Levy Barent Cohen (1747 – 1808) was a Dutch-born British financier and community worker.
Early life
Levy Barent Cohen was born in Amsterdam in 1747. He was the son of Barent Cohen, a wealthy merchant.
[ ]The Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
, Funk & Wagnalls, New York. Retrieved 6 December 2019 Cohen was of
Ashkenazi-Jewish descent.
Career
Cohen and his brother moved to England where they developed a large business in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. He became known as one of the leading merchants of the city.
[
]
Personal life
Cohen was naturalized as a British subject in 1798. He was closely involved in a number of Jewish charities and filled successively all the offices of the Duke's Place Synagogue, the principal Ashkenazi synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
in London.[
He married twice, first to Fanny (née Diamantschleifer) then, after her death, to Fanny's sister, Lydia. He had eight surviving children.] Through the marriages his children contracted, including with Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Sir Moses Montefiore
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, aft ...
, nearly all the leading Jewish families in England were connected with him.[ In addition, his brother's daughter was ]Nanette Salomons Cohen
Nanette Salomons Cohen (after marriage, Nanette Pressburg; c 1764 – 1833) was a Dutch citizen known for being the maternal grandmother of Karl Marx, the socialist philosopher and economist.
Life
Nanette Salomons Cohen was born in 1764. Her pa ...
, the maternal grandmother of who, with his son Gerard
Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
, founded Philips Electronics
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
.
Death
Cohen died in England in 1808.[
]
References
1747 births
1808 deaths
British bankers
British financial businesspeople
Dutch bankers
British Jews
Dutch emigrants to England
Dutch Jews
British people of Dutch-Jewish descent
Jewish bankers
Businesspeople from Amsterdam
Cohen family
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