As the 20th century dawned Cavendish House gained a new resident, Abdullah Elias, a shipping merchant in the rather elaborately named “Manchester and Bradford Goods”’
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| The Turkish Empire in 1917 |
The 1901 census shows, Abdullah was born, in 1849 in Baghdad, Iraq in what was then still part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. He was living with his young wife (30 years younger)(1), Flora and four children; Victor, 7, Lucy, 5, William, 3, and the new-born Victoria. Flora and the three eldest children were also all born in Iraq with only Victoria being born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. (on the 17th June, 1900) The Elias family did not remain long at this address, however, as the 1911 census shows a third daughter, Alexandria, aged 8, born in Sale, Cheshire. She had actually been born in the September quarter of 1902. By the time of her birth the Elias family had relocated coincidentally to Brooklands House, Brooklands, Cheshire -- the former residence, just vacated, of Thomas Seymour and Mary Ann Mead
Abdullah died on the 30th May, 1911 and was buried in the Jewish section of Manchester’s Southern Cemetery, grave A 3. He left £100, 000 (= £12, 045, 833) at today’s value) to his wife and 5 children. However, he stipulated that should his wife remarry within 15 years she should only receive one shilling. He also expressed a wish that his sons never deal in shares except for cash (2) Abdullah was an enthusiastic litigant (3) bringing a number of cases to civil court to defend his trading name from copy-cat companies or to protect his trademarks. He was, however, also involved in a sensational double criminal case. First on the 17th June, 1903 he appeared at Manchester’s Police Court where he was charged, together with his clerk Charles Battatt, with Gross Indecency (the legal code for males engaging in homosexual acts). After being granted bail, he surrendered to the Assize Court on the 10th July, 1903 whereat the grand jury found “no true bill”, the case was dismissed and both defendants were discharged. What followed was the sensational “fallout” when Abdullah and Charles alleged, they were victims of a blackmail conspiracy. (4) Charges were eventually brought against several individuals; Sion Levy, a former clerk in Abdullah’s employ who was also the brother-in-law of Charles Battatt, Ellyahu Joseph, a business rival, John Reekie a financial backer of Mr. Joseph's, and two aggrieved former domestic servants of Cavendish house, Charlotte Sheppard, a housekeeper, and Katoon Hakak, a maid. As the principals, apart from Sheppard and Reekie were originally from Baghdad, the affair was widely reported in the press as “the Orientals Case”. At the Manchester Assize Court on Saturday, 21st November, 1903, after a trial spread over four days, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty for Levy and Joseph and not guilty for Sheppard and Hakak. The judge, who had previously ruled that Mr. Reekie, although he had acted foolishly, had no case to answer and discharged him, sentenced the two convicted men to two years with hard labour. The coverage of the case is very revealing of the time, while quite blatant racist remarks by the various council were reported verbatim, any mention of the nature of the charge brought against Abdullah and Charles was studiously avoided.
Abdullah had a long business career spanning Manchester and Baghdad maintaining a residence in both cities and travelling frequently between them. He was elected to the Chamber of Commerce of his adopted city on Wednesday the 26th September, 1900. At times he was in business with his younger brother, Meir, with whom he shared Beech Villa, 398, Moss Lane East, Moss Side, Manchester, from 1883 until the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries. Previously they had lived at 40, Clifford Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester. The company had offices at Asia House, 82, Princess Street and a large warehouse at 40, Dickinson Street both in Manchester city centre. Abdullah was also one of seven vice-presidents of Manchester’s pioneering Victoria Jewish Memorial Hospital when it opened in 1904.
The Elias family remained in Brooklands until after the First World War. The 1939 register shows Flora (Sarah Flora) living at “Claremont”, 16, Wilbraham Road, Fallowfield, Manchester with two of her unmarried children, William and Lucy. William is shown in the 1933 Kelly’s directory already at this address.
Only 34 when her husband died, Flora remained a widow for 63 years before passing away in Paris on the 18th August, 1974. She was living at this time at 38, Rue de Charmilles, Geneva, Switzerland. Her estate was valued at £63,396. (= £675,572 today).
The later records of Flora and her Children show a revealing trait. Whereas, prior to the Second World War, only anglicised first names were used after it they adopted using their Jewish names. This is shown particularly in their death and probate records.
Thus: - Flora, became Sarah Flora.
Lucy, became Mersooda Lucy – remained unmarried and, like her mother, died in Paris - at 13, Rue Vineuse on the 26th May, 1986. She left an estate of £257,769 (£772,438).
William became Shlomo William, also not married, he died at The Royal Infirmary, Manchester (Home address, 16, Wilbraham Road) on the 19th February, 1941. His estate was assessed at £94,913- 6s – 4d (£4,899,883 – 63p)
Victor became Eliahoo Victor. He married Elfrida Millicent (Barbara) Dulberg, the divorced wife of Lewis Balcombe of Black Square, Southport, Lancashire, in the June Quarter of 1949 in Manchester. They had one child David William born in Bournemouth, Hampshire in 1950. Eliahoo Victor died on the 23rd September, 1976 at 24, Glenferness Avenue, Bournemouth.
The remaining two daughters both married and each had one child. Victoria wed Ivor Gourgey, a Persian carpet merchant, at The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue,
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| Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue - 1959 |
Cheetham Hill, Manchester during the September quarter of 1923 with their child, Rachel Delicia, being born in the March quarter of 1925 in the St. George, Hanover Square, registration district of London. (5) She died on the 24th June, 1985 at 17, Warwick Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Alexandria appears to have settled in Europe possible with her sister in Paris. She is nowhere to be found in British records, however there is a document online (Issue 73 of The SCRIBE - July 2000) which in a detailed family lineage shows that she married Pierre Beyersdorf and had a son named, Eric. It also states that she died aged 95 in 1997.
After Abdullah and his family moved out, Cavendish House acquired a fresh tenant, Albert Wallace Linford, a “Brewers Manager”, with his wife Annie Mary Harrison (née Nash) and their 4 children. Albert Wallace and Annie Mary both hailed from Southampton, Hampshire. However, Albert was born in the September quarter of 1861 in the Pancras district of London where his father, Henry Albert was a company secretary from Canterbury, Kent. His mother was, London-born, Elizabeth Martha (née Forbes). When he was nine-years-old his father moved with his wife and 7 children (Albert was the only boy with 6 sisters) to take the position as manager of the South Western Hotel on Canute Road, St. Mary’s, Southampton.
Albert Wallace married Annie Mary Harrison Nash on the 30th June, 1887 in Freemantle, Southampton and shortly after moved, with his job, to the Kelvin area of Glasgow. While in Scotland the couple had four children. First born, on Boxing Day, 26th December, 1888 was Elsie Dorothy. Violet Muriel, followed on the 31st May, 1890, however, she lived only a few hours and died the same day. The couple’s first son, Arthur Forbes, was born on the 6th August, 1891. All three of these children were born at 62, West Princess Street, Glasgow. Another two babies were born after the family had moved to Kilmalcom, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Madeline Alberta at “Highfield” on the 16th January, 1895 and Vivian Haldane Bruce, at “St. Leonard’s”, on the 28th March, 1900.
I can’t be certain when the Linford family moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy but Albert Wallace appears in the electoral roll, of 1905, for the Stretford division of the South-East Lancashire constituency at 1, St. Clement’s Road. He is still there on the 1909 electoral roll but by the time the 1911 census was taken the family had moved to 15, Oak Avenue, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
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| 15, Oak Avenue - September, 2021 |
The absence of Albert Wallace from this entry is very revealing. Annie Mary is recorded living with two of her children Elsie Dorothy, a music teacher, and Arthur Forbes, an insurance clerk. After initially describing herself as “married” she subsequently crossed that word out and wrote “widow” above it. In reality, her husband was still alive. The details of his death/probate record may shed some light on this enigma. Albert Wallace passed away on the 9th June, 1913 at Haydock Lodge, Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire. “Haydock Lodge” was a privately run insane asylum. Indeed, he is recorded as a patient there on its census return. His condition is shown as “lunatic at 47” meaning he must have developed symptoms from around 1908. I am led into a very unhistorical speculation that he may have succumbed to the temptation of sampling his company’s product a little too enthusiastically.
He left a tidy sum of £2,644- 7s in his estate. (£312,000 in today’s value)
His widow remained in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, latterly at 95, Claude until she died on the 11th September, 1935 after an operation at the Cottage Hospital in Ulverston, Lancashire. Annie Mary Harrison Linford was cremated at the Manchester Crematorium on Friday 13th September, 1935. Curiously the ceremony was arranged through Kendal Milne the department store on Deansgate, Manchester. There are further stories to tell concerning the four children but these will have to wait for another time.
Pictures; Map of Turkish Empire in 1917 By Creator: Unknown, Other Creators: J.R. & C. - https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:3293864, Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Cheetham Hill Road (1959) m 16527 by R. Mizra, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass,15, Oak Avenue, 2021 from the collection of Tony Goulding.
Notes: -
1) Flora was born as Sarah Flora Bassoos in Baghdad, Iraq, then known as Mesopotamia, on the 15th January, 1877.
2) Also in his will were a number of clauses detailing his funeral arrangements including a rather quirky demand that there should be at least 40 coaches in attendance.
3) Abdulla even appeared in a court case 9 years
after his death!
In December, 1919 there was a case involving the distribution of his late brother’s estate. Meir had pre-deceased his brother dying, in Baghdad on the 16th October, 1910. As he had died intestate under Turkish law which applied at that time his surviving two brothers would each be entitled to one quarter of his estate. The dispute arose over the question whether or not Abdullah becoming a nauralised British subject negated this claim which had passed with his death to his legatees. On the 12th January, 1920, the Chancery Court in Manchester adjudicated in favour of Abdulla’s widow and children.
4) Their conspiracy was possible inspired by the late Victorian case involving Oscar Wilde.
5) In the 1939 Register they appear at a quite prestigious address: - Flat 3, 66, Prince’s Gate, South Kensington, Chelsea, London.
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