Isaac. Isaac's Centenary Jewel These referees, including some enamelled in blue & gold survived, 3-Xb: Telephone Directory 1899 showing Isaac’s entry for Brick lane presumably substantial traders, may be in 1893, the Centenary of the compared with those of his Lodge, the members were father Zyman as recorded in allowed to wear this. To the Jewish Chap. 2. None were Board of Guardians he annually creditors in the bankruptcy in 1888-1921 gave half a guinea51. Figure 3-Xc: Telephone Directory 1904; New York Lumber Co 1903. Naturalisation

i J.C. 2 May 2003, article reminiscence about the area. Isaac Diamond & Family [ 46 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

Isaac's Businesses: The 1899 plan 3-Yb designates No 139 as “Tailor”, it shows a rear Isaac traded as follows (addresses from Kelly's P.O. extension (also in No 141; in 1910 it Directories unless stated; see map, Fig. 2-T): was a clothiers. Claude in 1980 1881 (from his marriage) to January 1885 at his recalled an office there but no residence of 87 Church Street, now Redchurch machinery. Street); see page 37. In 1882 his occupation was "wood turner" in his son's birth registration, but Isaac’s timber advertisements57 refer "wood carver" in 1882-4 in the London directory to "Store Yard, 16" or 173 Bethnal and still "wood turner" in the 1891 census. A carver Green Road (Fig 3-Xa). An 80 year was the most skilled of the wood working trades if (sic) building society mortgage making decorative pieces to put on to furniture; or commenced on 24 June 1881, soon he might make roughly cut pieces to be turned. By after his marriage (this might have 1884 he was at 4 & 37 Thomas St, renamed Bacon been to Isaac). An 1872 OS map St in 1886. Isaac said in 1903 that he began as a shows a large timber yard to the north, turner with capital of £20 (from his father?) in which probably in 1875 was Bacon Street. In 1886 he was “Steam general incorporated in the surrounding plots; turner & carver” and paid to have his name in Model Dwellings were built for the capitals in the Business Directory. Board of Works (occupier in 1881) in Shacklewell Street. The rateable value January 1885-1903 at his residence in 139 was £25 in 1886-7, Isaac named as Bethnal Green Road (north side, west of Brick occupier, annual tax 6/3d but 14/9d in Lane, detailed plan 3-S); & see page 14 re the '88; the owner of the block a building industry there; his directory entry was "turner" and society in 189125a. Arkel (1899)136a found he had an entry as wood turner in 1901 in the 50-75% Jews in this block, very high for Timber Trades Directory. In 1890 Isaac gave his this area. It was designated as shop, occupation as "ironmonger" in informing of a house and workshop in 1910, ground death. In 1885 there is a criminal court report value £84, rateable value £70, owner [London Sessions] when it was said that Isaac, London County Council (taken from described as ironmonger in Bethnal Green, had Board of Works in 1880); the rent was been missing goods from stock, his 16 yr old then £80 a yr14. shopman had passed them to two immigrant Fig. 4-Yb Goad plan of Bethnal Green Rd, shows Nos 139, & at top right in yellow, 161-7 as NY Lumber Co He reported in 1903 that he began cabinet-makers, taking a few dozen at a time; in with £200 as a "timber dealer" at 39 the home of one were found stolen hinges, screw Church Street - but this was H Nobel's address! Isaac also was and drawer handles, more were found in a shop of one of them in occupier, in tax receipts, of No 155 in 1888 (directory entry: milk Fountain St52b. can manufacturer in 1894). Isaac Diamond & Family [ 47 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

1890-1894 69 Bacon Street, size 13 x 40' no yard, situated map his yards were unnumbered, one was "site for vicarage"; the between Chilton Street and Kerbela Street (now extensively vicarage is shown on the 1894 map as drawn in Fig 3-Y. The redeveloped), "timber merchant" (there was another merchant triangular site at Nos.163-167 was shown as vacant ground by at No. 76, and a saw mill at No. 36). Arkell’s map136 shows 5-25 % Goad in 189026, but has a wooden structure in 189926, Fig 3-Yb Jews here in 1899. Goad in 1890 shows a sawmill located behind, [presumably pulled down by 1910]. In February 1902 Isaac accessed at No 69 [this would be convenient for Isaac since his ceased at this address and sold his houses. small premises would not have held machinery]. The 1891 These houses had 5-25% Jews in 1899137. In 1898 police census gives a wood turner and family in residence in two rooms reported: "Princes Court [off Brick La), houses were pulled down on there. Litvinoff110 recalled Bacon Street near his childhood south side except three at Brick Lane end [just south of Isaac's yard tenement as "squalid even by our standards" in ca 1920 with few at No.248]; thieves, prostitutes and bullies, mess in street, dirty Jews there. This property was in leasehold ownership of Jane at ragged hatless children. Ducal St, a rough spot"28b p185. Goad26, her death in 192841. 1887, shows, behind the narrow frontage at No 248, an extensive 189125a or 189545 to 1903 at 167 Bethnal Green Road next to yard, this and buildings to the north was marked as "Acetic Acid Gibraltar Walk (where Harry Blacker lived in 1910-193577, in 1898 manufacturer"; some time after 1899 a paste-over on the plan Fig had a mission hall at south end but was a hotbed of thieves, the 3-Z re-designates it as "Baltimore Lumber Co" [cf the Mr. Goldman adjacent Gardens alley used as their escape after snatching a (to whom Isaac sold his business, see page 50, by 1913]. The son watch in the main road 28a p191). These comments show the (aged 75) of Mr. Goldman recalls that there were also timber prevalence of crime very close to Isaac's residences and premises across the road at Brick Lane, but the author has not businesses; he and Jane must have been pleased to move their identified them as Isaac's stock57. No 161 was a timber yard in children to the safety of Dalston in 1910, owner A. Ewin, G.V. £5514. 1894. He was a "timber merchant", No. 248 by 1896 and No. 250 by 1901 rateable value (RV) £25 in 1881; 50- Brick Lane (Nos 22-24 Turk or Tyssen St until 75% Jewish in 1899136 . In 1903 he said 1882, east side, near Princes Court, now he traded at No 161 from 1891 where redeveloped as Padbury Court). Sale of No he purchased the stock of a timber 75 was recorded in 1885 for £1035, freehold; merchant for £200. The address at No at the Black Eagle Public House, No 140, 161 was mentioned in the advert for there were meetings of a "Hebrew" branch the sale of 6 Graham Road in 1910, of the Independent Cabinet Makers shown at p 38. Society trade union105 p117, involved in The building at No. 161 is not shown disputes with Ruben (p. 62) in 1906. Before on the 1894 or 1907 O.S. maps nor in attending synagogue on a Friday night, the 1910 I.R. survey14 and seems to many men visited Schewzik’s Vapour Baths in have been a temporary structure, Brick Lane, offering the “Best Massage in Fig. 3-Z 248-50 Brick La, Goad plan, timber yard in yellow, shared with a brush maker at No. 165. designated Baltimore Lumber Co, & Timber store to north, London”, and then went to the Spitalfields But in 189125a Isaac paid tax at Nos. presumably Isaac’s; cabinet factories & saw mill to east. Great Synagogue across the road. 161 & 163, RV £28 & 15; in the1893 [Reverend Schewzik, manager of the baths, Isaac Diamond & Family [ 48 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London also conducted Holy Day services at the Great Assembly Hall in in 1904 at “Bethnal Green” although he was then bankrupt; The NY Mile End ]37a. Company Ltd. (see below). also had in 1904 a number and directory entry different from that of Isaac (Fig 3-Xb ) listing:, as Sims164 in 1911 reported we come out from Wentworth Street into Brick Lane, “timber merchants and ironmongers”, the latter being probably where there is no market and so no crowd, the long line of open shops and busy Jane’s business (as mentioned above on this page). warehouses, the hum and bustle of trade and toil in full swing, strike us as peculiar when we remember that it is Sunday. Leaving Brick Lane with its Russian post-office, No number was listed in 1905 for the Company nor in 1910, it was its Roumanian restaurants, and shop after shop where the young men of the Ghetto wound up in 1907. In 1906 the PO Directory entry was for the N.Y. take the syrups and temperance drinks that are their principal liquid refreshment. Lumber Co. (The 1910 IR survey14 designates these premises respectively as timber yard G.V. £38, owner Gualkin, and house & A photo in 1998 from Hanbury Street shows Nos. 124-138, the shop G.V. £25, owner "executors of Gould". upper part of the frontages is unaltered (as seen by the motifs above the first floor windows) but The Black Eagle has gone, the Thus all his addresses were north of the Eastern Railway line, and entire block was demolished, together with Carter Street (beyond so in Bethnal Green, not Spitalfields. Directories53 of 1896 and 1901 Woodseer Street, formerly Pelham Street, for the southward list him only as timber merchant, not timber importer or dealer or enlargement of the massive Truman’s Brewery, now bridging Brick sawmill proprietor etc. His adverts57 (e g as 3-Xa) list him as a Lane. The present shop signs reflect the Asian immigration. timber & veneer merchant under the heading "London Mahogany Isaac styled Nos. 248-250 The Anglo-American Timber Yard. The & Hardwood Merchants", i.e. he was in the hardwood trade. His lease of No 248 was purchased for £75. Isaac was occupier for tax adverts from 1889 to 1903 describe his premises, first in 69 & 71 receipts25a by 1897; R.V. was high, £126, perhaps some extra yard Bacon St and then at Brick Lane and Bethnal Green Rd as "Steam space included; he was owner in 1901. By 1905 neither was in his Mills and Turnery Works", with a stock of pine planks, mahogany, occupation [tax records]. In 1903 Isaac has an entry46 as cabinet walnut, birch, beech, oak, and especially american satin walnut; ironmonger at No 250, although the shop was Jane's business01, it and every description of turnery. was her address in 1905 and she still owned No 248 in 1914. The yard would be typical of the small ones serving the local In 1896 he, designated a “saw miller”, at No 248 was convicted in (mainly Jewish) small furniture makers; by 1890 some yards were a police court of the offence of Failing to report an accident and grouping together. Several other timber merchants were in the was fined £1 and 3sh costs, he also had lost an action under the area, e g in 1901 at Nos. 6, 5-11, 102+115, 162+206 Bethnal Green Employers Liability Act.176 Rd and 217 Brick Lane. Transport from the docks would be by horse & cart. Capital was needed to hold stocks. Mahogany from The occupier of the timber yard in 1914 was Annie Goldman, cf Africa or America was imported as logs and auctioned dockside Abraham at p 50. The criminal author Arthur Harding had a shop monthly, then sawn. Other hardwood came from USA or Canada. at No 250 from 1950 until it was demolished in 1956 (see the Pine was used for bottoms of drawers and backs of cabinets03. 171 biography of Harding ). "Trade Mills" would shape pieces for furniture, as Isaac might do for In 1897 Isaac acquired a telephone number (see Fig 3-Xb at turned pieces, though he might need large pieces, e g for bases, p45, then rare; service began in 1879, in the City29; and in 1899 he to be turned elsewhere. Prices in 1895 were very cheap; planks per was in the directory [National Telephone Co Ltd] under this number superficial foot, mahogany 6d (pence), walnut from 5d, oak from as Timber Merchant 248 Brick Lane Bethnal Green, he retained this 4d, satin walnut 4 1/2d, american whitewood [a hardwood] 21/2 d. Isaac Diamond & Family [ 49 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

In the 1880s a 15-piece dining suite in walnut cost under £7; a skilled Lambeth. Seasoning kilns and mechanised band-sawmills became worker earned £1.90 per week. available ca. 1890103 p 62 The Geffyre Museum, which displays furniture (their turner's No other merchant advertised in the TTJ in this period that he lathes are referred to in my JHSE article83 at p 263) has papers, of also offered turnery, but Cobbett & Co., a creditor, advertised (in a the end of the 19th century, relating to timber merchants; directory56 for cabinet makers) in 1903 similar timber and "Turnery of including of the firm Cobbett & Co, which was a creditor of Isaac every description", which perhaps Isaac bought from them. In 1906 in his bankruptcy in 1903 (cf above & 84 p 269). Their small timber merchants produced chair legs and rails98 p 26. Neither Isaac catalogue of 1894 giving Bethnal Green addresses includes nor the Anglo-American Company joined the Timber Trades "squares" (Isaac advertised that he sold turnery and squares for Federation, founded 1893, to which the larger merchants all turning, cf Figs 3-Q), Oak, American Whitewood and Walnut, and belonged Satin Walnut; most wood planks were offered planed one or both sides at extra cost. Terms were "net cash only". A flyer stated that There is only one poor photograph extant of one of Isaac's a syndicate had acquired rights to a large mahogany forest timber premises (with Leo); but it seems similar to that of A. where the heavy logs were sawn into planks to ease transport Barmaper, ca. 1920 (3 Busby Street, crossing Chilton St.) of which a over mountains (USA or Nicaragua?) to a seaport. A 1906 picture is shown in Ch 1, in Fig 1-K; and cf. the frontage of P. catalogue, more extensive, includes pictures of turned table Barnett's turning, saw mills etc (a trade mill) premises at 96 Curtain legs) and balusters for stairs banisters.. (Turnery for house building Rd in 1910 (frontispiece of Kirkham102). Another picture of a Bethnal was included in timber merchants' wares.) There was a separate Green yard ca 1900 is reproduced in Taylor159. The eminent catalogue for builders. By 1906 monthly credit accounts were merchant Bamberger, in his 1934 memoirs72, wrote scornfully of the offered. numerous East End "timber yards" ca 1900, which were customarily formed by removing a shop front and incorporating a small rear Also at the museum are some photos of the premises of a firm (Sherry's) yard; this seems an apt description of several of Isaac's premises who took over Cobbett, undated but probably early 1920's; they show cloth- capped workmen some with leather aprons on their shoulders, standing by Isaac became insolvent in April 1903 when he sold most of his stacks of upright planks, some planks resting on a handcart, and a bowler- stock and was made bankrupt in October 1903 (see page 52) and hatted manager; logs about 2 feet across sawn into a stack of planks, his business, at Nos. 161 and 250, then known as the New York horizontal stacks of thick planks with air gaps between, some being removed Lumber Co., was taken over by the New York Lumber Co., Ltd, by workmen. [This gives an idea of how Isaac's yards may have looked.] which had been registered in April 1903, see part of the company's Memorandum16, Fig. 3-Za, paying £143 for Isaac's stock. Jane was Isaac's experience in handling timber as a turner or carver would the main shareholder, subscribing £314. . The Directors included have been useful to him when he became a timber merchant Zyman, and Jane, replaced by the daughter Miriam in 1905; who from 1890. There were many small timber merchants in the area - was also the Company Secretary; . The Directors included Zyman, some did not even have any premises to store the timber. The and Jane, replaced by the daughter Miriam in 1905; who was also 1:1056 O..S. map does not indicate space for a large yard at any the Company Secretary; of these premises. Timber was imported from America, Russia, Canada and Sweden; in London the main timber wharves were in Miriam Geller(then a tailor) was the liquidator; a loan of £790 was repaid to Jan,, see Fig 3-Zb. Isaac Diamond & Family [ 50 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

. However the Company is still mentioned in the advert in Sept 1910 for the sale of 6 Graham Road, evidently the name was retained for some usage. Isaac was able to provide the wedding for his eldest daughter Miriam in June 1906 at Stoke Newington; the reception was in the Portman Rooms, Dorset Street, W1 (mentioned in JC adverts for meetings, bazaars, etc.) and the wedding photograph Fig 3-W is a splendid illustration of the then current fashions, the ladies dresses were highly decorated, hats with flowers or (the Gellers) ostrich feathers, then the rage, bridesmaids as shepherdesses, and it shows all the family except Oscar (in Canada, by 1905, see Chap 8.) The photographer was Fradelle & Young of Regent St., see copy of the label, they were active from 1880. [Preparing ostrich feathers had been a Spitalfields industry.]

Trading under the style "New York Lumber Co" continued at 161 Bethnal Green Road (this seems to be adjacent to No. 167, see plan 3-Yb) until 1913, see Directory copy, Fig. 3-T; subsequently the Baltimore Lumber Co was at Nos. 161167-; presumably Isaac sold his business to that company; the Baltimore Co (mentioned by Massil111 p63) was run by Abraham Goldman (Jewish, related to Mathias of Northwood) until;1948; the New York Lumber Co has an entry in the Timber Trade Directory in 1914, at 22 Chilton Street (size 18 x 28') but not in Kelly's Post Office Directory. From at least 1913 Nos. 20 & 22 were owned and occupied by Jane [tax records25]; by 1917 she also owned Nos. 16 & 18; values were low, £12-23. The Baltimore Co was at No 248 in 1909 when No 250 was vacant (later a jeweller’s); the 1911 census shows a clockmaker and family there, no entry for No 248. The Chilton Street premises were used by widow Jane as estate Figure 3-Za: New York Lumber Company, part of Memorandum showing office from 1918 until her death in 1928; her Will of 1926 mentions Suscribers incl Jane, Zyman and friends’ signatures "builders’ plant" there, evidently for the upkeep of the several East End properties (see Ch 6). Isaac Diamond & Family [ 51 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

Figure 3-W: Wedding of Miriam to Jack Geller, June 1906: Zyman seated on left, Jane & Isaac to right of the couple at front: unknown boy, Walter, unknown girl Flora, Claude Lionel Ruben

Bankruptcy Isaac Diamond & Family [ 52 ] Chapter 3 Isaac in London

Bankruptcy A receiving order was made against Isaac (also trading as the Anglo-American Timber Yard) in November [briefly in The Times52b], Isaac's last TTJ57 advert was as late as 26 September 1903. and again there is a very useful TTJ report of the meeting of creditors, who include at least 12 timber merchants, also importers The TTJ reported a meeting on 1 October 1903 of Isaac's and a sawyer. The deficit was then £4098. The receiver said that creditors, to try to avoid bankruptcy; he owed £6555, assets were reasons for the failure were bad trade, bad debts and accidents to only £1475 including stock at Brick Lane £480, at docks £236, employees [workmen]. The losses included estimates for forced machinery £80 & debtors £720. This shows he was buying at the sales of stock, machinery & fixtures of £233, £157 & £650, robberies dockside and that his sawing and turning plant was of modest size, & embezzlement, £500 betting losses ca £150 over 3 yrs, and a £210 His creditors were (as shown by their TTJ adverts) in the timber gift to a son (presumably Leo, then 20; Oscar was only 15) "on his trade, including importers, a sawyer and at least 12 timber departure to S Africa in Jan 1903" (nothing is known of this trip, I merchants. Isaac's solicitor said that losses had happened through doubt that it happened), neither son shown in the passenger lists35d trade failures, necessitating sales at low prices and bad debts; . Isaac consented to adjudication and a public examination was Isaac said he had been taking £10 a week from the business and July 1904 regarding the preference to his creditors, namely to his recently £15 [£780/yr] which included £2 for business expenses, and sister Mrs. Ruben for £50 and a Mrs. Richmond (one of the only last week found he could not meet his obligations. There were subscribers to the company, see list in 3-S) £100, both paid in questions about whether he had bought property in his wife's September (when he must have known he was in difficulty) and name [2 & 6 Graham Road were] but his solicitor said that Mrs. also £63 to a trader G..Becker, a hardwood broker; the judge Diamond who did not want her affairs made public helped Isaac but had ordered all these to be repaid to the trustee. not received a farthing and Isaac said he did not know what private property she owned [both statements seem incredible to me], it seems unlikely that Suchar could have given much to Jane]; the meeting was adjourned 5 days to see if Isaac and his friends could guarantee paying 50% (10s) of the debts, but this did not happen; he offered 7s 6d and then 8s 6d, but these were refused.

Figure 3-Zb: Miriam Geller's signature as liquidator