![The bund shanghai 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/The_bund_shanghai_1.jpg)
The Sassoon family, known as "
Rothschilds
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...
of the East" due to the immense wealth they accumulated in finance and trade,
[ are a family of Baghdadi Jewish descent. Originally based in ]Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, they later moved to Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and then emigrated to China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, and other countries.
From the 18th century, the Sassoons were one of the wealthiest families in the world, with a corporate empire spanning the entire continent of Asia.[''Siegfried Sassoon: A Biography'', ]Max Egremont
John Max Henry Scawen Wyndham, 7th Baron Leconfield, 2nd Baron Egremont FRSL DL (born 21 April 1948), generally known as Max Egremont, is a British biographer and novelist. Egremont is the eldest son of John Edward Reginald Wyndham, 6th Baron ...
, (London 2005)
Etymology
The name of the family strongly implies a local, Mesopotamian
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
origin. The family name of Sassoon is also commonly shared by many Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
and Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
families and tribes who all originate from the mountainous district of Sason
Sason ( hy, Սասուն, translit=Sasun, ku, Qabilcewz, ar, قبل جوز; formerly known as Sasun or Sassoun) is a district and town in the Batman Province of Turkey. It was formerly part of the sanjak of Siirt, which was in Diyarbakır vi ...
(whence the family and tribal names), west of Lake Van
Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
, in upper Mesopotamia in modern Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. It is, however, possible that some Spanish Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
blood was mixed with the primarily Mesopotamian Jewish Sasoons.
Origins
Sassoon ben Salih (1750–1830) and his family were the chief treasurers to the pashas
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...
of Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
and Southern Iraq. His sons David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
(1792–1864) and Joseph Sassoon (1795–1872) fled from a new and unfriendly wāli. In 1828 David first went to the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr
Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire ( fa, بوشهر ; also romanised as ''Būshehr'', ''Bouchehr'', ''Buschir'' and ''Busehr''), also known as Bandar Bushehr ( fa, ; also romanised as ''Bandar Būshehr'' and ''Bandar-e Būshehr''), previously Antioc ...
and in 1832 to Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, with his large family. In Bombay, he built the international business called David S. Sassoon, with the policy of staffing it with people brought from Baghdad. They filled the functions of the various branches of his business in India, Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, Malaya, and east Asia. He cemented the family's dominant position in the Sino-Indian opium trade. The family's businesses in China, and Hong Kong especially, were built to capitalise on the opium business. His business extended to China – where Sassoon House (now the north wing of the Peace Hotel
The Peace Hotel () is a hotel on The Bund in Shanghai, China, which overlooks the surrounding areas. The hotel has two different buildings. The Sassoon House, originally housed the Cathay Hotel and is today the Fairmont Peace Hotel run by Fairmon ...
) on the Bund
The Bund or Waitan (, Shanghainese romanization: ''Nga3thae1'', , ) is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road (East Zhongshan Road No.1) within the former Shang ...
in Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
became a noted landmark – and then to England. In each branch, he maintained a rabbi. His wealth and munificence were proverbial; his philanthropy across Asia included the building of schools, orphanages, hospitals, and museums with the proceeds of the drug trade. On his death, tributes to him were made from across the continent by Muslims, Christians, Parsees, Jews, and Hindus. An important Jewish banker named Sassoon was hanged by the Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
at the conclusion of the Siege of Kut
The siege of Kut Al Amara (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as the first battle of Kut, was the besieging of an 8,000 strong British Army garrison in the town of Kut, south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. In 1915, its population ...
al Amarah in April 1916. He may have been a member of this branch of the family or of Joseph Sassoon (vide infra).
Joseph Sassoon sons
Joseph Sassoon went to Aleppo, Syria, where he established a merchant house and later his business interests spread to Alexandria, Thessaloniki, and Athens, which included a shipping company and a money exchange house. His five sons branched out in many directions: his son Moses Sassoon (1828–1909) returned to Baghdad before moving to Egypt where he built the financial house Joseph Sassoon & Sons, which later expanded and became an agent for Crédit Foncier in Egypt. In 1871 Moses' son Jacob Sassoon (1850–1936) was one of the largest cotton plantation owners in Egypt, and owned cotton mills; during the American civil war, his older brother Nissim (1840–1917) had made a fortune exporting Egyptian cotton to England making him Egypt's largest cotton exporter. In 1927, with Misr Bank and other Egyptian businessmen, Jacob Sassoon founded the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company (Arabic: شركة مصر للغزل والنسيج), also known as Misr Helwan or the El-Ghazl factory owning 61% of the company's shares. Jacob Sassoon also founded Egypt Crédit Foncier with Joseph Vita Mosseri, his grandson Eliau Joseph Sassoon was an architect, and designed the Assicurazioni Generali di Trieste Building. Eliau Sassoon was also a real estate investor and developer, who foresaw the unparalleled growth of Cairo and the lucrative effect such expansion would have on land values. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the properties he invested in were located at the nexus of the elegant European quarter of Ismailia or in the choicest parts of Kasr al-Dubara, and later, in Garden City, Zamalek, and Giza. In 1952 his grandson Eliau (Elias) Nissim Eliau Joseph Sassoon (1928–2010) founded Banque du Caire
Banque du Caire is a bank in Egypt, founded in 1952; is one of the oldest and largest Egyptian
banks providing its clients with an integrated and diversified package of banking services and products designed specifically to meet their needs. As ...
with Maurice Joseph Cattaui (1925–2009).
Eliau (Elias) Nissim Joseph Sassoon
Eliau (Elias) Nissim Eliau Joseph Sassoon
(Hebrew: אליהו נסים אליאו יוסף ששון) (1928-2010), (always called Elias), born in Aleppo, Syria, to Nassim Eliau Sassoon (1911–1988) a wealthy merchant, banker, and former partner at Safra Freres a bank based in Aleppo, an
Messouda Sassoon (born Shamash)
(1911–1992).
Elias Sassoon was Joseph Sassoon's most influential and wealthiest descendant, in 1940 he was sent to Alexandria to attend the prestigious boarding school, Victoria College. He later joined his family's business in 1946 where he worked for the family's business in Egypt.
Among the many holdings, the family had at the time included interests in Burmah Oil
The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000.
Histo ...
, Turkish Petroleum Company
The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), formerly known as the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), is an oil company that had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq between 1925 and 1961. It is jointly owned by some of the world's ...
and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, a textile factory, a large cotton export business and interests in both the General Company of Commerce and Industry of Greece (later Attica Enterprises Holding S.A.) and Atlas Maritime.
In 1947 Elias focused his attention on three primary sectors: the newly booming oil exploration industry sweeping the Middle East, shipping and banking. With a £5,000 loan from his father, Elias invested in Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
adding to his family's existing holdings in the company. That same year he married Hannah Rochel Jacque Sassoon (née de Menasche) (1929–2009), granddaughter of Baron Jacques Bohor Yacoub Levi de Menashe (d.1916).
His great-grandfather, David Solomon Sassoon (1871–1956) had been an investor in Socony-Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for its ''Gargoyle'' 600-W steam cylinder motor oil. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Standar ...
, which later partnered with Standard Oil to provide markets for the oil reserves in the Middle East. In 1906, Socony (later Mobil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
) opened its first fuel terminals in Alexandria with financing provided by David Solomon Sassoon. Elias Sassoon was a devoted Zionist and considered the British anything but friends to the Jewish people because of their blockade in the Mediterranean to refugee vessels carrying Jewish refugees fleeing the horrors of World War II, and although to a lesser extent, he considered the British government as culpable nonetheless in the atrocities against world Jewry.
In 1952 he cofounded Banque du Caire
Banque du Caire is a bank in Egypt, founded in 1952; is one of the oldest and largest Egyptian
banks providing its clients with an integrated and diversified package of banking services and products designed specifically to meet their needs. As ...
with his childhood friend Moise Joseph Maurice Cattaui (1925–2009). By then Elias Sassoon had expanded his family's business to France, Brazil, South Africa and the United States where the family exported cotton to and had maintained trading posts since the 1800s.
The Sassoons believed that Mesopotamia (now Syria and Iraq) contained substantial reservoirs of oil, the forerunner of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC). David Solomon Sassoon was among the first to secure the interest of the Imperial German banks and companies, already involved in the building of the Berlin–Baghdad railway, which he played an active role in its financing. This German interest was followed by British interests when David Sassoon became an agent for the Rothschilds
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...
in Ottoman Empire. In 1911, in an attempt to bring together British and German interests competing in the region, Sassoon formed a consortium of British investors composed of banks and companies and formed the African and Eastern Concession Ltd.
In 1953 Elias Sassoon used these networks of interests to expand his family's investment interests to include mining concessions in Africa. In 1957 the new Egyptian post-revolution government under Nasser nationalized all European particularly British and French companies and banks. The government also began expelling foreigners and the Jewish community of Egypt once again, despite its many contributions to the country's artistic, economic, political, and academic fields found itself under the government's harassment and intimidation, many were forced to leave the country with no more than one suitcase and most had their assets and properties seized by the Revolutionary Council.
The Sassoons were among those, whose assets were confiscated and in 1966 Elias Sassoon and his wife were taken to the port in Alexandria and expelled from the country. Elias’ wife who was an Egyptian citizen was declared non-citizen, and at the request of the Egyptian government, Elias's Syrian citizenship was revoked. They were given laissez-passer (travel documents) and ordered aboard a ship bound for Greece, however, their son Edouard Elias Sassoon (1948–1985) who was a medical student at the University of Alexandria was denied an exit visa.
The government accused Elias Sassoon of using his family's banking network to help smuggle assets belonging to members of the Jewish community out of the country and demanded that he return his assets held in Europe before his son is allowed to leave. After paying what amounted to ransom money, totaling £4 million and the intervention of both the French and the Greek governments, Edouard Sassoon joined his family in 1971, with his wife Josephine Celine Esther (née Cattaui) (1949–1994), daughter of Moise Cattaui who was also denied exit visa after her family was expelled from the country in 1964.
Elias Sassoon had established Sassoon Cattaui Investment Holding (later Providence Group), a privately owned family hedge fund with Moise Cattaui in 1961 in Switzerland with assets from the Sassoon Family Trust, which had been formed in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1910. In 1970, the partners moved the company Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) a private family investment group, which is not required to register with the SEC or comply with reporting requirements under the Dodd–Frank, reform act. It is said that at the time of the formation of the Fund, the total value of assets under management in 1961 was £25million.
The Fund invested in commercial real estate properties in the U.S., Canada, and Greece as well as in precious metals, oil & gas, and securities. The fund also speculated in the currency markets, among its many holdings are: BHP
BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
, the co-investor in Le Méridien hotel company with Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
, American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
, General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
, Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
, HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
, Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
, ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips, Fendi
Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods.
...
, Giorgio Armani, Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
, Midland Bank
Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...
, stockbroking firm Frankel Pollak (which was later sold to Sasfin Bank
Sasfin Holdings Limited is a South African based bank-controlling company that listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 1987. Sasfin and its subsidiaries, notably Sasfin Bank Limited, provide financial products and services for busines ...
, a Sassoon family bank based in South Africa) and S&P Global
S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American Public company, publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of busi ...
. It is rumoured that at the time of Elias Sassoon's death, the Fund, which is not required to file its financials with the SEC had over $100 billion of assets under management, most of which are assets of both the Sassoon and Cattaui families.
David S. Sassoon sons
Sassoon's eight sons also branched out in many directions. The Sassoon family was heavily involved in the shipping and opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
production industry in China and India. Elias David (1820–1880), his son by his first wife, had been the first of the sons to go to China, in 1844. He later returned to Bombay, before leaving the firm to establish E.D. Sassoon & Co. in 1867, with offices in Bombay and Shanghai. Another son, Albert Abdullah David Sassoon (1818–1896) took on the running of the firm on his father's death, and notably constructed the Sassoon Docks
Sassoon Docks, built in 1875, is one of the oldest docks in Mumbai and was the first wet dock constructed in Bombay. It is one of the few docks in the city open to the public. It is situated in Mumbai harbor in South Mumbai area of Colaba. It ...
, the first wet dock built in western India. With two of his brothers he later became prominent in England, and the family were friends of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
. One daughter of the family, Rachel Sassoon Beer
Rachel Beer (''née'' Sassoon; 7 April 1858 – 29 April 1927) was an Indian-born British newspaper editor. She was editor-in-chief of ''The Observer'' and ''The Sunday Times''.
Early life
Rachel Sassoon was born in Bombay to Sassoon David Sas ...
, joined her husband in running a number of British newspapers, including ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' (1893–1904) and ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', which she also edited.
Of those who settled in England, Sir Edward Albert Sassoon (1856–1912), the son of Albert, married Aline Caroline de Rothschild, and was a Conservative member of Parliament from 1899 until his death. The seat was then inherited by his son Sir Philip Sassoon
Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, (4 December 1888 – 3 June 1939) was a British politician, art collector, and socialite, entertaining many celebrity guests at his homes, Port Lympne Mansion, Kent, and Trent Park, North Lond ...
(1888–1939) from 1912 until his death. Philip served in the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
as military secretary to Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionar ...
and, during the 1920s and 1930s, as Britain's undersecretary of state for air. The twentieth-century English poet, one of the best known World War I poets, Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
(1886–1967) was David's great-grandson.
Another descendant of David Sassoon is the British banker and former Treasury's commercial secretary James Meyer Sassoon. He was mentioned in the Paradise Papers
The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsch ...
as one of the beneficiaries of a tax-exempt Cayman Island trust fund worth $236 million in 2007 and defended it as being of non-UK origin.
The branch which carried on the rabbinical tradition has been represented by Rabbi Solomon David Sassoon
Solomon David Sassoon (1915–1985) was an educator, Rabbi, philanthropist, fundraiser, and collector of Jewish manuscripts.
Biography
Early life
Solomon David Sassoon was born in August 1915 in London.William D. Rubinstein, ''The Palgrave Dic ...
(1915–1985), who moved from Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249.
Letchworth ...
to 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 ...
and then to Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in 1970. He was the son of one David Solomon Sassoon
David Solomon Sassoon (1880–1942) (also known as "David Suleiman Sassoon"), was a bibliophile and grandson of 19th Baghdadi Jewish community leader David Sassoon (treasurer), David Sassoon.
Sassoon travelled extensively with the sole intent o ...
(1880–1942) who collected Jewish books and manuscripts and catalogued them in two volumes.
The bulk of this collection is stored at the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
in London, England. Some examples of this collection are maintained at the University of Toronto Library
The University of Toronto Libraries system is the largest academic library in Canada and is ranked third among peer institutions in North America, behind only Harvard and Yale. The system consists of 39 libraries located on University of Toronto' ...
in Toronto, Canada. None of these priceless works are presently stored in the United States.
David Sassoon was the son of Flora Abraham, who had moved from India to England in 1901 and established a famous salon in her London home. Solomon Sassoon had two sons, Isaac S. D. Sassoon and David Solomon Sassoon, who are both rabbis.
Vidal Sassoon
Vidal Sassoon (17 January 1928 – 9 May 2012) was a British hairstylist, businessman, and philanthropist. He was noted for repopularising a simple, close-cut geometric hairstyle called the bob cut, worn by famous fashion designers including Ma ...
was distantly related to the family via his father, David Sassoon, from London.
Family tree
References
Further reading
*
External links
Elkebir Family Tree
showing the ancestry of the Sassoon family back to the 18th century.
*
{{Banking families
Iraqi families
Political families of Iraq
People from Baghdad
Jewish Chinese history
Jewish Hong Kong history
Jewish Indian history
Jewish Iraqi history