Sassoon David Sassoon
Sassoon David Sassoon | |
|---|---|
 David Sassoon (seated) and sons. Sassoon David Sassoon is on the right. | |
| Born | 1832 |
| Died | 1867 |
| Resting place | Jewish Cemetery, Mile End |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, banker, philanthropist |
| Spouse | Flora (Fahra) Reuben |
| Parent(s) | David Sassoon (father) Farha Hayim or Hyeem (mother) |
| Relatives | Sassoon family |
Sassoon David Sassoon (August 1832 – 24 June 1867) was a British Indian Iraqi businessman, banker, and philanthropist. Sassoon was the first member of the Sassoon family to expand the family's business interests into England.[1]
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]Sassoon was born in August 1832 in Bombay, India.[2][3] He was a member of the Sassoon family. His father was David Sassoon (1792–1864), a leading trader of cotton and opium who served as the treasurer of Baghdad between 1817 and 1829, and his mother was Farha Hayim of Baghdad.[2] He suffered from poor health from infancy but travelled widely.[4]
He was educated in biblical and Talmudic lore in Baghdad.[3] He also spoke several Oriental languages with great fluency.[3]
Business career
[edit]He proceeded to Shanghai, where he conducted the mercantile operations of the Chinese branch of the firm of David Sassoon, Sons & Co.[3] He went to London in 1858, where he opened a bank on Leadenhall Street.[2][3] Sassoon was the first member of his family to expand the family's business to England.[1][5] The business grew exponentially during the American Civil War, as they suddenly became the main suppliers of cotton to British spinning mills and the British market.[2] Sassoon was later joined by his brother, Reuben, in the family's British business operations.[1]
Philanthropy
[edit]He served as president of a committee which had for its object the organization of an expedition to the Jews in China, Abyssinia, and the East. He was also a member of the council of Jews' College and of the committee of the Jews' Free School, which two institutions he munificently endowed.[2] He was also a warden of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.[2] Sassoon also acted as examiner in Hebrew to the Jews' Free School in London.[5][6]
Personal life
[edit]At the age of 18, he married a cousin Farha Reuben (1838–1919) of Mumbai, daughter of Solomon Reuben Sassoon of Baghdad.[2] She later changed her name to Flora in England. They had four children giving rise to his grandchildren as follows:
- Joseph Sassoon Sassoon (1855–1918); married Louise de Gunzburg, a daughter of Horace Günzburg
- Sassoon Joseph Sassoon (1885–1922), army officer
- Arthur Meyer Sassoon, army officer
- Frederick Sassoon, army officer
- four other grandchildren
- Rachel Sassoon (later Beer) (1858–1927), newspaper editor; married Frederick Arthur Beer, son of Julius Beer[2]
- Alfred Ezra Sassoon (1861–1895); married Theresa Thornycroft
- Michael Thorneycroft Sassoon (1884–1969)
- Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), war poet, writer and soldier
- Hamo Watts Sassoon (1887–1915), army officer
- Frederick Meyer Sassoon (1862–1889)
- two granddaughters
They lived at Ashley Park in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey and equally at 17 Cumberland Terrace next to Regent's Park in St Pancras, London.[2] He died in 1867 in London, leaving an estate of £120,000 (equivalent to £13,420,000 in 2023).[2] Later, Flora moved to 37 Adelaide Crescent in Hove, East Sussex.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Philpot, Robert (26 November 2022). "The rise and fall of the opium-fueled Sassoon dynasty, the 'Rothschilds of the East'". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j William D. Rubinstein, The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p. 865 [1]
- ^ a b c d e Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ Gentleman's Magazine, London, Obituary: 24 June 1867
- ^ a b Cecil, Roth (1941). The Sassoon Dynasty. London: Robert Hale Limited. pp. 190–192.
- ^ "The Sassoons in England". Sotheby's. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
- ^ National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail: Brighton & Hove
Further reading
[edit]- Carlyle, Edward Irving (1897). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 50. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Sassoon, Joseph (2022). The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-38864-8.
- 1832 births
- 1867 deaths
- British Jews
- Businesspeople from British India
- People from Bombay Presidency
- British people of Indian-Jewish descent
- British people of Iraqi-Jewish descent
- Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom
- Businesspeople from Mumbai
- Businesspeople from Surrey
- Sassoon family
- Indian people of Iraqi-Jewish descent
- 19th-century British businesspeople