![Solomon Beyfus A Ready Lender](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Solomon_Beyfus_A_Ready_Lender.JPG)
Solomon Beyfus (1820–1893) was a trader in London's East End and the head of a family that became influential in both the theatres and courtrooms of Britain.
Early life
![Jews, Free School Bell Lane Spitalfields](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Jews%2C_Free_School_Bell_Lane_Spitalfields.jpg)
His father, Gotz Philip Beyfus, a Jewish émigré from Hamburg in Germany, was born about 1788; he was a professor of language, the secretary of the Jews' Free School and taught in the Western Synagogue. Solomon's mother, Cippy, was born about 1784 in Plymouth, Devon, England. They had at least three children, Solomon, Philip and Eliza.
Solomon, born in Plymouth, married Charlotte Abrahams in 1841; she was the daughter of Esther and Henry Abrahams, a jeweller of
Bevis Marks
Bevis Marks, classified as part of the A1211, is a short street (about 150 m long) in the ward of Aldgate in the City of London. Traffic runs northwest in a one-way direction into Camomile Street, and parallel to Houndsditch which runs sou ...
in the City of London. Solomon and Charlotte's had ten children:
Business dealings
In their youth, Solomon and his brother Philip were French goods traders in the Houndsditch area of London, but they were declared bankrupt in 1843. Due to irregularities they were not granted their certificate of discharge until 1853. However, during this period the brothers were selling furniture,
bill discounting and money lending.
In 1853 their sister, Eliza, married collar manufacturer Jacques Vanderlinden. After the death of Eliza in 1867 Vanderlinden was living at Solomon Beyfus's house, 50 Bedford Square, and trading in loans. Other members of Solomon's family involved in this business included his eldest son Henry and son-in-law, Albert Isaac Boss. This became public knowledge in 1875 when Albert Boss and Henry Beyfus sued the newspaper ''World'' for publishing "malicious and defamatory libel". Evidence was given that Solomon Beyfus was a cabinet maker based in City Road, and also operated as a bill discounter with an establishment in Old Burlington.
Beyfus and Beyfus
Two of Charlotte and Solomon's sons, Alfred and Philip, became solicitors and established the legal firm of Beyfus & Beyfus. Alfred married Emma Plumstead in 1884 and they had one child, a son who became the renowned barrister
Gilbert Hugh Beyfus, QC. He represented clients such as
Liberace
Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...
,
John Aspinall and
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, noted for tenure as Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government in which he spearheaded the creation of the British National Health ...
.
Alfred Butt
Alfred Beyfus had another child from a previous relationship who was named
Alfred Butt
Sir Alfred Butt, 1st Baronet (20 March 1878 – 8 December 1962) was a British theatre impresario, Conservative politician and racehorse owner and breeder. During a fourteen-year tenure as manager of London's Palace Theatre, beginning in 1904, ...
(1878–1962). Butt began his career as a clerk at the department store
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...
, where his uncle,
Edgar Israel Cohen Edgar Israel Cohen (1853–1933) was a British sponge and cigar merchant working in London, England, who later became involved with retail, entertainment, and popularised the motorised London taxicab in 1906. He became associated with the flotation ...
, was a director. Cohen, who had married Solomon's daughter Ada in 1876, came from a family of East End merchants dealing in sea sponges and cigars. In the 1890s Cohen left the family business and moved into retail, becoming a director of
D.H.Evans and Harrods. He was the first to introduce taxi-cabs to the streets of London in about 1907 and was involved in the theatre, providing financial support for
Lillie Langtry
Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer.
Born on the isl ...
when she refitted and renovated the
Imperial Theatre
The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed fo ...
in London. He made a fortune in his lifetime and spent it, dying in 1933 and leaving just £5 in his will.
Butt moved from Harrods in 1898 to the
Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including:
Australia
*Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria
*Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales
Canada
*Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, Mo ...
, London, where he was first appointed the secretary and then became the business manager. The chairman at the Palace was his uncle, art dealer Count Max Hollender, who had married Solomon's daughter, Rose in 1879. Another family connection was the theatre's solicitors who were Beyfus & Beyfus. Butt became the youngest theatre manager in London when he replaced 86-year-old
Charles Morton in 1904. In 1902 Butt married Georgina Mary Say, who was the niece of Emma Plumstead.
Family connections
Solomon and Charlotte had two other children with links to the theatre; they were Albert Beyfus and Gertrude Beyfus:
Albert married Essie (Esther) de Frece, American born cousin of impresario
Sir Walter de Frece. Essie's father, Benjamin, had emigrated to America prior to 1850 where he traded as a whalebone manufacturer. In 1910 Alfred Butt and Walter de Frece joined forces to form the Variety Theatres Controlling Company, the second largest such organisation in the country after
Moss Empires
Moss Empires was a company formed in Edinburgh in 1899, from the merger of the theatre companies owned by Sir Edward Moss, Richard Thornton and Sir Oswald Stoll. This created the largest chain of variety theatres and music halls in the United ...
.
Gertrude Beyfus married Michael John Garcia, who was a partner in the fruit importers and distributors, ''Simons, Jacobs & Co''. The senior partner of this business, Michael Simons, was the founder and chairman of
Howard & Wyndham Ltd Howard & Wyndham Ltd was a theatre owning, production and management company named after John B. Howard and Frederick W. P. Wyndham, founded in Glasgow in 1895, and which became the largest of its type in Britain. The company continued well into the ...
., one of the largest non-variety theatre companies in Britain.
Final years and legacy
Solomon was said to be deeply religious, generous, a gambler and a "character". He was admitted to the Freedom of the City of London on 25 November 1858, declaring that his father, Gotze Philip Beyfus late of Birmingham, was teacher of languages and had lived at 7 Bury Street in the City of London, a location adjacent to the
Bevis Marks Synagogue
Bevis Marks Synagogue, officially Qahal Kadosh Sha'ar ha-Shamayim ( he, קָהָל קָדוֹשׁ שַׁעַר הַשָׁמַיִם, "Holy Congregation Gate of Heaven"), is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom in continuous use. It is loc ...
.
Solomon died on 27 March 1893, leaving £81,326; his executors were his sons Alfred and Philip plus his son-in-law Michael John Garcia. His wife Charlotte predeceased him, having died in 1887.
The legal firm of Beyfus & Beyfus passed down to Solomon's grandchild Harry Max Beyfus (son of Philip and Ellah). Harry eventually became bankrupt after gambling on the stock market and then losing money on a night-club venture in Regent Street.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beyfus, Solomon
1820 births
1893 deaths
Businesspeople from London
English Jews
Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
19th-century British businesspeople